What do you think of when you hear words and phrases like “Neandertal” or “homo erectus”? The Hollywood stereotype gives us the image of hairy, knuckle-dragging brutes, more ape than human, but the archeological record tells us there is considerably more to the story. The evidence is clear. Human beings, including some of our not-quite-yet-human forebears, have always been caregivers. The instinct to care for those who need us is ancient and strong.
I did a quick Internet search on the phrase “ancient caregiving” and found four separate stories of caregiving, deduced and inferred from the archeological record and starting 1.7 million years ago! Three of the stories are found in an article by Terisa Green and the fourth in a piece by Bruce Bower.
Take a moment to follow these links, because I think you’ll find the stories as fascinating as I did. They have the same common elements as caregiving stories in our own time and give us a thought-provoking way to look at what has made us human from the very beginning.
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Tags: caregiver, caregiving, homo erectus, Neandertal