An archeological revolution transforms our image of human freedoms | Aeon Essays

The history of the world may, from one perspective, be seen as the recurrent capture and institutionalization of transcendent authority. Historically, however, it has reappeared as the source of renewal though sometimes accompanied by devastating violence when its agents are convinced of the absolute truth of the transcendent vision. The task of th

The fall of the Berlin Wall was more than just a visible symbol of the death of Communism. It was a defeat for the entire world system of nation-states and a triumph of efficiency and markets. The fulcrum of power underlying history has shifted. We believe that the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 culminates the era of the nation-state, a peculiar t

The Paleolithic humans lived in small foraging bands of perhaps twenty-five to thirty members, with seasonally shifting base camps organized around the campfire.

Once upon a time, the story goes, we were hunter-gatherers, living in a prolonged state of childlike innocence, in tiny bands. These bands were egalitarian; they could be for the very reason that they were so small. It was only after the ‘Agricultural Revolution’, and then still more the rise of cities, that this happy condition came to an end, ush