What Did Prehistoric Man Dream About?

There have been lots of threads lately about dreams and how OP's feel that what they are dreaming could be a glimpse of what is to come. They dream of U.F.O's and encounters etc. and even go as far as to compare them with pop culture TV, movies etc. I personally feel that they are manifestations of what their brain has been exposed to already.

So lets time travel and go back to a time where man was simply surviving, reproducing, hunting, exploring etc. Could a prehistoric man have dreamed of an automobile in all it's detail or sky scrapers in big cities with streets filled with people in business suits shuffling to work?

Personally I don't think they did. I believe they dreamed about what they knew and exposed to, which leads me to the conclusion that dreams are nothing more than an interpretation and collage of what we already know, want, speculate, ponder and wish.

Any thoughts?

Depends on whether or not Terrance McKenna's anthropological magic mushroom theory is true, in which case their dreams may have involved more than just meat and vegetables and sex and great hunting trips, etc.

the cave man dreams of the following - ranked here in least to most important:

10) air conditioning for the cave
9) processed sugar products
8) instant fire
7) heat pumps for the cave
6) cold fermented beverages
5) cold distilled beverages
4) hand-rolled cigars
3) quilted toilet paper
2) less mouthy broads who will actually go into the kitchen every once in a while
1) Not being "dissed" by GEICO

reply to post by NewAgeMan


Interesting. I would assume that somewhere on this great land at an early state of man there would be hallucinogenics to be found. And if taken, could it still have opened there mind enough to see any future devices or situations.

I could understand dreams of flying like a bird or something, but I doubt with the finest shrooms in the land a caveman or such could have a dream about an iPod.

My guess is prehistoric man dreamed about the prehistoric woman in the cave across the valley, and prehistoric woman dreamed about the (better, warmer, bigger) cave across the valley.
So woman told her man that she wanted a cave like THAT cave across the valley, and her man went to get it and "it".
And, the history of war had its humble beginnings.
Dreams of "it", always.

Spend a entire day playing a video game, that night, you will dream about that game.
Primitive man did alot of foraging, hunting, more foraging, etc. Chances are they dreamed about that..or bugs..or whatever they spent most of their days doing and thinking about...same as us.

We just have different things to think about, such as aliens, ghosts, etc.

Also, a primitive man would spend an excessive amount of time perhaps tracking or fearing a specific animal...have a dream about it because its on his mind, and suddenly he wakes up thinking the animal spoke to him in his dream
Totem is made, God is born, and so starts religion.

Luckily now adays, we simply pass off our dreams as just that..I can't imagine having a super mario totem because someone had a dream of mario being all magical after a 12 hour marathon

Originally posted by Stewie
My guess is prehistoric man dreamed about the prehistoric woman in the cave across the valley, and prehistoric woman dreamed about the (better, warmer, bigger) cave across the valley. So woman told man that she wanted a cave like THAT cave, and man went to get it and "it". And, the history of war had its humble beginnings.
Dreams of "it", always.

Your reply has a sense of humor in a very plausible scenario. I would say greed and jealousy are fairly common among all stages of mankind. Competition to live must have been so great. Dreams as you suggest (as silly as they seem) are probably likely.

Reminds me of Mel Brooks or something.

reply to post by SaturnFX


How come I play games all day and have never bad a dream related to a game then?

Huge topic. Universal mind. Holographic Universe.Re-incarnation. Psychics. All might have a bearing on this topic dependng on your belief. I'd guess that any prehistoric person dreaming about "now" would probably consider it a vision of hell especially if an automobile was involved.

My opinion would be that it might be possible but would be very rare otherwise we'd all be doing it. My only precog dream involved me reading a newspaper in which the pictures were moving. Still hasn't happened commercially though it's been done experimentally I believe and I did have an early interest in comics and sci-fi which primed me.

Great question though, very thought provoking. Wish I had an answer.

Originally posted by SaturnFX
Totem is made, God is born, and so starts religion.

Interesting as well. Stewie says "And, the history of war had its humble beginnings".
War and religion created by the dreams of a caveman?! Hmmmm.

reply to post by cluckerspud

You have to understand, I think war is the greatest evil in the world, and Saturn thinks religion is.



Really, it seems "primal" to me, meaning it is pretty basic impulses that drive dreams as opposed to visions, and pretty basic impulses that drive world events as a whole. Just kids in control of others lives. Nothing too deep...

what every man dreams about, p***y.

Originally posted by randomname
what every man dreams about, p***y.

And not a small number of women.

Most likely the same things as us, sex and luxury (in those times I'd assume it was abundant food, shelter etc).

Originally posted by Gakus
Most likely the same things as us, sex and luxury (in those times I'd assume it was abundant food, shelter etc).

I agree. We always seem to dream of "more". Desire sometimes is the fuel for our dreams I feel. Which is why sci-fi fans dream of alien contact, disclosure etc.

Have you ever heard that George Thouroughgood song about the Trogladites? That about sums it up!

Rachel Welch in a brief, buckskin outfit.

And keggers.

Originally posted by MMPI2
the cave man dreams of the following - ranked here in least to most important:

10) air conditioning for the cave
9) processed sugar products
8) instant fire
7) heat pumps for the cave
6) cold fermented beverages
5) cold distilled beverages
4) hand-rolled cigars
3) quilted toilet paper
2) less mouthy broads who will actually go into the kitchen every once in a while
1) Not being "dissed" by GEICO

Actually # 7, 8 and 10 are quite possible. They have fire, so having a dreams about fire appearing on demand sounds believable. Air conditioning and heat were probably not quite the case, but in the winter perhaps dreams of warm winter days? And vice versa?

reply to post by cluckerspud


Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll

but they Evolved...

I would have to think that ancient man was thinking of where food was going to come from
and how to be warmer for the upcoming season.

Or where to get water
basic survival skills