If you ever travel back in time to hang out with Homo sapiens around 41,000 years ago, pack some sunscreen – or better yet, a tailored outfit, and seek out a cave shelter. New research from the University of Michigan suggests that during a cataclysmic polar reversal, our ancestors might have used…
  • RizzoTheSmall@lemm.eeEnglish
    57·
    22 days ago

    To save everyone a click, cave paint has some sun-blocking properties. There is literally zero evidence that people covered themselves in cave paint to protect from the sun.

    Indigenous Australians have been observed using mud to protect themselves, and providing they recognised the need to do so it is much more likely that cave people would have observed pigs and hippos doing this and used readily available mud to shield themselves from the sun rather than routinely covering themselves in difficult-to-make pigments.