Skillful Stone Agers—Part 2

How can it be that, on the average, life was better for our Later Stone Age ancestors? Yes, there is a small proportion of people today who live sumptuously and possess a far greater knowledge base than any time in prehistory, but most people today (particularly the countless residents of underdeveloped countries) are in poor health, are dependent on others for their bare necessities, eat poor quality food (when they are fortunate to have much at all), suffer from numerous diseases, are trapped in poverty and oppressive circumstances, and face constant violence. Their lives are mostly out of their control.

Quite the opposite, our Later Stone Age forebears were far more in control of their lives. Although their knowledge about the nature of their wider world was very limited (no books or internet for them), they had an intimate understanding of their proximate surroundings. They needed to know every plant and critter around them, and thus they possessed a knowledge of their immediate environment that dwarfs that of modern humans. 

 

Most people today live by developing a very deep understanding of a tiny slice of their world, and then trade that knowledge and skill for money or goods—items for which we have no ability to make ourselves. We enjoy the products of countless skilled people, having no idea how it’s done. It causes a type of dependency that we readily accept as a bargain, but makes us vulnerable and dependent on a system that can be shaky. (To wit, the financial debacle of the last few years that has impoverished countless people.)

Later Stone Age citizens had a more nutritious and better balanced diet than today. Most poverty-stricken people in the modern world survive primarily on rice or other nutrient-poor food. Additionally, when our agricultural ancestors abandoned the nomadic lifestyle, they settled down and surrounded themselves with disease-transmitting animals, as well as their own putrefying garbage and excrement. Most of the deadly diseases that humans have suffered from over the ages have been contracted from domesticated animals.

Maybe one of the most surprising facts I listed above is that the brain of modern humans is somewhat smaller than that of our Stone Age ancestors. What? How can that be? Aren’t we smarter than they were? Scientists do not know exactly why, but they have certainly verified that the quantity of our cerebral matter is less, through forensic examination of skulls. 

 

Furthermore, our modern brains seem to be continuing to shrink! One possible reason for this is that our modern, easy-going lifestyle does not require as much cognitive ability as our Later Stone Age forebears needed. They had to be constantly on their toes in order to stay alive. We can be half asleep and get by just fine. Our intelligent machines are allowing us to become stupid.

So the next time you hear someone sneeringly referring to another person as having a caveman or Stone Age mentality, you might tell them the truth: that they should show respect for those ancient peoples who were damned smart and had a very good quality of life.