The caveman is a stock character representative of primitive humans in the Paleolithic. The popularization of the type dates to the early 20th century, when Neanderthals were influentially described as “simian” or “ape-like” by Marcellin Boule and Arthur Keith.
Also, the vast majority of people in this time period did not live in caves. It’s just that caves are much better at preserving traces, so much of the evidence for these early peoples that still exists is found in caves.
To think that they were ‘cave men’ and mostly lived in caves is like, well, seeing dinosaur footprints preserved in mud and therefore thinking that dinosaurs spent most of their time stomping around in mud.
So yeah, about 100 years for the caveman meme.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caveman
Also, the vast majority of people in this time period did not live in caves. It’s just that caves are much better at preserving traces, so much of the evidence for these early peoples that still exists is found in caves.
To think that they were ‘cave men’ and mostly lived in caves is like, well, seeing dinosaur footprints preserved in mud and therefore thinking that dinosaurs spent most of their time stomping around in mud.