To explain Human culture, anthropologists have paid a great deal of attention to recent hunter-gatherer, or forager, societies.

Reason for this focus has been the widely belief that knowledge of hunter-gatherer societies could open a window into understanding Human cultures.

For the vast stretch of Human history, people lived by foraging for wild plants and animals.

Not until about ten thousands years ago did societies in Southwest Asia begin to cultivate and domesticate plants and animals.

A few hunter-gatherer peoples survive to this day, but the World of the hunter-gatherers, in which most ancient people followed this mode of life, is long gone.

There may have been individuals revered for their wisdom and judgement, or even credited with special magical powers.

But it is unlikely that anyone exercised any significant authority over any group larger than the family group. There were no kings or chiefs in such societies.

Moreover, the hunter-gatherer style of life prohibited the accumulation of more wealth by some individuals as opposed to others.

For a start, there simply was not the necessary abundance of food to create surpluses.

Moreover, the collective nature of hunting and foraging, and the reliance members of the group had to place on each other, meant that no one person could take a disproportionate share of the food.

As a result, all members of a group shared more or less equally. Equality in terms of material wealth may well have been reflected in an equality of status between men and women.