Prehistoric Essay

Prehistoric Astronomers

Cesar Antonio Aramburo Samano

Art History

Jimena Aranda Ledezma

                As I watched the video of prehistoric astronomers I was pleasantly surprised with a notion that has been speculated before. As many of us have seen before man during the Stone Age has always been represented as Neanderthals who ride mammoths, fight with spears and have a basic language of grunts and screams. It is this idea that has been firmly set in our minds thanks to the general idea that these were times when man had no idea of what was surrounding them. This documentary showed us how back in that day and age man was not a dumb animal who walked on all fours and gasped when he saw fire as if it was a divine sign of the gods. Man was smarter back then and was able to chart constellations different in name and shape from those we know now but they were able to figure out the heavens. It was this knowledge that proves that man at this time had no knowledge of science as we do today but with this piece of information they were able to know where they were and where to go.

This documentary served to shatter that image from that Saturday morning cartoon we all grew up with, this image that has been fed to us since we were young that our prehistoric ancestors were nothing but animals that would eventually evolve to what we are now. Now I see these men are astronomers who would look at the sky and with one glance know where their location was or which direction to head. Now in our day and age technology has made us, the general populace, lose all this knowledge. Sure these men still had basic knowledge of science but this shred of proof that they knew the skies has helped me see them from a different perspective.