My guess: While the megafauna was around to provide low-hanging calories, civilization didn't arise because people felt no need for something resembling it. Onc

My guess: While the megafauna was around to provide low-hanging calories, civilization didn't arise because people felt no need for something resembling it. Once humans finished extinguishing most megafauna around 10 kyr ago[1], the small prey left couldn't providing enough calories for everybody, so people were forced into laborious agriculture to make ends meet, kickstarting civilization. [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-43426-5 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-43426-5