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Why don't prehistoric man "renderings" have dreadlocks and a long beard?

In all the pictures you see of what prehistoric man is assumed to look like (you see him going from ape-ish to human); he always has short hair and no beard......is the assumption he cut his hair somehow? It broke off? Why is he always shown to be clean shaved? Wouldn't he have a beard to his knees? He always seems to have a nice cropped haircut. Was it like fur that did not grow, like an ape?

Public Comments

1. Prehistoric man was a hunter gatherer. He probably did not have the tools to shave or get a hair cut. Unless he used a piece of flint or something similar. On the North American continent prehistoric man plucked his beard out. He didn't have much of a growth anyway. But undoubtedly the earliest humans did not shave or cut their hair. They were too busy trying to survive.
2. Yes most early humans would have had thick long hair but as they became more sophisticated and began wearing jewelery and painting their faces etc i wouldn't be surprised if they also used flint knives to cut their hair not just short but completely off, partly for practicality but also style. Check out this vid at about 6:55 to see what i mean. you can see the difference between the more primitive Neanderthals and the more sophisticated Homo Sapiens. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYCmzhjt6ko&feature=related
3. You do realize that the images of prehistoric humans are artistic depictions designed to show faces, bodies, etc. and therefore are probably idealized, don't you?
4. Most drawings of prehistoric people are rubbish. Prehistoric covers a vast period of time and like any period, had its changes in fashion and appearance. Man has always adorned himself, whether with ochre or chalk, beads and shells. If you can make a flint knife you can cut hair or shave if you wish (although in many ancient societies men had hair about shoulder length-long by our standards but short by theirs; very short cropped hair was often regarded as a signed of slavery.) I really get annoyed when I see drawings of 'monkey men' in grass skirts building Stonehenge or other monuments--worse,sometimes they are depicted naked (must've been very cold!) in fact the first builders wore tanned hides like leather and held back their hair with bone pins. by the succeeding bronze age, they had toggles, buttons, razors, hair nets for women, belt buckles,etc, although very definitely still prehistoric. I agree with other posrters though that the 'ape to man' drawings show a lack of hair/adornment judt to give an idea about changes in body and cranial shape.