{"id":100,"date":"2024-11-30T21:05:13","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T04:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciencegonnagetyou.com\/?p=100"},"modified":"2024-11-29T16:48:32","modified_gmt":"2024-11-29T23:48:32","slug":"8-facts-prehistoric-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciencegonnagetyou.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/30\/8-facts-prehistoric-people\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Intriguing Facts about Prehistoric People"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Prehistoric, Stone age, Cro-Magnon, Paleolithic, Primitive, Cavemen… so many names for people who lived before our current civilization today. While reduced in our minds to cartoonish oafs like Captain Caveman or stone versions our society like the Flintstones, their lives were different than ours in almost every imaginable way. So to set the stage for our trip through the Science of Society, let’s take a moment to reflect on our modern 21st century life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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What materials is your home made from?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
How do you get around?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
What do you eat? Where does your food come from?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
How do you spend your free time?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
What are your most prized possessions? How are they made?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
What do you want to do for a living? How will you learn do to it?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
How do you communicate with other people?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Now reflect back on the questions above. What would change if you only had the materials nature provided to survive?<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nHow would you make everything you needed if you only had plant parts, animals parts and rocks?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
1. Prehistoric people moved around a lot<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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With no stores or farming invented yet, the earliest people were nomadic. But don’t think they were wandering aimlessly! They rotated through seasonal locations when fish spawned in rivers, fruit trees and berry bushes ripened and animal migration patterns provided for them. This means they moved to several different locations through the year as climate, food and water resources were seasonally favorable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And as you will see, this lifestyle impacted everything else about their existence!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\nNomadic people move seasonally as nature provides food, water and climate conducive to survival in different locations.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
2. Simple dwellings that could be moved or abandoned easily<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Anyone who has ever moved knows how difficult it is to pack up and reset a home, but just imagine how different life would be if you had to move several times each year! Homes for the earliest people were categorically different from ours in 2 major ways. Firstly, they only had rocks, plant and animal parts as they are found in nature. No perfectly milled lumber or identically shaped bricks, we’re talking natural materials. Secondly, nomads don’t need large permeant structures, so quick shelters in caves or from accessible materials were the best use of the time and energy. Unfortunately, their use of natural materials means most evidence of their homes has long biodegraded away.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\nAnimal hides to carry belongings could be wrapped around branches in new locations to make a quick shelter.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nBark teepees are quick in areas with big trees.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
3. Prehistoric survival skills were taught by “elders”<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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This fact might be a favorite of many students, but the earliest humans didn’t have formal schooling. Without consistent food sources and modern medicine to heal illnesses and wounds, the average life expectancy was around 30. Children began participating in survival activities as soon as they could walk and communicate. By “middle age”, teenagers were well versed in hunting, fishing, foraging, fire building tool making and storytelling and began teaching the next generation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\nCan you make a fire with this?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nCan you eat this?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
4. Energy was acquired from any available source<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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With no grocery stores or fast food, lots of physical and mental energy was dedicated to finding food. Next time you’re in nature, look around for food. Not just edible fruits, but roots, leaves, bark and flowers that provide nutrition and medicinal treatments. And to add another layer of difficulty, which plants will upset your stomach, make your skin itch or poison someone?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then there are animals. Knowing their behavior patterns, homes and prey provide clues to how to harvest them to eat. Setting traps and making tools to collect these animals and then harvest them to eat required so much knowledge to be shared within a tribe.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\nWhat animal was here recently?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nShould I touch this plant?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe answers are moose and no, it’s called Devil’s club and it will make you want to claw your skin off!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
5. Sparse free time meant little innovation<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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After long days finding food, not getting eaten and ensuring a safe shelter for sleep, free time was largely spent around a fire preparing for the next day. In a firelit circle, members of tribes would have busy hands fixing stone and wood tools and stitching animal hides together with hair and bone needles. Music from hides stretched over gourds and bone flutes provided the perfect background for songs about migration patterns or hunting conquests. (Check out the oldest instruments on Earth<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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