What did early humans do with their long hair?
Upvote:8
Our ancestors started using tools well before there were humans. They have had cutting tools for about 2 million years produced by various means and sharp enough to cut hair. Whether they used them to cut hair, I don't know.
Human hair does not stop growing, but it does fall out after a certain period of time with a new one replacing it. The ultimate length of human hair is determined by how fast it grows, how long it takes before falling out, and whether it's curly or straight.
Left unkempt, many humans do not grow long straight hair. If they did, they probably braided it. Basic combs appear in the Neolithic era.
Upvote:8
In addition to Schwern's answer, it should be pointed out that not all humans grow beards and long straight hair. The Khoisan peoples in Africa instead grow sparse curly short hair (often termed "peppercorn"), and no beards at all. They don't need haircuts or shaves.
Photo by Ian Beatty CC BY-SA 2.0
Their natural range (prior to the Bantu expansion) included the area in East Africa where humans are thought to have evolved. So it seems quite possible (likely even, if you believe in coincidental evolution) the original humans had some kind of similar hair scheme, and thus didn't need to cut their hair or shave.
It further seems likely that long straight evergrowing hair and beards are human adaptations to colder climates, and would not have evolved the way they have without the ability to trim them.
More post
- 📝 For whom would this priest write a long geographical report on his parish?
- 📝 What was the fighting style and equipment of 13th century Eastern European Baltic and Slavic cavalry?
- 📝 Why are some amphoras pointed on the bottom?
- 📝 Revolutions of communication
- 📝 Where did Theophrastus write about a "a common chest" into which funds are placed in case of a member's hardship?
- 📝 Do any churches continue to display length measures?
- 📝 Why is there a difference in ordinal numbers of UK General Elections and Parliaments? Was a UK Parliament ever formed without an election?
- 📝 Is this Hitler's account of seemingly counterproductive British radio war propaganda true?
- 📝 Why did Taft write a one cent check on his first day as Chief Justice?
- 📝 Was it possible for a message from Paris to reach London within 48 hours in 1782?
- 📝 Why did Lord Mountbatten shrink the timeline for the withdrawal of British troops from India?
- 📝 Did the ancient Egyptians dress living cats in jewelry?
- 📝 Is there any verifiable ancient source for the etymology of βάρβαρος?
- 📝 Was mortality higher on French slave ships and if so, why?
- 📝 What were The Troubles in Northern Ireland really about?
- 📝 Was classical Alexandria really this brutal and class-segregated?
- 📝 What was the legal status of an East German once he had reached West Germany?
- 📝 Book recommendation on the Nazis for a (very) advanced reader
- 📝 Circa 1000, what name would locals in England use for invaders?
- 📝 What is the earliest history of Middle Eastern women wearing veils for modesty while in public?
- 📝 Have there been "mechanical paintings" in real life?
- 📝 What was the Janissaries' Strength?
- 📝 Why did Lincoln wait to issue the Emancipation Proclamation?
- 📝 Mesopotamia laws 196, 197 and 198
- 📝 Were the Spanish conquistadors really motivated by myths like El Dorado?
- 📝 What was the main driver of conquest and wars in ancient times? Why were they so frequent?
- 📝 Did Stalin believe Israel would go communist?
- 📝 Has there ever been an encirclement without superior numbers or mobility
- 📝 Did people in the late 1800s and earlier really think that there would be, or already exist, "mechanical men"?
- 📝 When did Hinduism forbid overseas travel?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What did early humans do with their long hair?
- 📝 When and why did having long hair become associated with women, and short hair with men?
- 📝 How long did Jews in hiding take to reveal themselves at the end of WW2? What was their reception?
- 📝 How did the ancient Romans count with their fingers?
- 📝 What language did Gaius Julius Caesar speak with Cleopatra?
- 📝 How did early adopters of the automobile fill up their cars?
- 📝 Why did early attempts to transport milk to London by rail meet with 'much criticism'?
- 📝 What language did Brahe talk with Kepler?
- 📝 Did Antarctica remain entirely unvisited by humans until the early 19th century?
- 📝 What did the people of the Middle Ages call their period?
- 📝 What goods did Germany trade during World War II, and with whom?
- 📝 What did Hitler mean with the following statement about Franco?
- 📝 What names did the ancient Egyptians give to different stages of their history?
- 📝 To what extent did the CPC avoid fighting with the Japanese?
- 📝 At what point, and why, did snuff tobacco fall out of favor with European nobility?
- 📝 What are early archeological clues of humans boiling food?
- 📝 What goods did Germany trade during the Weimar Republic, and with whom?
- 📝 How long did it take US fleet submarines during World War 2 to charge their batteries?
- 📝 At what point did Soviet armored units have qualitative parity with Wehrmacht armored units?
- 📝 What was the program of the Mensheviks in their later years? How did they hope to achieve it?
- 📝 How did the way commanders ask their troops to deal with the immediate death of their comrades vary by country/culture during WWII?
- 📝 What specifically did Caesar believe he would be charged with had he disbanded his army?
- 📝 Why did General Billy Mitchell regard war with Japan as inevitable as early as 1912?
- 📝 Did Continental Army officers wear wigs or keep their hair white like their British Army counterparts?
- 📝 How did the US "Greek" fraternity system at universities arise and what is its relationship with ancient Greece?
- 📝 What degree of choice did slaves have over their sexual autonomy?
- 📝 Bears on Bicycles - What are early examples of photographs or paintings showing bicycles used with animals in circus acts?
- 📝 What kind of ID Number, if any, did the Soviets institute for all their citizens?
- 📝 How did agricultural productivity change in Italy with the fall of the Roman Empire and through the early Middle Ages?
- 📝 What was the first instance of native Americans using gunpowder weapons in battle and did they ever make their own powder?
