GrandBed t1_j544ikp wrote
Reply to comment by RedditIsPropaganda2 in Prehistoric Fashion: Cut Marks On Ancient Bones Reveal The Trends 320.000 Years Ago - Archaeology Magazine by mikaelnorqvist
We would have to define smarter.
People 5,000 years ago were identical to people today, yet “we” still a few thousand years until people were writing of burning bushes that could talk.
“We” don’t need our brain’s abilities as much as we did 100,000-10,000 years ago when civilizations were being built such as Göbekli Tepe.
Since we don’t need to know/remember as much information as a person ten thousand years ago for survival. We don’t need to be “smart” to order food to our homes via our phones. Modern society in most cases just doesn’t let us die for something stupid, like starvation, or curable diseases. So we could have plenty of smarter people in the past, certainly within our “Modern Human” group of the past 30,000+ years.
It’s interesting to imagine that a recent ancestor such as the ones responsible for this article, who had larger Brian’s, could have been smarter, just not connected with enough other smart people to leave any significant remnants that survived to recent history to be studied.
InGenAche t1_j54fe8o wrote
I would argue that modern man has to remember far more than our ancient ancestors.
Consider our education; even disadvantaged nations have compulsory education until 12 or 16 where even the most basic of subjects would seem incredibly complex to prehistoric man, maths, reading and writing.
And even if the vast majority of what we know is comparatively mundane compared to the tools for survival they required, it doesn't detract from the fact of its complexity.
I'm no expert, but even their art was only as complex as our grade schoolers which to me is indicative of an ability to form and communicate abstract ideas.
6XJPCmTMB7gm3rMhUKE5 t1_j54mpk3 wrote
> People 5,000 years ago were identical to people today, yet “we” still a few thousand years until people were writing of burning bushes that could talk.
That very myth is probably more than 4000 years old.
RedditIsPropaganda2 t1_j54xwdy wrote
I kind of think you're just describing how modern humans lived for the majority of their existence
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