As Xu Chen continued to innovate and invent, the division of labor in the tribe slowly began to undergo new changes.
With the rattan baskets, the amount of food collected increased significantly, and a large number of manpower was needed to sort and dry it. Therefore, a group of women was divided into three teams, one team was responsible for collecting, one team was responsible for drying, and one team was responsible for taking care of the elderly and the weak.
The same is true for men, with a clear division of labor. One team was responsible for hunting, and at one time, it was responsible for making bows and arrows.
Because of the emergence of pottery, Mu Ba arranged for two adult men to be Xu Chen's assistants and build a fire kiln at the foot of the mountain.
Division of labor and cooperation are a typical way of survival for social animals.
The more division of labor, the more complex the social attributes will be, and the stronger the ability to survive.
Unknowingly, the tribe's manpower became increasingly stretched.
In the next two days, Xu Chen took Gu Heju and two men who were injured and weak and unfit to continue hunting. They left early and returned late. Finally, they dug a large pit with a diameter of three meters at the foot of the mountain.
Next, you can collect stones and mud to build the fire kiln.
But only then did Xu Chen realize that a problem was coming.
There are very few stones at the foot of the mountain, so you can only pick them up on the river beach a few hundred meters away.
In addition, if you want to mix mud, you need to get water, and you can only get it from the river.
But a bigger problem came again. Nima didn't have the tools to get water.
Stones are okay. If you don’t have a cart, you can also use a rattan basket or even carry it with your hands. At most, you have to run back and forth a few times. But getting water is really troublesome. The only things the tribe can use to hold water are clam shells.
, but it’s only enough for a few sips, and it’s a drop in the bucket if you want to mix it with mud.
what to do?
Xu Chen could only communicate with a few companions through drawings.
After figuring out Xu Chen's needs, someone pointed to the side valley and made a big gesture: "Ye Ga."
Xu Chen's face was filled with surprise.
He was not talking about the maiden leaves on the mountain, but a kind of large leaves in the valley that could be used to hold water. So he left two men to go to the river beach to pick up stones. Xu Chen took Gu Heju with spears and bows.
Set off.
The valley is on the south side of the mountain, just below the large piece of milk fruit on the mountainside, but you have to go around for nearly two miles to get there.
In the past, the three teenagers who did not have much experience in wild survival would never have dared to go there. However, now that the wolves in the valley have been killed, the alpha wolf has died, and the wolf den has been removed, it is impossible for the remaining wild wolves to survive.
Continue to live here.
In the territories where wolves live, there are generally no other large beasts.
Therefore, the valley is relatively safe right now.
The three of them followed the path used by hunters to go around the foot of the mountain, and arrived at the mouth of the valley twenty minutes later.
There are cliffs on both sides of the valley, covered with ancient trees and vines, with monkeys jumping and playing on them. In the valley, in addition to densely packed boulders and clear flowing streams, both sides are covered with various tall aquatic plants and plants.
, one of the taro-like plants, with thick stems and leaves larger than humans. There are purple patterns on the leaves. Some of them have a tall ear in the center. The top swells into a ball shape and is purple-red in color.
It looks like a big penis over one meter long, which makes people feel ashamed.
The entire valley is dark and humid, just like being in a tropical rain forest.
Xu Chen jumped on the big rocks in the stream and came under a huge taro. He reached out and tugged on the wide leaves. He found that they were very strong and difficult to break off. However, just when he was about to use brute force, he was struck by
Gu and Ju stopped him.
He poked a hole in the leaf stem with the spear in his hand, and a stream of light red liquid emerged instantly, and soon condensed into a transparent substance like jelly.
"Dou Ga!"
Gu pointed at the jelly and reminded him seriously.
Xu Chen's face calmed down instantly.
Poison means poisonous, and the pronunciation is extremely accurate.
In other words, this taro-like large-leaf plant is poisonous. Not only is it poisonous, but judging from the cautious and serious attitude of the two people, it should be quite toxic.
Based on his analysis and judgment based on his life experience, this is also reasonable.
All taro-like plants in nature are basically poisonous, including taro.
Some people are allergic to taro, and if they come into contact with it when peeling it, their skin will become extremely itchy.
Common plants such as Amorphophallus konjac, Pinellia ternata, Dripping Guanyin and other similar plants are poisonous regardless of their roots, stems, leaves and fruits. There are many similar plants in tropical rainforests.
Human beings have been constantly exploring the world during their long evolution, and legendary figures like Shennong are actually a collection of countless human ancestors in the process of understanding nature and leading humans to the development of agricultural civilization.
In order to commemorate these ancestors, humans have transformed the myths of these sages into characters from generation to generation, and then worshiped them with gratitude.
This huge taro-like plant in front of us is very close to a group of primitive people, so we should have a clear understanding of its characteristics.
And this jelly-like juice is definitely not an ordinary poison. Judging from the rough skin and calloused hands of a group of savages, they would hardly care about ordinary poisons.
Therefore, it is estimated that this juice is also untouchable.
So Xu Chen was instantly discouraged, and even said that he was poisonous.
Seeing Xu Chen retreating with a depressed face, Gu took out a stone knife from his backpack, leaned forward and carefully cut off the petiole, and then immersed the petiole in the stream and washed it continuously.
After a few minutes, he lifted up the petiole and looked at it. When he found that no juice had come out, he smiled and gestured, indicating that it was ready for use.
Next, Gu followed the same method, cutting off several huge leaves one after another, soaking the juice in the stream and washing it clean, and then the three of them carried it back like a banana fan.
After working back and forth for more than an hour, when they returned to the foot of the mountain, the two men had already picked up a pile of stones in a rattan basket.
Next, Zhu was responsible for carrying water in a backpack padded with large leaves, Gu was responsible for digging soil and mud, and Xu Chen was responsible for building the earth kiln with a bone knife.
When they were so busy that they became hungry, a group of people went to the river beach to catch fish, and then came back to make slate grill.
One operation is as fierce as a tiger, and the work results are 250.
The five of them were busy eating and playing until the sun was about to set. When the man who went out to hunt finished his work and returned to the mountain, Xu Chen and the other three could only build the bottom of the kiln, which was less than two feet high.
In the next few days, Xu Chen led the construction team of four people, leaving early and returning late. It took six days to finally complete the construction of the first pottery-firing kiln in human history.
This is a massive man-made miracle.
It is more than three meters high and is incompatible with the surrounding wild natural environment.
The overall structure is similar to the small stove on the mountain, but it is enlarged dozens of times.
Below is the furnace, which is built with stones in the shape of a ditch. The interior is built layer by layer in the shape of annular steps, gradually closing to form a tapered space that is wider at the bottom and narrower at the top.
The inner walls were smoothed with wet mud, and there was an upright flue connected to the furnace in the innermost part. The gaps around the outside were refilled with excavated soil and then stepped on firmly, making it look like a cave dwelling.
While the kiln was gradually taking shape, everyone was completely stunned by Xu Chen's creative ability.
Not only Muba and a group of women, but also Feng and a group of men responsible for hunting. They stopped gathering food and stopped hunting. They came in groups to watch.
This strange and huge man-made structure had an unprecedented impact on the tribe. People came and went on the construction site all day long, making it extremely noisy and lively.
And as the top filling of the fire kiln was officially announced as completed, the entire tribe went completely crazy, dragging out the old and young, and all rushed to the foot of the mountain to watch the excitement.
Mother Ba was even more excited than she could describe. She didn't know where she got a necklace filled with shells and various animal teeth and bones. Her head was filled with feathers, and she held up a wooden staff carved with strange patterns, like an ancient
Like an evil old witch, she sang and danced in front of the furnace.
And a group of savages followed suit and howled at the furnace and the sky, like a group of demons dancing wildly, which almost made Xu Chen mentally ill.
In order to show that he was very gregarious, he naturally danced with his scalp numb as if he was having cramps.
After a full day of liveliness, a group of people finally got tired of dancing, and then a woman brought several different paints with shells and carefully applied them on his body.
Then, he turned into a paint man with colorful and strange patterns all over his body.
"Wooga!"
Mother Ba raised her staff and shouted to the sky.
"Wooga~"
"Wooga~"
"Wooga~"
All the savages, big and small, roared together in excitement, and were in a state of excitement.
Amidst the cheers, Xu Chen felt a blood-heated hallucination.
The paint is poisonous to dogs, and it makes them numb and itchy when applied to their bodies.
After the kiln capping ceremony was completed, under the lively onlookers of a group of people, Xu Chen arranged for people to find a large amount of dry firewood and dry grass to start fumigating the kiln, and personally lit the fire in the furnace.
When the billowing smoke rose into the sky at the foot of the mountain, a group of savages roared even more excitedly.
Xu Chen was also very excited.
What he lit was not just a furnace, but the first industrial fire of primitive human civilization.
The use of fire to make pottery heralds a new era in human use of energy.
The fumigation kiln will last for several days, because only by completely drying out the soil and stones can the furnace be prevented from collapsing.
In addition, in order to facilitate the making and drying of mud bricks, a row of pavilions was built next to the earthen kiln.
The next step is to dig a hole, collect soil, and mix it with mud to make a slab.
Under the rolling low hills near the foot of the mountain, there is good quality clay.
In order to cooperate with Xu Chen in making exquisite and useful pottery as soon as possible, Muba arranged for two adults, a man and a woman, to help.
As a result, the pottery-making team expanded to seven people, accounting for almost one-fifth of the entire tribe's adults, which is about the same number as the hunting and tool-making teams. This also shows how much the tribe attaches importance to pottery.