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How did people figure that out?

Ever since the invention of writing, the #1 predator to humankind has been other humans, so we must go back to the time before written records to get to a time when cats were the #1 predator. My question is, in the absence of written records, how did the people of the current age determine the rate of death from the various predators?

Maybe you mean the #1 predator not including other humans?



Predator as in eats you for food, not metaphorically.


I was not writing metaphorically.

Maybe I was unclear because I was trying not to cause offense.

My question is, How would anyone know that there was a time in human history or prehistory when cats were the #1 predator of human ancestors? (I assume he means the #1 killer of our ancestors that eats us for food.)


"Because of skulls with jaguar-like teeth marks" @29athrowaway wrote nearby in this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24807745


maybe I don't get your point (in which case, ignore me), but couldn't you just count the number of deaths by each predator? i.e. count the number of human skeletons with cat teeth stuck in their bones?




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