2007-05-09 00:56:37 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
Well, if you've seen the Geico "Caveman commercials", seems they did pretty well.
Just kidding. The real answer (and by the way, your question should read "How did prehistoric man survive?) is - not for long.
"Prehistoric man
Mr and Mrs Cro-Magnon rarely saw out the promised 70-year span, thanks to mastodons and peat bogs. The average life expectancy for our knuckle-dragging ancestors was in the mid-30s - the age at which modern single urban females start weeping about how their lives are over."
or maybe even less than that:
"Impermanent though life is, we are getting more of it these days. It is estimated that the average life span for prehistoric man was only 18 years. In ancient Greece and Rome it was 20-22. Alexander the Great, having conquered the world, died at the ripe old age of 32. Sankara, having conquered the mind, also died at 32. Obviously, the quality of life does not correspond too directly with its quantity. In Europe in the Middle Ages, life expectancy increased to about 33, then to 36 by the 18th century. By 1841 it was 40 for an Englishman, and 42 for his wife. Today it is between 69 and 70 for men, 75 women. A person living to 80 will see 1,000 full moons and 30,000 sunrises. By Hindu tradition, the natural length of human life is 120 years, and some believe this was once the norm in India."
Only 18 - Yikes. They couldn't even drink legally in most states before they kicked the bucket.
Life for prehistoric people really matched Hobbes description:
" . . .the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."
Of course, they weren't really "poor". After all, money hadn't been invented yet.
2007-05-09 11:40:48 · answer #1 · answered by johnslat 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Very carefully. I am happy to see that Geico is using them in their tv ads. Good for them! What a heart warming story of overcoming adversity. A lesson we can all learn from.
2007-05-09 09:41:08 · answer #2 · answered by lorem_ipsum 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
prehisoric man did not survive
2007-05-09 08:05:05 · answer #3 · answered by skipper 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Alien intervention.
signed,
Terminator
2007-05-09 08:04:21 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
only in cartoon network or movies...
2007-05-09 08:09:13 · answer #5 · answered by Siddharth 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They haven't.
2007-05-09 08:09:44 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Do tell.
2007-05-09 09:17:50 · answer #7 · answered by Mr. Vincent Van Jessup 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋