When and Why Did Humans Start Living Together in Larger Societies?

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Introduction

File:Indigenous village diorama.jpg

The transition from small, egalitarian bands to larger, cooperative societies required a fundamental shift in human social norms and psychology. Evidence suggests this move was driven by the need for communal resource management and the development of leveling mechanisms that discouraged "bullying" behavior. These social contracts laid the groundwork for the first villages and eventually the first cities.