The First Genocide

The first crime with a weapon must have been a major surprise and even incomprehensible to both the perpetrator(s) as well as the victim. The weaker male(s) who had killed an alpha male first would have found it so easy as opposed to the fist fights and wrestling engaged in till then. Not only would the act take such a short time to complete but it was also so decisive. A large stone smashed on the head of the sleeping stronger alpha male would immediately have reduced the powerful giant into a helpless cripple incapable of any fight thereafter, if it was not killed outright. The full comprehension of what had happened would have taken sometime to sink in. . The weaker male(s) who committed the crime may have run away in fear assuming that their victim would come back after them to punish. But they would soon have realized that the alpha male could torment them no longer. Also the family of the first homicide victim would not have understood clearly what happened. Seeing that their protector was no longer capable of protecting them they may have drifted away to join other families nearby
The weaker males may have tried the same thing on other alpha males nearby with some success. But these successes would have fixed the criminal act in the minds of the weaker males as the solution to all their problems. They would have quickly understood that this was a fast way for supremacy. This first understanding of the devastating effect of the killing act should have jump started the acceleration of development of the hominid brain.
But not all attempts would have been successful. Many of them would have failed due to the sheer fear suffered by the weaker males in the presence of the alpha male. Consequently the alpha males would have caught on to the idea of weapons. Being bigger and stronger their adoption of the killing weapon would have terrorized the weaker males. Now the balance would have shifted back into the favor of the alpha males decisively with the weaker ones threatened with annihilation. The hominid brain which had literally woken up just then by the initial act of homicide, now would have begun the next phase of faster development, this time also in the suffering and terrified weaker males. The weaker males by virtue of the rapidly developing brain function would have quickly deduced that even the most powerful alpha male can be overcome if tackled by enough number of weaker males. Unlike the time before weapon use, even the brute strength of an alpha male would have been no match for the coordinated attacks of a few weaker males who can now pounce on it from different sides with their stone cutting and pounding tools. They only needed to smash its skull or slash its throat or stomach. The same thing could also be done stealthily in the night when the alpha male was asleep. Thereafter their task of getting rid of the alpha male was pretty simple.
What was till now a localized phenomenon of conflict between males in restricted territory, would have begun to spread farther. The weaker males finding that they could quickly get rid a lot of alpha males over a large area might have initiated the first large scale genocide in the hominid history. They would have begun killing more for the pleasure of it as they found that they were now virtually unstoppable. The hominid society would have begun falling apart as the basic family unit around the alpha male collapsed. The females and children could have got no protection and would have been at the mercy of the marauding males and the ever present plains predators. The hominid populations would have begun plummeting creating a serious crisis. As the genocide spread in ever expanding cycles throughout the hominid population the species would have started the countdown to self destruction. The entire scenario should have played out in a few generations. Also the genocide would have come in waves with periods of calm between as the violence reached a climax and then temporarily abated.

The waves of genocide would have driven the populations to the brink of extinction before they bounced back again and again. They only factor that may have prevented extinction may have been that the main cause of the extinction was homicide and hence when the population fell below a threshold the cause would have abated. This type of violent stress would have been the stimulant for the explosion in human brain development for survival. Human intelligence had to race ahead of the devastating effects of the killing hominid with the murder weapon bent on killing everyone other than himself. The resilience of the human mind can be inferred from the result of this first thriller when human intelligence managed to slow the genocide and ensured the survival of the species. How this could have been achieved is a fascinating topic for detailed studies of the human brain and society.

The Plains Hominid

The Hominids had diversified into a new environment, the plains, from their traditional arboreal home. The new environment provided them both with newer sources of food like the grass seeds and bone marrow and newer challenges in the form of dangerous predators like tigers. They had taken to a new mode of locomotion and started using rudimentary tools like stones to extract bone marrow. The use of stones as tools to break the scavenged bones scattered in the plains would also have given access to the hominids to a new source of nutritious food with very little competition. They had by then begun partnering with dogs to warn them about predators and help them hunt small game. These partnerships would not resemble those of the modern hunter gatherers. Instead more likely the wolf’s kills would have been scavenged as these animals were more likely to allow this. The discovery of fire would have enabled the hominids to adapt to the new food available in the plains like small game. Worldwide migrations far and away from their original forest homes in the Tropics occurred mainly as a means to avoid internal conflicts. As the place became crowded the groups splintered and some of them moved away in search of new territory. It is conceivable that internal violence was so severe that individuals crossed seas to inhabit many islands to escape with their lives. Later as all available niches began to be filled the species began settling down by completing the adaptations such as the new diet and an upright stance. With no further new niches to move into hominids would have faced a steady increase in both speciation and population. This is due to individuals adapting to all favorable niches available and settling down into stable habitats. As crowding increased the latent internal conflicts would have resumed. As populations rose, food would have become scarce. The dominance hierarchy would have favored the stronger males who tried to corner the scarce food resources as well as the fertile females. This would have resulted in the strong males getting stronger and capable of holding out against more and more weaker ones. A stage would have been reached when the alpha male totally denied the weaker males access to females or even food. It can be envisaged that alpha males carved up the land into their own territories and drove the weaker males to desperation. Also even after banding together the weaker males would not have been able to win the fight against any alpha male due to the differences in their nutrition and consequently physical strength. The alpha males would also have virtually imprisoned females and prevented any other male from mating with any of their females. The starvation endured by the weaker males would have driven them to desperate tactics to survive.

The First Step in the Journey

The first step in human evolution was undoubtedly the discovery of the homicidal weapon from the hand tool. No related species has ever crossed this threshold though tool usage is common among many of them. The killing weapon would have been used on fellow hominids first, much before animals began to be killed with it. The reason for this is that no hominid at that stage of evolution had the intelligence to reason out that tools can be used to kill animals. But there appeared an extremely compelling reason for using a tool for homicide. The hominid society at that stage probably had a dominance hierarchy entirely based on physical strength similar to that of the present day gorillas. When the alpha male exerted his control through terribly oppressive measures the long suffering weaker males probably experimented with tools as weapons against him. As a consequence the first act of human evolution would have occurred when one or more weaker males used a stone to attack and seriously injured or killed an alpha male that was either preoccupied or asleep.

HUMAN EVOLUTION - THE STORY OUTLINE

We begin at about 5 to 10 million years ago
Arboreal ape and hominid species and population explosion due to superior adaptation to forested environment and physical prowess.

The spread of grasslands on earth, The dwindling of forest cover
The spread of hominid species out of forests due to heightened competition pressures. Grain eating plains hominids emerge.
Emergence of bipedalism to travel far and wide over open spaces across the globe to avoid conflict with other apes and hominids, find food and escape predators. The first of a series of migrations that ultimately colonized the whole world.

The early tool users appear both among apes and hominids. Hominids also discover fire.
Several waves of migration and colonization of all niches of the world by several hominid species.
Severe competition among hominids on the plains coupled with serious predation by large carnivores creates resilient populations of plains hominids.
The first partnerships with competing species – dogs become faithful friends of some hominid species.
Stable populations of hominids occupying the lower middle of the food chain in the open forest environment – small itinerant groups, eating grains and roots and scavenging bones, living in constant fear of tigers, leopards, snakes and other wild animals
The discovery of the killing weapon from hand tool. The discovery of the homicide weapon – the first step in modern human evolution. Hominid society disintegrates as the dominance hierarchy is inverted.
The first mass genocide – the decimation of hominid populations. Repeated genocides and chaotic societal life drives the “killing” hominid species close to self annihilation.
An explosion in brain development occurs as a survival mechanism and the characteristic large brain and superior intelligence of humans begin to develop in the hominid ancestors.
The first exhibition of intelligence – “we survive or perish together,” The appearance of primitive languages, and rituals. The emergence of groups, clans, tribes and primitive religions – “us against them mentality”. Ornaments, paintings, singing (primitive songs without words), dancing, rituals and customs emerge to tie individuals together.
(The mass killings would have created severe stress in the hominid species. The ancestors of modern humans adapted to this stress by quickly developing intelligence that could deal with abstract concepts such as love for fellow beings, unity, forgiveness, kinship etc. Thus they could predict that self destruction was imminent unless aggression was controlled and channeled towards ‘enemies’. But for the rapid brain development, the killing weapon in the hands of the hominids having less intelligence would have caused hominid populations to crash below sustainable levels)
Sex is institutionalized to avoid deadly conflicts within groups. Monogamy and marriage are adopted despite their unsuitability to hominid way of life in small groups of cooperative breeders. Paternity is recognized and becomes an important part of individual identity.
The rapid killing and elimination of most of the ape species by the dominant hominid species and the driving of the remaining into deep impenetrable forests. This is due to their resemblance to hominids which makes them appear as threats. They were also easier to annihilate than the more ‘resourceful’ hominid enemies.
Hunting wild animals for food is discovered as opposed to scavenging carried out so far. Hominids develop better weapons such as the spear and bow and arrow. The concept of bravery is born in human ancestors.
The first wars and the discovery of the effects of rape – both resulting in reducing “them” and increasing “us”. Rape, through prevalent earlier in apes and hominids, suddenly becomes a powerful weapon. Deification of the female womb and prominence of the Mother Goddess cult appear.
(The proliferation of rape is the main reason for the disappearance of all the hominid species except us. Rape caused the next generation to resemble the rapist. It was easily interpreted that by raping a woman her capacity to give birth to her own kind was lost. Thus mass rapes of rival hominid species were seen as a quick way to conquer and subjugate them. The females quickly began covering their genitals and the community enforced this practice to protect their women. Simultaneously the female womb became an object of worship due to the prominence given to it)

Modern humans begin dominance and cover their genitals. The male penis becomes a strong symbol of aggression and the male is attacked if it is exposed. The female genitalia and breasts become signals of submission and invite attack as sign of unfaithfulness from own clan members if exposed.
The repeat genocides and mass rapes continue – almost all the hominid species disappear as they are murdered and raped into extinction. Unlike the great apes not even impenetrable forests could save even a single hominid species from their more resourceful enemies – Homo sapiens.
The last few surviving hominid species cover their genitals, and are capable of using weapons. Ancestors of modern humans differentiate themselves by their skill at weapon use, language skills and strategic and closely cooperative aggression.
The rapid spread of Homo sapiens into every corner of the world including Australia and Americas.
The last of the hominids like the Neanderthals cease to exist as distinct species. Their extinction is hurried by intense competition and aggression from modern humans. Their genes enter modern humans through rape of their women.
As aggression turns inwards after eliminating all hominid enemies the first slaves are taken and forced to work for the masters in exchange for being allowed to live – the same idea applied to animals gives rise to domestication of horses, cattle, fowl etc.
Discovery of wheel, carts, catamarans etc enable humans to move faster and farther away from the unending internal conflicts.
The world is colonized by humans as they wipe out all opposition and climb high on the food chain.

A short period of stability while populations settle into their niches. Many populations ritualize conflict and sex. They even go to the extent of discarding clothes and going naked and have mock wars and enact sacrifices to keep runaway aggression under control. These populations survive to this day as primitive tribes and foragers in various stages of modernization all over the world. All ancient religions trace their origins to this period. Folklore and poetry make their appearance and are passed orally down the generations. The concepts of beauty and aesthetics appear
Beginning of agriculture as populations prefer to remain in one locality for food security and out of way of others who could create conflict. It also is influenced by slavery of peasants who exchange labor for security. Landlords appear as the first masters.
The emergence of leaders as kings, emperors, beginning of trade and commerce, the development of writing and revival of wars, slavery, homicide, rape and looting. Civilization emerges as we know it.
We end at around 10 to 30,000 years ago.

Prologue

The story of Human Evolution is being told in laboratories, flood plains and deserts of Africa and other continents, Churches, Universities. But no story of humans would be complete unless we look deep into our own collective minds transcending culture, religion, conflicts and survival. As a product studying the process of its own formation we need to carefully dissociate ourselves to dispassionately look at our lives and relatioships which point unerringly to our origins. All other research can only add to this work. None can replace this collective introspection altogether.