Caveman
Stock character of Paleolithic humans in popular culture.
The caveman archetype represents prehistoric humans from the Paleolithic era. This stock character gained popularity in the early 1900s, after researchers Marcellin Boule and Arthur Keith described Neanderthals as looking like apes. The name "caveman" even has a scientific counterpart in the outdated term *Homo troglodytes*, coined by Linnaeus in 1758—though Linnaeus actually used it for a mythical or misidentified creature, not as a counterpart to prehistoric humans.
In popular portrayals, cavemen wear shaggy animal hides and create cave paintings, much like actual humans did during the last ice age. They are usually shown carrying weapons such as rocks, clubs made from cattle bones, spears, or sticks with stones tied to them. Their personalities swing between easily scared and aggressive, and they are depicted as unintelligent. They speak in grunts, simple phrases, or sounds like "ooga-booga," and their voices are rough and low-pitched. A common but false trope places cavemen alongside dinosaurs, even though non-avian dinosaurs died out 66 million years before *Homo sapiens* appeared. The time period linked to this archetype is the Paleolithic, or early Stone Age, which spans from around 3.3 million years ago to about 10,000 years ago.
The idea that these people lived in caves comes from the fact that most Stone Age artifacts in Europe have been found in caves. However, this likely reflects how well caves preserve objects over time, not that they were typical homes. Before the last glacial period, most humans were nomadic hunter-gatherers who lived in temporary shelters like tents and wooden huts—for example, at Ohalo. A few genuine cave dwellings did exist, such as those at Mount Carmel in Israel.
Stereotypical cavemen wear smock-like garments made from animal skins, held up by a single shoulder strap, or loincloths from leopard or tiger skins. Cavewomen are shown similarly, but often with slimmer bodies and bones tied in their hair. Both are depicted carrying large, cone-shaped clubs. Their names are often grunt-like, such as "Ugg" or "Zog."
Depictions of caveman-like figures go back centuries. In European and African heraldry, "wild men" appeared as bearded, hairy beings who lived in caves and carried clubs. During the Middle Ages, it was unclear whether these wild men were human or not. In 1912, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's *The Lost World* featured ap
- born
- Paleolithic Era (around 3.3 million years ago)
- died
- Around 10,000 years ago
- field
- Popular culture, anthropology
- nationality
- Global (European iconography prominent)
- known_for
- Stock character of primitive humans; often depicted with animal hides, clubs, and cave paintings; anachronistically shown with dinosaurs
Lore & Background
Cavemen are typically portrayed as wearing shaggy animal hides and capable of cave painting like behaviorally modern humans of the last glacial period. They are often shown armed with rocks, cattle bone clubs, spears, or sticks with rocks tied to them, and are portrayed as unintelligent and with either an easily frightened or aggressive personality. Typically, they have a low-pitched rough voice and make vocalizations such as 'ooga-booga' and grunts or speak using simple phrases. Popular culture also frequently represents cavemen as living with, or alongside of, dinosaurs, even though non-avian dinosaurs became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period, 66 million years before the emergence of Homo sapiens. The era typically associated with the archetype is the Paleolithic Era, the earliest part of the Stone Age, extending from more than 2 million years into the past until between 40,000 and 5,000 years before the present.
Reader's Guide
The image of these people living in caves arises from the fact that caves are where the preponderance of artifacts have been found from European Stone Age cultures. However, this most likely reflects the degree of preservation that caves provide over the millennia, rather than an indication of them being a typical form of shelter. Until the last glacial period, the great majority of humans did not live in caves, as nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes lived in a variety of temporary structures, such as tents and wooden huts. Stereotypical cavemen have traditionally been depicted wearing smock-like garments made from the skins of animals and held up by a shoulder strap on one side, or loincloths made from leopard or tiger skins. Stereotypical cavewomen are similarly depicted, but sometimes with slimmer proportions and bones tied up in their hair. They are also depicted carrying large clubs approximately conical in shape. They often have grunt-like names, such as 'Ugg' and 'Zog'. Caveman-like heraldic 'wild men' were found in European and African iconography for hundreds of years. During the Middle Ages, these beings were generally depicted in art and literature as bearded and covered in hair, and often wielding clubs and dwelling in caves. While wild men were always depicted as living outside of civilization, it was not always clear whether they were human or non-human.
Did You Know?
- The term 'caveman' has a taxonomic equivalent in the now-obsolete binomial classification Homo troglodytes (Linnaeus, 1758).
- Cavemen are often anachronistically depicted alongside non-avian dinosaurs, which went extinct 66 million years before Homo sapiens emerged.
- The popularization of the caveman type dates to the early 20th century, when Neanderthals were described as 'simian' or 'ape-like' by Marcellin Boule and Arthur Keith.
- The image of cavemen living in caves likely reflects preservation of artifacts in caves, not typical shelter; most Paleolithic humans lived in temporary structures like tents and wooden huts.
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