Could early man only see three colors?

Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
1

This is from Calvin and Hobbes, the comic strip. It explains a lot.

Calvin: Dad, how come old photographs are always black and white? Didn’t they have color film back then?
Dad: Sure they did. In fact, those old photographs are in color. It’s just the world was black and white then.
Calvin: Really?
Dad: Yep. The world didn’t turn color until sometime in the 1930s, and it was pretty grainy color for a while, too.
Calvin: That’s really weird.
Dad: Well, truth is stranger than fiction.
Calvin: But then why are old paintings in color?! If their world was black and white, wouldn’t artists have painted it that way?
Dad: Not necessarily. A lot of great artists were insane.
Calvin: But… but how could they have painted in color anyway? Wouldn’t their paints have been shades of gray back then?
Dad: Of course, but they turned colors like everything else did in the '30s.
Calvin: So why didn’t old black and white photos turn color too?
Dad: Because they were color pictures of black and white, remember?

Calvin: The world is a complicated place, Hobbes.
Hobbes: Whenever it seem that way, I take a nap in a tree and wait for dinner.

2

Welsome to SDMB, Fowardpass. Since most of us cannot see inside your mind, it’s always a good idea to indicate the column that triggered your post so we don’t have to guess or swear at you.

Perhaps this is the one.

3

I thought that was covered under the heading, thanks.

4

That Calvin and Dad exchange was one of the funniest strips that ever ran.

5

Until vB allows a link in a heading, we are forced to do it the manual way.

I miss Calvin & Hobbes, too.