ABSTRACT
This chapter comprises a concise history of hunting in each of the two main study areas of this book. First, a summary presents the salient evolutionary aspects of early hominins in Africa and Southwest Asia. Ample and detailed early archaeological evidence for past hunting methods are addressed for the Southern Levant, a region in which some of the major ungulate game species targeted by the kite builders were hunted for millennia utilizing various methods. This region is also where many of the kites were constructed during the Holocene. This sets the stage for addressing the issue of mass hunting by agricultural societies. A similar trajectory for the evolution of the hunt in North America is then summarized. Finally, a brief introduction to aspects of communal hunting is offered.
