Really interesting! The guys on 'dual survivor' should watch this (if it's still around - used to love that show!). Don't have tv so I don't know.

What I'm wondering is the last one about using sodium. Where in the world do you get sodium? I know baking soda, but never heard of being able to buy sodium.
Jenny

I thought the atlatl was Australian? Maybe African? I'm not sure it's actually American. I'll have to look it up.

It was a lost skill that is making a bit of a comeback, although I believe it's illegal to hunt with one in many places in the USA. I don't want to hunt with one, I just want to learn to throw one.

I have a real interest in primtive inventions. There's something about an invention that's very simple, but useful. I'm not a prepper or a survivalist. My interest is more from a McGyver point of view.

And I think it's just good knowledge to have a pass along.

Things like the atlatl...Was it invented once, then spread all over? Or, was it invented multiple times by different peoples?

How did the Native Austrailians invent the boomerang? It is shaped a lot like the Native American's "rabbit stick". Throwing a bent branch has some strong advantages and trial and error could have lead to "natural selection" for both peoples, with the Aussies taking the shape a step farther.

And being able to create fire...one invention or multiple and how? Surely, we first "harvested" fire from fires caused by natural sources like lightning and lava.

I'll guess that we learned to create fire by accident, and probably different methods were discovered by different people. Maybe someone was sharpening a stick into an arrow or spear and touched it and found it was hot from friction, then kept going to see what happened. He noticed smoke and heat and was the first to say "Where there's smoke, there's fire!"

I think the most probable, at least what I can think of, is that a guy was knapping an arrow or spear head using flint and another rock that contained some steel. It threw off a spark that lit some dry grass or other good tinder and he figured out how to do it repeatedly. If you hit enough rocks together a bunch of times, you're bound to accidently get a spark.

Otzi, the 5000 year old frozen mummy, was found with flint and steel and flint and steel was the prefered method of starting a fire for our pioneers, right up until the time matches were invented.