Sapiens: a brief History of Humankind

Homo sapiens
’ ‘natural way of life’ miss the main point.
Ever since the Cognitive Revolution, there hasn’t been a single natural way of life
for Sapiens. There are only cultural choices, from among a bewildering palette of
possibilities.
The Original Affluent Society
What generalisations can we make about life in the pre-agricultural world
nevertheless? It seems safe to say that the vast majority of people lived in small
bands numbering several dozen or at most several hundred individuals, and that
all these individuals were humans. It is important to note this last point, because
it is far from obvious. Most members of agricultural and industrial societies are
domesticated animals. They are not equal to their masters, of course, but they are
members all the same. Today, the society called New Zealand is composed of 4.5
million Sapiens and 50 million sheep.
There was just one exception to this general rule: the dog. The dog was the rst
animal domesticated by 
Homo sapiens
, and this occurred 
before
the Agricultural
Revolution. Experts disagree about the exact date, but we have incontrovertible
evidence of domesticated dogs from about 15,000 years ago. They may have
joined the human pack thousands of years earlier.
Dogs were used for hunting and ghting, and as an alarm system against wild
beasts and human intruders. With the passing of generations, the two species co-
evolved to communicate well with each other. Dogs that were most attentive to
the needs and feelings of their human companions got extra care and food, and
were more likely to survive. Simultaneously, dogs learned to manipulate people
for their own needs. A 15,000-year bond has yielded a much deeper understanding
and a ection between humans and dogs than between humans and any other

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animal.
4
In some cases dead dogs were even buried ceremoniously, much like
humans.
Members of a band knew each other very intimately, and were surrounded
throughout their lives by friends and relatives. Loneliness and privacy were rare.
Neighbouring bands probably competed for resources and even fought one
another, but they also had friendly contacts. They exchanged members, hunted
together, traded rare luxuries, cemented political alliances and celebrated religious
festivals. Such cooperation was one of the important trademarks of 
Homo sapiens
,
and gave it a crucial edge over other human species. Sometimes relations with
neighbouring bands were tight enough that together they constituted a single
tribe, sharing a common language, common myths, and common norms and
values.
Yet we should not overestimate the importance of such external relations. Even
if in times of crisis neighbouring bands drew closer together, and even if they
occasionally gathered to hunt or feast together, they still spent the vast majority
of their time in complete isolation and independence. Trade was mostly limited to
prestige items such as shells, amber and pigments. There is no evidence that
people traded staple goods like fruits and meat, or that the existence of one band
depended on the importing of goods from another. Sociopolitical relations, too,
tended to be sporadic. The tribe did not serve as a permanent political framework,
and even if it had seasonal meeting places, there were no permanent towns or
institutions. The average person lived many months without seeing or hearing a
human from outside of her own band, and she encountered throughout her life no
more than a few hundred humans. The Sapiens population was thinly spread over
vast territories. Before the Agricultural Revolution, the human population of the
entire planet was smaller than that of today’s Cairo.

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