The human story is often told as a narrative of unstoppable progress toward greater complexity. The simple stone hand axes of the Paleolithic were replaced by the specialized tools of the Neolithic and then by bronze, iron, steel, plastic, and silicon. The small kin groups of the Paleolithic gave way to Neolithic villages that grew ever larger until they became cities and eventually today’s megalopolises. Egalitarian foragers became stratified by divisions of wealth and power that were formalized as aristocracies, castes, and social classes, leading to today’s vast divisions between wealth and poverty. Oral rituals of worship, healing, and celebration in which everyone participated grew into a dizzying array of religions, philosophies, and branches of knowledge presided over by specialists including priests, scholars, scientists, doctors, generals, and entertainers. The rest of this book traces this story and explores the changes over time that are the central thread of history.

As you examine what — particularly in world history — can seem to be a staggering number of developments, it is also important to remember that many things were slow to change and that some aspects of human life in the Neolithic, or even the Paleolithic, continued. Foraging, horticulture, pastoralism, and agriculture have been the primary economic activities of most people throughout the entire history of the world. Though today there are only a few foraging groups in very isolated areas, there are significant numbers of horticulturalists and pastoralists, and their numbers were much greater just a century ago. At that point the vast majority of the world’s people still made their living directly through agriculture. The social patterns set in early agricultural societies — with most of the population farming the land and a small number of elite who lived off their labor — lasted for millennia. You have no doubt recognized other similarities between the early peoples discussed in this chapter and the people you see around you, and it is important to keep these continuities in mind as you embark on your examination of human history.