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30,000 BC to 4000BC is a long time with nothing to show, compared to civilization on grand
scale from 4000-2000BC? What gives? Did people just all wake up smarter one day?
Not really. Inventing a system of writing actually takes a lot of work, and a group of humans is not going to do it if they don't have to, especially since merely surviving was a full time job for them. No, something like writing would not have been invented until people started to settle in (semi)permanent farming communities, which happened about 10,000 years ago. Even then, inventing a writing system would still be too much work without proper motivation. That's why the first types of writing we found were administrative records; basically tax records, which had evolved from the use of symbolic stone tokens.
So, it's not really about humans not being smart enough to write until 6,000 years ago. It's just that they had no reason to. Human groups throughout history generally only change their ways or invent new things when they need to. For instance, the Aztecs knew about metal and the wheel, yet they still used obsidian swords and travois. Why? Because it worked for them.
People won't change if they don't need to. It's too much work.
Actually we have some evidence for those gaps.
My personal opinion? We've not found much of them yet.
I think the first step towards "civilisation" took place when someone noticed that fermented fruits made the females more " inclinced" and took steps to procure more of it.
What was a serf in medieval times?
by Answerbag Staff on April 13th, 2010
| 1 person likes this
Do you think civilization, or Western civilization is changing too
fast? The time since the Revolutionary War is like the blink of an eye.
by einsteinwasright0116 on December 2nd, 2011
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If it was REPUBLICAN John Corzine instead of democrat John Corzine stealing $1 BILLION , would it be buried in the lame stream media?
by Swami_Rick on November 30th, 2011
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Vlad The Impaler fought for Romania? Against whom?
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by einsteinwasright0116 on October 24th, 2011
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When was the Yorkboat invented? 1800s, 1900s?
by O.G. Rodger on November 15th, 2011
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You're reading Why is it that we have modern human fossils going back 30,000 years, but no evidence of civilization or writing until 4000 BC?
Comments
well said, i agree
by AvtomatKalashnikov on March 14th, 2010