Prehistoric SF

Entry updated 19 May 2025. Tagged: Theme.

The late nineteenth-century growth of interest in primal humanity and its forebears (seeAnthropology;Apes as Human;Evolution;Origin of Man) led to a broad category of imaginative fiction that might be termed Prehistoric Romance – colourful tales of primitives, freed even from the contemporaryLost-Race story's modest narrative requirement of a plausibly long-lost location which (before the story can properly begin) must be plausibly found. Prehistoric fiction became yoked to sf partly owing to this common ground and partly because – as observed by KingsleyAmis inNew Maps of Hell: A Survey of Science Fiction (1960) – H GWells effectively annexed the territory with "A Story of the Stone Age" (May-November 1897Idler). Another notable prehistoric work by Wells, part essay and part narrative, is "The Grisly Folk" (April 1921The Storyteller). These short pieces embody two recurring themes of prehistoric sf: the discovery and development ofWeapons or other tools in the first, and the assumed clash between modern humans and their Neanderthal predecessors in the second.

Wells's first prehistoric venture was preceded by such fictions as Edward BulwerLytton's treatment of early humanity in "The Fallen Star, or the History of a False Religion" (inThe Pilgrims of the Rhine, coll1834); AndrewLang's "The Romance of the First Radical" (September 1880Fraser's Magazine as "The Romance of the First Radical: A Prehistoric Apologue"), whose aptly named protagonist Why-Why is uncomfortably in advance of his time; and HenryCurwen'sZit and Xoe: Their Early Experience (April-May 1885Blackwood's Magazine;1887). A later nineteenth-century example is E SCurry'sThe No-Din: Romance, History and Science of Pre-Historic Races of America and Other Lands (1899).Anona of the Moundbuilders: A Story of Many Thousands of Years Ago (1920), by Albert NelsonDennis and J Clarence Marple, is set in the prehistory of North America.

The first discovery ofWeapons is famously dramatized in the opening segment of2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Many older prehistoric-sf stories deal with earlyInventions, from clubs (as in "A Story of the Stone Age" and2001) to the domestication of fire and forging of blades. LordDunsany imagines the accidental discovery of iron-smelting, the end of the Stone Age and the rise ofReligion in "The Sword and the Idol" (13 February 1909Saturday Review). Further tales of earlyConceptual Breakthrough include AshtonHilliers'sThe Master-Girl (1910), with a female inventor-protagonist; GeorgeLangford'sPic the Weapon-Maker (1920); Howard RGaris'sTam of the Fire Cave (1927); JimKjelgaard'sFire-Hunter (1951); and ReginaldMaddock'sThe Great Bow (1964), whose hero invents the first bow and arrow. Such Promethean inventors may be too innovative for their own good: the ingenious title characters of Oliver MarbleGale'sCarnack – The Life-Bringer: The Story of a Dawn Man Told by Himself (1928) and RoyLewis's darkly comicWhat We Did to Father (1960; vtThe Evolution Man1963; vtOnce Upon an Ice Age1979; vtThe Evolution Man; or, How I Ate my Father1992) end up, respectively, exiled and murdered. JimCrace'sThe Gift of Stones (1988) portrays the end of an era as Stone Age craftsmen are superseded by workers in metal.

Another notable female innovator – though even she pushes too hard and is banished by the Neanderthal tribe that adopted her – is Ayla, the Cro-Magnon protagonist of Jean MAuel's best-sellingEarth's Children series, beginning withThe Clan of the Cave Bear (1980): this became the benchmark or paradigm of prehistoric sf in the later twentieth century. FurtherFeminist treatments of note include Joan DahrLambert'sCircles of Stone (1997) and DorisLessing'sThe Cleft (2007). Other prehistoric sf sagas which like Auel's run to multiple volumes include RobinHobb'sReindeer People diptych opening withThe Reindeer People (1988) as by Megan Lindholm, and the lengthyPeople of the Wolf sequence by Kathleen O'NealGear and W MichaelGear, opening withPeople of the Wolf (1990).

The theme of Neanderthal man versus the more familiarly human Cro-Magnons also appears in J-HRosny aîné'sLa guerre du feu (1909; cut trans asThe Quest for Fire: A Novel of Prehistoric Times1967; vtQuest for Fire1982), and in theTimeslip romanceThree Go Back (1932; cut and bowdlerized1953) by J LeslieMitchell, where the conflict takes place inAtlantis. Such a clash becomes the first keyJonbar Point of human history inFlight into Yesterday (May 1949Startling; exp1953; vtThe Paradox Men1955 dos) by Charles LHarness, leading to repeating cycles of distrust, hatred andWar until at last history is rewritten to make the ancient encounter a peacefulFirst Contact. The gulf between old and new cultures is developed with considerable, even hallucinatory, force from the Neanderthal viewpoint in WilliamGolding'sThe Inheritors (1955). Despite the bleakness of their original "grisly" portrayal by Wells, Neanderthals were cast as heroes by several other writers, an early example being IrvingCrump's anachronisticOg sequence opening withOg – Son of Fire (1922). Indeed Neanderthals are now almost routinely credited with specialEmpathy or otherESP/Psi Powers, as in MarkCanter'sEmber from the Sun (1995). The traditional clash gives way to passionate though necessarily unfruitful Neanderthal/Cro-Magnon cross-species love matches in BjörnKurtén'sDen svarta tigern (1978 Sweden; trans asDance of the Tiger: A Novel of the Ice Age1980) andMammutens raddare (1984 Sweden; trans asSingletusk: A Novel of the Ice Age1986). Prehistoric sequences in PiersAnthony'sIsle of Woman (1993) – opening hisGeodyssey sequence – also feature sympathetic Neanderthals.

The above-cited2001: A Space Odyssey andFlight into Yesterday both inject theGenre SF theme ofUplift into their prehistoric scenes. Similarly,Alien influence and intervention in the early days of humanity was a favourite theme of Erichvon Däniken's supposed nonfiction. Other prehistoric tamperings in sf may inflict the anti-Uplift ofArrested Development, as inBlindfold from the Stars (1979) by Philip EHigh andThe Margarets (2007) by Sheri STepper.

In narratives concerned with the grand sweep ofEvolution, prehistoric sf sequences become part of a larger whole. ChristineBrooke-Rose'sSubscript (1999) begins the human story at the cell level and ceases before the development of agriculture; StephenBaxter'sEvolution (2002) follows the thread from pre-sentient mammals of theDinosaur era to humanity's prime and then beyond to ultimateFar-Future Devolution. Echoing Wells's use of cave-bear and other animal viewpoints in "A Story of the Stone Age", Baxter has also written prehistoric sf from the nonhuman viewpoint of mammoths in hisMammoth trilogy, opening withMammoth: Silverhair (1999; vtSilverhair1999), and human-centred prehistoricAlternate History in theNorthland sequence opening withNorthland: Book One: Stone Spring (2010), where aConceptual Breakthrough in primitive civil engineering changes the course of prehistory. Also notable is Kim StanleyRobinson'sShaman (2013).

Prehistoric sf generally loses its characteristic flavour when modern protagonists intrude viaTime Travel: the very numerous examples include the first storyline ofDoctor Who in 1963; much ofIt's About Time (1966-1967), again featuring friendly Neanderthals; and JulianMay'sSaga of Pliocene Exile, opening withThe Many-Colored Land (1981). There can be interesting exceptions when a modern consciousness merely observes through aTime Viewer (which see), as inThe Amulet of Tarv: A Romance of the South Downs, 1,000 BC (1925) by Percy FKensett; or enters the deep past unobtrusively via some form of psychic projection. The latter trope appears in Francis LeslieAshton'sThe Breaking of the Seals (1946) and the Pleistocene episodes of MichaelBishop'sNo Enemy But Time (1982; rev2022). The anachronistic running joke of the animated television seriesTheFlintstones (1960-1966) is that prehistoric life is almost exactly like contemporary American suburbia, with domesticatedDinosaurs and other animals – plus assorted devices improbably built from Stone Age materials – providing all the comforts of 1960sTechnology. Long beforeThe Flintstones, V THamlin's comic-strip Neanderthal cavemanAlley Oop (created 1932) enjoyed many more or less anachronistic adventures even before let loose on history at large via the device ofTime Travel.

Besides the opening of2001 and productions cited in the previous paragraph, further media treatments of the prehistory theme includeOne Million B.C. (1940; vtMan and his Mate) and its remakeOne Million Years B.C. (1966),Prehistoric Women (1950 and1967),Women of the Prehistoric Planet (1966),When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1969),Korg: 70,000 BC (1974),Quest for Fire (1981) andThe Clan of the Cave Bear (1986), the last two being based on above-cited works by J-HRosny and Jean MAuel.

A relevant anthology isDawn of Time: Prehistory Through Science Fiction (anth1979) edited by RobertSilverberg, Martin HGreenberg and Joseph DOlander. The attraction of Stone Age simplicities, with so much that the reader already knows still waiting to be discovered, is mirrored by sf's more sophisticated and sometimes ironic tales ofre-discovery inPost-Holocaust andRuined Earth settings. [DRL]

see also: StevenBarnes; MaxBégouën; H JCampbell; DulcieDeamer; VardisFisher; Ottilie ALiljencrantz; EdisonMarshall.

further reading