Dr. Ocobock is clearly allowing her own biases skew known facts...
Lets see... men, as a rule are larger and stronger than women... activities associated with hunting in primitive cultures like... walking great distances, carrying heavy shit around (like I dunno.. the dead animal.. back to camp for likely MILES...), and actually being able to ram a spear or pull the draw weight on a bow suitable for killing large game (like the woolly mammoth and sabre toothed tiger mentioned in the article) requires a significant amount of strength and body mass..
running animals down into exhaustion???? Since when has that ever been a hunting tactic?
I'd guess Dr. Ocobock has never hunted anything in her life.. a human isnt going to run much of anything down.. no matter how fit they are or how good their metabolism is.. generally speaking almost every breed of game animal on the planet has greater speed and greater endurance than even the most fit humans.. and mind you, the "fit" humans of todays world are SIGNIFICANTLY more fit than the "fit" humans of the ancient world.. they have the benefit of modern medicine.. modern science behind their exercise regimens.. modern science behind their dietary habits, etc.. they arent limited by what foods they could hunt or gather today.. or just basic human activity to keep their aerobic and anaerobic fitness levels up..
but lets put an olympic class sprinter, an olympic class marathoner, and a impala all out in a 1000 acre field and lets see who catches what or who escapes..
I know of no culture that ever hunted by "running game to exhaustion".. there are some that would run them to their deaths by getting them to run off cliffs (i.e. native american technique for hunting bison for example).. but good luck chasing even a rabbit on foot until its exhausted.. Neanderthal girl would be laying on her back in the field trying to catch her breath after 5 minutes.. while the sabre toothed bunny sat 20 feet away laughing at her..
there are plenty of people on this earth still living like their ancestors lived hundreds, if not thousands of years ago.. using primitive tools to hunt game.. living primitive lives, etc..
why is it none of them have their cultures centered around women being the hunters? why is it with the Awa in Brazil, the Nomole in Peru, the primitive tribes in Papua New Guinea, etc.. the hunters are all male?
I am not discounting women as hunters in any way, shape, or form.. my wife and one of my daughters are avid hunters.. and I have another daughter starting to express interest in hunting.. and frankly there are some things they are better at than I am.. all of them are FAR more patient that I am for example.. and all of them have the ability to be much quieter than I am for long periods of time (sitting in a blind, etc).. and they are certainly more than capable and more than willing to hunt in challenging conditions (cold, wet, etc), walk long distances on spot and stalk hunts.. climb to elevation, etc.. etc..
but at the end of the day.. guess who drags the deer back to camp (no matter who shot it)?
It aint the ladies with a metabolism better suited for endurance lol..
and none of them are running around attempting to chase anything until its exhausted..
