Afterwards, I will give a criticism of it's logic.
Giant mammoths graze the Earth.
Saber-toothed tigers are on the prowl.
It's 10,000 B.C., and one piece of technology stands between early humans and early demise.
Is it bows and arrows? Wrong.
Is it the spear? Nope.
Try the almighty basket -- a handy device that allowed early humans to store the plant materials that made up about 70 percent of their diets.
Surprised? James Adovasio, director of the anthropology and archaeology department at Mercyhurst College, isn't. He says modern media depictions of fur-clad musclemen knocking around big cats and tackling screaming lizards have pumped our heads full of prehistoric hype for years.
The opening of "10,000 B.C.," directed by blockbuster champ Roland Emmerich of "Independence Day" and "The Day After Tomorrow" fame, prompted us to examine the difference between the fluff and facts.
We found that, while Hollywood is generally on the right track, sometimes, Tinseltown tales land way off the mark -- no bones about it.
Hyped history
In "10,000 B.C.," Steven Strait stars as D'Leh, a young mammoth hunter from a remote mountain tribe. When his village is raided and Evolet (Camilla Belle), a girl he has the hots for, is kidnapped, he springs to action.
He and his small band of hunters face harsh climates and fierce predators on their quest to rescue their kin, until at last, their journey brings them to a strange land of slave labor and pyramids.
From what he can gather from watching the trailers, Adovasio said, "10,000 B.C." looks like a "graphically enhanced version of what the average guy on the street" already thinks prehistoric times were like.
"When you say 'late Ice Age,' the first thing you think about is men in furs sticking spears into large mammals," Adovasio said.
Often, he said, Hollywood takes "bits and pieces" of prehistoric findings and creates its own picture of how things were.
Films such as "One Million Years B.C." (1966), show male actors slaying large reptiles, grunting and swiping their way into the hearts of buxom cave damsels -- in this case, Raquel Welch.
Audiences have watched Fred Flintstone make pets of dinosaurs and Pauly Shore make friends with a revived cave dweller in "Encino Man." Though he understands why it's done, Adovasio said these images only perpetuate skewed views.
"Obviously, movies are supposed to be fun," Adovasio said. But the Hollywood version is only a tiny piece of what went down.
Weekend warriors
Among the biggest prehistoric film fallacies is that cavemen fought dinosaurs.
In reality, Dino could never have fetched Fred's morning paper. Dinosaurs lasted only until about 67 million years ago. Humans came way after that.
"No human ever saw a dinosaur," Adovasio said.
There aren't any dinosaurs in "10,000 B.C.," but other discrepancies separate the movie from reality.
Though early man did hunt large animals such as the wooly mammoth, Adovasio says it probably didn't happen often -- because there probably weren't many mammoths.
By 10,000 B.C., Earth was warming up, and mammoths were gone from many areas.
Second, because some studies suggest that early man more often scavenged, eating mammoths that were already dead rather than risking life and limb attacking the gargantuan, elephantlike creatures.
When they did hunt, early humans were more often after smaller game, such as rabbit. The majority of their food wasn't hunted, but gathered.
Trailers for "10,000 B.C." show pyramids in the desert. The main characters are pitted against an ancient empire. But those things weren't likely either.
"In 10,000 B.C, there were no cities, temples, or monumental architecture," Adovasio said. He said large towns didn't show up for another 4,000 or 5,000 years.
Girl power
The biggest differences Adovasio sees have to do with how women are portrayed.
He said women weren't the delicate, cringing sex objects that Hollywood makes them out to be. They were key to the development of early technology, and their work contributions were crucial to everyday survival.
During about 99 percent of humans' 2.6 million-year existence, we have been hunter-gatherers -- people who hunt and forage, rather than raising animals or farming, Adovasio said. While women's activities, including basket weaving, making clothes and gathering nuts, berries and other plants, aren't as exciting as, say, killing large beasts, they were far more important.
Baskets were used for storing, transporting and cooking food. Women not only made them, but they developed the technology to consistently create them.
"While (early men) are out there hitting and missing ducks with bows and arrows, their wives and daughters are collecting the seeds that are the staple," Adovasio said. "All the clothing, women made it. If they didn't make it, (early hunters) would have been standing there naked."
He said objects such as animal bones and spearheads might get an inordinate amount of attention from archeologists because those artifacts survived. Perishable artifacts, such as snares, nets, sandals and clothing are unearthed far less often, but were far more beneficial.
But Adovasio doesn't want to discourage anyone from seeing "10,000 B.C." He's not so sure a true historical representation of the time period would be very interesting.
"We want to be entertained, not bored," he said. "Who wants to go to a movie and see people chasing the wild carrot?"
CORNELL GREEN can be reached at 870-1739 or by e-mail.
Ice Ages And Interglacial Periods
In 10,000, B.C., Earth was emerging from an ice age, warming as the result of an interglacial period.
James Adovasio said Earth has gone through the process at least nine or 10 times in the past 2 million years.
During the last glacial period, Erie was covered with a sheet of ice about 2 miles thick. This sheet covered an area that stretched southward as far as Moraine State Park, near Butler.
Interglacial periods last about 15,000 years. Right now, we're about 10,500 years into one.
Meet James Adovasio
James Adovasio, Ph.D., D.Sc., director of the Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute, specializes in prehistory, archaeological method and theory, prehistoric technology and material analysis, geoarchaeology, as well as the Archaeology of North America, Mesoamerica, and the former Soviet Union.
He's widely acclaimed for his excavation of the Meadowcroft Rockshelter in southwestern Pennsylvania, which has been recognized as the earliest well-dated archaeological site in the Western Hemisphere.
Adovasio has published nearly 400 books, monographs, articles and technical papers, including "The First Americans: In Pursuit of Archaeology's Greatest Mystery," and "The Invisible Sex: Uncovering the True Roles of Women in Prehistory," both available at Amazon.com.
He is on a 14-city international speaking tour.
Bedrock And Beyond
Cavemen and women have been anything but extinct in movies and on TV.
Think Raquel Welch sporting an itsy-bitsy primitive bikini in "One Million Years B.C." or a new take on Neanderthals in TV's recent "Cavemen."
So grab your clubs, don your pelts and get ready to have a yabba dabba doo time with these tales.
Movies:
"One Million Years B.C." (1966): Caves can be humid places. No wonder Welch chose the less-is-more-clothing approach with her fur get-up. The movie follows a caveman (John Richardson) who is banished from his tribe, finds another group but also gets the boot from them. One of the latter tribe's women, Loana (Welch) opts to join him and face the perils of a prehistoric world.
"Caveman" (1981): Even a Beatle cashes in on the caveman concept. In this comedy, Ringo Starr leads some misfit Homo sapiens who learn about the outside world and how to avoid becoming dinosaur dinner. Also stars Dennis Quaid and Shelley Long.
"Iceman" (1984): The Iceman thaweth. A surviving prehistoric man (John Lone) is discovered by an arctic exploration team. Soon, people want to experiment on him in the name of science. And he thought being frozen was the hard part. The film features Timothy Hutton, Lindsay Crouse, David Strathairn and Danny Glover.
"The Clan of the Cave Bear" (1986): Soon after Daryl Hannah made a "Splash" as a mermaid, she sought shelter in caves in this movie based on the Jean M. Auel book. Hannah plays Ayla, a character who is adopted into a clan as a child and grows into a wise and feisty woman. Her courage causes a clash with the future clan leader.
"Encino Man" (1992): Dude, who knew a primitive man was the ticket to high school popularity? This comedy features Brendan Fraser as Link, a California caveman unearthed in a backyard by two high school outcasts (Sean Astin and Pauly Shore). Once Link is thawed, he is passed off as a student and quickly becomes the big man on campus.
On TV:
"The Flintstones" (1960): This modern Stone Age family rocks. The cartoon centered around brash but lovable Fred; his long-suffering wife, Wilma; and their neighbors and pals, the Rubbles. They proved that life in Bedrock was anything but boring. How could it be with a dinosaur for a pet and feet-powered vehicles?
Fun fact: The late Mel Blanc, who provided voices for many Looney Tunes characters, was the voice of Barney Rubble. The Flintstones also were featured in two live-action movies.
"Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels" (1977): And speaking of the talented Mr. Blanc, he provided the voice of this hairy superhero with a hearty yell.
"Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer": The late funnyman Phil Hartman played said lawyer on "Saturday Night Live" skits. Hartman, who was on the show from 1986 to 1994, portrayed a prehistoric man who had poise and confidence. Still, he would admit to juries how some modern technology frightened and confused him. This caveman was a comical legal eagle.
"Cavemen" (2007): GEICO commercials spawned this sitcom about Neanderthals making their way in the world today. The ABC show starring Bill English, Nick Kroll and Sam Huntington disappeared near the start of the Hollywood writers strike and, according to some sources, has quietly become extinct.
SOURCE: Internet Movie Database
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