Caveman
|
|
Ad_bibo_caveman.JPG
A caveman is a popular stylized characterization of what early humans or hominids may have looked and behaved like. The term is sometimes used colloquially to refer to Neanderthals or to Homo sapiens of the Palaeolithic era, although popular descriptions of cavemen are usually highly inaccurate.
The term has been discouraged recently for it's inaccuracy, as it mostly refers to modern misconceptions of early man. In the past, many people shared the view of the 17th century philosopher Thomas Hobbes that the life of early man (the state of nature) was "...solitary, poore, nasty, brutish and short".
The term still lives on as an icon in the minds of many, and is seen in many items of popular culture, that are now appearing outdated. Examples include the comic strips B.C. (starting in the 1950s) and Alley Oop ( starting in the 1930s) and the 1960s cartoon The Flintstones.
Cavemen are usually portrayed as being hairy, clothed in animal skins, armed with clubs, unintelligent, and aggressive. They are often shown as living contemporaneously with dinosaurs, a situation totally contradicted by archaeological and paleontological evidence.