The Grandmother Hypothesis

   Here's one of general interest to many, and specific interest to those who give less than respect to the female of the species. Hominids have walked the earth for millions of years. We have Lucy's remains dated to about 2 million years ago, and there are others older than her. For all so many years, however, the species did little more than survive. Then suddenly, about 30,000 years ago, it began to show signs of complex culture. What is there to explain the difference? Not some male brandishing a new and bigger weapon. No, the explanation belongs to the "weaker sex".
   Anthropologists know, from studying remains, that it was about the time of the Neanderthals that women began to live to twice the age of sexual maturity. In other words, that was the time when the species began to have its first grandmothers. These ladies of elder years were available to babysit, and while they did so, they had the time and the audience to which to pass on the stories from their own youth. This is credited with sparking the birth of traditonal culture. Grandmothers are believed to be the evolutionary advantage of modern humankind. Imposing your culture on others may have needed a spear, but having that culture in the first place, needed a distaff.