History Main / AllCavemenWereNeanderthals

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

Just for the record, compared to modern man (''Homo sapiens sapiens''), the Neanderthal man was either a separate species (''Homo neanderthalensis'') or a subspecies (''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), probably depending on who you ask. They evolved in Eurasia while we evolved in {{UsefulNotes/Africa}}). While closely related to modern humans, it's believed that they were not our ancestors, except perhaps in a small way -- evidence from the Neanderthal Genome Project shows that interbreeding occurred between Neanderthals and ''H. sapiens'' in the UsefulNotes/MiddleEast 80,000 to 50,000 years ago, while in Europe, interbreeding is also believed to have occurred, as populations of modern humans and Neanderthals coexisted for around the same time. Most Caucasians and Asians seem to have a bit of Neanderthal DNA, while people of entirely African descent have none because there were never Neanderthals in Africa, while Polynesian and Oceanian DNA shows signs of interbreeding with a different close relative of humanity, the Denisovans, as the Neanderthals never ranged that far eastward. Since the Neanderthals were hardier than Cro-Magnons, there is evidence that they were better at handling certain common illnesses endemic to temperate and colder climates, and interbreeding transferred genes that are of direct benefit to the functioning of our immune system.

Just for the record, compared to modern man (''Homo sapiens sapiens''), the Neanderthal man was either a separate species (''Homo neanderthalensis'') or a subspecies (''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), probably depending on who you ask. They evolved in Eurasia while we evolved in Africa. While closely related to modern humans, it's believed that they were not our ancestors, except perhaps in a small way -- evidence from the Neanderthal Genome Project shows that interbreeding occurred between Neanderthals and ''H. sapiens'' in the Middle East 80,000 to 50,000 years ago, while in Europe, interbreeding is also believed to have occurred, as populations of modern humans and Neanderthals coexisted for around the same time. Most Caucasians and Asians seem to have a bit of Neanderthal DNA, while people of entirely African descent have none because there were never Neanderthals in Africa, while Polynesian and Oceanian DNA shows signs of interbreeding with a different close relative of humanity, the Denisovans, as the Neanderthals never ranged that far eastward. Since the Neanderthals were hardier than Cro-Magnons, there is evidence that they were better at handling certain common illnesses endemic to temperate and colder climates, and interbreeding transferred genes that are of direct benefit to the functioning of our immune system.

This is usually a case of poor research; the author is basing the caveman, not on the Cro-Magnons (the first generation of anatomical humans to inhabit Europe), but on the Neanderthals, who were stockier and likely stronger, but still ''shorter'' than Cro-Magnon man. It's almost as if in fiction humanity evolved from the FrazettaMan. The trope was invented by the fact that one of the first prehistoric skeletons was of a heavily arthritic old man with osteoporosis. Scientists mistakenly assumed he was the norm and not an outlier.

* ''VideoGame/{{Prehistorik}}'''s terrible [[http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/prehistorik-2013/ reboot]] noticeably redesigns the protagonist to make him look more like a neanderthal, with much bigger arms and slightly hunched-over posture.

* Averted in ''Film/QuestForFire'', which focuses on interactions between a Neanderthal tribe, a more advanced Cro-Magnon tribe, and what appear to be other species of hominid. See below under Literature for more.

* Averted in Creator/ManlyWadeWellman's novella "Battle in the Dawn" and its sequels, which revolve around struggles between Cromagnons and Neanderthals; Wellman was writing before the theory of the two species interbreeding had been picked up, and assumed that all interactions between them must have been violent. While the Neanderthals (or [[CallARabbitASmeerp "Knorrls"]], as they're called in-universe) are your classic [[FrazettaMan subhuman monsters]], the Cro-Magnons are the viewpoints characters, and Wellman writes them as basically human - although [[DeliberateValuesDissonance still very strange and brutal to our modern sensibilities]].

* ''Series/PowerRangersDinoCharge'': Averted. Koda is over 100,000 years old, so well within the time Neanderthals were still alive, but is not one, as he is intellectually and physically indistinguishable from a modern human.

* ''WesternAnimation/RockyKwaterner'': Averted; Rocky, a Cro-Magnon boy from 35000 years ago, doesn’t look that different from modern day humans, and thus easily blends in appearance wise. He also averts the stereotype of cavemen being dumb brutes; he has learned to speak modern day French and is capable of learning how modern tools and technology work.

** "WesternAnimation/PrehystericalHare" had Elmer Fuddstone, from the year 10,000 B.C. Downplayed in that he spoke in a mash of Fudd-ese and YouNoTakeCandle speech.

** "Prehysterical Hare" pitted Elmer Fudd as such a caveman but only he spoke in a mash of Fudd-ese and Hulk-speak.

* Real Life has a wide variety of "cavemen," including ''Homo'' species ''habilis'', ''heidelbergensis'', ''erectus'', ''floresiensis'' (the famous "hobbits", these fellows were around 3 1/2 feet tall), and ''neanderthalensis'', the Neanderthals. The evidence is that Neanderthals were not dumb brutes but capable of complex tool industries, some small level of symbolism, and possibly complex speech. They also buried their dead and seem to have developed some sort of religion. They also had larger brain cases than we do. They did not, however, seem to have much creativity and stuck with one or two tool industries for their entire span of existence, one of which may (or may not) have been their attempt to mimic ''H. sapiens'' tools, though this may be because only the stone tools have survived to modernity. While Neanderthals had more muscle mass than ''H. sapiens'' and would've been physically stronger, their limbs were less suited for throwing spears and thus they were inferior hunters, and they would've had less endurance than ''H. sapiens''. In Europe there was a significant degree of interbreeding between Neanderthals and Cro-Mangons, with all modern humans of European descent having a significant amount of Neanderthal DNA. This has led to speculation that Neanderthal extinction didn't come from being killed or out-competed by the ''H. sapiens'' population, but by being absorbed into it.

This is usually a case of poor research; the author is basing the caveman, rather than on Cro-Magnon humans, on the Neanderthals who were stockier and likely stronger, but still ''shorter'' than Cro-Magnon man. It's almost as if in fiction humanity evolved from the FrazettaMan. The trope was invented by the fact that one of the first prehistoric skeletons was of a heavily arthritic old man with osteoporosis. Scientists mistakenly assumed he was the norm and not an outlier.

Just for the record, compared to modern man (''Homo sapiens sapiens''), the Neanderthal man was either a separate species (''Homo neanderthalensis'') or a subspecies (''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), probably depending on who you ask. They evolved in Eurasia while we evolved in Africa. They were not our ancestors, except perhaps in a small way -- evidence from the Neanderthal Genome Project shows that small-scale interbreeding occurred between Neanderthals and ''H. sapiens'' in the Middle East 80,000 to 50,000 years ago. Most Caucasians and Asians seem to have a bit of Neanderthal DNA, while people of entirely African descent have none because there were never Neanderthals in Africa. Since the Neanderthals were hardier than Cro-Magnons, there is evidence that they were better at handling certain common illnesses endemic to temperate and colder climates, and interbreeding transferred genes that are of direct benefit to the functioning of our immune system.

This is usually a case of poor research; the author is basing the caveman, rather than on Cro-Magnon humans, on the Neanderthals who were stockier and likely stronger, but ''still'' shorter than Cro-Magnon man. It's almost as if in fiction humanity evolved from the FrazettaMan. The trope was invented by the fact that one of the first prehistoric skeletons was of a heavily arthritic old man with osteoporosis. Scientists mistakenly assumed he was the norm and not an outlier.

Just for the record, compared to modern man (''Homo sapiens sapiens''), the Neanderthal man was either a separate species (''Homo neanderthalensis'') or a subspecies (''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), probably depending on who you ask. They evolved in Eurasia while we evolved in Africa. They were not our ancestors, except perhaps in a small way -- there is the hypothesis, now backed by evidence from the Neanderthal Genome Project, that small-scale interbreeding occurred between Neanderthals and ''H. sapiens'' in the Middle East 80,000 to 50,000 years ago. Most Caucasians and Asians seem to have a bit of Neanderthal DNA, while people of entirely African descent have none because there were never Neanderthals in Africa. Since the Neanderthals were hardier than Cro-Magnons, there is evidence that they were better at handling certain common illnesses endemic to temperate and colder climates, and interbreeding transferred genes that are of direct benefit to the functioning of our immune system.

This is usually a double case of artistic liberties -- most often, Neanderthal cavemen are depicted as [[HistoricalDowngrade nothing but simple, dumb brutes capable of barely a grunt]]. The various sciences researching them indicate that this is untrue, too -- in fact, they had ''larger'' brains than humans.[[note]] Although that extra brainpower was directed to different places than in a modern human; Neanderthals had a much larger occipital lobe, which processes visual information. This somewhat came at the expense of the frontal lobe (which in modern humans is disproportionately large), which governs higher functions. Neanderthals also lacked the ability to form complex societies (their groups were far smaller on average than a modern human tribe). It is also thought that Neanderthals had a longer gestation period and faster maturation rate, both of which hinder mental growth, though the latter has been largely disproven and it is now thought that Neanderthals had a similar maturation rate to Homo sapiens.[[/note]] They were creative enough to know how to make glue from pitch and to make clothing and art, conducted funerary rituals similar to early modern humans, and used a complex technique for making tools called Levallois and later Mosterian, which modern humans also used at the same time. Considering they had to endure Arctic-level conditions, they really weren't dumber than modern humans, just different.

This is usually a double case of artistic liberties -- most often, Neanderthal cavemen are depicted as [[HistoricalDowngrade nothing but simple, dumb brutes capable of barely a grunt]]. The various sciences researching them indicate that this is untrue, too -- in fact, they had ''larger'' brains than humans.[[note]] Although that extra brainpower was directed to different places than in a modern human; Neanderthals had a much larger occipital lobe, which processes visual information. This somewhat came at the expense of the frontal lobe (which in modern humans is disproportionately large), which governs higher functions. Neanderthals also lacked the ability to form complex societies (their groups were far smaller on average than a modern human tribe). It is also thought that Neanderthals had a longer gestation period and faster maturation rate, both of which hinder mental growth, though the latter has been largely disproven and it is now thought that Neanderthals had a similar maturation rate to Homo sapiens.[[/note]] They were creative enough to know how to make glue from pitch and to make clothing and art, and used a complex technique for making tools called Levallois and later Mosterian, which modern humans also used at the same time. Considering they had to endure Arctic-level conditions, they really weren't dumber than modern humans, just different.

%%* ''Film/{{Eegah}}'': Played straight with the titular caveman.

[[folder:Film]]
* The Troglodytes in ''Film/BoneTomahawk'' are superhumanly strong, ugly, and stupid.

Whenever a cave man is depicted in media, he will often be TheBigGuy, having more muscles and stature than his descendants. This is especially true if he's a regular character who has somehow been [[DevolutionDevice de-evolved]], but usually it's a defrosted HumanPopsicle scenario. They're typically rather unintelligent or at least simple-minded, and highly unsophisticated on a technical level -- most will be (sometimes literally) knuckle-walking brutes who speak in a vocabulary-deprived HulkSpeak, [[PeltsOfTheBarbarian clad in primitive animal pelts]] and fighting with simple PrimitiveClubs. The may have just mastered a haphazard control over fire, and the brighter specimens may be all abuzz about new and experimental technologies such as the wheel.

This is usually a double case of artistic liberties -- most often, Neanderthal cavemen are depicted as nothing but simple, dumb brutes capable of barely a grunt. The various sciences researching them indicate that this is untrue, too -- in fact, they had ''larger'' brains than humans.[[note]] Although that extra brainpower was directed to different places than in a modern human; Neanderthals had a much larger occipital lobe, which processes visual information. This somewhat came at the expense of the frontal lobe (which in modern humans is disproportionately large), which governs higher functions. Neanderthals also lacked the ability to form complex societies (their groups were far smaller on average than a modern human tribe). It is also thought that Neanderthals had a longer gestation period and faster maturation rate, both of which hinder mental growth, though the latter has been largely disproven and it is now thought that Neanderthals had a similar maturation rate to Homo sapiens.[[/note]] They were creative enough to know how to make glue from pitch and to make clothing and art, and used a complex technique for making tools called Levallois and later Mosterian, which modern humans also used at the same time. Considering they had to endure Arctic-level conditions, they really weren't dumber than modern humans, just different.

** Subverted with Casper Caveman in "Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur," who talked like Jack Benny (voice of Jack Lescoulie).

Whenever a [[OneMillionBC cave man]] is depicted in media, he will often be TheBigGuy, having more muscles and stature than his descendants. This is especially true if he's a regular character who has somehow been [[DevolutionDevice de-evolved]], but usually it's a defrosted HumanPopsicle scenario. They're typically rather unintelligent or at least simple-minded, and highly unsophisticated on a technical level -- most will be (sometimes literally) knuckle-walking brutes who speak in a vocabulary-deprived HulkSpeak, [[PeltsOfTheBarbarian clad in primitive animal pelts]] and fighting with simple PrimitiveClubs. The may have just mastered a haphazard control over fire, and the brighter specimens may be all abuzz about new and experimental technologies such as the wheel.

* ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'': Every depiction of cavemen follows this model. They're short and bulky, with wide torsos, small heads and big brow ridges, but with the exception of the brow ridge they more or less look like every other human character in the strips. They're otherwise primitive, simple folk who only wear loincloths, inhabit the badlands and jungles of OneMillionBC, wield crude clubs, speak in broken English and are just beginning to figure out the simplest rudiments of the world. One strip has a bunch of Cro-Magnon taunting the Neanderthals from afar... but look exactly alike.