A significant error in a documentary

[WyreWizard]

Yes, I admit I watch a lot of documentaries on TV.  Call my strange, but they are a source of enjoyment for me.  I like watching documentaries because they are very educational and informative.  One of my favorite Documentary series from the 90s was Movie Magic on Discovery channel.  That show detailed most of the special effects used by films and TV to create their illusions.  But this message isn't about them.

This is about one documentary I saw.  Clash of the Cavemen.  It was all about the extinction of Neanderthal man just after the arrival of Cro-Magnon man (our ancestors)

There was one blaring error in this documentary and the narrator didn't bother to explain it.  All the Cro-Magnons were clean shaven!  Back then, we were all hunter-gatherers.  We used whatever was provided by nature and razors weren't one of them.

We had knives and spearheads we made.  We made them with flint.  Unfortunately, flint cannot be sharpened to a razor point.  Flint can be made sharp enough to cut animal flesh but if we used it to try and shave the hair off our faces, we'd regret it.

Of course back then, few people cared about the appearance of people.  Full and unkempt beards were the norm for men.  Very hairy legs were the norm for women.  Dirty, matted hair was the norm for both genders.

Why did the makers of this documentary leave such a blaring error in this?

[Trevor]

Back then, we were all hunter-gatherers.  We used whatever was provided by nature and razors weren't one of them.

I always knew you've been around a long time WW but not THAT long.  

Flint can be made sharp enough to cut animal flesh but if we used it to try and shave the hair off our faces, we'd regret it.

That is the one thing that could improve my looks.  

Of course back then, few people cared about the appearance of people.  Full and unkempt beards were the norm for men.  Very hairy legs were the norm for women.  Dirty, matted hair was the norm for both genders.

And dirty underpants for us from South Africa.  

[dean]

Everyone knows that facial hair was invented in the late 1400s.

[WyreWizard]

Back then, we were all hunter-gatherers.  We used whatever was provided by nature and razors weren't one of them.

I always knew you've been around a long time WW but not THAT long.  

I have only been around for 41 years not 36,000

Flint can be made sharp enough to cut animal flesh but if we used it to try and shave the hair off our faces, we'd regret it.

That is the one thing that could improve my looks.  

You must be masochistic and suicidal.  Trying to shave yourself with sharpened flint would be very painful.  You would seriously injure yourself and die from the infection.

Of course back then, few people cared about the appearance of people.  Full and unkempt beards were the norm for men.  Very hairy legs were the norm for women.  Dirty, matted hair was the norm for both genders.

And dirty underpants for us from South Africa.  

Clothing as it was came only in the form of what we could get off whatever we hunted.  We couldn't gather clothing from cotton and weave it into a fabric.  That knowledge didn't come until 10,000 years ago.  Back then, we only dressed in animal furs and skins.  Leather possibly although I doubt the processes for tanning leather was around then.

[WyreWizard]

Everyone knows that facial hair was invented in the late 1400s.

Facial hair had been on us longer than that.  I think you mean the methods and tools used to cut, trim and shape it.

[Pacman000]

I think dean meant it as a joke...

[indianasmith]

Actually, as someone who has collected flint artifacts for 35 years, flint and obsidian can take an edge as sharp as, if not sharper, than steel!

[Umaril Has Returned]

Actually, as someone who has collected flint artifacts for 35 years, flint and obsidian can take an edge as sharp as, if not sharper, than steel!

Yes it can, and word had it that at one time, (according to a story I'd read) that the AMA (American Medical Association) was considering allowing flint scalpels to be used for surgery. Not sure if that changed or not.

Another thing people tend to forget is when you mention primitive man on the north American continent, they were the early American Indian tribes, pre-Columbian, if memory serves me right.

We always debate their possible natural presence in America by hawking on the old "land bridge' theory of the Bering Straits and saying that they came from somewhere in Asia.  I do subscribe to that theory as per the physical features of some of the tribes) but I believe that 30,000 some years is a well naturalized citizen too, lol

Another common mistake in documentaries? Navajo and Apache are NOT Indians, but Eskimos.  They are related directly to the Haida and Tlingit peoples, and speak the same strain of Athabaskan as their peers.  Oh well, that's history for you, right?

[indianasmith]

Before the advent of laser surgery, obsidian blades were used on a regular basis by eye surgeons.

[Chainsawmidget]

Of course back then, few people cared about the appearance of people.  Full and unkempt beards were the norm for men.  Very hairy legs were the norm for women.  Dirty, matted hair was the norm for both genders.

People didn't care about appearances? 
Really? 
Check this out. 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122466430



It's an article about neanderthal jewelry and make-up for those of you who are too lazy to read it. 

[ulthar]

It's an article about neanderthal jewelry and make-up for those of you who are too lazy to read it. 

Thanks, because I was, in fact, too lazy to read it.

[Umaril Has Returned]

Women with hairy legs, you say? Well I guess France had her fashion statements too...

[Trevor]

Wyrewizard is a significant error himself.