- earliest hominids appeared in Africa and dates to about 3 million years
- separation from animal world began with 3 major events:
    a. increase in brain capacity: from 450-600 to 900-2000 cubic centimeters
    b. thinking and speech ability
    c. bipedalism (walking on two feet) => anterior feet became grasping hands => grasping what? => TOOLS!

- tools were made of stone => division into periods of Stone Age (paleolithic, mesolithic, neolithic)

- division into stages of the anthropogenisis:
    a. Australopithecus - first hominids found in South - Africa ( pebble culture)
    b. Homo habilis - first tools, discovered fire
    c. Homo erectus - clear bipedalism, first tool kit, found out of Africa (China, Java)
    d. Neanderthal man - hunted, first indication of religious beliefs
    e. Homo sapiens (Cro - Magnon man) - direct ancestor of the today's human beings

First cultural achievements: fire, bow, ax, first domesticated animals => "primitive" society = according to Cl. Levi-Strauss, they are societies ignoring reading and writing and all notions invented by modern economics and philosophy

BUT: you cannot define a society by what it has not; instead you have to find its particular features => archaeologists and anthropologists would rather speak about hunter & gatherers societies and would find at least five features:
1. generalized nomadism
2. no private property, all food is equally distributed among members
3. no stocks, since there are no storage rooms
4. small number of members (5 to 25)
5. separate territory for big game

Hunting = main occupation => hunter =  most important role => how could the qualities of a good hunter be transferred to another one?
A: by cannibalism: archaeologists found in many areas in south-eastern France and Italy (Monte Circeo) human bones or skulls, obviously used for ritual consuming
But: it meant that early humans beings were already aware that there is a clear - cut distinction between body and soul and that the latter is located in the head
So: if you wish to "store" the qualities of your ancestors, especially if they were excellent hunters, all you have to do is to keep their skulls in your private collection ( sets of skulls separately buried in Jericho (Israel), Hacilar (Turkey), Lpenski Vir (Serbia)

2. Social stages of primitive society
- Bands of hunter & gatherers: based on sexual division - the family (1woman -1man) seems to have been the basic social unit => the first and most important relations are kinship relationships
See: Bible: you may use usury with a stranger, but usury to your brother is forbidden
- the clan - all members belong to the same family (common ancestor)
               - all members have common traditions, beliefs and rituals
               - mating between members is forbidden (incest)
- tribes:emerged from matrimonial alliances between clans ; there is no political, central power to organize economic activities => exchange is used not to make profit, but in order to eliminate social tensions, to show prestige, sympathy, emotion and social status

-there are 2 types of primitive
exchange:
1. reciprocity   A<===>B
2. redistribution       A
                             /   /   /
                           B  C   D

- certain persons can be invested with full A -authority; if the kind of game A,B,C,D are playing is not hunting, but warfare, A will require a special recognition or even reward for leading a successful campaign (BIG MAN)

- gradually, he requires exclusive rights to more women than other members of the group (polygamy) or highest religious office (priesthood)

3. Neolithic age and agriculture:
- climate changed => warming trend led to the spread of desert => people reacted to the encroachment of the desert by settling near the few remaining lakes and began to sow the grains they had been gathering in the wild before

- agriculture: people were not only able to produce food, but also to produce more than necessary for every day's life => people began to stock
BIG MEN became the most important persons in the production process (control over land distribution, hires experts and craftsmen, leads all communal activities), like chiefs in Tikopia tribes (Polynesia)
- they became experts (i.e. controlled) all communal activities, economy as well as religion => the pharaoh - typical combination of priest and expert

4. Conclusions:
1. emergence of power structures was made possible by the use of prestige among members of primitive society
2. economic and social prestige were used to acquire political privileges