Still thinking about how Neolithic culture would have
actually been. I’ve read Margaret Mead’s
theory of a female-oriented society where everything is shared and war is non
existent. I’ve read a book called Eve’s Seed, which takes a guess at the
impact of the agricultural revolution and the realization that men were
responsible for conception. I’ve also
read a lot of articles about archaeological evidence and watched a lot of Discovery
channel specials because different cultures and the past interest me.
Now I think the idea of a non-violent peaceful pan-European
community is garbage. Humans have never
been peaceable creatures. We even have
evidence that chimpanzees go on what can only be described as organized war
parties where they silently infiltrate another chimp group’s territory and kill
lone chimps. We feel very strong bonds
for our immediate families and kin groups but it is also very easy for us to
dehumanize outsiders and attack them. I
doubt that’s a recent phenomena.
It’s not just my opinion.
The Iceman, a frozen mummy discovered in the Alps, was killed by an
arrow wound. Now, maybe it was an
accident but the fact that he crawled away and hid in the mountains is more
suggestive of someone escaping an attack.
Cracked skulls of local and non-local residents have been found in
burial grounds and disposal pits in Neolithic villages. It’s not definitive, but it suggests warfare
and attack were not unknown to our ancestors.
The idea of a matriarchal society with matrilineal descent
makes sense. I could see our ancestors
venerating women as the creators of new life, particularly when they didn’t
know men were also involved. Having a
creator Goddess as a deity also makes sense and is supported by many carvings
of ample women, such as the Venus of Willendorf. Matrilineal descent is a feature of many
ancient cultures given that it is impossible to be certain who the father of
any given child is but the mother is always known.
In a hunter-gatherer culture, the women collect the majority
of the food that sustain the group. That
would give them powerful status in a group on the edge of starvation. Hunting is exciting but it’s a crap shoot on
whether or not an animal will be killed.
I could see hunters being more like local star athletes, garnering a lot
of attention, particularly from young men and women, but they aren’t the ones
who actually run society.
The book Eve’s Seed
makes several interesting points that I think make sense. When cultures shifted from nomadic gathering
to agriculture, there was a dramatic upset in the culture. The men who had been venerated for their
hunting prowess would now be less important because the tribe is no longer
wandering. Archaeological evidence
suggests that animal husbandry likely came before agriculture, so they’re not
going out and hunting wild meat but rather having to put in the day to day
drudgery of caring for plants and animals in a single location. This would have caused a dramatic
re-engineering of the male role and they found a new calling in protection.
Not all tribes would have settled at once and it’s a lot
easier to raid a settlement for their produce than to grow it yourself. The men could put their hunting skills to
protecting the group, re-earning the respect of the group. But in order for it to be really effective,
the ability of women to protect themselves had to be downplayed, beginning the
tradition of the helpless woman who needs a man to protect her.
The protection of women becomes even more restrictive as
society begins to really understand the implications of the male role in
conception. If a man wants to be sure
babies are his, he has to ensure the fidelity of his mate. (This has been historically proved to be an
ineffective strategy but they keep trying).
Cultural restrictions on men and women interacting probably began and
were made easier by the fact that everyone is in one place. One sad but true fact, a woman who is
dependent on a man for her welfare and the welfare of her children is more
likely to restrict her actions to avoid displeasing him. It probably didn’t take them long to figure
that out. An independent woman can tell
an overly restrictive mate to shove off and leave her alone. One who needs him to survive, can’t.
It’s an interesting thought experiment but I still think it
likely took a few generations for the less pleasant implications to seep
through to general awareness. When you
have a big shock and a complete paradigm shift in knowledge, the shock itself
keeps people from understanding it fully.
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