Honestly if I had my current level of knowledge, probably hygene. Teach them to make soap (animal fat and a source of base like ash), wash their hands, keep poop away from potable water sources, stuff like that.
Remember, it literally took until Victorian times to figure out that washing your hands prevents disease.
Also, math. Teach them how to do basic arithmetic, how to use a unit of measurement to figure out how big something is, stuff we’d learn in elementary school but weren’t rigorously developed until the Ancient Greek age.
Soap is super important, as for math - I’m guessing it’s going to need to be geometry based before they can grok irrational numbers, or hell, symbolic notation in general
Mandatory I’d have died more than once, but I suspect I would have been good at mental things like tracking and storytelling. I’d probably suck at everything else, too.
Our ancestors measured time to keep track of the breeding seasons of their prey as to not exterminate the local populations… so most likely for that
Dying from allergies & asthma.
While still living, the tribe could deploy me as an animal detector: place me at the front of hunting parties, and the moment I start sneezing & wheezing, they know they’ve got prey nearby.
I would excel in the use of the internet and computers as I would be the only one with knowledge about it. I would also be the only one who knows how to drive a car.
Computers! Shit.
Dying, mostly.
Navigation and being the first to try a cool looking mushroom and findout how dead I get.
why navigation?
I just have a really good sense of direction and memory of places and paths.
Usually if I went somewhere even only once, even a year later I can recall how to get there again
oh that’s decent
*invites you to the caveman inner-circle*
I’d probably be something of a builder/ “engineer.”
I’m not actually an engineer, but I have a knack for utilizing what I have around me or simple enough objects to serve other goals. I suppose I’m what people used to call a Macgyver or “mechanically inclined.”
So, what would you “build”?
Definitely some kind of stone bulwark at the cave entrance to keep out the bears and prehistoric cheetahs.
would you ever try to make something resembling a car / cart?
The flintstones car was a the essential tool humanity used to create civilisation so of course
It depends on what was needed at the time, but probably things like tools and housing. Obviously considering the time we’re talking about it would be very “primitive” lol
But if you knew what you knew now you could do a lot. Just knowing that you can bake mud to make clay. Getting running water to where you live could be a game changer. It’s the key to agriculture, sanitation, etc.
Weapons are the same. Knowing something like the bow and arrow is possible will put you way ahead of sharp sticks and rocks.
I have this but for bicycles and ropes exclusively. First one is out, so I’m rope guy I guess
Dying.
Dying is not a task, dying is a condition
Seppuku is a task
Not with that attitude it isn’t.
Wouldn’t death be the condition?
“Death” would be the noun, “die” the (intransitive) verb. “Dead” would be the adjective, i.e. the condition.
Although it has to be said that there’s a lot of flexibility and I’m pretty sure you could find valid ways to use each of them in all cases.
Not with that attitude
Well, it can be both.
I’d be the hairless monkey that stays up all night and talks to plants
wouldn’t that get you killed very fast?
Hey I didn’t say I’d be successful
someone’s gotta be up at night, tho! Lots of theories around generational sleep patterns and teen-elderly sleep schedules leave very little time where someone isn’t just normally awake- teens naturally stay up late and prefer to sleep late, old folks naturally wake up early and sleep early.
Absolutely nothing lol. I do tech support for a living and work on cars as a hobby.
Well, cavemen also need tech support, just a different kind of tech.
Gork: “Stick go thud. I want go stab”
Pepsison: “Have you tried rebooting it?”
Gork: “?”
Pepsison: “Sorry, old habit” Sharpens his spear “try it now”
Gork: “Gork happy. Gork bring you mammoth”And with Gork happy I’m sure he can help you find the right twigs twine and logs to make a primitive cart. Soon you and Gork can haul all the mammoth you’d ever need.
With or without my current knowledge?
Because I’m pretty sure I could smelt Iron with what I know, and a year or two of experimentation. So the answer would be “ending the stone age”.
Without? I dunno, maybe building traps and snares.
Been watching primitive technology huh?
I mean, I have, but I saw this long before he started trying to smelt Iron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuCnZClWwpQ
looking like that…most likely not a Don Juan. so hunting and fishing, i could scare anything to death…
I think he’s got quite a friendly face tbh
you are totally right…but it is not a pretty face.
If you could figure out how to make soap from fat, you could be the clean one. Supposedly that helped the Vikings take the ladies home.
Storytelling & oral sex.
But not simultaneously.
Once upon a slurp slurp slurp
Beat me to it. Mine was “storytelling and sexually gratifying the hunters in exchange for food”
There is a whole world of romance novels in this setting.
Robert Sawyer has a series of science fiction books where there’s a parallel universe in which neanderthals ended up ruling the earth instead of modern day humans.
It’s been a while since I read them but the fact that you comment itched that part of my brain tells me there might have been a steamy parallel universe crossover scene or two 🤔
I need to start reading again
Well that’s going on the list
Glit walked slowly across the plain, eyeing the group of hunters that surrounded the creature. It was large, much too large for the tribe to eat before the meat spoiled.
As he approached he could hear the argument already.
“No, rapal, you take that part! It was your spear that slowed her enough for us to catch her!”
“But it was your arrow that finally brought her down, Jatam, you should have that part for your family! You have 5 younglings!”
They would carry on like this for hours if left to their own devices, none wanting to be seen as greedy.
Glit approached and broke into the conversation,
“Hunters, good hunting,” he said loudly, “Karana has smiled upon you today! The beast has laid down it’s life for the survival of our people!”
The hunters beamed, proud not only of their work, but now in the secure knowledge of it’s righteousness. The hunt has been approved, sanctified by the Storyteller, the one who speaks for the gods. They know they will be rewarded.
The hunters began disemboweling the enormous creature and cutting the choicest sections of meat off of her as Glit began to tell the story of Olana, the great Mother Elephant. He has told this story many times, but the hunters never tire of hearing it. When the work is done, and the story is told, Glit will reward the hunters and walk back to the tribe with them.
