Sapiens Chapter 3 Summary – A Day in the Life of Adam and Eve

In Chapter 2 of Sapiens, we learned how the Cognitive Revolution swept across homo sapiens, giving them abilities to rule the world.

.stk-c2072fa{margin-bottom:0px !important}.stk-c2072fa-container{box-shadow:0 5px 30px -10px rgba(18,63,82,0.3) !important}.stk-9cbdf58{margin-bottom:0px !important}Sapiens Chapter 2 Summary – The Tree of Knowledge

Sapiens did not succeed overnight. Their first encounter against other human species was a failure. But then, a Cognitive Revolution transformed our brains, leading to our species becoming the rulers of the planet.

Though we have a good enough understanding of how our species became the dominant force on the planet, we still have very limited grasp on our overall history and psychology.

In Chapter 3 of Sapiens, Harari tries to peel back the curtain of ages and examine what type of life our hunter-gatherer ancestors actually lived.

For the past 200 years, an ever-increasing number of Sapiens have obtained their daily bread working as urban labour and office workers.

If we go back 10,000 years, most of our ancestors worked as farmers and herders.

However, all of these years are nothing but the blink of an eye when compared with the rest of our history. After the Cognitive Revolution some 70,000 years ago, our species has spent the majority of time living as foragers or hunter-gatherers.

Therefore, to understand our true history and psychology, we need to first understand the mindset of our hunter-gatherer ancestors.

The Theory of Evolutionary Psychology

Evolutionary Psychology is based on the idea that human emotions and behaviours have been shaped by natural selection.

The theory of Evolutionary Psychology argues that many of our present day social and psychological characteristics were shaped during the long pre-agricultural era.

Despite our progress in the fields of agriculture and industrialization, our brains are still adapted to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Our eating habits, conflicts and sexuality are derived from our pre-agricultural past.

This creates a disconnect between our hunter-gatherer brain and our post industrial environment centred around mega-cities, computers and technology. Though the modern environment gives us more material resources and typically longer lives, it often makes us feel alienated, depressed and pressured.

Harari explains a couple of theories that may or may not prove this point.

The Gorging Gene Theory

Today’s affluent societies are struggling under the weight of obesity. Despite the obvious disadvantages, humans don’t miss a chance to binge on the sweetest and greasiest food items they can get their hands on.

Are we really morons?

Well, not really.

The Gorging Gene theory suggests that humans are naturally attracted towards high-calorie foods, despite no obvious reasons for needing such foods for sustenance. The reasons are hidden in the deeps of time.

The ancient cravings

Imagine one of our hunter-gatherer ancestor coming across a tree laden with ripe fruits. The most sensible thing for our ancestor was to try and eat as many of the fruit as possible. After all, in those days, humans had to compete for food with all manner of animals and it was costly to miss the chance. Over the years, the instinct of gorging on high-calorie foods whenever possible got hard-wired into our genes.

Today, we might be living in houses with over-stuffed refrigerators, but our DNA still thinks we are in the grasslands of Africa, searching for our next source of high-calorie food.

The gorging gene theory is generally widely accepted in the academic community. Also, it does make sense even from a logical point of view when we think about own habits. Despite the increased health consciousness, we are still attracted towards high-calorie food items.

The Ancient Commune Theory

While the gorging gene theory is accepted, there are other radical theories that many scholars disagree with.

One such theory is the Ancient Commune theory. According to this theory, forager bands lived in communes. There was no concept of private property, monogamous relationships and even fatherhood. In such a band, a woman could have intimate relationships with several men simultaneously. Parenting was a joint activity undertaken by all the adult members of the band.

Those who believe in the Ancient Commune theory argue that modern day problems such as infidelity and divorce are a result of imposing nuclear family and monogamy. According to them, nuclear families and monogamy are incompatible with our biological software.

Many scholars vehemently reject this theory. According to them, monogamy and nuclear families are part of core human behaviour. Though ancient hunter-gatherer societies were far more open than modern day societies, they were still made up of individual families comprising of parents and their children.

Moreover, majority of cultures don’t follow the Ancient Commune way-of-life. Even in modern states that follow some form of monarchy, political authority is passed within the family from father to son.

In my opinion, the Ancient Commune theory does not seem to hold a lot of weight. We don’t have a lot of historic precedent that supports this theory. However, there is every chance that it might have been a rare form of society in the pre-agricultural era.

The Challenges of Knowing our History

The Cognitive Revolution occurred sometime 70,000 years ago. The Agricultural Revolution came about 12,000 years ago. Thousands upon thousands of years separated these two pivotal moments in human history.

How did our ancestors live during this period?

What were their day-to-day lives really like?

Despite the various theories, there is still a huge gap in our knowledge about the history of our species. And filling this gap is a very challenging task.

Some of the major challenges are as follows:

There are literally no written records from the age of foragers.Most archaeological evidence comprises of fossilized bones and stone tools. Such things can help us understand the physiology of archaic humans. However, they don’t reveal much about the beliefs of our ancestors.The reconstruction of ancient hunter-gatherer lives based on artefacts is also problematic. Firstly, the ancient foragers used very few artefacts. Second, even the few artefacts they did use had a very limited role in their lives. This is unlike a typical modern human that owns a staggering amount of artefacts.

One significant way to understand our forager ancestors is to look at modern forager societies. These societies can be studied directly by anthropological observation. However, this approach has its own set of problems.

All modern forager societies have been somewhat influenced by neighbouring agricultural and industrial societies. In today’s world, no forager society is truly isolated from the relentless progress of humanity.Modern forager societies only exist in areas with difficult climate and inhospitable terrain. Studying them may provide a misleading model for ancient forager societies. For example, a modern day forager society living in the Kalahari desert may have a very different approach to life when compared to an ancient forager society living in the fertile Yangtze river valley.Individual hunter gatherer societies are usually quite different from each other. The early European settlers to Australia encountered 200-600 tribes of the Aboriginal people. Each tribe had its own language, customs and rules. One could only imagine how different the ancient hunter gatherer tribes would have been from each other.

The usual attempts about trying to paint a natural way of life for Sapiens misses the point.

After the Cognitive Revolution, there was no single natural way of life for Sapiens governed by their biological constraints. Cultural choices came to the fore-front, based on a bewildering number of possibilities and combinations.

Generalizations about Homo Sapiens

Despite the difficulties described in the previous section, some generalizations are still possible about the life of our hunter-gatherer ancestors.

People lived in small bands consisting of several dozen or at most several hundred members. Every member in the band was a human.There was one exception to the only human rule. The human bands also probably had dogs as members. Dog was first animal to be domesticated by humans before the Agricultural Revolution. The earliest evidence is found from 15,000 years ago, but it is possible that our ancestors were friendly with dogs even before that. Dogs were used for hunting, fighting and alarm system against other wild beasts or human intruders.Members of a band knew each other very intimately, and were surrounded throughout their lives by friends and relatives.Neighbouring bands may act as competitors or friends. There is a possibility that bands joined to form bigger entities such as tribes to celebrate religious festivals or fight against foreigners.Trade was present between bands, but mostly restricted to prestige items such as shells, amber and pigments. There is no evidence of trading staple goods such as fruits and meat. No band depended on the other for their basic needs.Bands usually lived on the road. They moved from place to place based on changing seasons, animal migration patterns or plant growth cycles.Wanderings outside their home turf and exploring new lands caused the ancient humans to eventually reach all parts of the planet.Despite all the wandering, the human bands also settled down in seasonal or permanent settlements on some occasions. Fishing villages existed as early as 45,000 years ago in Indonesia and may have acted as the spring-board to the eventual invasion of Australia.A Day in the Life of a Sapiens Forager

Based on the generalizations and some evidence, it is possible to construct a rough idea about a day in the life of a Sapiens forager.

Though we often imagine our ancestors in the popular image of a hunter, the main activity of hunter gatherers was actually gathering. They scrounged for termites, picked berries, dug for roots, trapped rabbits.

Foraging not only was for finding food, but also knowledge. To survive, they needed a mental map of their territory. They had to know the growth patterns of various plants and habits of different animals. They also needed knowledge about different types of food based on nourishment and which foods made you sick. While wandering the lands, they had to keep track of the seasonal progress and warning signs of impending thunderstorms.

Each individual had to understand the making of a stone-knife, mending a torn cloak, setting traps, facing avalanches, dealing with snake-bites or hungry lions. There was a culture of apprenticeship and practice within the forager bands.

Ancient Hunter-Gatherer

An average forager had a wider, deeper and more varied knowledge of their surroundings than any modern human. Today, most people in the industrial societies don’t need to know about the natural world in order to survive. Humans have become specialized to tiny areas of expertise. For a vast majority of life’s necessities, we rely on other experts, who focus on their own tiny area of expertise.

The human collective knows a lot today. But at the individual level, the ancient foragers were probably the most knowledgable and skilful people in history.

In general, our forager ancestors enjoyed a more rewarding lifestyle than most peasants, shepherds, labourers and office clerks over the years.

In a typical developed or affluent societies, a person works an average of 40-45 hours a week. In developing countries, the average working hours could jump to 60 and sometimes, even 80 hours a week.

Hunter-gatherers typically had to work only 35-45 hours a week even in a place like the Kalahari desert. A typical band would hunt only one out of three days. Gathering activities would consume 3 to 6 hours daily. Hunter-gatherers in more fertile places spent even less time on these activities. On top of that, they did not have to perform any household chores such as washing dishes, cleaning carpets, changing diapers and so on.

Our ancient ancestors certainly led more interesting lives when compared to their descendants during agricultural and industrial revolution. They would roam the forests and meadows, gather mushrooms, dig roots, catch frogs. By early afternoon, they would be back to camp and have lunch. The rest of the day would be spent gossiping, telling stories and playing with children. Of course, they had to face occasional dangers such as tigers and snakes, but on the upside, they had no reason to fear automobile accidents or industrial pollution.

When compared to modern humans, our ancestors also received ideal nutrition. They were less likely to starve or lead a malnourished life. They were certainly taller and healthier than the peasants of today. They also enjoyed a far more varied diet unlike farmers of today, who are dependent on a single staple food such as wheat, rice or potatoes. Our ancestors had berries and mushrooms for breakfast, fruits, snails and turtles for lunch, and rabbit steak with wild onions for dinner. Moreover, the menu changed everyday.

Lastly, our ancestors did not have to suffer from severe infectious diseases. Most of the diseases (such as measles, small pox and tuberculosis) that have plagued agricultural and industrial societies originated in domesticated animals and jumped to humans. Ancient foragers, who had only domesticated dogs, were free from exposure to these diseases. Moreover, they roamed in small bands that could not sustain epidemics.

This segment of the chapter was a real eye-opener. In our modern lives, we have often overlooked the advantages of simplicity. Our progress has made us blind to the wonders of the natural world. On top of it, we are enslaved by the system that glorifies chasing after materialistic things. We have a plethora of facilities at our disposal, but hardly any time to enjoy them. Relentless growth and industrialization has made our major cities unlivable and turned them into hotbeds of viruses. Ironically, a recent pandemic of unknown origins slammed the brakes on our fast-paced lives and allowed us to rethink our priorities.

Spiritual Beliefs

The basics of forager economics can be reconstructed with some confidence based on quantifiable factors. But it is much harder to understand the spiritual beliefs of the hunter-gatherers.

How was the spiritual and mental life of our ancestors?

Most scholars agree that our ancestors followed the principles of Animism.

Animists believe that there is no barrier between humans and other beings. Almost every place, every animal, every plant and every natural phenomenon has awareness and feelings and can communicate with humans.

According to Animism, there are no barriers between humans and other beings. Also, there is no hierarchy as well. Non-human entities do not exist to serve man. Also, there are no all powerful gods who run the world. The world does not revolve around humans or any other beings.

However, despite this theory, Harari acknowledges that we have very little information about what our ancestors truly felt. We have no clue about which festivals they celebrated, which spirits they prayed to or what stories they told each other. This part is one of the biggest holes in our understanding of human history.

Sociopolitical World of Foragers

The sociopolitical aspects of the foragers is also another area about which we know next to nothing.

Some of the things that many scholars believe are:

Existence of private propertyBands comprising of nuclear familiesMonogamous relationships

However, as we saw earlier, there is widespread disagreement on these topics as well within the scientific community. It is possible that different bands followed different structures. Some bands may have been hierarchical, tense and violent. Others may have been laid-back and peaceful.

Ultimately, it is easy to come up with theories but hard to conclude anything unless more evidence is found.

Peace or War?

This is another thorny question about forager societies that we have not been able to answer conclusively.

Some scholars imagine hunter gatherer societies as peaceful paradises. According to them, war and violence began only with the start of Agricultural Revolution, when people started to accumulate private property.

Other scholars maintain that the world of ancient foragers was cruel and violent. According to them, there were frequent conflicts and bloodshed among tribes.

Both schools of thought are probably castles in the air with little evidence to back them up. The archaeological findings are both scarce and opaque.

What evidence would remain of a war that took place tens of thousands of years ago?

There were no fortifications or walls. No swords and shields. No artillery shells.

The condition of fossilized human bones is also hard to interpret. A fracture might indicate a war wound or an accident. Also, death can be caused by trauma to soft tissues, leaving no visible marks on the bones.

Scholars usually ask questions they can reasonably answer. However, it is vital to keep asking difficult questions for which no answer may be immediately available. Otherwise, we might be tempted to dismiss 60,000 to 70,000 years of human history.

We should not assume that since there is no evidence, the ancient hunter gatherers did nothing of importance.

In truth, our ancestors did a lot of remarkable things. They shaped the world in ways that we cannot fathom today. When we visit the Siberian Tundra, or the Amazonian rainforest or any other remote place on the planet, we assume that no one has walked their before us.

This is not true.

Our forager ancestors were probably there before us and even brought dramatic changes to these remote places.

We take a look at some of these dramatic changes in the next chapter to the saga of Homo sapiens.

.stk-b13d24c{margin-bottom:0px !important}.stk-b13d24c-container{box-shadow:0 5px 30px -10px rgba(18,63,82,0.3) !important}.stk-8f80da2{margin-bottom:0px !important}Sapiens Chapter 4 – The Flood

What happened when the first human beings reached the shores of Australia? Find out how humans wiped out numerous species from the face of Earth

The post Sapiens Chapter 3 Summary – A Day in the Life of Adam and Eve first appeared on Saurabh Dashora.