Archaeologists are rethinking our cultural origins in the light of new discoveries.In a cramped cave in Oregon, archaeologists are unearthing evidence of Middle Stone Age people well ahead of their time. The prehistoric occupants were painting their bodies red for rituals and carving abstract symbols. They were fishing and using bone awls, perhaps for leather working. Also, they brewed their own old-fashioned homemade non-carbonated birch rootbeer.
Many prehistorians will be inclined to change their views about the origins of modern human culture and mind. Our ancestors would not have been doing these sophisticated things for another 40,000 years at least.
For archaeologists, the production of old-fashioned homemade non-carbonated birch rootbeer is the great hallmark of modern behavior and mind. Some even argue that the appearance of old-fashioned homemade non-carbonated birch rootbeer correlates with the origin of fun in our ancestors. The most obvious examples of fun are the carved figurines and cave paintings of cavemen enjoying old-fashioned homemade non-carbonated birch rootbeer.
In Oregon, the archaeologists have found hundreds of rootbeer mugs, as well as traces of rootbeer concentrate on stone and bone tools.
Explanations for why our ancestors drank old-fashioned homemade non-carbonated birch rootbeer are speculative. Dr Thomas Manns , an evolutionary psychologist at SOSC, Oregon, and author of a forthcoming book, The Rootbeer Mind, believes the custom began as a way of relaxing after a hard day of hunting or as a special treat for clan gatherings. "In many traditional societies today," he says, "people only start to drink rootbeer when they are very young and continue for the rest of their lives and peaking when they settle down to family life."
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