Don't let those well-groomed cavemen on the Geico commercials fool you. Paleolithic people didn't dress preppy, take showers or brush their teeth. A lack of modern medicines and hygiene products means they were definitely dirtier than we're used to today-but we bet you've never considered just how dirty that is. Here are a few shocking truths (or probable truths, at least) about the hygiene of our ancient ancestors.
Constant body odour. There's no question our Paleolithic ancestors were active people. And with all that physical activity came plenty of sweat. Scientists can't be sure how often Paleolithic people bathed-and this probably depends on the culture and climate-but many people lived in cold regions where extensive bathing was probably not common, as people did not have an efficient way to heat water and probably would have bathed primarily in streams, lakes, and oceans. Not much bathing, no deodorants or antiperspirants, and lots of sweating meant that body odour was probably a fact of life. Everybody smelled.
Chronic bad breath. Some primitive cultures were known to clean their teeth with twigs-and it's possible even our Stone-Age ancestors weren't unconcerned with oral hygiene. But their tools were primitive-they weren't working with toothbrushes, they knew nothing about plaque and gingivitis and the other factors that cause bad breath, and there was no Scope or sugar-free gum to help people get minty-fresh breath. You know that awful feeling when you wake up with morning breath and realize you're out of toothpaste? People back then had that feeling all the time.
Dreadlocks and dirty hair. Dreadlocks form naturally in some types of hair when people don't wash or brush it for long periods of time; they're simply huge mats and tangles that cause hair to clump together. Many Paleolithic peoples probably had dreadlocks; if they didn't, they still had greasy, matted hair. Think about how your hair would be if you never, ever conditioned it and hardly ever got it wet-that's how cavemen and women wore their hair all the time.
Rotting carcasses in the home. Archaeologists often find discarded animal bones and even remains of human waste in caves where people were known to have lived. This means people were throwing away picked-over bones and rotted meat in their houses-and were even going to the bathroom in some dark corner of the cave. It's pretty reasonable to assume that Stone-Age homes smelled awful-and there were no air fresheners to help the situation.
Stinky skins. Paleolithic people primarily used animal skins as clothing and blankets. Processing animal skins is a very stinky process, involving letting the skin rot partially to scrape off the flesh attached to it. In many ancient practices, part of the treatment process involved urine. So those skins Stone-Age people wore probably didn't smell much better