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The Rat
SFN Regular
Canada
1370 Posts |
 Posted - 12/29/2007 : 22:42:50
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As I bang away at the keyboard my wife is watching a DVD speculating on human evolution. Some interesting ideas being thrown out, and the science is sound.
But there's one thing I notice every time in programs of this type and it bugs me to no end; Why the hell are the primitives always wearing animal skins with the fur on the outside?!?!?! They may have been primitive, but they weren't stupid, and they would quickly learn that keeping the fur on the inside would be much warmer, and would not accumulate snow and ice as easily. Take a look at the Inuit wearing traditional garb - skin out, fur in.
Or am I missing something?
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Bailey's second law; There is no relationship between the three virtues of intelligence, education, and wisdom.
You fiend! Never have I encountered such corrupt and foul-minded perversity! Have you ever considered a career in the Church? - The Bishop of Bath and Wells, Blackadder II
Baculum's page: http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=3947338590 |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 12/29/2007 : 23:53:08 [Permalink]
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No, I think you got it right. Unless what you were seeing was meant to be the primitives' own fur. Kinda messy to wear one's own pelt inside out.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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recurve boy
Skeptic Friend
Australia
53 Posts |
Posted - 12/30/2007 : 01:01:37 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by The Rat
Why the hell are the primitives always wearing animal skins with the fur on the [i]outside?!?!?!
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Why break years of tradition? |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9687 Posts |
Posted - 12/30/2007 : 02:48:40 [Permalink]
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I suppose it's for the benefit of the less intelligent TV-watchers. By wearing fur with the hair on the outside, there no question what-so-ever that they are wearing fur and not weaved cloth.
Or perhaps it was the producer who wasn't smart enough to realize the error in having the fur inside out. |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 12/30/2007 : 06:17:58 [Permalink]
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But is it entirely an error? The fur on the outside will insulate pretty well and will shed water a lot better than the bare skin side due to the direction of the guard hairs on the skin. And cold climate people dress in layers as they have always done. In milder climes, it is reasonable to consider that the fur side would be worn outside.
Of much greater interest would be the origins of textiles. All of the neolithic peoples didn't wear just animal skins.
Interest in prehistoric developments of textile and clothing manufacture has resulted in a number of scholarly studies since the late twentieth century, including Prehistoric Textiles: The Development of Cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages with Special Reference to the Aegean,[3] as well as Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times.[4] These sources have helped to provide a coherent history of these prehistoric developments. Evidence suggests that human beings may have begun wearing clothing as far back as 100,000 to 500,000 years ago.[5]
Body lice, which live on clothes, diverged from head lice around 72,000 years (give or take 42,000 years), evidence that humans began wearing clothing at around this time. [6] |
The long and short of it is that writer's lazyness dresses them all in skins. A shiftless bunch and not at all to be trusted, writers....
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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The Rat
SFN Regular
Canada
1370 Posts |
Posted - 12/30/2007 : 20:18:36 [Permalink]
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I doubt cold climate people would have always dressed in layers, it might have taken a while to learn that. Clothing would probably have started by simply wrapping a skin around you and binding it any way you could. And while the fur might shed water it will also collect ice and snow, that even happens while it's still on the animals.
In warmer areas it would be better to have the fur outside, less itchy that way.  My natural prejudice is also another factor in my thoughts, after suffering with IBS for years, and having it set off by sudden cold on my abdomen, I've conditioned myself to hate the cold. Every time I see representations of our ancestors running around without being as bundled up as I would want to be it gives me the creeps. Not that it would have bothered them nearly as much, they were tough dudes. |
Bailey's second law; There is no relationship between the three virtues of intelligence, education, and wisdom.
You fiend! Never have I encountered such corrupt and foul-minded perversity! Have you ever considered a career in the Church? - The Bishop of Bath and Wells, Blackadder II
Baculum's page: http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=3947338590 |
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Maybe I'm wrong, but...
