How much do we know about the first people living on our planet? There are so many researchers working around the world trying their best to solve various mysteries regarding our predecessors! Still, the majority of people are basing their knowledge about the first generations of humans on the way they are presented in films and cartoons. Needless to say, this is not always true. Actually, there are lots of myths related to over predecessors. This article will shed some light on what is the truth about the first people and what is not.
The first people lived at the same time when our planet was a home to dinosaurs
There are several popular cartoons showing peculiar scenes of ancient people living on our planet with dinosaurs at the same time. Certainly, it looks impressive and curious. Yet, we should understand it is just a trick used in art rather than a real fact,
Still, there are many theories telling us people and dinosaurs are actually coming from the same epoch. Some people are sure that people have already existed during the time when dinosaurs were populating the Earth. Others believe our predecessors lived together with gigantic beasts because the latter were still alive when the first people evolved here. Finally, there are even such individuals who will tell you that people were the reason for the extinction of dinosaurs who was a great source of protein for humans.
What does make people believe in such theories? One of the major argument is the fact there are many legends about dragons which can be found in rather distant cultures flourishing in different parts of the world.
It is crucial to understand that people and dinosaurs had no chances to be neighbours on Earth no matter how romantic it might seem to modern people. It is a scientific fact that dinosaurs got extinct 65 million years ago whereas first hominids appeared only around two million years ago.
The maximum contact humans could have with dinosaurs was possible through prugatorius which was a small animal resembling a mixture of a mouse and a squirrel. In all likelihood, this creature was a predecessor of primates and it actually lived on our planet while dinosaurs were still there.
Ancient people loved clubs a lot
Try to imagine ancient people right now and in all likelihood you will see an image of a person standing with a large and heavy club. Somehow, this image of the first people is particularly loved by the creators of films and cartoons. According to them, ancient people were going around with this tool all the time and used it for killing animals as well as for protecting themselves especially against machairodontinae, an extinct animal popularly known as a sable-toothed cat. By the way, this is one more widespread myths about ancient times since almost all of these mammals had already been extinct before the first people evolved.
When a club is not used, it can be carried on the shoulder or used for walking.
Actually, ancient people had never been crazy about clubs. This weapon is not thus convenient either for killing your animals, hunting or just for carrying it with you. The favourite weapon of our predecessors was a spear which was a way more lighter, compact, has a narrow ending making the attack more effective and, on top of that, spears can be used for throwing as an arrow into your enemy in case of emergency.
As you can see, ancient people really did not have a need to carry bulky clubs with themselves, especially since they really knew how to make thin and elegant spears.
A curious fact is that the image of an ancient person carrying a club is not thus modern even though the contemporary film producers really love it. In all likelihood, it had already evolved during the Medieval time which is obvious if you check the depiction of the first people in the works of scholars from that period. There was even a popular belief into wild people with clubs living in the forests who were a kind of barbarians.
Ancient people used to live in caves
There is nothing strange in a popular myth about ancient people living in caves since they are popularly referred as cavemen which was a name used by the authors living during the antiquity period. In addition to it, the majority of remains of the first people are found in caves which certainly gives an impression of people living in these places.
This belief is not true at all. Our predecessors did not like to live in caves since these natural “houses” were rather wet and cold inside whereas many of them also had winds.
Caves were used by ancient people indeed. Yet, there were utilised as places for storing food and other possessions. Moreover, various religious rituals were usually organised in caves as well. Still, the fact the majority of remains of ancient people can be found in caves is not the result of those people occupying caves. The reason is simple – their bodies and artifacts were better preserved in case even though the ones found today is only a fraction of the remains which were outside caves.