Quote from: K-Dog on Jun 04, 2024, 10:31 AMHop into a time machine and go back to any healthy biome older than 10,000 years.  Humans were not around to extinct the megafauna back then.  The only thing that will go into the time machine with you is one set of clothes and one Buck knife.

Among the mega-fauna Homo Saps are credited with extinctifying are the Wooly Mammoth, the Sabre Tooth Tiger, the Cave Lion and Cave Bear and ancient Bison, 7.5' tall at the shoulder weighiing about 3500 lbs.  All accomplished before we had metal knives, they did it with stone and bone tipped spears, or more often by pack hunting and driving them into traps.  Big but not real smart or fast animals in general.

Would a modern homo sap be successful at this game?  Unlikely except for a small number of Cody Lunden types, and not alone, you get to travel back with a typical H-G hunting party of 6-12 healthy adult males.  We did have the necessary qualities to take over as Apex predator from these animals.  Your ideal time traveling hunting party would need training in making stone tools, making traps and practicing pack hunting strategy prior to getting in the time machine.  Like the Terminator, you get sent back naked with no weapons.  For the test subjects, I'd probably select from NFL players and trackers from African or Native American tribes.

Would we have been as successful against Dinosaurs, some of which were bigger?  Unless somebody builds a IRL Jurassic Park we'll never know for sure.  I suspect we would have by out-competing them for prey and by eliminating their environment.

RE