Prehistoric Man 101

Individuals or Parts of a Herd

Many humans want to believe that they are single, self-sufficient, well-educated individuals, living among other individuals that are either less or more self-sufficient and educated than they are. When you view the environment through the eyes of a modern human, this belief could be perceived to be true. However, at a scientific level it is not true, because a true individual, according to scientists, are single animal forms that have little connection to or need for other individuals of their own species.

In lower forms of life, single beings make no contact with each other; they even reproduce asexually. In higher forms, such as apes, the orangutang in the wild lives a solitary life for most of the year, making very brief, one-on-one contact with the opposite sex only during the mating season. This great ape could live its whole adult life in isolation from its own kind and be healthy. The orangutang is a self-sufficient individual; whereas, man is not. We need contact with other humans for our well-being and survival. If we are isolated, we will go mad.

If human life were viewed by little green men from Mars, back when the ancestors of humans walked the grasslands of Africa, long before we discovered fire, long before we hunted, these Martians would say that we were not a group of individuals living together. They would say that our muscle form and our muscle function at that time resembled more the animals that we traveled with: wild cattle, wildebeests and zebra. They would list us among the many animals in the great migrating herds. They would list humans not among the carnivores that preyed on the great herds of the African savanna, but as the lion’s prey.

Back then, our ancestors traveled as part of the great herd. Each animal specie within the great herd ate from its own niche. Zebras ate the coarse grass. Wildebeests ate the softer grasses. Wild cattle ate the low grass. Man ate the tubers, seeds and insects. This way, all the different member species of the great herd were able to survive as they moved in waves across the land. Our ancestors traveled with the herd for the protection and safety that only a herd can give to its members. But how can this be? Are we not great hunters? Have we not reached the top of the carnivore’s food chain? We eat shark. We eat bear. We eat carnivores. Yes, we watched and learned our lessons very well. We are at the top of the food chain, but that does not change the fact that our muscles, teeth and tissues are those of a gatherer, not those of a hunter.

If we look at the muscles and tissues in mammals that are hunters, for example, inside the mouth of an African lion we see 30 teeth. Every tooth in his mouth has a form and a function. The muscles in his jaw are also perfect in their form and function. They will drive his fangs through the thick leathery hide of his prey. Remove any of those teeth and you have lessened his chances of survival. Remove his large incisors that he uses to kill and hold his prey and he will starve to death.

Look into your own mouth. Like the lion, your teeth are in sets. Each tooth has a purpose for being there. They are just the right number, the right size and shape, as are the muscles in your jaw, for you to survive. You will notice that your teeth are not at all like the teeth of the flesh-eating lion. Your teeth are not like the teeth of any predator. You might be able to kill a mouse or small bird, but beyond that, your teeth and jaw muscles do not have the right form and function for killing. Human teeth are made for eating fruits, nuts, tubers and soft foods.

Your jaw muscles are still functioning as they did 100,000 years ago, and your muscular form is the same as your prehistoric plant/ insect-eating mother who gave birth to her likeness, who, in turn, gave birth to her likeness, and so on, until your mother gave birth to you. Same form, same function. Their DNA is your DNA.