(De)Constructing the (Re)Constructions of the "Cave Man"
Berman, J. 1999. Bad Hair Days in the Paleolithic: Modern (Re)Constructions of the Cave Man, American Anthropologist:
From his first "scientific" appearance in 1873, the "Cave Man" seems utterly familiar. Although he has never been seen in the flesh, we instantly recognize him in illustrations, art, films, cartoons, and museum displays. His place in human evolutionary time is signalled by several attributes, most of which appear concurrently: he is found in or in front of caves, or in a wild setting confronting savage beasts. He is equipped with (and archaeologically best identified by) stone, wooden, or bone implements, usually associated with hunting or combat. In scientific illustration, he is often quite serious in demeanor, as seems to befit the arduous circumstances of his life. He is attired in fur, which is often draped in ways that shield the wearer from neither the weather nor untoward gazes. Accessories, when they exist, consist of bone, antler, or claw jewelry. His hair is particularly noteworthy: he sports shoulder-length or longer, often unstyled and even unkempt, hair on his head and frequently is bearded. Significant body hair is often depicted. This image is so familiar to us that it is difficult to think of Paleolithic humans as looking any other way. And yet our actual referents for this image are extremely scarce or are belied by the extant paleoarchaeological record.
The distinction between the scientific and popular Cave Man has diverged only recently. However, the shaggy, grunting Cave Man, who fights dinosaurs, talks "rock," and woos prehistoric-bikini-clad Cave Women with a club, is firmly in place, and it is easy to see why.
It is not apathy that supports the visual iconography of the Cave Man, but rather the powerful meanings behind the image as well as an endless array of present and past cultural icons that reinforce and reify its presence. The Cave Man is, in part, a projection of the wild, untamed, uninhibited, aggressive self - a projection, in fact, that explains that self by histoncizing its "uncivilized" elements. That is, the Cave Man relieves the anxiety of the uncivilized parts of oneself by projecting them out ward and backwards in time. The Cave Man can be both debased and noble, expressing nostalgia for our noble animal nature, as well as the negation of civilized society
This paper - which I absolutely adore not only for its subject matter, but the way in which it seemlessly blends social anthropology, archaeology, psychology, and palaeantropology in an effortless manner. (This sort of thing is why I signed up to anthropology in the first place!
It goes on to detail - and question - just how hairy the Cave Man was. And why we want him to have hair (and lots of it).
(This was not what I was supposed to be researching. Not even if I squint...)
