[shay_ker]

The thing I’m continually surprised by is the usage of obsidian by nearly every ancient-ish civilization. The usage of bow & arrow predates farming, insane.

[tim333]

I guess that before metal working, obsidian would have been the best knife edge available.

[caymanjim]

It's a far, far better knife edge than metal even now. It's used in some specialized scalpels. It's just fragile.

[KaseKun]

Not really that insane, hunting is a much faster reward cycle than farming. On the surface, it makes sense that tools for hunting are produced earlier than tools for farming

[3eb7988a1663]

Ancient crops were also pathetic to a modern eye. Before thousands of years of selective breeding, corn had six or seven kernels on a cob. Doubtful that it would be possible to survive on a field of wild cultivars without at least a few generations pushing towards more productive specimens.

https://evolution.earthathome.org/grasses/andropogoneae/maiz...