Humans in ancient times-food gatherers.
According to scientists' speculation, our Mother Earth was born in the vast universe 5 billion years ago, but it took more than one billion years for the earliest protozoa and single-celled organisms to appear on the earth, followed by primitive organisms, invertebrates, vertebrates, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and finally mammals. At this time, the ancestors of apes appeared. At the same time, it can be proved that our ancestors evolved from them in embryonic bones and muscles, and then they experienced several ice ages, various complex environmental challenges and threats from other creatures, and finally completed their transformation-becoming human beings on the African grassland about 4 million years ago.
If there are two turning points in the history of the earth, it is the evolution of abiotic into biological and the birth of human beings. Although the human brain was so small at that time that it could only be called an animal that walked on two legs, our ancestors still survived and won by natural selection from generation to generation. Maybe we will be born in the future. At that time, human beings lived in the African prairie, where the climate was mild, water was abundant and food was abundant, so primitive people lived here for hundreds of years and developed rapidly. At the same time, the intelligence of our ancestors has also been greatly improved, because it is impossible to be lucky for centuries simply by talent and luck.
Later, primitive people gradually evolved through their own cleverness. Finally one day, they made knives out of stones, and they developed further. With stone knives, they invented Shi Mao, and then they invented slingshots, bows and arrows. I have to say that human research and invention of weapons can really be called a must. Every era will see the advent of all kinds of new weapons. I don't know whether the military stimulated the development of science and technology or whether science and technology promoted the development of the military, or both. Primitive people relied on these tools to collect food and feed the young and the old. Let's walk into their lives.
Although we mentioned earlier that they invented the stone knife, this is undoubtedly a great progress than the original primitive people, but it is not enough. Due to rough production, the production efficiency of these tools is very low. For example, if you cut meat with a stone knife for a long time, you will break Shi Mao when you touch a real stone. It is precisely because of the low productivity that people at that time were still together in twos and threes and did not form a certain political institution. Generally speaking, twenty or thirty people form a small group together, but although this is not a political organization, they have their leaders. Let's see how leaders are produced.
It turns out that their leaders are all elected by the people. They generally have excellent hunting ability. Think about it. People with strong abilities are naturally leaders. What was ability at that time? It is too illusory to talk about governing the country or developing science and technology. In their day, it was hunting. Whoever catches more prey is the master, so he becomes the leader. And it is also very important that their leaders have great influence. He can make the members of the group do something through his influence, instead of relying on his power as a leader. You know, in the society at that time, there was no power at all, and no one could order others to do anything. In a way, people at this time are more like everyone is equal. You can't order me, I can't ask you, we all hunt equally.
Although we said before that people at that time had no country, people at that time already had families. Think about it, too. How can you reproduce without a family? In ancient society, we often had polygamy. At that time, our ancestors were polygamous. Let's see how they deal with family relations.
Although polygamy was recognized at that time, most people were monogamous, and the real equality between men and women was then. Some people even say that at that time, women contributed more to the family than men, because men were responsible for hunting and bringing meat home, while women were responsible for collecting plant roots, nuts, snakes, shells and so on. You are not mistaken. Women at that time were all good snake catchers. Because there are many plants and roots, hunting sometimes brings nothing. Women bring home twice as much food as men, and they are also responsible for giving birth, taking care of and raising children.
At that time, almost everything, big or small, was handled by women, and men and women were extremely equal. This phenomenon can still be seen in some tribes today. At that time, some uncomfortable idle men went to some tribes to encourage men there to enjoy their "due rights" and suppress and dominate women, but in the end it was empty, and their sexual relationship was still so equal, harmonious and wonderful.
Up to now, we already know that the relationship between men and women at that time was very equal. What about the relationship between family and tribe? The answer is also great! At that time, people really helped each other in hunting, resisting enemies and natural disasters. Although sometimes there will be conflicts between tribes in order to grab territory, there will be no large-scale war because there are few people and weapons at that time, but these are harmless small battles. Generally speaking, they all help each other as a whole. It is for this reason that our ancestors will forge ahead in the long river of history and eventually develop to.
Everyone must be surprised and envious when they see this place. Isn't that what we've been pursuing? Everyone is equal, the world is peaceful, everyone does what they like, and everyone lives and works in peace. This kind of life actually existed in ancient times. Now our human society continues to develop. If one day it really develops into a Datong society, what will the Datong society look like at that time? Are there any other differences besides the differences in science, technology and culture? This is obviously worth thinking about.
I have to say that the diet of our ancestors at that time was really much more scientific and healthy than now. Professor Bronte of M University lived by human recipes at that time. He described himself as very comfortable both physically and psychologically. So how do we know the recipes of food collectors at that time?
There are two roads now. One is to study their fecal fossils, and through their chemical research, we can know what ingredients are in them, and then we can know what they eat. The other is to live with the surviving tribal aborigines and observe what they eat. For example, for insects, they only eat caterpillars, beetle larvae, bee pupae, termites, ants and cicadas. For termites, 45% of them are protein, which is much higher than the protein content of some fish, but because of our prejudice against termites, we don't eat these things.
Moreover, our ancestors were not picky eaters at that time and liked to eat a lot, so their small life was much more moist than that of farmers. For example, if one day Tianwei gets angry, farmers' crops will be affected and they will starve for the next year. But for food collectors, they eat a lot of food, and there is always one thing that is not affected. Hundreds of kinds of food will certainly not be lacking at the same time, so they will never lack food because they have no food.
Although their inventions and discoveries at that time were nothing compared with the current technology, they were still very commendable. For example, they know that cinchona can be used to treat various diseases and kill bacteria and insects. Later, it was confirmed by scientists that cinchona can be used to treat diabetes and ulcers. At the same time, they also invented various tools, such as axe, needle and thread, shield and so on. They even knew how to use snakes to make medicines. This is really ironic.
Not only militarily, but also medically, our ancestors were excellent. At that time, they knew how to use splints to continue amputation, which was impossible for modern people like me. They also know how to use a tourniquet, even bloodletting therapy, and they have mastered navigation technology! This is very surprising and surprising! I think if we put these grain pickers in the present, communicate with them and teach them some operation methods, they can also be competent for some of our work. Since primitive people have such a strong scientific and technological ability, it is no wonder that our ancestors won through the challenge of natural selection and have a dominant position on today's earth.
After reading this, we are not only amazed at the technological development of ancestors' life in prehistoric times, but also should think about some problems. Since our ancestors were so clever, why did they gradually find the earth uninhabitable? Why are we strong enough to change the environment, but still feel that the environment is not good? Why is land desertification getting more and more serious and the greenhouse effect is noisy? It is true that we have highly developed technology, but how can we make use of it? Perhaps the mismatch between the development of science and technology and the ability to make rational use of science and technology has led to our present situation. Therefore, what we should do is to be kind to the environment and the creatures around us, instead of facing everything as a ruler. After all, nature is the master of the earth!
Refer to General History of the World.