1-7 Summary

Return to History 8 Human Origins Bone From a Dry Sea

Summary- The first chapter in the "Then" Section of Bone From a Dry Sea talks about a girl (this tribe doesn't give names) and involves a shark hunt. This civilization lives between the land and sea. They are trapped on this island for a while because of the tide and the danger of sharks. The girl is on shark watch and when she sees one it is too late. The shark has already come into the bay. According to the book, sharks have to swim in order to stay alive. The whole tribe tries to capture the shark, but in the end the girl is the one who lures the shark unto the shore in a very risky maneuver where it dies. [[1]] [[2]]

Communication- BFDS page 2 "She glanced down and grinned a greeting as her mother rose beside her and returned to her watch" and "...when she froze, pointed, yelled the warning Big Wave and immediately added the snapped-off hoot that meant Shark!

Use of stones- BFDS page 3 "This time the people were ready, and larger rocks hailed around it. And again. And again." and BFDS page 6 "Without tools, apart from the stones they used to break crabs and shellfish open, it took time for the tribe to gnaw and claw their way through the tough skin of the belly, but they did it in the end."

Development of thought- BFDS page 7 " She knew wha she had done, and why. She understood that it had not been an accident... She had no words for this knowledge. Thought and understanding for her were a kind of seeing. She showed herself things in her mind, the rock shelf, the shallow water, the need to lure the shark full tilt onto the slope so that it would force itself out too far, and strand, and die; then her uncle triumphing and her mother scolding and herself cringing while she hugged her knowledge inside her.... Different. She's different, Yes, I'm different

Elizabeth Awad