Were there Really Cavemen?
The caveman stereotype is based on the belief that man arose from ape-like ancestors and were just getting going as humans: low intelligence, probably no language, no skills other than hunting. They are referred to as “primitive man or early man” rather than “ancient man”.
The fossils of ancient man which evolutionists use to support their ideas about millions of years of human evolution, are actually the bones of creatures and humans which lived after the Flood. We know this because the Flood completely destroyed the former landscape, so any caves that we find today were either formed during or after the flood. Since the flood occurred about 4,500 years ago, these bones must be less than 4,500 years old. That does not leave much time for the evolution from ape-like creatures to modern humans.
If you are curious about “ape men”, then see our article on that topic also as well as Dr. Mortenson’s video listed below.
Neanderthals are often described as being cavemen. But the archeological evidence does not support the theory that these were primitive people. They are Ice Age humans who lived after the Flood in Northwestern Europe. Today’s Europeans’ DNA is said to contain about 2% Neanderthal DNA. Neanderthals used fire, drew really great pictures on cave walls, buried their dead, wore jewelry, played musical instruments, shaped flint, traded with other people and were able to hunt and butcher mammoths. By the way, – no evidence of clubs!
They sometimes used caves for shelter as did the American Indians of the SW and others who chose them over building a house from scratch. Some think they may have been nomads. And just for the record, their brains were bigger than ours on average.
Ancient man was probably more intelligent than we are today, being much closer in time to God’s perfectly created man and woman: Adam and Eve. We have most likely lost a significant amount of our intellectual capacity due to years of degradation in our DNA: See The Mystery of the Human Genome by Jon Sanford.
If you are interested in what ancient man before the Flood could do, you can look at Genesis chapter 4 to see that Cain was a farmer and went on to build a city; Abel was a shepherd; Tubal used tents and kept cattle; Jubal invented music along with stringed instruments and wind instruments; and Tubal-Cain was making tools out of bronze and iron. All these guys lived before the Flood of Noah.
After the Flood and the split-up of mankind from the Tower of Babel, many of the migrating groups lost their cultural and technical materials including knowledge that may have been passed on from before the Flood and used at Babel. These scattering people then traveled to new locations. There they had to figure out how to survive in different climates and figure out how to use the different plants and animals. They also had to locate new sources of metals and other minerals to use for their inventions. Caves would have been convenient temporary homes for some families as they moved into a new area.
So, people after the Flood were able to do many more complicated things as they invented new technology. After the Tower of Babel they were already capable of many impressive accomplishments, such as building the pyramids of Egypt. To discover some other of their feats, check out the books entitled The Puzzle of Ancient Man by Chittick, as well as The Secrets of Ancient Man and The Genius of Ancient Man by Landis.