Cavemen or astronauts? The astronauts don’t have weapons.
I assume the cavemen are weaponless as well? Otherwise that’s far from fair.
But I gotta go with astronauts. People seem to have this belief that cavemen (I assume we are just lumping all sorts of pre-human species as ‘cavemen,’ such as cro-magnon and homo erectus?) were inhumanely strong and aggressive. But they had a sub-standard diet, eating what they could when they could, and generally were only successful hunters because they ganged up on the animals. Astronauts have great health, undergo physical conditioning, and are very smart, able to set traps, trick the cavemen, etc…
It was Buffy who reverted into a cave(wo)man, not Angel. 
But even though cavemen do not have superior diets, they are conditioned to withstand pain better. The caveman would fight like an animal, while the astronaut like a civilized human being. I think that is all the advantage they need in a fight with no weapons.
Astronauts are (usually) from the military, fit and healthy, and probably have some training in hand to hand combat.
Cavemen are (usually) small, malnourished and riddled with scurvy and rickets.
No contest.
Didn’t Kirk v. Gorn settle this question?
That was basically astronauts vs… lizard astronauts.
If by “caveman” we mean “Neanderthal”, I’m not sure. They have
[ul]
[li]Bigger brains[/li][li]Probably more knowledge of setting traps etc., esp. out of all-natural materials[/li][li]Anatomically, much stronger than a modern human, esp. in the arms/hands[/li][li]I don’t agree that they would be all malnourished and ricketed. Generally, H-Gs live fairly OK. Certainly, the collected Neanderthal remains don’t show them to be any shorter than many humans (around 5’5" - 5’6" male average), with a robust build.[/li][/ul]
But the kicker?
[ul]
[li]Know how to knap stone weapons, not generally something that comes up in airforce or astronaut training AFAIK[/li][/ul]
What usually happens in caveman versus astronauts, is the cavemen initally gain the upper hand, but then one of the astronauts remembers today is the day of a convenient solar eclipse and uses that knowledge to escape.
If you factor angels into the equation, the astronaut wins. Previous flight experience is going to be a big advantage if both sides suddenly sprout wings.
Moderator Query:
OK, I’m confused. What exactly is the question being asked here? Why is it in Cafe Society? Aesiron: Some clarification, please?
We generally ask that thread titles be reasonable guides to the topic, but in this case, not even your first post is a reasonable guide to the topic. What the hell is this about?
Astronauts vs cavemen was a debate among the characters of the television show Angel in the episode “Hole in the World” When they finally settled on the answer I was devistated. Cavemen always win.
What **parthenokinesis **said. It’s a significant argument from a central episode of the final season, and any fan that watched it should recognize it.
The reason for the non-descriptive title (and the entire thread, honestly) was because there are also threads titled “Buffy question” and “Firefly question” on the front page. All three shows are Joss Whedon creations, and I was having a little bit of fun. I’d check to see if there’s a “Dollhouse question” thread now, but the board appears to be crashing again, so I can’t.