Society in Prehistory

This text reviews the way we view human evolution and the forces that have shaped the cultural foundations of modern humanity. It includes an analysis of the physical and behavioural characteristics that lay behind the social life of pre-human ancestors as much as two million years ago.

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Since the 1960s, advances made in the disciplines concerned with prehistory have led to our view of human evolution and the forces that have shaped the cultural foundations of modern humanity. It is now possible to make a reconstruction of the physical and behavioural characteristics that lay behind the social life of pre-human ancestors as much as two million years ago. The text introduces the evidence to a wider audience and argues that human evolution and human status are only intelligible through an interaction of biological and social factors. The significance and relevance of prehistory to the social sciences is a major theme of the study.