Who are the Croods

Who are the Croods?

The 2013 family comedy, The Croods, follows a family of hominins and their journey of development as they navigate a new dangerous world. A number of cultural and biological aspects of the family indicate what species of hominin they are. Although they are capable of bipedal locomotion, they also knucklewalk. This suggests that they fall earlier on the hominin timeline. However, the Croods where partially developed clothing, jewelry, use shelter and begin using fire early on in the movie. These sings of cultural evolution indicate that despite being knucklewalkers, they are actually on the hominin timeline. They had straight, slender fingers which are suitable for precision grip rather than grasping branches, and their hallux is aligned with their other toes, allowing for greater balance when walking. When a new member of the group, Guy, suggests travelling to a distant mountain to escape danger, one of the children explains that the group had never travelled a large distance before - this indicates that the group may not have feet fully suitable for crossing long distances. In terms of their skulls, the Croods have prominent brow ridges, robust haws, and large incisors. Their teeth - canines included - are flat, and some of the family members have a diastema. They display a limited ability of in depth abstract thinking early in the film, however later on Grug begins drawing pictures of his family on the walls of a cave, which suggests the development of abstract thinking. Initially they don't use tools, aside from Guy who is seemingly more developed and uses controlled fire and hunting traps. With these cultural and biological factors in mind, it is likely that the Croods are a later Homo species - such as Homo Erectus or Homo Heidelbergensis, who lived 1.9 million to approximately 30,000 years ago. Although there are slight differences in biological features such as Homo Erectus having smaller teeth, a higher degree of prognathism and being fully bipedal, this species is the one which fits closest to the Croods due to their other biological features and the fact that these hominins were beginning to use fire. 

The History of Burials

The traditional custom of burying the deceased is a symbol of great love, respect and grief among modern human populations, and is a practice which dates back many hundreds of thousands of years (in some manner). Four burial sites in particular around the world are significant in regards to developing a timeline on hominins and the social behaviors of ritual and burial. The oldest of these four caves is the "Pit of Bones", located in Atapuerca, Spain. Dating back to 400,000 years ago, the Pit of Bones encompasses a 40ft drop followed by a long downwards slope. At the bottom of this slope, archaeologists found approximately 6,500 bone fragments, among which were the remains of 28 Denisovans. With these, they also found the remains of multiple carnivorous animals which could have accounted for the placement of the Denisovan bodies - however, these animal remains were on top of the Denisovan remains, indicating that the Denisovans had been there first. There were no signs of tools or artefacts being buried there, nor were the bodies placed in an intentional orderly fashion. Considering this and the fact that once they were in the cave there would be no possibility of climbing back out without advanced climbing equipment, it was concluded that this served more as a place to dispose of bodies, rather than a spiritual or symbolic burial place to grieve for the dead.

The second location is the "Rising Star Cave", located in South Africa and dating back to approximately 250,000 years ago. Looking at a diagram of the cave below it can be inferred that traveling to this burial site was no easy feat - the energy required to carry bodies to this location would have been substantial. No signs of flood damage which could have resulted in the bodies being carried to this location have been found, indicating that placing the bodies here was deliberate. This is further backed up by the fact that the 15 Homo Naledi remains found here had been placed over a period of time. The concept of using this continuous burial site despite the difficulty which was most certainly faced traveling to this location suggests the beginning of some form of deeper more abstract thinking in hominins. It suggests that hominins had developed the capacity to carry out tasks aside from those which provided a direct benefit to their physical health.

The third location is the Shanidar Cave - also known as the "Flower Burial Site". Located in Iraq, this burial site dated back to approximately 60,000-90,000 years ago. At this location, the remains of 10 Homo Neanderthals were found - a few of which consisted of skeletons which had been dusted with pollen. This was a significant discovery in terms of the development of rituals and burials among hominins, as it would appear that these Neanderthals had been buried with flowers, suggesting some from of symbolic sentiment and the development of a deeper level of thinking, and the capacity for abstract, original thoughts outside of immediate survival needs. However, the pollen found amongst these remains was disproven to be buried with the Neanderthals, as small tracks were later discovered in the ground within the burial site, proving that the pollen had been brought in by mice.

The final and most significant of the four burial sites is the Qafzeh Cave, located at the bottom of Mount Precipice south of Nazareth, in Iraq. The burial site at Qafzeh Cave dates back to approximately 92,000 years ago (during the mid-Paleolithic era), and the remains discovered here were of early Homo Sapiens. There are several points of interest which separate this burial site from the other three, and show evident signs of intentional burial of bodies. The first of these points is the fact that of the 15 individuals buried here, 6 of them had been laid down in a systematic and orderly fashion. This in itself suggested that the bodies had been placed intentionally and with care, indicating their burial was symbolic rather than purely for disposal. Secondly, artefacts were found alongside the bodies; tools, such as weapons, horns, and several other objects were excavated at this site. This serves as further evidence of intentional burial. The final and most interesting fact about the remains found at Qafzeh Cave is that the bones of the Homo Sapiens buried here has been painted with red ochre. Presumably, this is a ritual or tradition which held some form of symbolic meaning to the group of people these individuals belonged to, and suggested the existence of a hierarchy or status amongst their community. This once again provides evidence of the development of deeper abstract thinking in hominins.