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Caveman
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A caveman is a popular stock character based upon stereotyped concepts of the way in which early prehistoric humans or homininans may have looked and behaved. The cliché of "cavemen" originates with the discovery of Neanderthal remains. The term caveman, sometimes used colloquially to refer to Neanderthals or Cro-Magnon (Homo sapiens of the Paleolithic era) has dropped from serious use because of its inaccuracy and dependence on certain misconceptions about early humans.
he past, many people shared the view of the 17th-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes that the life of the human being without "civilization" was "...solitary, poore [sic], nasty, brutish and short".
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A caveman is a popular stock character based upon stereotyped concepts of the way in which early prehistoric humans or homininans may have looked and behaved. The cliché of "cavemen" originates with the discovery of Neanderthal remains. The term caveman, sometimes used colloquially to refer to Neanderthals or Cro-Magnon (Homo sapiens of the Paleolithic era) has dropped from serious use because of its inaccuracy and dependence on certain misconceptions about early humans.
Archetype
In the past, many people shared the view of the 17th-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes that the life of the human being without "civilization" was "...solitary, poore [sic], nasty, brutish and short". Heraldic "wildmen" or woodwoses occurred in European iconography for a long time, often shown as bearded, hairy all over and carrying huge clubs, but they were not always depicted as brutishly subhuman; in fact, often they're shown as fine physical specimens, influenced by classical depictions of Hercules. Existing prejudices concerning Pygmies and other primitive peoples informed the perception of cavemen. The modern scientific perception of prehistoric lifestyle is now that of the hunter-gatherer.
In these popularizations cavemen are portrayed as wearing shaggy animal hides, and armed with bone or wood clubs, unintelligent, and aggressive. Furthermore, cavemen are often shown as living in caves, where the ritual paintings had been found; t 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 "living in a hole" have become cultural metaphors for a modern human who supposedly displays traits of brutishness or extreme ignorance. See also troglodyte.
Other errors in the "caveman" archetype include:
- Humans did not begin wearing clothing until (at most) 107,000 years ago. Cavewoman clothing is commonly portrayed as covering the breasts; this owes more to Western mores than historical fact
- Neolithic weaponry incorporated a wide range, including spears, stones, slings, axes and bows; not just clubs
- "Cavemen" were of largely similar intelligence to modern humans
Stereotypes in culture
In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World (1912) ape-men are depicted in a fight with modern humans. Edgar Rice Burroughs adapted this idea for The Land That Time Forgot (1915). A genre of caveman movies emerged, typified by D. W. Griffith's Man's Genesis (1912); they inspired Charles Chaplin's satiric take, in His Prehistoric Past (1914) as well as Brute Force (1914), The Cave Man (1912), and later Cave Man (1934). From the descriptions, Griffiths's characters can't talk (handy for a silent film), and use sticks and stones for weapons, while the hero of Cave Man is a Tarzan-like figure who fights dinosaurs.
Depictions of the Paleolithic in the media
In fiction, especially as pure entertainment or satire, cavemen are sometimes depicted as living contemporaneously with dinosaurs, a situation contradicted by archaeological and paleontological evidence which shows that non-avian dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago, at which time true primates had not yet appeared.
In popular culture, the comic strips B.C., Alley Oop and occasionally The Far Side, and Gogs, portray "cavemen" in that way. The animated television series The Flintstones, a spoof on family sitcoms, portrays the Flintstones, not in caves, but in 1950s-1960s ranch-style homes that suggested caves and had stone fittings.
Stereotypical cavemen are also often featured in advertising, including advertisements for Minute Maid. More recently, GEICO launched a series of humorous 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. The GEICO advertisements spawned a TV series called Cavemen (TV series) which is currently on indefinite hiatus.
Documentaries
Caveman characters
Movies
- His Prehistoric Past, 1914 Charlie Chaplin silent film
- Three Ages, 1923 Buster Keaton silent film
- Flying Elephants, 1928 Laurel and Hardy silent film
- One Million B.C., 1940
- Mysterious Island (half a dozen films)
- Caveman Inki, 1950 (Warner Brothers Chuck Jones cartoon)
- Teenage Caveman, 1958 Roger Corman film and 2002 TV series
- Eegah, 1962
- One Million Years B.C., 1966
- It's About Time (TV series 1966-67)
- When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, 1970
- Planet of Dinosaurs, 1971
- The Land That Time Forgot, 1975
- The People That Time Forgot, 1977
- Caveman, 1981
- History of the World, Part I, 1981
- Quest for Fire, 1981
- Luggage of the Gods!, 1983
- Iceman, 1984
- The Clan of the Cave Bear, 1986
- Encino Man, 1992
- The Flintstones, 1994
- Bikini Cavegirl, 2004
- 10,000 BC, 2008
Novels
Plays
- ''Defending the Caveman, Broadway 1995–1997, worldwide tour 1997--2008
See also
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