Life in 75,000 BCE
The description of life at Flat Rocks is a mix of facts and speculation.
People in 75,000 BCE knew how to control fire and make tools with stone. Paleoanthropological findings provide other jumping off points for fanciful imagining of the social, cultural, and spiritual life at Flat Rocks.
We can reasonably assume that various individuals within groups or clans would have been highly intelligent, curious, and natural leaders. Physically, the people of 75,000 BCE were just like us, only lacking our technology. And, who knows, some day we may find evidence of sophisticated cultures dating back even farther than what we have found to date.
People in 75,000 BCE knew how to control fire and make tools with stone. Paleoanthropological findings provide other jumping off points for fanciful imagining of the social, cultural, and spiritual life at Flat Rocks.
We can reasonably assume that various individuals within groups or clans would have been highly intelligent, curious, and natural leaders. Physically, the people of 75,000 BCE were just like us, only lacking our technology. And, who knows, some day we may find evidence of sophisticated cultures dating back even farther than what we have found to date.
CAVE ART - Tens of thousands of years ago, our ancient ancestors covered the walls of caves with fabulous artwork. It is intriguing to speculate why they wanted to probe so deeply into the depths of caves - and without flashlights! One recent study has revealed that it was women who likely made 75% of the hand stencils found in archaeological cave sites in France and Spain. |
THINKING CIRCLES - Stonehenge, Nabta Playa, medicine wheels - the remains of ancient star-gazing circles are scattered around the world. Evidence even exists that ancient star gazers were aware of the precession of the equinoxes, a cycle of approximately 26,000 years. Though no circles have been found from as far back as 75,000 BCE, it doesn't mean that methods of marking the movement of celestial objects didn't exist then. Our ancestors would have spent many hours pondering the heavens. |
TALLY STICKS - In our story, the people at Flat Rocks use Sky Bones and Sun-Man Sticks to tally the length of journeys and track the cycles of nature, such as the phases of Moon-Woman. A few tally sticks have been found that are ten of thousands of years old, e.g Lebombo Bone and Ishango Bone. Controversy continues about what their markings signify. Ancient tally sticks are rare because they are made of organic materials which decompose unless they are carefully - or accidentally - preserved. |
TOOL MAKING - Archaeologists have found stone tools that are millions of years old. Examples like the Still Bay (South Africa) bifacial points - lance heads - from 100,000 to 70,000 years ago, show an amazing sophistication. As the video demonstrates, if you know what you're doing, it is possible to create a razor-sharp tool in a matter of a few minutes, simply by knocking two stones together. |
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