Human Nature: The Most Important Changes In Ancient Society

If we look at the modern world, we suppose that human beings have always been divided into two classes: the rulers and the ruled. Emperors and kings have been removed in the modern democracy, but there are still inequalities among the people. For millions of years, our ancestors lived in a group of 30 to 50 people and lived by hunting and looking for food wandering here and there in the jungle. Human nature developed in this social context. Only ten thousand years ago, they began to live in the villages. And only two thousand years ago, they stopped their hunting life. Human nature cannot make an important change in such a short period. There are still some hunting-and-gathering societies in the world today to make a study of human nature. There are no ruling classes in such societies.
In the small society, people knew each other very well.
They gave things hoping to take and took hoping to give. Luck played a great role in getting food. So they would share whatever they got. They were generous. They would not say how much they wanted, what they wanted and when they wanted. It would make their relations bad. Even in the modern society, children, wives and friends do not calculate the cost of the gifts and help. But they have to thank the giver, and it would not be acceptable in the ancient society. In the ancient society, it is rude to say 'thank you' to the giver. It means you have calculated his gift and you want him to pay it back and considered him to be an ungenerous person. Such peoples are egalitarian, that is, they believe that everyone is equal and should have the same rights and
opportunities.
Richard Lee gives an interesting example of reciprocity. In order to feed the Kung, a south African tribe, Lee bought the fattest and largest ox. But his friends said that it was a useless animal. They said so because it would make Lee proud of buying such a big animal for them and he would consider himself a king and all other persons inferior. Their criticism would make him less proud and it would make him gentle.
Lee watched small groups of men and women returning home every evening with their hunt and wild fruit. They would share everything they had brought equally. Those who were sleeping or working at home or even visitors would get their share equally. The production of every family would be distributed among other families until every person got the share fairly. The next morning a different combination would go out of the camp in search of food.
Everyone was free to use the natural habitat equally. If somebody claimed more right over the land, the group would leave him alone to use his power and walk a long distance to make a new camp and start their usual life of egalitarian reciprocity.
An individual called headman is their leader. But he cannot use his power to compel them to obey his command. He cannot punish them. He can only speak out more and people will listen to him with more respect. In fact, in the Kung everyone is his headman over himself. Headmanship is a hard job. The headman gets up early in the morning and rouses all others shouting to them standing at the village square. He sets an example by doing things first himself. He gives others generously. He works harder. He advises others to control their sexual desires, to work hard in their gardens, and to take regular bath. He also tells them not to sleep during the day and not to be jealous.
All natural resources are supposed to be the property of the community. The community members think that they own the resources. But the visitors and other relatives also can use them without permission. Even outsiders are seldom refused permission to use them. Group ownership of natural resources means a kind of communism. They can have personal property such as weapons, clothing, containers, ornaments, and tools. And these things are not stolen because they cannot be used secretly. There are some freeloaders who take more than they give. They spend their time lying in their hammocks. Although they cannot be punished legally, they are identified by shamans and punished. The miser persons should be more careful from the shamans.
Apart from reciprocity, there were other forms of exchange practiced by ancient people, for example, redistribution. People would give food to the headman, and he would divide and redistribute it. Headmen-redistributors worked harder, gave more generously, and kept less desirable things for themselves than anyone else. If the headman gave bigger feasts, he would be praised. But he would contribute more and ask little or nothing from others in return. In order to become a headman, he had to give bigger feasts than anyone else.
It was the ambition of a young man to become a mumi or headman. His wife and parents would promise to help him. He himself would eat less meat and other tasty food to make savings. He would make a clubhouse and his followers and guests would arrive there. He would arrange a feast first. If this feast became a success, he would get more supporters. Then larger feasts would follow and they would work harder for him. They would complain of hard work, but would go on working as long as he could provide for them. Finally, he would challenge other mumis by giving them a feast. In the feast both parties would keep their food there. If the guest's feast had worse food, the host would feel insulted, and his mumihood would be in danger. The mumi had to work harder. He would have no power to compel others to follow his commands, and his standard of living would not go higher. Being a mumi meant eating less meat and sweets. Sometimes the host and his closest followers would go hungry in such feasts.
Social division of group increased when redistributors could produce extra food by hard work. The better the food production, the more powerful the big man became. When food was scarce, people came to him. He would give them food, and ask them to make cloth, pots, canoes, and a fine house for him. Now it was not necessary for him to work in the field to maintain his position. And his status was transferred from him to his children. The big man became a chief. There was a clear division between the chiefs and the common people. The chiefs would wear special symbols, and commoners would have to keep their position lower at the chiefs' presence. Chiefs would have many wives and they would have more yams given by their brothers-in-law. They would show all the yams and they would have more yams than the ordinary people. This pattern can be found in all continents.
In the villages of the Cherokee, there would be the granary of the chiefs. Ordinary people also would donate certain quantity of their crops if they liked. These granaries could be used by people when they were in need of food with the permission of the chiefs. As the chiefs were supported by voluntary donation, they began to enjoy better life than the ordinary people. Because of voluntary labor, people erected many monuments in different parts of the world. Then people began to realize that the chiefs had become selfish.
When the chiefdoms developed into states and empires, the rulers became like wild beasts and there was the danger of the destruction of the whole world. The world was clearly divided into two groups: the rulers and the ruled. But human nature had not developed such an idea. Human beings are not war-lovers by nature. Biologically, we are not divided into superior and inferior races. This division is created by cultural evolution. Therefore we have to study history objectively to prove that human beings believe in egalitarian society for the existence of mankind.