This ‘gorging gene‘ theory is widely accepted. Other theories arefar more contentious. For example, some evolutionary psychologistsargue that ancient foraging bands were not composed of nuclearfamilies centred on monogamous couples. Rather, foragers lived incommunes devoid of private property, monogamous relationshipsand even fatherhood. In such a band, a woman could have sex andform intimate bonds with several men (and women) simultaneously, and all of the band‘s adults cooperated in parenting its children. Since no man knew definitively which of the children were his, menshowed equal concern for all youngsters. - P41
The heated debatesabout Homo sapiens’ ‘natural way of life‘ miss the main point. Eversince the Cognitive Revolution, there hasn‘t been a single naturalway of life for Sapiens. There are only cultural choices, from amonga bewildering palette of possibilities. - P45
mapSapiens did not forage only for food and materials. They foragedfor knowledge as well. To survive, they needed a detailed mentalof their territory. To maximise the efficiency of their daily search forfood, they required information about the growth patterns of eachplant and the habits of each animal. They needed to know whichfoods were nourishing, which made you sick, and how to use othersas cures. They needed to know the progress of the seasons and whatwarning signs preceded a thunderstorm or a dry spell. They studiedevery stream, every walnut tree, every bear cave, and every flint-stonedeposit in their vicinity. Each individual had to understand how tomake a stone knife, how to mend a torn cloak, how to lay a rabbit trap, and how to face avalanches, snakebites or hungry lions. - P48
But no longer. Within 2,000 years of the Sapiens arrival, mostof these unique species were gone. According to current estimates, within that short interval, North America lost thirty-four out ofits forty-seven genera of large mammals. South America lost fiftyout of sixty. The sabre-tooth cats, after flourishing for more than 30million years, disappeared, and so did the giant ground sloths, theoversized lions, native American horses, native American camels, thegiant rodents and the mammoths. Thousands of species of smallermammals, reptiles, birds, and even insects and parasites also becameextinct (when the mammoths died out, all species of mammoth ticksfollowed them to oblivion). - P71
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