What brought about the end of hunter-gatherers and onset of agriculture.
Venus figurines in context.
Part 2-3
The climate of the era of hunters and gatherers was characterized by high instability. 11,700 years ago, a significant warming occurred and then the climate has suddenly stabilized. This change allowed the development of agriculture for the first time during the existence of humans.
The situation in Europe was crucially influenced by the farmers from the Southwest Asia and then by the nomadic herdsmen from the steppes north of the Caspian and Black Sea. (see 1-3 A Brief history of the settlement of Europe and its surroundings).
Agriculture and causes of the radical changes in lifestyle
Development of agriculture triggered changes that completely disrupted the way of life to which humanity had been adapted throughout its whole existence.
The essential factors that pushed these changes were:
- Domestication and uses of large animals, including their use for plow agriculture.
- The growth of the population leading to emergence of such large groups of people, where the number of their members exceeded the limit, when it was possible to know each other personally and maintain interpersonal contacts. Maximum number of group members capable of maintaining such contacts is in the range of about 125-155. The number is sometimes called the Dunbar's number. Exceeding this number led to a decrease in mutual belonging and thus to the need for more formal and impersonal ways of organizing such a group. The constant growth of the population also meant the need to expand and occupy more and more land to sustain growing number of people.
The impact of domestication of large farm animals:
At the time of hunters and gatherers there was a general rule that everyone should do those jobs for which he or she had the best prerequisites, because it was the best way how the group could best prosper. As mentioned earlier (part2-2), there were not fixed jobs for men only or for women only. But, in general, considering their nature, men mainly hunted large animals and women mainly devoted themselves to gathering. It did not have to be just a collection of plant food, but also the "collection" of small animals caught in set traps.
That men exposed themselves to greater risks during hunts was logical not only because of their greater physical strength and speed, but also because women were more valuable for a group to survive than were men. If a group lost a large proportion of men, it had a chance to rebound, if it lost most of the women, it practically had no chance to survive.
Therefore, the hunt, taming and subsequent domestication of wild aurochs were the domain of men.
Controlling large animals and reversal of balance in society in favour of men
As large animals, especially domesticated aurochs (being transformed into cattle) controlled by men became the main means of subsistence, women became more and more dependent on men.
It is historically documented by studies of African tribes that matrilineal societies which began to breed large livestock, became patrilineal, i.e. those where the father and his male ancestors were decisive.
Prehistoric groups of hunters and gatherer by being matrilineal, when men shared their catch with the whole community and women also contributed significantly to the subsistence of the community, was able to ensure prosperity of children without a woman-mother being dependent on one man.
The transition to patrilineality, importance of paternity certainty, subordination of women and the rise of violence.
Thus, as women and their children became dependent on men economically, men - breadwinners more and more usurped the right to control the whole life of women. The result was the patriarchal organization of society.
Genetic studies have shown that the arrival of farmers to Europe (around 8000-4000 years before the present), firstly the farmers from the southeast, and then the herdsmen of the Yamnaya culture from the Eastern steppes, was followed by an extreme decrease in genetic diversity of men but not women. In other words, there was an unprecedented reduction in the proportion of men who left offspring.
Most clues point to formation of patrilineal clans and prolonged fighting between them. They fought for both women and wealth represented by land or cattle. The loser clan was eliminated from the possibility of further producing offspring by the fact that its members were either killed or in some way enslaved.
The women of the defeated clan were then appropriated by the men of the winning clan. Thus, the trend, which had previously lasted all the time of human existence, trend of growing of empathy and diminishing of aggression was reversed. The winners, who were spreading their genes were the most aggressive and had the least mercy. Because aggressiveness is connected with lower intelligence, it is also possible to assume a reduction in the average intelligence of the entire population and can be considered as one of the possible explanations of why contemporary Europeans have smaller brains than they had 30,000 years ago. (It is a proven fact that, on average, more aggressive people are less intelligent and less intelligent people also have smaller brains)
There is also a possible link between the "enslavement" of large animals by their coercion to work for the owner, and the emergence of slavery, where the weaker and defeated people were forced to play an analogous role.
Then, some 4000 years before the present, this extreme period slowly ended. It is probable that at that time, Europe had already been divided among clans, which were either so strong that each was afraid to attack the other, or perhaps the leaders of neighbouring clans were already relatives, so the relationships between them were no longer so murderous.
And in the situation, when defeated men were neither killed nor enslaved (at least not on the previous scale) the women were becoming scarce. Perhaps the pursuit of permanent monogamy begins here, when the clan leader considered that the best solution would be to assign each of his men just one woman to reduce the tension in society. (And then he probably extempted himself from the regulation.)
Permanent monogamy ordered by law
The book "How to Make Evolution The Labyrinth of Evolutionary Biology" says about monogamy:"… It is certainly striking that" monogamy "in our society must be maintained by law…" and further: "The mandatory monogamy (…) is human peculiarity – it is an attempt to stabilize society by giving each man just one wife to promote internal peace in the society."
In our culture, lifelong monogamy is considered natural and self-evident.
In fact, it is - in terms of human evolution - "innovation" of modern times, with which we are seriously struggling, because in terms of survival and prosperity of the human species monogamy was harmful and genetic diversity was advantageous (see Article 2-2).
If monogamy was obvious and natural, no patriarchy would have ever arisen, because there would have been no reason for men to keep women under control.
The certainty of paternity would be always secure without the shadow of doubt. Neither now nor in the past no one would have to worry about breaking one's relationship, there would be no jealousy, no divorces. A huge amount of literature (and other artistic and non -artistic works) dealing with the peripeties of partnerships would not have come into existence. Because nobody would have to deal with something that did not exist.
Historical ages
And then writing was invented and historical ages started.
The patriarchy continued, although there could be a few places where it might not have been the case for some time. For example, the Minoan civilization, the first real European civilization from Crete and its surroundings, which was in its prime about 4000 to 3500 years before the present, or from the opposite side of Europe, from southern England, the Celtic Durotriges from 2100 to 1900 years before the present.
Priestess Enheduanna, goddess Inanna and the origin of Venus as the name of the planet and of the goddess
In this context it is worth mentioning the Mesopotamian priestess Enheduanna, who lived most probably from 2334 to 2279 BC. She is the first literary author in human history whose name is known. She wrote poems and temple hymns, her most famous work being "Nin me-šara" about the goddess Inanna, whose name was derived from Nin-Ana, Lady or Queen of Heaven. Nin me šara was translated as Lady of Countless Cosmic Powers and is also known under the name "The Exaltation of Inanna". The goddess Inanna merged with goddess Ištar and was identified with the planet Venus. Via the old Rome we have preserved her heritage to this day in the form of the planet Venus and the goddess Venus, the goddess of love and beauty. And the name Venus for the depictions of women in prehistoric times.
Fixing the patriarchy by means of the moralizing religions
A significant element in strengthening and conserving the patriarchy was religion. Religion with orders sent purportedly by God or gods, orders that determine what is permitted and what is forbidden, who is subordinated to whom and which punishments are awaiting anyone who will not fulfil the orders.
Because all contemporary world religions arose in patriarchal agricultural civilizations, their patriarchy is reflected in their dogmas.
"For man did not come from woman, but woman from man, neither was man created for woman, but woman for man." (...) ...woman should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says"
Bible, New Testament, St. Paul, 1. Corinthians, 11: 8-9 and 14:34
The fact that the conservation was successful is evidenced by the fact that these compilations of ideas about the world some two thousand years old are still claimed to be the source of truth andtrue morality, that hundreds of thousands of priests make a good living by promoting them and that have billions of followers.
Human prehistory: gains and losses
So we are like this. A distant prehistory equipped us with large brains, adapted us to a wide cooperation, small aggressiveness, cooperative breeding, to the need of being accepted by others and to trust the others. It also anchored the tendency to egalitarianism and the need for justice.
A not-so-distant distant prehistory, after the onset of agriculture, had completely changed the way of life we practised as hunters and gatherers. It did not erase our previous past, because it lasted for relatively short time, but it changed us towards more aggressiveness and slightly smaller brains. The need of prehistoric groups to act together was now manifested as herd mentality.
On the other hand, agriculture enabled the rise of civilizations and civilizations enabled development of economies, sciences, technologies etc impossible to reach by small groups of hunters and gatherers spread out over vast areas.
This development was enabled by accumulation of the results of work of a huge number of individuals, not their higher intelligence.
New knowledge - new views of prehistoric Europeans
These web pages about prehistoric Venus figurines also want to point out that the people who created them were not groups of primitives, as it is often thought not only under the influence of some literary authors and painters, but also under our feeling that evolution is linear and that descendants must be always "better" than their predecessors.
This is supported in Europe by the development from the Middle Ages (the Dark Ages) to our times, where we can actually see huge progress. But I would like to mention that the Middle Ages was not the beginning and that it was preceded by flourishing ancient Greek and Roman civilizations (not to mention the non -European civilization which also influenced Europe such as Sumer or ancient Egypt).
Prehistoric Venus figurines: real creators and real models
The prehistoric Venus figurines also connect us through a huge time distance with real people. With people who created them, and with women who were their models. Prehistoric Venus figurines are characterized by diversity and different degrees of abstraction, but it is obvious that the realistic ones were modelled according to real living women.
The end of "Venuses in context"
Previous part: 2-2 The lifestyle of hunters and gatherers of the Golden Age of Venus Figurines.
Literature
Book
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