What this new evidence shows is that a surprising number of the world’s earliest cities were organized along robustly egalitarian lines. We believe that much of what has been discovered in the last few decades, by archaeologists and others in kindred disciplines, cuts against the conventional wisdom propounded by modern “big history” writers. We want to offer an entirely different account of human history. As a result, we are more likely to believe that inequality is just an inescapable consequence of living in large, complex, urban, technologically sophisticated societies. The history we learn in school has made us more willing to tolerate a world in which some can turn their wealth into power over others, while others are told their needs are not important and their lives have no intrinsic worth. For generations, such assumptions have formed part of our origin story. But if you want to live in a city like New York, London or Shanghai - if you want all the good things that come with concentrations of people and resources - then you have to accept the bad things, too.
That makes wistful pessimism about the human condition seem like common sense: Yes, living in a truly egalitarian society might be possible if you’re a Pygmy or a Kalahari Bushman. Civilization seemed to come as a package: It meant misery and suffering for those who would inevitably be reduced to serfs, slaves or debtors, but it also allowed for the possibility of art, technology, and science. You could see inequality emerge in the archaeological record with the appearance of temples and palaces, presided over by rulers and their elite kinsmen, and storehouses and workshops, run by administrators and overseers. If you put enough people in one place, the evidence seemed to show, they would start dividing themselves into social classes. … For a long time, the archaeological evidence - from Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, Mesoamerica and elsewhere - did appear to confirm this. Graeber died shortly after completing the book.
Wengrow are the authors of the forthcoming book, “ The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity,” from which this essay is adapted. Ancient History Shows How We Can Create a More Equal World
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