Cavemen: what did they do in their spare time?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

There wasn't much time to do anything, they died before 35 on average.

That is a very good point. High infant mortality. Lots of women dying in childbirth. Malnutrition and hunger rampant. Minor injuries leading to death. Teeth being particularly vulnerable, I assume, because any infection would probably lead to death, and a toothache would have to result in a tooth being removed forcibly without anesthesia. No surgery. No medicine except witchcraft and shamanism.

I expect adulthood was accelerated. If one looks back just to the middle ages, there are many examples of teenage military leaders. Harald Hardrada fought in his first battle at around 15 years old, and was a king by 18. In caveman times, I imagine they had to be adults after puberty with sexual lives beginning as soon as puberty arrives, if not earlier. And, middle age set in around 17 and by 28, a man is an elder. Those that made it past 35 probably became renowned as so old that their reckoning could take them back to the little children's great great grandparents. The one guy who still hangs on through 40s and into his 50s in good health was probably looked at as magical.

However, menarch would be delayed depending on the quality of life. Nature won't let a woman get pregnant before she can handle it. A 12 yo cave girl would not have the resources to carry a baby to term I think.

[Coito ergo sum]

What I never understood about cave art is the practice required to get both scale and anatomy just right. This isn't something that just happens. So where are all the mistakes that lead to correct pictorial representation? The most spooky thing is that only paper style practice can lead to the accuracy above....

I was wondering exactly the same thing - where is all the shit caveman art?

Or were they all talented?

Also, sometimes stuff is considered high quality just because it is old and very little else survives. Look at the Bible. The writing wasn't anything to write home about, but it was the stuff that survived. Same thing with the Anglo Saxon poem Beowulf. I'm sure there had to be better stuff out there in the year 500 than that, but Beowulf survived, so we don't know the really good stuff.

[Coito ergo sum]

There wasn't much time to do anything, they died before 35 on average.

That is a very good point. High infant mortality. Lots of women dying in childbirth. Malnutrition and hunger rampant. Minor injuries leading to death. Teeth being particularly vulnerable, I assume, because any infection would probably lead to death, and a toothache would have to result in a tooth being removed forcibly without anesthesia. No surgery. No medicine except witchcraft and shamanism.

I expect adulthood was accelerated. If one looks back just to the middle ages, there are many examples of teenage military leaders. Harald Hardrada fought in his first battle at around 15 years old, and was a king by 18. In caveman times, I imagine they had to be adults after puberty with sexual lives beginning as soon as puberty arrives, if not earlier. And, middle age set in around 17 and by 28, a man is an elder. Those that made it past 35 probably became renowned as so old that their reckoning could take them back to the little children's great great grandparents. The one guy who still hangs on through 40s and into his 50s in good health was probably looked at as magical.

However, menarch would be delayed depending on the quality of life. Nature won't let a woman get pregnant before she can handle it. A 12 yo cave girl would not have the resources to carry a baby to term I think.

Careful... we'll start calling you cave man Aiken, with all these "nature's ways" theories....

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Meh, women in stressed conditions tend to spontaneously abort.

Legitimate stressed conditions.

[Audley Strange]

What we really need is Celebrity Lord of The Flies. Dump the fucks on an island with some machetes and cocaine and film the ensuing hilarity. It might make popular culture rise from being beneath my contempt to being worthy of it.

As for the habits of the caveman. You've got to remember that during the late paleolithic they were freezing their balls off, physical exertion would have been kept to a minimum, so I'd actually imagine they had a lot of downtime by necessity.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Some of them found important things to do.

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

draft_lens1499509module32629282photo_1241976141CaveGirl.jpg (47.02 KiB) Viewed 2030 times

[Tero]

Why don't we just ask Rum? He did maintenance.

[klr]

They didn't have as much spare time as you might think. They had classes on how to avoid dangerous dinosaurs:


... BTW, I love how the term "Thagomizer" is now scientifically kosher.

[klr]

Maybe they did home improvement:

[klr]

... or experimented:

[Svartalf]

They didn't have as much spare time as you might think. They had classes on how to avoid dangerous dinosaurs:


... BTW, I love how the term "Thagomizer" is now scientifically kosher.

Life pursuin art.

[cowiz]

I would work towards becoming Captain Caveman. Everything else, a waste of time.

[klr]

... they worked out what they would look like in Lego:

[Pappa]

It's been estimated that hunter-gatherers use only four hours a day on all their practical needs, including hunting and gathering, making and repairing their tools/weapons/equipment/dwellings. Lots of anthropological reports also show that hunter-gatherers spend quite a lot of time lazing about. Plus, the distinction between work and play isn't so clear cut as it is for us. You can mend a bow or process food while sitting talking with friends, and I'm sure tracking game and hunting is a pretty enjoyable type of "work". While women tend to put more time and energy into gathering than men do hunting (and also provide more energy/protein too), the task of gathering is far from drudgery and is usually a community activity.

[klr]

It's been estimated that hunter-gatherers use only four hours a day on all their practical needs, including hunting and gathering, making and repairing their tools/weapons/equipment/dwellings. Lots of anthropological reports also show that hunter-gatherers spend quite a lot of time lazing about. Plus, the distinction between work and play isn't so clear cut as it is for us. You can mend a bow or process food while sitting talking with friends, and I'm sure tracking game and hunting is a pretty enjoyable type of "work". While women tend to put more time and energy into gathering than men do hunting (and also provide more energy/protein too), the task of gathering is far from drudgery and is usually a community activity.

Yup, that's one area where "primitive" societies tend to be better than us. Although early cavemen wouldn't be much for talking.