Egalitarianism
e·gal·i·tar·i·an·ism
ēˌɡaləˈterēəˌnizəm/
noun
the doctrine that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities.
In our World History class we have began to discuss the theories that the Paleolithic people may or may not have been Egalitarian societies, and what the proof may or may not be to support either side of this theory.
In support of the argument that humans may have been inherently equal at the advent of the sociological development of Homo-Sapiens, is the idea that without dogma or man-made philosophies, man and woman would have existed and cohabited in an equal way with shared chores, tasks, and responsibilites.
Because there is little evidence of society other than primitive art and artifacts, it becomes almost impossible to understand what the actual ideas were for humans and who was revered and in what capacity.
Fortunately, as science and technology progress, we are able to discover more about humanity through research and archaeology.
This article caught my eye recently:
https://m.phys.org/news/2017-09-genetic-proof-women-viking-warriors.html
First genetic proof that women were Viking warriors
September 8, 2017 by David Naylor
In the article, it illustrates that, although not Paleolithic perse, using DNA research a viking tomb from the 10th century in Sweden reveals that the viking buried carried two X chromosomes and no Y chromosome, thus making it a female.
This idea that a woman could be a viking and revered as such is in support of the idea that Paleolithic humans may have began and remained Egalitarian.
Although one could argue that because this research stems from a non-paleolithic era, one could conclude that it is unlikely that a society would have begun as matriarchal and patriarchal and modified itself to become egalitarian. It is a reach to assume, but this exciting evidence provides a glimpse into the past when men and women were not so inequally divided by gender.
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