Is this sport actually an essential survival skill for the "Crazily Croods"?

In 2024, the world's attention will once again focus on the Olympic Games, a grand sporting event. It is said that many Olympic events are imitations of human survival, production and lifestyle in the past. For example, javelin is an event for ancient military training of warriors, long-distance running is a forced march, high jump and long jump are training for the ability to cross obstacles in war or hunting, and so on.

Then, you may ask, do shot put and hammer throw have anything to do with human life in the past? Of course they do! Shot put and hammer throw are imitations of ancient humans throwing stones to hit prey.

Watch the Miaodigou people play prehistoric sports

On August 8, the reporter walked into the Miaodigou Museum in Sanmenxia and was attracted by several stone balls on display there. They were recording and displaying the vivid scenes of primitive humans throwing prey in the Neolithic period.

"In addition to eating grains and wild vegetables, our ancestors in the Miaodigou period also obtained meat and improved their lives through fishing and hunting." The museum guide told reporters that a large number of stone balls and pottery balls were unearthed at the Miaodigou site, and it is speculated that these were the "bullets" used for hunting at the time.

The guide said that the ancestors at that time used a rope about two or three feet long, fixed the stone with a net bag, and threw it out to hit or entangle the beast. "Some experts also believe that this method of using stone balls to hit prey is the predecessor of our later sport - hammer throw." The guide said.

The production process of stone balls needs to go through four stages. First, the stones are knocked against each other to make the stones basically shaped; second, stone tools are used on the stone anvil to smash off the edges and corners of the stone to be processed for initial trimming; then fine trimming is carried out to smooth out the edges and pits of the stone to be processed; finally, the stone to be processed is ground until it is round.

Stone balls are one of the important symbols of the development of prehistoric social culture. Their appearance not only reflects the transition of primitive fishing and hunting activities from natural forms to social forms, but also creates conditions for the stone balls to eventually evolve into one of the primitive sports activities.

From hunting tools to the origin of ball games

This is a wonderful encounter between survival and art. The strong men of ancient times and the throwing events of modern sports seem to have a tacit understanding spanning thousands of years in terms of strength, speed, body flexibility, coordination and flexibility, but the ultimate goals are very different.

Stone balls were originally used by primitive humans to deal with wild beasts directly. With the development of society, our ancestors used stone balls with their intelligence to create various hunting tools such as animal-tripping ropes and stone-flying ropes, and gradually mastered the techniques of using these hunting tools in labor production.

Our ancestors gradually figured out ways to get food by throwing stone balls during hunting and gathering. With the development of society and the improvement of human wisdom, throwing rolling stone balls between two or more people evolved into a simple entertainment activity, and gradually separated from labor production, becoming the prototype of shot put and hammer throw in modern track and field sports. Practitioners can exercise arm strength and upper and lower limb strength, and improve trunk balance and endurance.

The flying stone rope is a bag made of animal skin or plant fiber with two ropes tied at both ends of the bag. A stone ball is placed in the bag. When using it, the rope is swung to swing the stone ball up, and then a rope is loosened to make the stone ball in the bag fly towards the prey. The range can reach fifty or sixty meters. It can not only entangle the legs and feet of large wild animals and break their skulls, but also be used to attack low-flying birds. It is one of the most powerful throwing weapons for hunting.

In order to ensure food, our ancestors would continue to practice these hunting skills and teach them to the next generation. This type of activity is both the prototype of prehistoric sports and the beginning of modern sports.