10,000 BC goofs

The film's female protagonist has blue eyes. The genetic mutation that gives rise to blue eyes emerged between 6,000 and 8,000 years ago, which lies outside the period depicted in the film.

Chilli peppers and maize are native to the Americas. They had not been cultivated in the "Old World" until after 1500.

The sequence featuring the ships depicts confinement cages crafted from iron, yet the Iron Age did not begin until around 1200 BC — roughly 8,800 years after 10,000 BC.

During the assault by terror birds, the scene depicts men mounted on horses. The earliest evidence for the domestication of the horse dates to 3,500 BC — roughly 6,500 years later than the period in which the film is set.

Advanced metalworking is depicted throughout the film — from jewellery to swords — technologies that did not exist in 10,000 BC; metal swords did not appear until about 3,000 BC, roughly 7,000 years later.

(at roughly the 50-minute mark) The leader of the African tribe tells D'Leh how his family were taken from him. When he calls out to a member of his tribe, a silver filling is clearly visible in his mouth.

The earliest Egyptian pyramid was built around 2630 BC. The film does not portray the Giza pyramids as complete, perhaps to accommodate both those who regard the Giza structures as relatively recent and those who believe they are considerably older.

The characters refer to the mammoth herd's "lead bull," but, as with present-day elephants, mammoths were actually led by a matriarch — the lead cow. Male bulls did not lead the herd.

When D'leh speaks to the Egyptian "god", he comes within arm's reach of the Egyptian army; in the following shot he is several paces further back.

The terror birds that carried out attacks in forested areas were native to South America, not Europe, Asia or Africa. They became extinct at least one million years ago.

The tropical forest sits unrealistically close to the snow-covered mountains, with no gradual transition between the two.

The Little Ice Age portrayed in the film would correspond to conditions in Europe, not in North Africa. In reality, North Africa — from the Sahara to the Red Sea — would have remained as hot and arid as it is today. Consequently, the film’s geography is completely implausible.

In the pyramid sequence the Nile is portrayed far too narrowly to be believable. In reality the river averages about 1.75 miles across, and its narrowest stretch — roughly the same width shown in the film — lies in a gorge near where the Aswan Dam now stands, several hundred miles upstream from the location in which the film is set.

The film portrays Smilodon, a genus of sabre-toothed felines that were found only in the Americas.

Several scenes depict mammoths galloping. Mammoths were closely related to present‑day elephants and, owing to their physiology, were incapable of a true gallop. At best they could manage a brisk trot, much like modern elephants. They were never domesticated for use as pack animals.

One characteristic of the River Nile is that it flows north while the prevailing winds blow from the south. That combination made travelling along the river relatively straightforward. In the film a boat is shown sailing north along the Nile with its sails raised, which would have been working against the wind. In reality, people would not have used a sail for northbound journeys but would instead have drifted with the current.

Although slaves might have carried out some of the ancillary tasks connected with building the Giza Pyramids, there is no evidence to suggest they were the principal workforce on the project. In fact, inscriptions discovered on and around the pyramids indicate that skilled craftsmen and paid labourers were primarily responsible for erecting the structures. Archaeologists have uncovered a settlement near the pyramids made up of numerous dressed-stone houses that housed the workers; the household contents show they earned wages and that possessions varied from one dwelling to another.

Sabre-toothed cats had short, stubby tails, much like those of a lynx.

The stars shown in several night shots correspond to modern constellations. Owing to long-term astronomical movement, the patterns would have been slightly different 10,000 years ago, though not to an extent that would be particularly noticeable. However, the alteration of Orion's appearance has been significantly exaggerated.

At night the tribes sleep in the desert with scant clothing. Day-to-night temperature swings in the desert are enormous because the landscape cannot retain heat.

Evolet, a woman who lived approximately 12,000 years ago during an ice age as part of a primitive tribe, is depicted with shaved underarms and legs.

(at approximately 1h 30 mins) In the closing scene, the water in the background remains motionless.