Humans are old, we have been on the planet for about 200,000 years now and aren’t showing any signs of disappearing anytime soon. Over that time many of the methods for doing things have changed greatly. We are pretty sure the cavemen could simply find the nearest takeout and order their food online, waiting for it to be delivered. While many of the things we do are now very different to what our ancient ancestors did, not everything is the case. We still do some things exactly the same, because the method isn’t broken, so we haven’t tried fixing it.
Sewing
Back when the early humans began to develop tools they used bone needles to help them sew their clothes together. Nowadays we have more materials at our disposal, but the first humans would only really have animal skins they could crudely sew together to cover as much of their bodies as possible. The modern hand needle closely represents the bone needles that our ancient ancestors used, with the sharp point at one end and hole at the other to drag the thread through.
Swimming
Humans had to learn how to swim in order to catch some prey that thought it could escape by being under the water. The techniques humans would have used thousands of years ago have not changed, particularly when it comes to treading water. Humans have not evolved enough to change the way we swim, we have not developed gills or flippers, so the way we swim now is the same way we swam 1,000 years ago and is the same 10,000 years ago too. There have been many references to swimming throughout the ancient civilizations that have lived on the planet since man began, proving it is something we have always done.
Fighting
People love to fight, throughout history there have been so many instances where we look to hurt someone else. Sometimes we do it because we are angry, sometimes they are horrible people, and sometimes it is done as a sport. In modern society, fighting is not seen as the way to solve your problems, but several forms of combat are sports. In ancient Greece, some of the first sports practices in the Olympics were wrestling and boxing. Wrestling and boxing are still sports that are practiced at the modern Olympic Games, and their fundamental rules are still the same.
Music
Music plays a huge part in today’s society, as far as modern humans are concerned, we love music. Our ancient ancestors were fond of hearing some tunes too though, and there has been evidence found through archaeological discoveries that the early humans had a few favorite instruments. A flute was discovered in 1995 that is believed to be over 41,000 years old. It was a bone that had finger holes cut in it, just like a modern flute. Then there is the ravanahatha, an ancient stringed instrument believed to be the ancestor to the violin. It has been around since at least the medieval times and is still regularly played by people in India today.
Modern humans have things pretty good, many of us can live a life of luxury, especially in comparison to some of our ancestors. Despite not living in times of great technological advancement, some of our ancient ancestors developed tools and techniques that are still used today. Our ancestors showed us the way, and we have been following ever since.
