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Well, I’m pretty disappointed with Walking with Cavemen.  It had such a
feel of being made for the mass audience.  Not only did many things not
make sense but we see the “myth of man the mighty hunter” perpetuated
again. To begin with we see our intrepid Neanderthals taking on a giant
Irish deer, and paying the ultimate price.  Our competitors the wolves know
that attacking a moose is not worth the risk until it is are old, sick or
injured- why wouldn’t Neanderthals know this too?  Later we see them by the
shearest luck disabling a mammoth.  Modern African hunters know that the
most dangerous animals to approach are the large herbivores –elephant,
hippo, rhino, buffalo- all them cranky, and with the brawn to back it up!
Ancient times would also have been dangerous because of other predators-
imagine our hunters had managed to kill a large beast- the kill would
almost certainly attract other predators which would drive them from the
kill- bears, wolves, Asiatic lion even ranged over much of that area in
ancient times.  I know that bones of large animals have been found with
marks on them indicating human butchering but I wonder whether these are
simply more likely to survive as fossils. I’m inclined to think that
catching the rabbit was more likely, but would you bother taking such a
small amount of meat back to the cave- wouldn’t you just eat it there and
then as a snack?

Our hunters are desperately seeking food to sustain a heavily pregnant
female who is about to give birth. I find it unbelievable that a female
would give birth at the start of a season of increasing scarcity.  Other
animals time their delivery to Spring when the flush of new growth
guarantees pregnant and lactating females a plentiful supply nourishment
and energy.  A baby could wait safe and snug in its mother’s body until
conditions improved. If other animals could (and still) do this why
couldn’t humans?  Of course we modern humans can afford to ignore the
seasonal imperatives.

So there you have it- I think the producers were under pressure to “sell a
story” rather than get the science right.

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