The Idea of Human Hunting

Abstract

Paleontology in the broadest sense is the study of the history of life, and paleoanthropology is the part of this history that deals with man. Like all historical scientists, paleontologists and paleoanthropologists assume that this history consists of individual events joined together into the Great Chain of Events leading to the present. They believe that history is thus directional, continuous and composed of identifiable minor events eventually transformable into the major events such as mass extinctions, biotic crises, origins of hunting and origins of agriculture. These significant events are interpreted and become powerful concepts in the development of scientific thought.