Evidence of the Pre-Literate Past and Nisa's Story

During the Paleolithic period, early people didn't have journals to document what they did or saw at that time. So in order to know what they did in the past, today researchers study artifacts such as pottery and clothing, cave drawings, and remains of people such as bones, corpses and burial grounds to understand more what was going on back then. After reading Nisa's story, I can infer things that may have been very common for some Paleolithic people- particularly women. Nisa mentioned that when she was a young girl, her and mother would stay at home while her father went out to hunt for food, whether it was game meat or honey from bees. Nisa said she always looked forward to what her dad brought home. I thought was extremely interesting because when she goes on to talk about her marriage, it seemed she was very apprehensive about her marriage at the beginning, but her family told her that a man " kills animals and gives you things to eat" she felt better about the situation. This makes me believe that women at this time are taught at a young age to always be excited when their brothers, fathers, or possibly any other male in their family brings home food or goods while they're gone. Nisa mourned her first husband's death just like people do today when a loved one dies. She was distraught and upset exactly like people are today. One thing that I thought was really interesting was that Nisa had 3 other husbands as well as lovers after Tashay's death, which makes me believe that during this era, it was perfectly okay to have intimate relationships over the course of one's lifetime. Nisa stated that "having affairs is a gift God gave us. Women didn't leave their huts often back in those times, so when they had multiple suitors, they can receive all kinds of gifts from them such as meant, jewelry, and money that they can look forward to at the end of the day.