Sunday 13 January 2013

Cave men?



 Yes, some primitive people, both Neanderthal and Homo sapiens, do seem to have stayed in caves from time to time.

 Unfortunately Doggerland, which is the land of SONG HUNTER:



(this map is of the area much later than 40,000 years ago when the book is set, but you get the idea)was home to cave bears as well as Neanderthals, and cave bears lived in...

...but the name gives the answer away, doesn't it.

 Cave bears were about as large as the largest bears alive nowadays, and on the whole primitive people seem not to have argued too loudly about squatting rights when they found a bear in residence in a cave.

 Well, who would want to live in a cave, anyway? Caves are damp and cold and dark.

 They’re pretty rare, too. I mean, where’s your nearest cave? Is it within commuting distance of school, or the office?

 All right. So where would you live, then?

 And how would you keep warm?

 
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2 comments:

  1. adele14 January 2013 at 09:11

    I think I would try and dig a hole of some kind and burrow down...but with what would I dig? WHAT ENORMOUS PROBLEMS!! What about smoking a bear out of a cave and taking over? Bear might eat you on his way out, though. No, I have no answer and would have been HOMELESS....tents made of skins? Oh dear....long live bricks and mortar!

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  2. Sally Prue14 January 2013 at 10:04

    I think I'd burrow, too, Adele, and then stretch pegged-dwon hides across the top to form a roof. You could dig with a flint.

    You couldn't have a tent because you'd have no wood to make tent poles, though there is some evidence that people used mammoth tusks for this purpose.

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