Who,d survive longest? A neolithic man or a modern man, in the wilds. No mod cons!!?

Question

coz we think man has progressed so far! Yeah right!!

Answer 1

I am amazed anyone could imagine a modern man would win!

Neolithic man would had an intimate knowledge of all the flora and fauna, weather patterns, animal migrations, seasonal availability of food, medicine plants and how to use them; also would be strong and resourceful and tough as old boots.

He was a clever tool maker and had knowledge and rituals. Modern man doesn't even have calluses on his hands 90% of the time and is on the whole ignorant of nature and what is edible and how to gather/hunt-kill it.

Seems like modern man would fail totally, in my mind.

Answer 2

The modern man would survive the longest, modern people are smarter and would eventually be able to adapt, Neolithic men had very shortlifespan and modern conveniences(sp?) havent been around that long for Homo-sapien-sapiens. I think that if the modern man had enough time to adapt(ie was born into it) he/she would be easily able to survive. Study history, the amazons(Sapiens) and the Incas(Sapiens) and the Romans(Sapiens) survived quite well. Neolithic men had a lifespan of 20 years!! that means i would be an old man by now, how would they be able to compete with someone who could build better projectiles and have knowledge of the world around. Given enough time with enough modern men, the recreation of the middle ages could be achieved with hard work and the slash and burning of woods to create farming land which would lead to greater and greater population meaning better surviabiltity. The neolithic man would have to hunt and the numbers would stay smaller.

Answer 3

The neolithic man would win due to the primary instincts being more intune and their brain functions are considerd to be different to the modern man...then again I think Ray Mears would do OK

But by modern man do you mean a 'western' man because many tribes around the world haven't changed there traditions for centuries and would have the same abilities as our ancestors would have had.

Answer 4

A good question and some good answers.
Many people in the USA think that "roughing it" means when there is no room service in the motel where they are staying.
When people get lost in a forest or out on the desert, they do the stupidest things because they have no training, and many die needlessly of hunger, thirst, fatigue and exposure.
A modern man could survive well in the wilds as long as he had his cell phone, pickup truck with a camper trailer, lots of food, a portable TV,GPS system, two way radio etc etc.

Answer 5

Good question. A neolithic man would have the survival skills, but probably wouldn't live too long because of the unsanitary ways he lived and the ways he prepared his food. A modern man, just an everyday Joe would probably get eaten by a deer, because he has no conception of how to survive in the wilderness. A member of the Special Forces, from whichever branch of the military, would probably survive to a ripe old age, though.

Answer 6

Modern man being smarter, bigger, stronger and much more knowledgable. We have better tools, technology, and abilities like the wheel, fire, the idea that cuts can get infected. If you know that you should bind a sprained ankle or boil water before you drink it you are lightyears ahead. What 'neolithic' are you referring to? Early humans were stupid little things. Also we have communication. It aslo depends on what 'man' you are discussing. For instance I can live just about anywhere. A monkey that cannot recognize food or find familiar shelter woudl quickly die, although I need more things, Im also more capable of getting/ creating them. People didnt start living past 35 consistently until modern times.

Answer 7

Easy question. Modern man.

Not because he's stronger, faster or more modern. It's because he has imagination. Neolitic dude was brutal, strong and adapted well to the specific environment he evolved in - ice age. But he lacked any imagination whatsoever, thus he couldn't anticipate change or think ahead or plan - he went by genetic design and adapted to his limitations. Man however has the capacity to imagine and so think ahead. He could anticipate bad weather, correlate tracks to some kind of animal. Neolitic dude never stood a chance when the ice thawed - he was thrust into a world he simply could not adapt to.

Neolitic man in norwary hunting a deer would do well, put him anywhere else and he wouldn't last long.

I'm not saying you put you avarage joe in the forest and he'll win outright, but my argument is that Neolitic man, despite his virtues would not survive outside it's time because again he could not for example make complicated weapons, he could not set traps (a trap requires forthought), he could not imagine other threats. Modern man can do all of these things, modern joe would quicly realise that he would have to eat, so we hould come up with some way to do this. Every human would, we all have a natural instinct to survive, and our ability to imagine (to imagine is to think of what could happen before it does, to relate events to or observations to the real world) that has eneabled to surive and adapt this world to our needs. It is the reason why our species above any other is the dominant one (not that's a good thing)

One last point about all these people saying modern man needs a phone, car gps. You're not thinking about this properly. The reason why we depend on these things is because we're not challanged any more. Our life is without obstacles that existed even 100 years ago. We want to travel, we use the GPS because it's there and it makes our life easier. 200 years ago people learned to used to stars because it made their life easier. If average Joe had been born one thousand years ago he could quite easily surive in any environment, fortuneatly he doesn't have to. He doesn't need to hunt for food, he doesn't need to protect his children or his mate. He doesn't need to find shleter every night. His imagination solved these problems thousands of years ago,

our progress really has been our capacity to build on what other before us have learnt. We don't suffer as our ancestors did because we have found ways to alleiviate that. And every year we get better at it, to the point where our brains need to constantly rewire themselves to exist in a social jungle, not a real one.

Answer 8

Since they are the same species (you didn't say Neanderthal) it comes down to experience. I'd put my money on the Caveman.

However I think a modern man would last longer in the wilderness than a cave man would in the drive thru.

Answer 9

if the neolithic man found flora and fauna he recongised he'd survive longest, modern man would be too busy looking for the plug socket in the nearest tree

Answer 10

I'd say the modern man... who should be educated and able to cope with a variety of problems.