old stone age 3

HISTORICAL NIT-PICKER WEEKLY, No. 4 A Woman’s Job “Making fire was probably a woman’s job” - I already dipped my toe into this murky water on the previous page, but it’s such a load of insidiously sexist garbage, it really does deserve more consideration. Why did women make fire and not men? Because only women cook, obviously. Men go out and hunt. Women stay in the cave and cook. This idea - that only women cook - seems deeply weird today, when the TV screens are wall- to-wall with male chefs competing to be the most recognisable food-artist in Britain. But I didn’t question it back then. My Mum did all the cooking in our house and it was the same in every other house I went to. We had dinner ladies at school, not dinner gentlemen. The most famous TV chef was Delia Smith. Cooking in Britain in 1979 was “probably a woman’s job”. But how you extrapolate that to prehistory - as a thinking adult, who writes books about history in order to teach children about the past - is beyond me. Child Labour And even if you accept this, where on earth does the writer get the idea that “the children had to gather sticks to help keep the fire alight” - what fresh crap is this? Also: surely we don’t need fire if it’s so damn hot all the time? I mean, everyone was completely nude for Christ’s sake! What do they need a fire for?? Stone Age Art And what’s all this bollocks about painting the animals they want to kill? Like it’s some magic ritual and couldn’t possibly have any other purpose. Did da Vinci paint the Mona Lisa because he was planning to kill and eat her later? Couldn’t it be that someone just wanted to draw things they saw in the world, to better understand them, or maybe just decorate the cave wall to make it nicer to live in? Couldn’t it be that maybe the artist wasn’t actually a hunter, but an artist? If men and women can do division of labour, why can’t men and men? Or women and women? Lots of questions here for the 8-year-old Shepherd, none of which get asked. A Bitter Struggle “Life was not such a bitter struggle” - and that’s based on what, exactly? Living in a cave, having to murder things every day to survive, not being allowed to cook unless I’m female or paint unless I’m male, and when I do paint it’s got to be of something I’m going to kill and eat later? Sounds pretty fucking bitter to me. I don’t know. Maybe it’s me who’s bitter. It’s only an old History book, Waen. Let it go. A Man’s First Friend “Dogs were the first animals to tamed” - or were they: • Goats? • Horses? • Humans? • Dogs again? • Yes it’s dogs

Thursday November 29th, 1979

The New Stone Age >

< People in the Old Stone Age (2)

People in the Old Stone Age (3)

People in the Old Stone Age Guy Fawkes People in the Old Stone Age: 2 People in the Old Stone Age: 3 The New Stone Age People of the Bronze Age The Story of Nelson: 1 The Story of Nelson: 2 The Story of Nelson: 3 Florence Nightingale The Story of Nelson: 4 The Story of Nelson: 5 The Story of Nelson: 6 The Story of Nelson: 7 Christopher Columbus: 1 Christopher Columbus: 2 The Soldier Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon’s Mother The Queen of Spain The French Revolution The Surrender of Toulon Upon Return From Italy The Armed Revolt Josephine de Beauharnais The Thin Young Man The Little Corporal The Most Famous Man in France A Proposal About Egypt Master of France Weary of War Hero of the People Emperor at 34 Danger Across the Sea Wherever Wood Can Float An Empire in Decline

WAEN SHEPHERD Who was this strange little boy?

SCIENCE 1 Sept 1979 - Apr 1980

Clarke Hall The place and time where it all began… September 1679?

The Forgotten World John and Mick fall foul of some extreme potholing

Great Space Battles Three mighty empires take their first steps into outer space

TERM 1 A day-by-day account of Waen’s first term at Fairburn School

TOPIC 1 He knows the names of all the dinosaurs

TOPIC 2 The one where it all kicks off

Ward’s 7 John Ward and his band of rebels fight the evil Federation

HISTORICAL NIT-PICKER WEEKLY, No. 4 A Woman’s Job “Making fire was probably a woman’s job” - I already dipped my toe into this murky water on the previous page, but it’s such a load of insidiously sexist garbage, it really does deserve more consideration. Why did women make fire and not men? Because only women cook, obviously. Men go out and hunt. Women stay in the cave and cook. This idea - that only women cook - seems deeply weird today, when the TV screens are wall-to-wall with male chefs competing to be the most recognisable food-artist in Britain. But I didn’t question it back then. My Mum did all the cooking in our house and it was the same in every other house I went to. We had dinner ladies at school, not dinner gentlemen. The most famous TV chef was Delia Smith. Cooking in Britain in 1979 was “probably a woman’s job”. But how you extrapolate that to prehistory - as a thinking adult, who writes books about history in order to teach children about the past - is beyond me. Child Labour And even if you accept this, where on earth does the writer get the idea that “the children had to gather sticks to help keep the fire alight” - what fresh crap is this? Also: surely we don’t need fire if it’s so damn hot all the time? I mean, everyone was completely nude for Christ’s sake! What do they need a fire for?? Stone Age Art And what’s all this bollocks about painting the animals they want to kill? Like it’s some magic ritual and couldn’t possibly have any other purpose. Did da Vinci paint the Mona Lisa because he was planning to kill and eat her later? Couldn’t it be that someone just wanted to draw things they saw in the world, to better understand them, or maybe just decorate the cave wall to make it nicer to live in? Couldn’t it be that maybe the artist wasn’t actually a hunter, but an artist? If men and women can do division of labour, why can’t men and men? Or women and women? Lots of questions here for the 8-year-old Shepherd, none of which get asked. A Bitter Struggle “Life was not such a bitter struggle” - and that’s based on what, exactly? Living in a cave, having to murder things every day to survive, not being allowed to cook unless I’m female or paint unless I’m male, and when I do paint it’s got to be of something I’m going to kill and eat later? Sounds pretty fucking bitter to me. I don’t know. Maybe it’s me who’s bitter. It’s only an old History book, Waen. Let it go. A Man’s First Friend “Dogs were the first animals to tamed” - or were they: • Goats? • Horses? • Humans? • Dogs again? • Yes it’s dogs

Thursday November 29th, 1979

The New Stone Age >

< The Old Stone Age (2)