Re: Has anyone seen the movie 10,000 BC?

[Raymond Ancog <rayancog@pldtdsl.net>]

I posted a message to the Vertebrate Paleo 
mailing list last March 4 after watching an 
advanced screening, so I'm re-posting it here:

I watched a radio station-sponsored screening 
last night, so I have a chance to sound off on 
what I saw. If you don't want parts of the story spoiled, read no further.

This movie is not meant to be taken as 
historically accurate (and as it turns out, it is 
not even paleogeographically accurate), so set your expectations accordingly.

The amount of actual screen time given to animals 
is not that high?comparable to the dinosaur 
screen time on Jurassic Park. Three (possibly 
four) fossil species are depicted: Mammuthus 
primigenius, Titanis walleri, and Smilodon 
(populator?). M. primigenius appears early in the 
movie, as a herd traveling through the tundra. 
When the ambush starts, they all start running. 
Not fast walking where contact with the ground is 
maintained at all times, but running with all feet off the ground.

A few phorusrachid birds appear in the middle of 
the movie, in a dense thicket populated by 
tallgrass and bamboos. I presume they're T. 
walleri due to their size and the dating of the 
movie, and they are depicted with fully feathered 
forelimbs/arms. They're seen climbing up trees 
with their beak and feet following the 
protagonist, and are able to snap bamboo with 
their beaks with ease. Are their talons recurved enough to permit climbing?

A Smilodon is shown caught in a hunter's pit, 
with several vultures (Gymnogyps?) feeding on 
impaled carcasses, and is freed by the main 
character. In a scene reminiscent of the Greek 
story of Androcles and the lion, it does not 
attack the human but scrabbles its way out of the 
pit. Later, when the North American tribal 
hunters encounter an African tribal village and 
are confronted by the locals, the same Smilodon 
shows up, smells the one who freed him, then 
leaves without hurting anyone. A Smilodon in 
north Africa. Or perhaps north- and eastwards to 
Palestine or Arabia, to account for the travels 
of the main characters (who apparently tracked 
their enemies from North America, across the 
Bering land bridge, to Asia and Africa where they finally end up in Egypt).

The construction of the pyramids involved several 
mammoths for labor. They appear identical to M. 
primigenius except for the sparse body hair. I 
don't know if they are in fact M. primigenius 
brought all the way to Egypt, or another species 
native to the area or surrounding regions. And 
again, when the heroes incite a slave riot, the 
mammoths break free and cause a stampede, again 
running (not walking) down the ramp and crushing humans caught in their path.

And that's it. There are a lot of anthropological 
and archaeological questions on this movie as 
well (Tibetans in Egypt? At least I assume 
they're Tibetans based on my scarce knowledge of 
their dress.), but for paleontologists that's 
what its serving to the viewing public. A check 
at the official website 
http://www.10000bcmovie.com/ doesn't show any of 
the animals identified with scientific names.

Raymond Ancog
Mines and Geosciences Bureau
Philippines