We’re used to thinking of humans as super-predators — as old Oppenheimer said, “I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds.” But the reality is far from that image. For millions of years, the ancestors of humans — and for hundreds of thousands of years, humans themselves — were, first and foremost, prey, the target of hunting.
Early Paleolithic humans somewhere on the savanna were shorter, not particularly strong physically, didn’t run very fast, and their tools made of stone, wood, and bone weren’t especially good. They allowed for hunting and fishing, but didn’t provide protection against serious opponents. So the only way to escape them was to run. But children, the sick, and pregnant women inevitably lagged behind. That’s why many skeletons from that period show claw marks. At the same time, predators usually lost interest in the rest once they got to those who had fallen behind. And just like herbivores today watch a tiger or another large predator eating one of their kin, so did people behave. A few perished so that the rest could be saved.
Gradually, early shamans appeared. Their role was perfectly clear — to become the predator in order to predict how a real predator would behave. To become a “sanctioned” madman and achieve transformation. This was frightening, but served a highly pragmatic purpose. It is believed that mushrooms and other hallucinogens helped with this. It’s hard to say whether this aided the development of the frontal lobes of the brain happening during that period, or whether a more developed brain led to such practices — but it certainly didn’t hurt.
Around 50,000 years ago — quite recently by historical standards — a turning point occurred. The brain had developed enough, and weapons finally made it possible, for the first time in hundreds of thousands of years, to confront large predators, at least as a group. Predators remained a threat, but now there was something to oppose them with. For context: early Egypt emerged only 3,100 years ago, and the pyramids — 2,600 years ago.
However, the idea of the victim, of the one who fell behind and was eaten, does not fade so quickly. After all, it lasted for hundreds of thousands of years — much longer than the entirety of today’s civilization, including the most ancient proto-states. The idea of human sacrifice persisted for quite a while. And it is no surprise that the gods to whom these sacrifices were offered looked like those same predators. With the heads of tigers and hawks, lions and alligators.
Millennia passed, and animals replaced humans. In ancient Egypt, animals were sacrificed — and not just any animals, but very specific ones. Replacing animals with agricultural products hardly occurred. Incense played only a supporting role. Similarly, the sacrifice of Cain — “the fruits of the Earth,” that is, agricultural products — was not accepted. A sacrifice without meat was seen as formal, not from the heart.
Millennia passed, and those same animals — lions, hawks, and other predators — adorned the coats of arms of noble families, empires, and kingdoms. Today, incense and candles in church are enough. But when you see a double-headed eagle on the coat of arms of Russia, or a lion on the coat of arms of Great Britain, through the layers of later myths and cultures, distant ancestors speak to you — those who fled in terror across the savannas of Africa.
