The Flintstones: fact or fiction? - prehistoric life was much more violent and dangerous

This summer's movie hit, "The Flintstones," made the life of cave people look not too bad. Except for details like rough-cut clothes, Fred and Wilma could be present-day Americans. In fact, their lives look charmingly simple by comparison.

But a book coming out next year says early peoples led rougher lives--much rougher. The author is Lawrence Keeley of the University of Illinois at Chicago. An anthropologist, he has studied prehistoric burial sites and 50 recent tribal societies.

His conclusions? Keeley says that the yearly homicide rate for these societies was more than 50 times greater than for the United States today. And he points to a record of smashed faces and shattered bones. In one ancient American village, for example, Keeley found every house burned to the ground and a mass grave of 500 people violently killed.

Keeley claims that "pre-civilized" life was not typically peaceful and happy. Early peoples often simply killed to get what they wanted or needed, he says. "What prevents war is politics," Keeley claims. Modern political systems usually provide nonviolent ways to settle disputes.

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