The Creation of Inequality: How Our Prehistoric Ancestors Set the Stage for Monarchy, Slavery, and Empire Read Free
Author: Kent Flannery
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wooden spear. All this evidence hints that the more modern-looking occupants of the Mt. Carmel caves might have worn shell ornaments, incurred spear wounds from enemies, and received preparation for an afterlife by having their corpses painted red. However, archaic moderns would continue competing with their Neanderthal neighbors for tens of thousands of years.
Beginning at least 100,000 years ago, this competition among early humans took place during a period of global cooling called the Ice Age. Authorities on climate point to evidence that the world’s temperature was falling dramatically 75,000 years ago. The evidence comes from studying deep-sea sediments, air bubbles trapped in glaciers, and grains of pollen from the clays in lakes. The coldest temperatures occurred between 30,000 and 18,000 years ago. Finally, 10,000 years before the present, world temperatures had rebounded, and the Ice Age was essentially over.
To many anthropologists the Ice Age seems like the kind of stressful environment in which a more resourceful type of human—clever, more resilient, and more able to adapt to difficult conditions—might come to the fore. Others believe that such a scenario relies too heavily on the environment. They prefer to believe that our archaic modern ancestors succeeded by using social skills to create larger networks of kinship, alliance, and mutual aid.
THE NEANDERTHALS CHECK OUT
The Neanderthals dispersed widely over the landscape of Eurasia but generally avoided places as cold as Scandinavia. At the peak of the Ice Age, when their environment included reindeer, woolly mammoths, and woolly rhinos, the European Neanderthals often camped in caves, heating their living space with campfires. Their raw materials came generally from within 60 miles of their encampments, double the distance typical of their predecessors. Roughly 30,000 years ago, however, the Neanderthals vanished, possibly driven to extinction by their more modern-looking neighbors.
Edward O. Wilson has pointed out that once our ancestors were left with no closely related competitors, they had achieved “ecological release.” Now they were free to exhibit greater behavioral diversity, uninhibited by rivals to whom they would have to adjust.
THE DISPERSAL OF ARCHAIC MODERN GROUPS
Even before the disappearance of the Neanderthals, our more modern-looking ancestors had been on the move. Now their exodus would carry them to every part of the Old World, and their descendants would eventually colonize the New World and the islands of the Pacific. It is to this emigration of our more recent Ice Age ancestors that we now turn.
To begin with, archaic modern humans seem to have been less heavily built than the classic Neanderthals. They broke their bones less frequently and enjoyed a greater life expectancy. The classic Neanderthal body required plenty of calories for maintenance. Because of their more graceful build and improved technology, more of our archaic modern ancestors could be supported on the same number of calories. Anthropologist Kristen Hawkes has also argued that their greater life span was an adaptation for more intense food gathering. For example, older women could provide child care, freeing women of childbearing age to spend more time harvesting.
The possible results of longer and more efficient harvesting can be seen in its effect on slow-moving prey. Two examples given by archaeologist Richard Klein are the angulate tortoise and a marine mollusk called the Cape turban shell, both native to South Africa. The angulate tortoise grows slowly throughout life. As early as 40,000 years ago, tortoises from archaeological refuse in South Africa had begun to show a steady decrease in size, perhaps because they were now being harvested in such numbers that most did not live to old age. The Cape turban shell showed a similar size decrease, possibly the result of overpicking.
Around 80,000 to 60,000 years ago, two important archaeological sites
Beginning at least 100,000 years ago, this competition among early humans took place during a period of global cooling called the Ice Age. Authorities on climate point to evidence that the world’s temperature was falling dramatically 75,000 years ago. The evidence comes from studying deep-sea sediments, air bubbles trapped in glaciers, and grains of pollen from the clays in lakes. The coldest temperatures occurred between 30,000 and 18,000 years ago. Finally, 10,000 years before the present, world temperatures had rebounded, and the Ice Age was essentially over.
To many anthropologists the Ice Age seems like the kind of stressful environment in which a more resourceful type of human—clever, more resilient, and more able to adapt to difficult conditions—might come to the fore. Others believe that such a scenario relies too heavily on the environment. They prefer to believe that our archaic modern ancestors succeeded by using social skills to create larger networks of kinship, alliance, and mutual aid.
THE NEANDERTHALS CHECK OUT
The Neanderthals dispersed widely over the landscape of Eurasia but generally avoided places as cold as Scandinavia. At the peak of the Ice Age, when their environment included reindeer, woolly mammoths, and woolly rhinos, the European Neanderthals often camped in caves, heating their living space with campfires. Their raw materials came generally from within 60 miles of their encampments, double the distance typical of their predecessors. Roughly 30,000 years ago, however, the Neanderthals vanished, possibly driven to extinction by their more modern-looking neighbors.
Edward O. Wilson has pointed out that once our ancestors were left with no closely related competitors, they had achieved “ecological release.” Now they were free to exhibit greater behavioral diversity, uninhibited by rivals to whom they would have to adjust.
THE DISPERSAL OF ARCHAIC MODERN GROUPS
Even before the disappearance of the Neanderthals, our more modern-looking ancestors had been on the move. Now their exodus would carry them to every part of the Old World, and their descendants would eventually colonize the New World and the islands of the Pacific. It is to this emigration of our more recent Ice Age ancestors that we now turn.
To begin with, archaic modern humans seem to have been less heavily built than the classic Neanderthals. They broke their bones less frequently and enjoyed a greater life expectancy. The classic Neanderthal body required plenty of calories for maintenance. Because of their more graceful build and improved technology, more of our archaic modern ancestors could be supported on the same number of calories. Anthropologist Kristen Hawkes has also argued that their greater life span was an adaptation for more intense food gathering. For example, older women could provide child care, freeing women of childbearing age to spend more time harvesting.
The possible results of longer and more efficient harvesting can be seen in its effect on slow-moving prey. Two examples given by archaeologist Richard Klein are the angulate tortoise and a marine mollusk called the Cape turban shell, both native to South Africa. The angulate tortoise grows slowly throughout life. As early as 40,000 years ago, tortoises from archaeological refuse in South Africa had begun to show a steady decrease in size, perhaps because they were now being harvested in such numbers that most did not live to old age. The Cape turban shell showed a similar size decrease, possibly the result of overpicking.
Around 80,000 to 60,000 years ago, two important archaeological sites
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