3 ms·
Anatomically modern humans existed since ~300.000-200.000 years ago[1], and behavioral modernity[2] arised between ~150.000-50.000 years ago. That begs the inte
by Qem 3y ago
Anatomically modern humans existed since ~300.000-200.000 years ago[1], and behavioral modernity[2] arised between ~150.000-50.000 years ago. That begs the interesting question, why did civilization appears to have arised only in the last 10.000 years or so? IIRC, the usual explanation is that the climate back in pleistocene was too unstable for agriculture. But I also wonder, perhaps people just didn't feel the need for anything resembling civilization, at least while there was plenty of megafauna to hunt. So humanity spent about 50.000 years just hanging around and enjoying low-hanging calories from the giant beasts, unsustainably, depleting their numbers slowly with stone-age tech. By the end of the ice age we got them completely eradicated almost everywhere. So people had to survive on small-game and gathering, eventualy resorting to labour-intensive agriculture to make ends meet. Once people were forced by self-made scarcity to develop agriculture, civilization followed.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_modern_human https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_modern_human
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_modernity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_modernity
- nradov 3y agoAnother interpretation of the available archaeological data is that there was an earlier civilization which was destroyed around 11,000 years ago by a series of bolide impacts (Younger Dryas impact hypothesis). There's no reliable way to date stone structures; we only have circumstantial evidence. And most remnants of a hypothetical Ice Age civilization would likely now be underwater due to sea level rise. I don't necessarily believe this interpretation myself, it's somewhat of a fringe idea and there are lots of holes in the data. But until there is definitive evidence we should be open to the idea that human civilization is older than 10,000 years. https://grahamhancock.com/ancient-apocalypse/ https://grahamhancock.com/ancient-apocalypse/
- GuB-42 3y agoProbably plenty of factors, including chance, mostly chance I suspect. A combination of particular needs, like what you are describing, opportunities, like the right species of plants and animals, the rights ideas, enough success for the agricultural tribes to survive and a willingness to expand and develop the ideas. It can take quite a while before everything goes together.
- pests 3y agoI see a lot of echos to climate change / global warming in your comment and I'm not sure it was intentional or not. Maybe they destroyed civilization like we're about to. But yet we sprung up in their ashes. Maybe once we're gone, the next phase of humanity will be even greater? Not real ideas, just was pondering the thought while reading your comment.
- arp242 3y ago"Anatomically modern humans" is kind of a misleading term. Basically it just means "these skeletons look the same as modern humans", but that doesn't mean their brains or behaviour was identical. Evolution didn't stop for 300,000 years.
- deafpolygon 3y agoNor does it mean that they resembled what modern humans look like. I wonder how different their noses or ear shapes were, how much hair covered their body, etc. We have a few well-preserved bodies but that doesn't mean that it was the same everywhere.