Quote:
Originally Posted by Grapesoda
the time line of humanity starts 200,000 years ago, referred to as the Paleolithic in which humanity was physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually as any modern human today yet only had stone and wood technology. the climate wasn't stable enough to really advance to modern humanity until the Neolithic, starting after after the last ice age, 17,000 years ago to aprox 12,000 years ago.
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The current theory is that there was a change in the brain of sapiens sapiens (yes, twice) that made behavioral modernity possible at around 50,000 BCE. To my mind this may have been genetic interaction with homo neanderthalensis and other erectus and heidelberg offshots but there is no proof yet.
Regardless, the flowering of culture that led to the human high period of 40kBCE to 10kBCE before the development of the hierarchical slave societies we "enjoy" today was, I believe, indeed caused by density and freedom from violent competition.
In a way we were a victim of our own success. Slave societies can support 100X number of people per area.