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It's profoundly incorrect to say that nomadic societies "stagnated". They adapted to incredibly variable and harsh conditions from the equator to the Arctic and

It's profoundly incorrect to say that nomadic societies "stagnated". They adapted to incredibly variable and harsh conditions from the equator to the Arctic and invented much of the technology of the modern world like agriculture. Archaeological horizons and the lack thereof are only partly related to the societies that produced them. If you're just getting into the subject of what ancient societies looked like and how diverse they could be, I'd recommend Dawn of Everything as an approachable instruction to the topic.

inglor_cz 4y ago
The delta in comparison to the timescale was extremely small, though. Stagnation does not necessarily mean "nothing ever changes at all", just a very small rate of change compared to the modern era. A life of a person in 8000 BC was not that different from life of a person in 7000 BC. For a person from 1000 AD, the world of 2000 AD would be wholly unrecognizable. Highly organized societies tend to transform their environment very thoroughly - just look at all the Roman buildings and facilities that still dot the landscape from Spain to the Levant. A rural society wouldn't be capable of building something like that.
- AlotOfReading 4y ago
  Don't mistake the limitations of the archaeological record for the underlying reality. Humans are distinctive from most animals precisely because they have adaptations like culture that are perfectly suited to high speed adaptations to changing conditions. Someone born thousands of years would have found quite a lot different, just like you would if you were born in the Roman empire.
  - inglor_cz 4y ago
    Suitable, yes. I don't doubt that cultures can develop extremely quickly when the conditions are ripe. The Japanese dismantled their feudal structure and transformed into a major industrial and military power within a single generation. But that happened under a strong, merciless pressure from other industrialized nations. Nature acts way more slowly that Commodore Perry did and the adaptations are much slower, too.
- jcranmer 4y ago
  > A life of a person in 8000 BC was not that different from life of a person in 7000 BC What about Çatalhöyük? 7000 BC puts you around the zenith. Not far away in Mesopotamia, 7000 BC would also be about the start of the Hassuna period, the first development of pottery in the region [1]. In general, 8000-7000BC is seeing major progression in the Neolithic Revolution, so the life of a person in 7000 BC is perhaps as different from 8000 BC. as 2000 AD would be for someone in 1000 AD. [1] And it's worth noting that pottery is, archaeologically speaking, basically the best tool we have for identifying changes in illiterate societies. Pre-pottery, there usually isn't enough surviving remnants of society to make good guesses as to the cultural practices of that society.

inglor_cz 4y ago

The delta in comparison to the timescale was extremely small, though. Stagnation does not necessarily mean "nothing ever changes at all", just a very small rate of change compared to the modern era. A life of a person in 8000 BC was not that different from life of a person in 7000 BC. For a person from 1000 AD, the world of 2000 AD would be wholly unrecognizable. Highly organized societies tend to transform their environment very thoroughly - just look at all the Roman buildings and facilities that still dot the landscape from Spain to the Levant. A rural society wouldn't be capable of building something like that.

AlotOfReading 4y ago
Don't mistake the limitations of the archaeological record for the underlying reality. Humans are distinctive from most animals precisely because they have adaptations like culture that are perfectly suited to high speed adaptations to changing conditions. Someone born thousands of years would have found quite a lot different, just like you would if you were born in the Roman empire.
- inglor_cz 4y ago
  Suitable, yes. I don't doubt that cultures can develop extremely quickly when the conditions are ripe. The Japanese dismantled their feudal structure and transformed into a major industrial and military power within a single generation. But that happened under a strong, merciless pressure from other industrialized nations. Nature acts way more slowly that Commodore Perry did and the adaptations are much slower, too.
jcranmer 4y ago
> A life of a person in 8000 BC was not that different from life of a person in 7000 BC What about Çatalhöyük? 7000 BC puts you around the zenith. Not far away in Mesopotamia, 7000 BC would also be about the start of the Hassuna period, the first development of pottery in the region [1]. In general, 8000-7000BC is seeing major progression in the Neolithic Revolution, so the life of a person in 7000 BC is perhaps as different from 8000 BC. as 2000 AD would be for someone in 1000 AD. [1] And it's worth noting that pottery is, archaeologically speaking, basically the best tool we have for identifying changes in illiterate societies. Pre-pottery, there usually isn't enough surviving remnants of society to make good guesses as to the cultural practices of that society.