Unstoppable Us, Volume 1: How Humans Took Over the World

Ancient Sapiens lived differently from modern humans, yet their experiences have influenced our lives because we “often follow habits that were formed by our Stone Age ancestors in the savannahs of Africa” (77). For example, many unhealthy foods taste better to us than healthy ones because “our bodies think we’re still living in the Stone Age, and back then it made perfect sense to binge on sweet and fatty food” (77). Humans needed to acquire as many calories as they could when food was available because they could not be sure of their next meal. Archeological findings of female sculptures with large figures, like the Venus of Willendorf, show that “body fat was a sign of health and success” (79).

Scholars make educated guesses about how ancient humans lived. For instance, perhaps they lived in one large group, or maybe individual families lived together. Many non-scholars think that Stone Age people lived in caves because of surviving cave art, like the horse found painted on the wall of Lascaux Cave in France, or the remnants of stone tools. However, they probably only used caves for temporary shelter and usually lived outdoors in temporary huts or tents made from wood and animal skins. The remains of many of these dwellings have not survived. However, archeologists have unearthed the remains of an ancient campsite on the banks of the Sea of Galilee at Ohalo, in modern Israel, that dates to about 21,000 BCE. They found stone tools and a midden heap that contained ancient garbage showing that the people there ate fish, wild grains, fruits, and vegetables. They also found evidence of six small huts and individual campfires. These huts were temporary dwellings that eventually burned down, although it is not known why.

Scholars are also uncertain about ancient family structures. The ruins of Ohalo provide evidence of multiple possible scenarios. Each hut might have belonged to a nuclear family. Alternatively, family structures might have been more varied, like today:

A man, woman, and their three kids might have lived in one hut. In a neighboring hut, there could have been a woman with her two kids, plus her current boyfriend and his two kids. In the third hut, one woman, her three children, and current girlfriend […] And in the sixth hut, one man living all by himself (90).

Archeologists are also not certain that Stone Age children had relationships with their fathers or even knew their paternity. Life may have been communal. Ancient handprints left on the walls of caves and rocks provide some potential evidence. Some rocks show various hands clustered together, like a Stone Age “group selfie” (95), and others are singular. Yet we have no knowledge of who these people were or their connections to each other. Were they friends, siblings, or cousins? Neanderthal footprints preserved in France also provide some insight into these groups of ancient humans. Over 200 footprints are clustered together on an ancient sand dune, and they all belong to teenagers and younger children, including a toddler. These people therefore did not live in isolation, but specifics remain a mystery.

Evidence is scant because Stone Age humans were nomadic and therefore did not accumulate many material goods. Many of the items they used, like animal-skin clothing and wooden spears, have not survived. Despite the term “Stone Age,” most of what they used was not made of stone and disintegrated over the centuries. Anthropological studies of modern hunter-gatherers, however, can provide insight into how Stone Age humans may have lived. These studies show that existing hunter-gatherers have diverse ways of living because they believe different stories. Varying beliefs about the afterlife serve as one example of this diversity:

There would also have been differences in things like art and the way people interacted. One tribe might have made beautiful cave paintings, whereas a neighboring tribe might have preferred dancing and singing instead. Maybe one tribe was very violent and its people were always fighting, but another could have been peaceful, its people friendly to everyone (103).

Yet all these ancient Sapiens possessed the skill of cooperation, which was advantageous because they could share knowledge that might improve their lives. For example, “If a woman in Ohalo band invented a new way to make fishing nets, she could show people in other bands around the lake how to do it” (105). Evidence of large-scale cooperation comes from items like seashells at Stone Age campsites hundreds of miles from the ocean. These show interaction and cooperation between people over long distances. Grave goods in ancient human burials also show evidence of mass cooperation. For instance, archeologists found the skeletons of two boys in a Russian burial filled with works of art. One was buried with a hat and belt decorated with over 200 fox teeth: “[T]o get 250 fox canines, you would have to hunt at least sixty-three foxes and pull out their teeth. That’s an awful lot of work” (108). These items’ production necessitated cooperation.

Multiple bands comprised a tribe. Most Stone Age people lived in these small bands most of the time and joined together as a tribe for notable occasions, like large hunting expeditions. Bands often consisted of close kin who hunted and gathered collectively, but people could also join a different band if they chose. There were no Stone Age governments; instead, decision-making was collective. If anyone disagreed, they might leave for a different group because there were no national boundaries.

In the Stone Age, “home” was the broad area across which a community foraged and hunted. Sometimes bands were forced to migrate to a new region when natural disasters struck; humans spread throughout the globe as they migrated to new areas for survival purposes. Stone Age Sapiens relied most heavily on gathering food, which included acquiring knowledge of the land and its resources, including plants and animals. They worked fewer hours than modern humans because they could forage for their necessary food in a few hours: “After lunch, there were no dishes to wash, no laundry to do, no floors to clean, and no bills to pay. That left plenty of time for gossiping, telling stories, playing with the children, and just hanging out with friends” (120). Their nutrition was also better than ours because of the diversity of foods they consumed. They did not face the same risks of famine that those dependent on farming face because their diet was not reliant on a few specific crops. They had alternative food sources available if disease ravaged a wild plant on which these ancient humans relied. Infectious diseases were also fewer because most have originated in animals and spread to societies dependent on farming. Humans in today’s crowded urban centers are more susceptible to these communicable diseases than ancient nomads. Stone Age people, however, did not have the comforts of modern life and were at risk of being killed by animals or dying in an accident. Children were especially vulnerable.

Many Stone Age Sapiens were animistic. They believed that they could communicate with the natural world, including animals, plants, and rocks:

A good way to research what Stone Age gatherers might have believed is to talk to modern gatherers. And sure enough, many of these gatherers don’t believe in powerful gods, but they do believe that animals, trees, and even rocks can talk, and that the world is full of ghosts and spirits (128).

They believed that humans communicated with the natural world and made collective decisions, yet they did not all make the same decisions or live by the same rules. However, our evidence for their beliefs and historical events is limited. For example, a fox tooth from a Russian burial “can’t tell us whether it belonged to a hat worn in war or a hat for a party” (141). However, scholars know that the migrations of Stone Age humans caused ancient megafauna’s extinction.