# How do we know female cavemen had beards? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 12, 2009, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-know-female-cavemen-had-beards/517269 "2009-11-12T02:49:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-know-female-cavemen-had-beards/517269/21 "2009-11-12T20:08:33Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > (In fact, with T-Rex there seems to be some debate over whether it was scales or feathers, let alone what color). Not really. All known skin impressions of _Tyrannosaurus_ are of the bumpy-scaly-lizardy-type. An early relative of _Tyrannosaurus_ (_Dilong_) was found with feather impressions, but a) this was a much smaller beast, and, perhaps most importantly, b) wasn’t _Tyrannosaurus rex_. See [here](http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_6958/is_7_70/ai_n30933773/). ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-know-female-cavemen-had-beards/517269/22 "2009-11-12T20:22:14Z")
If you asked this amateur, I’d totally advise against giving facial hair to female _Homo erectus_ types. It’s pretty clear that in _Homo sapiens sapiens_, facial hair is a secondary sexual characteristic. So if you’re going to give a Hominid the same hair patterns as modern day _Homo sapiens sapiens_, you should give them the same hair patterns as modern day _Homo sapiens sapiens_. That said, I think it’s pretty likely that our hominid ancestors had some weird and funky natural hairstyles. Closely related species of monkeys that live near each other frequently have wildly different mustaches, beards, tufts, crests, and so on. So if there were two species of hominids living in the same area at the same time, it’s likely that they had very different hair and secondary sexual characteristics. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-know-female-cavemen-had-beards/517269/23 "2009-11-12T20:43:51Z")
> [@astro](#): > > what makes us think female cavemen had beards. Abrasions on the inner thighs of the male cavemen. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-know-female-cavemen-had-beards/517269/24 "2009-11-12T23:42:08Z")
Maybe I’m blind, but it’s not obvious to me that the woman in the picture has a beard. They clearly have some sort of white substance on them since it is quite evident on their chests. The only thing I can see on her chin in that blurry picture could just be more of that white stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-know-female-cavemen-had-beards/517269/25 "2009-11-13T00:13:35Z")
> [@MarcusF](#): > > People, people. This is in the Daily Mail - scientific accuracy, or even relevence to the story, was not the main consideration when the sub-editor asked for an illustration. 😃 I shudder to think how a similar article in _The Sun_ might have been illustrated. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-know-female-cavemen-had-beards/517269/26 "2009-11-13T02:25:04Z")
> [@Canadjun](#): > > Maybe I’m blind, but it’s not obvious to me that the woman in the picture has a beard. They clearly have some sort of white substance on them since it is quite evident on their chests. The only thing I can see on her chin in that blurry picture could just be more of that white stuff. I thought so, too, but look at [this picture](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Walking_with_cavemen.jpg) of the same duo. I watched that series, and thought it was pretty good. I didn’t remember the bearded female _H. ergaster_, though it was several years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-know-female-cavemen-had-beards/517269/27 "2009-11-13T07:31:28Z")
[Lord Flashheart]Thanks bridesmaid. Like the beard. Gives me something to hang on to![/Lord Flashheart] ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-know-female-cavemen-had-beards/517269/28 "2009-11-16T05:09:07Z")
Well, they are supposed to be elderly, and don’t elderly women sometimes develop beards? There was a woman who lived on our street when I was a kid who developed Alzheimer’s and stopped shaving her face and she looked about like this woman, beard-wise, when she’d come out of her house. Then one day she was gone. I always felt bad about not being able to do anything to help her, and never knew what happened to her. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-know-female-cavemen-had-beards/517269/29 "2009-11-16T05:18:12Z")
am i the only one who thinks it was meant to represent both chimp-like creatures and modern man? it’s about a link, so it shows both? what kind of man (or woman) would have a full grown beard but be hairless from the neck down? ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-know-female-cavemen-had-beards/517269/30 "2009-11-16T05:31:46Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > am i the only one who thinks it was meant to represent both chimp-like creatures and modern man? I can’t say how many others think that, but I can say that it is incorrect. > [@](#): > > what kind of man (or woman) would have a full grown beard but be hairless from the neck down? I do. Why do you find this so unusual. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-know-female-cavemen-had-beards/517269.md?page=1)