The Myth of Warlike Prehistory
UNESCO calls it a “scholarly construction” devised in the late 19th century
UNESCO — the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization promotes peace and security in the world via international cooperation on scientific matters, as well as education and the arts. It has 194 member states and 12 associate members. In other words, they are a large and multifaceted body with access to huge quantities of data and expert opinion.
And what UNESCO has to say about the narrative that early humans were violent and engaged in constant fighting is that it is nothing more than a myth created to help bolster the idea of “civilization.”
Our image of the wild and warlike prehistoric human, which persists even today, is actually a myth, devised in the second half of the nineteenth century. Archaeological research shows that, in fact, collective violence emerged with the sedentarization of communities and the transition from a predation economy to a production economy. ~The UNESCO Courier
This myth also helps to justify what came to be known as “social Darwinism” and the laissez-faire capitalism that accompanied it in the late 1870s. Charles Darwin didn’t coin the phrase, survival of the fittest. That honor goes to eugenicist, Herbert Spencer (one of the…
