Tuesday 29 January 2013

How many people make up the ideal band?

Well, you need a drummer and a bassist and a lead guitarist who can all sing...

No, okay, what I'm really thinking about is the best size for a band of Neanderthal hunters.

Mica lives with seven other people in SONG HUNTER. One of them is too old to hunt, and one is too young. Two of the band are adolescents, which means they’re not yet at full size or strength.

 That leaves four full-strength adults: two women, two men.

Of course there’s more to living than hunting, even for a Neanderthal. There’s the gathering of fuel for the fire, and the preparing of food, and the processing of skins for clothing and bedclothes.

In fact, even though half the band aren’t fully efficient hunters, the one problem my Neanderthal people don’t have is finding enough things to do.

I wonder if the ideal ratio of workers to non-workers in modern humans societies is any different?

 

2 comments:

  1. It's true they all have to work far harder than we do. I'm still fretting about that mammoth and getting him into shape to be palatable...and wearable, too!

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  2. What it makes me feel is LONG LIVE SHOPS!

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