11 - Prehistory Until the Rise of Agriculture

Summary

Chapters 11 and 12 outline a long-term history of human social-economic-technological reality enriched by evolutionary thinking. Chapter 11 starts off with human evolution, including attention for similarities and differences with apes, and brain-mind evolution. It continues with a treatment of pre-agricultural, Pleistocene humans who started making use of stone tools, fire technology and dogs as assistants. The rise of agriculture some 10,000 years ago marked a break in human history, creating new trends, notably of sedentary lifestyles and complex organization due to food surpluses, culminating in early villages and civilizations. This involved written language driven by the need to manage bureaucracy and large populations. Competing explanations for the early transition to agriculture are examined and compared, giving attention to proximate and ultimate factors. This transition is portrayed as a process of coevolution, including genetic change of domesticated animals and crops, agricultural management strategies, and genetic changes in humans. As a bridge to the next chapter, we consider the period in between the Neolithic and Industrial Revolutions from an evolutionary angle.