Lessons from Prehistory

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Gods and religions did not exist more than 10,000 years ago. Nomadic hunter-gatherers societies had no deities or religious beliefs. With the advent of agriculture and the psychological shift human beings separated themselves from the natural world. Agriculture put men at odds with nature in a battle that they could not win.

Verbal abstractions of Magic and Supernatural were created by the ingenuity of Civilized men's language.  Magic allowed for the altering of the physical world merely by gesticulating and uttering incantations. When human magic was insufficient, Supernatural was created. By its very definition it was stronger than and able to control Nature. Molded in the image of Man, God became the incarnation of that Supernatural.

War did not exist more than 10,000 years ago. The non-aggressive character of nomadic hunter-gatherer societies makes that clear.

Thievery, domination, and greed have all been given as motivations for war. Ideological conflicts, religious zealotry, and desires for immense wealth have initiated countless wars. Men have gone into battle and lost their lives for patriotism, glory, and God's work.

All of this behavior is irrational and in opposition to biological and evolutional imperatives.

The origins of war are founded in the motivation of ego and the method of verbal abstract reasoning.

Aggression, competition, and abuse did not exist more than 10,000 years ago. The simplest explanation is that human ego did not exist before then. Ego placed every individual at odds with every other member of the homo sapiens species. 

In nomadic hunter-gatherer societies each person felt a psychological bond with the other people in his or her band. They strove to maintain peace and goodwill by supporting each other. Sharing was an absolute. There was no competition. No one felt more important than anyone else, and no one felt inferior to anyone else. 

When the psychological shift created self-oriented individuals conflict, condescension, secrecy, and paranoia took hold. Physical expressions of this resulted in abuse, brutality, and violence.

The need to bolster desperate egos has perpetuated violence, and aggression has become an underlying characteristic of Modern human behavior. 

Human beings are not inherently violent.

Competition is not inherent in human beings.

Original human behavior is not akin to wolves or lions or even gorillas.

War did not exist more than 10,000 years ago because people were nonaggressive.

Prehistoric men did not fight over women.

Men are not superior to women. 

Marriage ceremonies are not a part of all human societies.

Human societies do not need leaders or shamans or chiefs.

The inspiration for prehistoric cave art was not magic or supernatural.

Prehistoric people were not afraid of the dark or evil spirits.

Gods and religion are not found in all human cultures.

Prehistoric peoples did not believe in an afterlife.

“Contrary to what many would like to believe, human nature is not inherent biology.

Human nature is an acquired psychology. Simple hunter-gatherers are the obvious proof. They are the same biological homo sapiens as we are. But their human nature is not our human nature.”

“The excuse that violence is inherent in homo sapiens falls flat when confronted with facts regarding simple hunter-gatherer societies. All who have come into contact with and/or studied these peoples have been astonished at the lack of competitive, aggressive, and disruptive behaviors. They remark over and over how these “harmless” and “gentle” people do not confront one another or fight.”

“The strategy of Civilization is a group effort. Civilization is a social contract, an agreement by all to accept certain rules and behaviors as good and proper.”

“Well-liked, good-looking, and fun are a few of the thousands of clever adjectives created to compliment self-centered individuals for nothing special. None of these qualities would ensure survival in the natural world.”

“It should be noted that burial does not imply rite or ritual. Burial was a pragmatic solution to a dead body. Artifacts found with a body do not in any way imply a belief in a hereafter; they simply belonged to the deceased and were of no use to anyone else.”

“Magic, Supernatural, and religion are not inherent human understandings. We must be taught to imagine them. We must be taught with words that step beyond the reality of physical experience. That is something our prehistoric ancestors did not do. When people lived intimately with the natural world they had no need of magic or Supernatural.”

“Trying to differentiate a habitual custom of food avoidance from a social law about food avoidance may be merely a matter of semantics in our academic approach to understanding the !Kung way of life. But it is, in fact, important to note that the !Kung did not have food avoidances as ritual laws based on magic or supernatural consequences. They were a pragmatic people. The guidelines of avoiding certain foods during specific times of one’s life were based in good health and keeping away from potential physiological problems. There was no punishment associated with disobeying these guidelines. It was just very good commonsense to follow them. There were certainly no religious or provoked-god ramifications cited.”

“Once words had begun to rewire the human brain into accepting verbal abstraction, language progressed away from experience-based semantics toward greater and greater abstraction. This critical transition allowed the human mind to create its own system of perceptions that eventually became more real than the physical world of our senses.

The clue to understanding that words were the necessary mechanism of change from Archaic to Modern human societies was found in the prehistoric artwork that was the seed of inquiry for our whole discussion. Prehistoric cave paintings of France and Spain had a realistic style. Art since the Name of God was spoken seemed child-like and immature. Human subjects were portrayed as stick-figures with spaghetti legs and arms. Animal depictions were equally unrealistic often seeming to be generic quadrupeds. Multiple figures in a scene were proportionally mismatched. Some were huge; others tiny.

With a little consideration and the understanding that some 20th century artists also forsook accurate, realistic portrayal it became clear that the art since the Name of God was not poorly created or unskilled. It was representational. The artists weren’t interested in realistically showing people and animals. The drawings were not so much visual renderings as they were ideographs narrating a story. 

The human experience had transitioned from I-Thou to I-It. Life was no longer simply and unselfconsciously lived. Life and everything in it were analyzed and defined.

Analysis and definition have always been the realm of words.”

“Yes, these are all exceptions to the author’s assumptions about prehistoric cave art. But they are not rebuttal to any of his findings. The realistic style remains unparalleled in prehistoric art. There is a sophistication and accuracy in rendering the anatomy of large mammals that still awes viewers today. It should be acknowledged that these artists had quite accomplished talents. It would seem that they could portray whatever they wished. Yet, there is still no evidence of violence or confrontation in Magdalenian cave paintings. There are no battles between human opponents. There are no pictures of fighting horses, charging mammoths, or stampeding bison. The animal portraits are quite serene and almost respectful.”

“Speaking the Name of God was a chronological demarcation of civilization. Human civilization and its institutions of government, religion, social classes, and military organization only began after the Name of God.  Before this event humanity was no different from the other creatures that inhabit this planet. Men and women lived as a part of nature, without self-consciousness, in equilibrium with a world of flora and fauna caught in the continuous struggle of every living thing to survive. After this event Human Beings consciously fought the forces of Nature as antagonists, attempted to control Nature, and soon considered themselves to be the highest order of living creation. After the Name of God was spoken they were separate from Nature. They were conscious of being separate. They have attempted to interpret and understand Nature since then by imposing their rational and abstract methods of reasoning on the experience of life.”

“The practice of sharing food among all was the strongest bond holding everyone together. Sharing was a way of keeping individual desires and quibbling in check. It is said that familiarity breeds contempt. Living too close to other people one begins to find them to be annoying, small-minded, and perhaps less willing to contribute. Sharing was a place to free oneself of these petty emotions. Gratitude toward others and gratitude from others was a strong cement holding individuals together as a community.

Part of sharing was a certain satisfaction in giving more than keeping. When an individual was allotted a large share as his due share, he or she would often split it and give to others so as not to have more than anyone else. This was greatly appreciated and both receiver and giver were pleased. Among the Ju/wasi most gathered food and small game did not have to be shared. But it was rare that something was eaten without offering it to others first. As recounted above, Eskimos were always attentive to their neighbors well-being.

Sharing may seem like a small distinction between pre-Name of God peoples and modern societies. But it is very relevant in revealing the psychological change that occurred. The prehistoric practice of communal sharing placed group before individual and consolidated the group. All individuals were bonded to one another. It supported the evolutionary directive that survival of the species is more important than bolstering an individual. After the Name of God was spoken individuals deemed themselves as primary and society as secondary. Over the centuries many factors facilitated and encouraged this 180° turnabout. But the initial germ was planted in the human psyche 10,000 years ago, and homo sapiens tossed out any evolutionary imperatives that seemed to have succeeded for 150,000 years previous.”