7 ms·
Do we actually know anything about social structures in prehistory or is it just an assumption that people behaved like modern-day isolated tribes?
by bcoates 13y ago
Do we actually know anything about social structures in prehistory or is it just an assumption that people behaved like modern-day isolated tribes?
- firstOrder 13y agoThe important concept is surplus. People do the work to feed themselves, plus extra surplus effort to feed others. Obviously the tribe nurses children who can not feed themselves, and perhaps older parents too weak to feed themselves. Many class structures and relations of production possible in farming societies are not possible in a band of 50 or so continually travelling hunter-gatherers. We know some things about prehistoric bands, especially what things were impossible for them to do.