![\"Lower](\"https:\/\/fbhd.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com\/7\/low+Nile+fr+space.jpg\")
<\/a>Lower Nile from space, taken from Google Earth (select to enlarge)<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
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Before humans arrived,\nwild rice grew in all of the low-lying areas along the lower stretches of the\nNile.\u00a0 The Faiyum valley flooded yearly\nfrom the rains upriver.\u00a0 This created\nthe perfect conditions for rice.\u00a0 The\nrice found this land millions of years ago and flourished.\u00a0 Over the course of time, a bountiful and\ndiverse ecosystem developed around the foundation of this amazing plant.\u00a0 After floods, fish would swim in from both\nup and down river to eat.\u00a0 They eat just\nabout anything; this turns the materials that other animals had not eaten into\nfertilizer.\u00a0 When the water receded and\nshoots came up, thousands of small animals came into feed on them.\u00a0 When the plants started to grow heads, megafauna\ncame in to feast.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Enormous flocks of\nmigratory birds stopped over to rest and eat.\u00a0\nThose coming from the south may have gone thousands of miles since they\nhad any chance to rest.\u00a0 They are hungry\nand tired and will spend time to recoup in this valley.\u00a0\u00a0 Some will lay eggs and the chicks will\nhatch.\u00a0 To them, this place is imprinted\non their memory.\u00a0 For the rest of their\nlives, they think of it as home.\u00a0 Then\nthe river would flood again and wash the land clean, leaving more fertile soil\nwashed down from the highlands.\u00a0 The\nentire process would start again.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
The first people to\nsee this valley were in the species Homo Egaster.\u00a0 They moved through here about two million years ago.\u00a0 The Nile corridor is the only practical way\nfor these people to get from the tropics of Africa where they evolved to \u2018the\nrest of the world.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 They were\ndefinitely in \u2018the rest of the world\u2019 in the year 1.85 million BP.\u00a0 They had to have passed through this valley\non their way.\u00a0 They saw it sometime\naround 2 million years BP (before the present, or this many years ago.)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n
The Homo Egaster,\ntheir descendants the Homo Erectus, and their <\/i>descendents the\ndenisovans, were migratory by disposition.\u00a0\nThey descended from the non-territorial pans, the bonobos.\u00a0 As youngsters grew up, they learned how to\nlive off of the land.\u00a0 It did not belong\nto them and they didn\u2019t treat it as a possession.\u00a0 To them, the land was a giver of gifts, a sort of mother to all\nliving things.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
They learned that\ncertain kinds of land were not good places for them to try to go.\u00a0 There were other people around who lived\nvery differently than they did.\u00a0\u00a0 These\nother people felt attached to land somehow, as if certain parcels of land had\nbeen created for them and belonged to them.\u00a0\nThese others, members of the species Homo Habilis and their descendants\nthe neanderthals, formed into tight-knit and loyal tribes.\u00a0 Each tribe took control of a certain parcel\nof land, about 3-5 square miles in size.\u00a0\nThe members built borders around it, and patrolled and defended the\nborders.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
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We will look at the factors that determine sizes shortly.\u00a0 We have plentiful artifacts to show us how\nlarge their early countries were.\u00a0 Early\nhumans can have larger countries than chimps, but, until they get some\ntechnology which won\u2019t be available until about 6,000 BP, they can\u2019t be much\nlarger.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
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If any of\u00a0 the migratory people tried to even walk on\nthe land controlled by these territorial people, the territorial people would\norganize to attack and kill them.\u00a0 They\ndidn\u2019t see any reason to try to go to the areas these people controlled.\u00a0 The world was big.\u00a0 They were\u00a0 at home\nwherever they went.\u00a0 They liked to\ntravel and explore.\u00a0 They were raised by\npeople who migrated and their ancestors lived this way, going back as far as\nanyone could remember.\u00a0 They taught the\nchildren the things they would need to know to live this way. The Homo Egaster,\ntheir descendants the Homo Erectus, and their descendants the denisovans, were\ncomfortable with this lifestyle.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Although the Faiyum\nvalley was rich and productive, with endless food, it had its drawbacks.\u00a0 It was a dangerous place.\u00a0 The rich lands attracted a large number of\nplant eaters.\u00a0 They came in vast herds\nto feast on the bounty of the land.\u00a0 The\npredators followed.\u00a0 Life was good for\nthe predators:\u00a0 They always had weak\nanimals to pick off and use to feed their children.\u00a0 Humans gave up a lot to have greater resources.\u00a0 We are fragile and very easy prey.\u00a0 We can\u2019t run fast.\u00a0 We can\u2019t fight well.\u00a0 Our\nskin is thin.\u00a0 Our eyesight, our\nhearing, and our sense of smell are all poor.\u00a0\nWe have a hard time detecting danger.\u00a0\nWorst of all, we need to sleep for about a third of the day to replenish\nour hard-working brains.\u00a0 During this\ntime, we can\u2019t even defend ourselves, let alone our children.\u00a0 Early humans would have been easy meals for\nthe predators.\u00a0 Many would treat human\ncamps like fast-food restaurants.\u00a0 If\nthey want something quick that they don\u2019t have to work a lot to get, we were\nwaiting to feed them.\u00a0 The migratory\npeople would get tired of this pretty quickly.\u00a0\nAreas that were not as rich didn\u2019t attract as many herbivores and this\nmeant fewer predators.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think\nthey would have wanted to spend any more time in the valley than necessary.<\/p>\n
The other people\nwho came, the territorial Homo Habilis and their descendants the neanderthals,\nwere different.\u00a0 These people had been\nraised in cultures that depended on stability and security.\u00a0 The people wanted their own homes, places\nwhere they could return to every night and sleep in comfortable surroundings.\u00a0\u00a0 They were not really fond of freedom and\nwere willing to give it up for security.\u00a0\nThey wanted to know that there were borders that were protected and\nmonitored 24\/7 by guards.\u00a0 Their\nancestors had lived this way and the ancestors of their ancestors (the\nterritorial pans) had lived this way.\u00a0\nIt was what they knew and what they wanted.\u00a0 To live this way, they needed land that could produce enough to\nsupport them perpetually, without any need for them to ever leave.\u00a0 (If they built homes and then left them,\neven for a short time, they couldn\u2019t expect them to be unoccupied when they\nreturned).\u00a0 The land in Faiyum could\nproduce immense quantities of rice.\u00a0\nThey could collect this rice and put it into granaries.\u00a0 It would keep as long as it was dry.\u00a0 They could cook it when they didn\u2019t have\nanything else.\u00a0 As long as there was rice,\nthey would never have to leave.\u00a0 The\nland produced immense amounts of rice.\u00a0\nIt was perfect for them.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\u00a0They could build border defenses that could\nkeep out other humans.\u00a0 But they\ncouldn\u2019t build defenses that would keep out saber toothed tigers or other\npredators, or keep out mastodons or other megafauna.\u00a0 Life was a struggle for them too.\u00a0 Until about 70,000 BP, predators and competitors kept their\npopulations in check.\u00a0 They were part of\nthe ecosystem in Faiyum, but were definitely not dominant there.\u00a0 They were just another of the many animals\nwith territorial sovereignty societies that lived in the valley.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
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A Change in Conditions<\/h2>\n
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Then, things\nchanged.\u00a0 The brain components that are\nresponsible for complex communication developed enough that they could start to\nthink the way we, do, with a series of the things we call \u2018words\u2019 representing\nthe different concepts, people, places, things, actions, and modifiers.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
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The three main brain components are :Broca\u2019s area<\/a>, the Arcuate fasciculus<\/a>, and Wernicke\u2019s area<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n They could turn\nthese \u2018words\u2019 into sounds and send these sounds though the air by\nspeaking.\u00a0 Others of their species who\nhad the necessary brain components would recognize these sounds as words and\ntranslate these words into thoughts.\u00a0\nPeople with these brain components could basically frame their thoughts\nand ideas in a way that allowed them to transfer these thoughts and ideas into\nthe minds of others, using speech.\u00a0 They\ncould work together in ways that were impossible for ancestors who did not have\nthese brain components.\u00a0 They could make\nthemselves the masters of their environment.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Their first\npriority was to eliminate the threats to their lives that they faced every\nday.\u00a0 Predators were killing their\nbabies.\u00a0 They could wipe out these\npredators and did wipe them out. <\/p>\n Megafauna were\neating most of the food that the valley produced.\u00a0 The plant eating animals bred rapidly and couldn\u2019t be removed by\ntaking a few a year.\u00a0 To remove them,\nthey would have to organize massive hunts where every single animal was\nkilled.\u00a0 They would have to do this over\nand over, year after year, until they were all gone.\u00a0 This was a lot of work.\u00a0\nBut we know they were able to get it done because they did it.\u00a0 Humans they went from being a part <\/i>of the ecosystem to the master of the ecosystem.\u00a0 We were the dominant species in this valley,\nNorth Africa, and, after another 52,000 years (when the extinctions finally\nreached the tip of South America) the entire world.\u00a0 <\/p>\n This change came to\nNorth Africa before it happened anywhere else.\u00a0\nIt came to Faiyum first.\u00a0 <\/p>\n After this change,\nthe primary checks that nature uses to keep animal populations under control\nwere gone.\u00a0 Before, the human population\nwas small.\u00a0 We were just another animal\ncompeting with the rest of the world for survival.\u00a0 After, there was no competition.\u00a0\nThere were no predators to speak of.\u00a0\nOur population began to grow very rapidly.\u00a0 <\/p>\n We measure\npopulation pressure by something called \u2018fertility\nrate.\u2019 <\/a>\u00a0This is the number of children\nthat are born to each woman, on average, over her entire lifetime.\u00a0 Before modern birth control methods were\ndeveloped, fertility rates averaged more than 7 births per woman.\u00a0 (I couldn\u2019t find older data; this\n<\/a>goes back to 1800.)\u00a0 If 4 of these\nbabies live to have children of their own, the population doubles every\ngeneration.\u00a0 At this rate, the\npopulation grows by the following multiples over generations:\u00a0 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1048\ntimes the starting population.\u00a0 In 10\ngenerations, it the population will have increased to more than a thousand\ntimes the starting population.\u00a0 After\nanother ten generations, it will be a thousand times that, or a million times\nthe starting population.\u00a0 In another 10\ngenerations, it will be a billion times the starting population.\u00a0\u00a0 If a generation averages 30 years, in a\nmillennium, the population will grow to a billion times the starting\npopulation, if there are no checks on population.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n Of course, the\npopulation isn\u2019t going to be able to grow this much, because at some point\nthere won\u2019t be enough food to support more people.\u00a0 The population will be able to grow to the limit of the food\nsupply, an no higher.\u00a0 <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The people who were\nborn inside of protected areas will want to keep monopoly rights over the land\ninside the borders.\u00a0 They need to keep\noutsiders out.\u00a0 Simple paths with patrols\u2014the\nsystem chimps used\u2014won\u2019t be enough.\u00a0\nThey need walls.\u00a0 Small walls\nwon\u2019t be enough.\u00a0 They need very high\nwalls.\u00a0 The walls can\u2019t be made of wood\nbecause the attackers have fire: they can burn them down.\u00a0 The walls have to be very high, very strong,\nand made of a very durable material.\u00a0 <\/p>\n The picture below\nis an image of a border wall in the land near the valley of Faiyum.\u00a0 You can see this wall is very\nimpressive.\u00a0 Note that the lowest parts\nof the wall are about 40 feet high.\u00a0\nThis is too high people to climb without equipment that defenders are\ngoing to see from a long way away.\u00a0 Note\nthat there are towers at regular intervals that rise another 40 feet.\u00a0 Guards in these towers can keep watch and\nlocate any organized invaders that might be getting ready for an assault, even\nif they are very far away.\u00a0 <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Egypt Wall (select to enlarge)<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The walls are very\nthick.\u00a0 They are thick enough to support\na road that is about 20 feet wide at the top.\u00a0\nThe structures spaced at intervals along the walls are barracks for troops\nand armories to hold their weapons.\u00a0 The\ntroops can get to the road and move to any area they are needed very\nquickly.\u00a0 The outside part of the road\nhas a parapet wall that is high enough to protect the defending troops from\narrows or projectiles that might come from below. Every 6 ft or so there is a\nslot in the parapet that allows the solders to fire arrows, burning tar balls,\nor other projectiles onto attackers, without any real risk to themselves.\u00a0 <\/p>\n Note that there are\nwindows in the walls underneath the top roadway.\u00a0 These windows are small so defenders could easily block them in\nthe event enemies started to climb the walls.\u00a0\nBut they are large enough to use as weapons bays.\u00a0 A bucket of burning oil-tar mixture that has\nbeen set on fire will discourage any who are trying to climb the wall from\ncontinuing.\u00a0 Their cries of pain as they\nare burned alive will discourage their comrades from following them.\u00a0 <\/p>\n The walls are faced\nwith very hard rock.\u00a0 This makes\nsense:\u00a0 people can cut through mud walls\nwith basic picks and shovels.\u00a0 If the\nwalls are faced with enormous rocks which are meticulously pieced together,\nattackers will not be able to cut through them without detection.\u00a0 <\/p>\n Imagine you had a\nmachine that allowed you to go back in time.\u00a0\nYou set the \u2018time\u2019 dial to 18,000 BP and the location to Faiyum.\u00a0 (Make sure you arrive inside <\/i>the\nwalls:\u00a0 if you materialize outside, and\ntry to get in, you won\u2019t have a chance.)\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n You would be\narriving more than 30,000 years into the era where people were capable of using\ncomplex speech.\u00a0 They currently speak a\nlanguage called Nobiin<\/a>. This language goes back antiquity and,\nthere is a good chance that they spoke the same language 18,000 years ago.\u00a0 If you took an online\ncourse <\/a>in this language before you went back in time, and you made sure\nyour clothes were appropriate, you could probably fit in.\u00a0 You could talk to the people there.\u00a0 You could find out what mattered to them.<\/p>\n The people who\nlived in Faiyum 18,000 years ago had walls like those in the picture\nabove.\u00a0 But they weren\u2019t tourist\nattractions.\u00a0 They were built to defend\nthe area within and protect the monopoly rights of the people inside.\u00a0 <\/p>\n If you talked to\nthe people, you would soon find people who would explain to you why <\/i>the\nwalls were so high, so strong, so thick, and so well defended:\u00a0 Their enemies are very smart and are always\nlooking for weaknesses in border defenses.\u00a0\nThere had been times in the past, when the walls weren\u2019t so high.\u00a0 The enemies were able to enter and defeat\nthe defenders.\u00a0 There had been times\nwhen the walls weren\u2019t thick enough or strong enough. They learned from\nexperience what they needed to do.\u00a0\nThese walls are fantastically expensive.\u00a0 <\/p>\n The people have to\npay these expenses through taxes.\u00a0\n(Taxes don\u2019t have to be in the form of money.\u00a0 People can be required to do a certain number of hours of work or\ngive up a certain amount of rice to feed workers each month.)\u00a0 But people accept this great burden so they\ncan be safe from their enemies and sleep soundly at night.\u00a0 <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The image below is\na satellite picture of the Faiyum valley in the 21st<\/sup> century.\u00a0 Note the large circle that is labeled \u2018the\nRing Road.\u2019\u00a0 <\/p>\n <\/p>\nFaiyum in 18,000 BP<\/h2>\n
<\/a>The Precursors Of Modern States<\/h2>\n