Survival Game - You In 200,000 B.C.
 

The humans/hunter discussion got me thinking. How well would modern man cope with the conditions faced by early man? I mean, Homo Sapiens the primitive hunter-gatherer, before any technology or civilization.

Now, this obviously depends on which modern man - the sedentary obese one who drives his 8,000 lb truck three blocks to hunt down a bucket of KFC, or the hardened Navy SEAL trained in survival and unarmed combat. So I thought, fine, let's see how each Pelican rates their chances.

Here are the rules. Please read them carefully, as our test will be unforgiving.
1. You will have all the equipment with which early man arrived. That is, NOTHING. Naked, shoeless, no knife, no tools, no fur or skins, empty handed. You know how you step out of your morning shower? Like that. (Okay, you can assume your eyesight is good, without need for glasses. Theory being, there would have been no books and computers to ruin your eyes.)
2. You will have, however, all the skills, experience, and knowledge of modern man. Your personal specimen of modern man. Hope you were a Boy Scout.
3. Your job is: PICK THE HARSHEST ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH YOU PERSONALLY COULD SURVIVE. Alone. Indefinitely.

Let me be the example. I'm empty handed and naked, but somehow have 20/20 vision, cool! I have done a fair bit of backpacking and lots of fishing and paddling, am decent at making things from sticks, have passing familiarity with bow and arrow, can swim, but am no sort of survivalist and have never hunted.

So: I pick, for my maximum survivable environment, a coastal temperate zone, like the US West coast, where I could gather shellfish, spear finfish in the streams, make rock blades capable of cutting branches from the forest, and eventually make myself shelter, weapons, and a kayak.

I think I'd have a 50% chance of surviving there. A harsher environment - the High Sierra, the Great Plains - I don't think I could make it. Africa, our birthplace - I don't know what it is like, but the fast things with big teeth make me skeptical.

See how this works? Want to play? Where would you be able to survive? Why did you choose it, how does it play into your skills?

Am I allowed to look for coal, iron ore and smelt tools?

Sure. You have all your knowledge. If you're like Captain Kirk in "Arena", able to recognize and assemble the ingredients of gunpowder and a hand cannon, go for it. I, unfortunately, was asleep during those classes.

But you start with nothing, no digging tools etc.

I choose South Texas or Mexico, because there are Iron ore and Coal deposits which are barely below ground level. Lots of water, game and a place to grow food. Eastern Mexico might work because of the native fruits and veggies. And there is a lot of native game.

And 200K years ago, no people...Only have to worry about bears and big cats.

Just coming out of the shower? Hrm.... well... dunno. I'll have my cookie and HK91 and one loaded mag....

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-kZfLgIo2N...ower%2BGun.png

Lots of it is on the surface, which is how it is found.

THE HARSHEST ENVIRONMENT will have the fewest other humans -- some competitors, some killers, some helpers for your tribe/social group

I was thinking of this as a solo exercise, because encountering other humans complicates things.

Are they primitive men, native to 200,000 B.C.? Then your survival is probably going to be more determined by social skills, if you are accepted by them, then you can probably watch what they do as far as getting food goes, if not then it becomes a running challenge followed by a solo exercise - or you get to be killed.

Are they modern men like you? Then it becomes a season of "Lost" with the odd Jeffrey Dahmer thrown in.

I wanted to avoid those sociological puzzles and keep this game "man on nature."

if solo, I pick Cali. central coast - venison AND shellfish

Don't forget the wine making ingredients and temperate climate. Win win.

so, i'm not allowed to find some primitive tribe and convince them i'm a god?

What's climate like 200,000 years ago in middle or south CA? What kind animals were here that could eat me? Saber Tooth, and some type of Short Face Bear are also dangerous. I say so cal only because of the mild climate and plenty of game in these areas.

Now that you say it has to be solo, them I might be good as dead because that outdoor guy who backpack and hitch hiked across the sierra in his youth, and the manly man who raced road bikes for many years is now not too strong just thinking about your game here.

if you decide to bend the rules, I just might meet up with some here in Socal and show them tricks on how to make a few things due to my modern knowledge and work together on hunting and growing food.

Oh come now, there has to be a South Pacific island where the coconuts, fish, and papaya would sustain you.

Without diabetic meds, I'd probably be gone in a few days. I doubt many here would last more than a week...

i pick Portland-
mt tabor- grew up just at the bottom of that hill, and know every bit of it.
and yes, I was a boy scout, earned wilderness survival badge, had to construct a shelter and sleep in it among other tasks-
this area would be relay nice if it was just me- lots of potable watter, and game would be plentifully-

New Zealand?

Not too many dangerous critters to kill me--plenty of indigenous edible vegetation, and away from the threat of native tribesmen.

Still, without anything, long-term survival for most modern humans seems extremely limited at best.

Is Portland or generically "Pac NW inland" the toughest location you could survive in, though?

Looking for the toughest (HARSHEST) - else we'd all pick Taihiti.

How about this: Explorer Ed Stafford talks being naked and marooned on a South Pacific desert island | Mail Online

I learned survival techiques in the Boy Scouts in Upstate NY. IF the winters 200,000BC are similar to what I went through as a kid, it would be extreme to survive there. Food only grows certain times of the year, etc. Storage becomes necessary. A more temperate climate would be far easier.

The other thing I didn't mention is that the ground here is clay, allowing for the making of fired clay items (bricks, etc) reletively easily.

Hmmmm, well its a bit of an extereme because early man (when young) had a fighting chance with his parents and clan feeding and clothing him/her as well as teaching him/her the ways of the clan.

I think you should augment your question to make it a bit more realistic (if thats even possible). How about I get to live with a clan for a month then maybe I get banished because I gave the chieftains daughter the ol high hard hello?

So I got a spear / stone knife, a flint, some skins on my back and mucklucs on my feet and a water bladder, some nice shrooms and good herb in my pouch, and some dried meat and seeds...off I go.

Yup, I could do it. I would prolly talk the chieftains daughter into coming along for kicks...but I could do it. I would look at the Pacific Northwest - temperate and plenty of water. Maybe head southerly for the winter, catch some strange on coastal cali then head on back.

Sounds like a pretty good deal :)

i'd be a saber tooth tiger turd. one gout attack and i am easy pickings.

you time machine me naked back 200k years. spread ketchup on me.

Actually, as it turns out, one of the best ways to not be eaten is to put hot sauce on yourself.

in my case, the word "deadmeat" comes to mind.

Do you magically gain any immunities that "modern man" would have had back then? Lord knows what was around in those days that has died off.

I was thinking a tropical island would be among the easier places. No big predators (now, but back then?). Coconuts (were there coconuts widespread 200K years ago?). Ocean means food. Climate usually moderate. Fresh water unreliable, though.

He must do well, he's still got plenty of body fat in the pics.

If I can have a numbers of years to prepare I would have a some chance. Right now me feet are soft and so is the rest of me. Just the sunburn would kill me in short order.

I have never tried to make a fire, never tried to make a weapon.

I would want to work up to a real good tan, go barefoot for years to toughen my feet, and learn some survival skills.

If I was transported back right now I would not last long.

When you lose enough weight running after the antelope and away from the dingos, the gout will go away too (probably).

Hmm, good point. Let's say you're no more or less vulnerable to microbes than you are today.

Sunburn is interesting - modern man evolved for various climates, so you have to pick one you can handle. The fair-skinned might want to head for Northern climes, or heavily forested areas. The darker-skinned have more leeway to go South. I can work up a quasi-black man tan pretty quickly (family from Southern China) so if I was careful the first week, I'd be fine in the sunburn department.

I think the feet would just toughen up with calluses and scar tissue, painfully. I bet after a couple weeks, if we were still alive, soft feet would not be an issue in most terrain.

Very interesting.

Every survival school I have been through in the military and civilian world (jungle survival school in the Philippines, SEER School, Outward Bound, NOLS, Desert Survival School, etc.) has assumed a based level of tools and clothing.

Your proposal is vastly more interesting since the baseline is zero.

Water is the first need, always.

I give myself, with access to water, five days to get my world figured out.

and on this point-
yes portland/ PNW as I am a fair skined ginger-

not built for the desert

Because you've had that training, in what sounds like diverse parts of the world, I'd be particularly interested in your choice(s).

Buck naked, no KaBar, no lighter, no nothing.

(Sorry Lube, your wiggle out attempt fails. The natives strip you naked, ritually abuse you, and dump you in the wild minus chieftan's daughter or any other aids.)

Is there a Hooters restaurant somewhere in this fantasy that I can hide in?

Interesting question. If it were my 20-year-ago self, I'd have no problem anywhere reasonably warm, or even hot. I darken up quickly and I was in pretty damned good physical condition--though I didn't have much in the way of fat reserves to get me through any "lean times".

Nowadays I could probably go a week or so without eating much ( ;) ) but I have too many other nagging small issues that would end things for me PDQ. Still recovering from a busted foot, bad back, and general decrepitude. At least my celiac disease wouldn't be an issue. Avoiding bread and other wheat products doesn't seem like it would be hard for a guy dumped naked in the wilderness. :D

I'm a ginger and have lived in the desert my whole life (AZ), and spent much time over in the REAL desert (Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Qatar, etc.). I typically burn pretty bad a few times at the start of hot season here in AZ, then it turns to a light tan. Growing up in AZ, living a very active outdoor life (and being too stupid to use sunscreen...), I'm sure I'll eventually get skin cancer, but at least I've had fun.

What really gets me is that I'm a fairly light-skinned ginger (not as light as most), yet my mother had black hair/not too pale skin, and my dad looks damn-near Mexican (very dark). Explain those genetics to me :mad:

Oh, and to the original question posted...I've had training. I'd do well enough, as long as I had a water source, as Seahawk mentioned. But as to personal preference...keep me away from the cold!

:) first one to even mention water.......I've had similar training and experience, outside a desert, extreme arctic climate or middle of mid lat winter I know I could survive. The most important point is keeping your head. The vast majority would be dead with in 5 to 14 days.

Madagascar

Thats funny

What is the critical link is not a knife, it is rope, para-cord, etc. Rope, thread, cord re the ties that bind.

I had a nice drive to a meeting this afternoon and I was thinking of your problem set.

I can't think of a survival situation that did not involve para-cord, so much so that I always carried some in my SV-2 when I was flying, always carry some in my car, etc.

In JAST (I think that was the school) they taught us how to make crude rope out of certain plants.

Water, food and clothing. The first one requires proximity; working the next two.

I hate you, BTW.:D

What did the milkman look like?