Caveman

For other uses, see Caveman (disambiguation).

File:Ad bibo caveman.JPG

A typical depiction of a caveman, as seen in a Minute Maid advertisement.

A caveman is a popular stylized characterization of how early humans or hominids may have looked and behaved. The term is sometimes used colloquially to refer to Neanderthals, Cro-Magnon, or Homo sapiens of the Paleolithic era.

The term has been discouraged for its inaccuracy, as it mostly refers to misconceptions of early humans. In the past, many people shared the view of the 17th century philosopher Thomas Hobbes that the life of a human being without civilization was "...solitary, poore, nasty, brutish and short". The modern scientific perception of prehistoric lifestyle is now that of the hunter-gatherer.

Cavemen are usually portrayed as being hairy, clothed in animal skins, armed with bone or wood clubs, unintelligent, and aggressive. Stereotypical depictions of cavemen tend to show them using clubs to knock out potential mates, then carrying or dragging her by the hair to his cave. They are often shown as living contemporaneously with dinosaurs, a situation totally contradicted by archaeological and paleontological evidence which shows that dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago, at which time the only mammals were small, furry, and four-footed. Furthermore, cavemen are often shown as living in caves; but this stemmed from the ritual paintings found in caves: it is more probable that the caves were religious gathering places or temporary shelter, and not the actual dwellings of the supposed 'cavemen'. Thus, expressions such as "caveman" or "living in a cave" have become cultural metaphors for a modern human who supposedly displays traits of brutishness or extreme ignorance.

The comic strips B.C., Alley Oop and occasionally The Far Side, as well as the 1960s American animated television series The Flintstones portray "cavemen" in that way (although the Flintstones did not live in caves, but in 1950s-1960s ranch-style homes that suggested caves). Similarly, cavemen are also often seen in advertising, including advertisements for Minute Maid. More recently, GEICO has launched a series of television commercials and attempts at viral marketing, collectively known as the GEICO Cavemen advertising campaign, where GEICO announcers are repeatedly denounced by modern cavemen for perpetuating a stereotype of unintelligent, backward cavemen.

Depictions of the Paleolithic in the media

• Walking with Cavemen

Caveman characters

• Captain Caveman
• The Flintstones
• The Resurrection of Jimber-Jaw 1937 short story by Edgar Rice Burroughs about an unfrozen 50,000 year-old caveman and his politically incorrect views. [1]
• Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer, a Saturday Night Live sketch
• Offended Caveman, from GEICO advertising campaign
• Yahoo in Gulliver's Travels
• J. P. Manoux, plays Curtis the Caveman on the Disney show "Phil of the Future"
• Bob from Prometheus and Bob on KaBlam! on Nickelodeon
• Cave Guy, a villain on Freakazoid

Caveman movies

• Three Ages, 1923
• One Million Years B.C., 1966
• Caveman, 1981
• Quest for Fire, 1981
• Luggage of the Gods, 1983
• Iceman, 1984
• The Clan of the Cave Bear, 1986
• Encino Man, 1993
• Bikini Cavegirl, 2004

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Caveman novels

• A is for AARRGH
• Earth's Children series
  • The Clan of the Cave Bear 1980
  • The Valley of Horses 1982
  • The Mammoth Hunters 1985
  • The Plains of Passage 1990
  • The Shelters of Stone 2002

See Also

• Human evolution
• Paleolithic
• Cro-Magnon
• Neanderthals

External links

• Online community of people who strive to emulate the diet and fitness of cavemen