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The fact of the matter is that we don't know a lot about how our ancient ancestors behaved—what they ate is on the firmest footing, but most of the evidence the
by rflrob 9y ago
The fact of the matter is that we don't know a lot about how our ancient ancestors behaved—what they ate is on the firmest footing, but most of the evidence there is based on residues found on the teeth of skeletons. Just about the only thing we can firmly say about how our ancestors chose mates is that, at some point circa 50,000 years ago, some mated with Neanderthals.
There's long history of people speculating about our early ancestors, and the consistency with which they reflect the biases of the era in which the speculation is done, rather than being based on strong empirical evidence (which, I'll grant, is really hard to come by) makes me deeply skeptical of the whole endeavor.
- stcredzero 9y agoWe also have neanderthal coprolites. https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/06/140625-neanderthal-poop-diet-ancient-science-archaeology/ https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/06/140625-nean...
- eternalban 9y ago> The fact of the matter is that we don't know a lot about how our ancient ancestors behaved But we know for certain what they came up with in reaction to whatever they were doing before. The reaction appears to have been nearly universal: Patriarchal family.
- blacksmith_tb 9y agoNearly universal may be overstating things somewhat, judging by recent human history[1]. Common, though. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_matrilineal_or_matrilocal_societies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_matrilineal_or_matrilo...