How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler

by Ryan North

8.1: BISON (AMERICAN BUFFALO) NATIVE RANGE North America, Europe FIRST EVOLVED 7,500,000 BCE DOMESTICATED Water buffalo were domesticated in 3000 BCE (India) and 2000 BCE (China), but American buffalo have never been domesticated. USES Every part of the buffalo can be used: meat for eating, hides for clothing, sinews for bowstrings, hooves for glue (see Section 8.9: Horses for the recipe), and bones for fertilizer. If you’re throwing out buffalo parts, you’re doing it wrong! NOTES They can get up to speeds of around 55 km/h, so watch out. If you’re in North America after humans show up and there are no horses or camels, you’ll still have buffalo. But they’ll fight you and won’t pull a plow, so maybe just eat them. 8.2: CAMELS NATIVE RANGE The Americas, Africa FIRST EVOLVED 50,000,000 BCE (rabbit-sized camel ancestor in North America) 35,000,000 BCE (goat-sized ancestor) 20,000,000 BCE (camel-sized ancestor) 4,000,000 BCE (modern camels) DOMESTICATED 3000 BCE USES Like cows, camels are a good source of milk, meat, hides, and labor. Plus their dung is dry enough that you can burn it for fuel. You can live on camel milk alone for about a month! We wouldn’t recommend it, but it is an option if things are going that way. Two-hump camels are easy to ride: put the saddle between the humps. But what about one-hump camels? Humans messed around with saddles in front of and behind the hump before realizing around 200 BCE that building a wooden frame around it and putting the saddle o...