The Paleolithic Man...NOT A NEADERTHAL.?

Question

Hey there,

Would someone please give me some ideas about how early cave men were agressive, territorial, or involved themselves in conflict, and how that effects how we are today?

thank you so much; any ideas are taken.

~kiki!~

Answer 1

They probably only got into small scale (but still nasty)skirmishes over their territory. They had no accumulated wealth to steal, or threatening power base that neighbours needed to crush. There was only so much land that they needed to forage and hunt on, and only so many people that land could support. Things like abducting women and children in raids, and attacking trespassers were probably the bulk of the violence. Violent criminal behaviour within the tribe would have been pretty limited, as everyone would know who the culprit is. They'd probably be attacking a close blood relative too.

The abduction of women and children isn't as evil as it sounds. It's biologically driven, to stop inbreeding. Victims of these kind of abductions usually end up fully integrated into the new tribe, as if you don't have agriculture or need a lot of possessions, there's no real need for slave labour.This behaviour is still seen in some tribes of the Amazon.

For large scale conflicts you need armies, and to raise an army you need agriculture, organisation, hierarchy and so on.

Answer 2

Paleolithic cavemen were meat-eaters, so as hunters, they had to be aggressive if they wanted to eat animal meat. They weren't just scavengers of dead carcasses!

They had, now extinct, mastadons, mammoth and wooley rhinocerous to contend with, and had to learn how to hunt them, as a food supply, to feed their entire village!

They also had to learn how to make spears and axes, to not only defend themselves, but also to cut up the meat of these animals, once they had killed them!

They also had to defend themselves against other tribes, particularly against Neanderthals (Sub-species), in order to out-compete them for similar resources, which they eventually did!

Answer 3

Well, when you live in the wild you are part of the food chain. You had to attack first in order to have the advantage. You see a hungry wolf in the area and you kill it before it kills you.

Today, we say "shoot first, ask questions later."  The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor because they wanted to be the first to attack, thinking that the US was going to attack them. Also, primitives wanted to seek out any animals or humans in the area that may do them harm or compete for herds.  Today, the military goes house to house seaching for the enemy until the area is secured.  Companies research areas for their franchises to make sure area has low competition. People research schools in the area they want to move into so as to get a good school for their child, so the child won't be "harmed."  Yeah, it's a jungle out there for sure.