Is slavery hardwired into society? Is hierarchy inevitable? Who built the pyramids? Listen as William and Anita are joined by David Wengrow to discuss slavery in the world’s most ancient civilizations.Sign up to The Knowledge here: www.theknowledge.com/empire/LRB Empire offer: lrb.me/empireThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/empirepod.Twitter: @EmpirepodukGoalhangerpodcasts.comProducer: Callum HillExec Producer: Jack Davenport Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Wrong Boys are joined by David Wengrow to talk about changing human history (starting with the past) and his new book, co-authored with the late David Graeber, on myths about the origins of human society, why both Hobbes and Rousseau are wrong, and why human history may be less set in stone, and more full of playful, hopeful possibilities, than we tend to assume.Support our show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/srslywrong Links:Buy “The Dawn of Everything”: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/616885/the-dawn-of-everything-by-david-graeber-and-david-wengrow/9780771049828How to Change the Course of Human History: https://www.eurozine.com/change-course-human-history/Hiding in Plain Sight: Democracy’s indigenous origins in the Americas: https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/democracy/hiding-plain-sightGraeber and Wengrow on the Myth of the Stupid Savage (Video – 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvUzdJSK4x8David Graeber & David Wengrow Teach-Out (Video – 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNbWlD-lqYQGraeber/Wengrow: Paleolithic Politics & Why It Still Matters (Video – 2015): https://vimeo.com/145285143Slavery and Its Rejection Among Foragers on the Pacific Coast of North America: A Case of Schismogenesis? (Video – 2018): https://www.college-de-france.fr/site/philippe-descola/seminar-2018-03-22-10h00.htmUnfreezing the Ice Age: The Truth about Humanity’s Deep Past (2021): https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/oct/19/unfreezing-the-ice-age-the-truth-about-humanitys-deep-pastForget ‘Liberté’ – 17th-Century Indigenous Americans Knew a Lot More About Freedom Than Their French Colonisers (2021): https://novaramedia.com/2021/10/19/forget-liberte-17th-century-indigenous-americans-knew-a-lot-more-about-freedom-than-their-french-colonisers/Rethinking cities from the ground up (Wengrow, 2019) – https://medium.com/whose-society-whose-cohesion/rethinking-cities-from-the-ground-up-73d92059b15fCorrection: The Wrong Boys mispronounce the word “Teotihuacan” (Saying ‘Teo-teh-hoo-i-can’)- It is actually pronounced “Teo-Tiwa-Khan” (/teɪˌoʊtiːwəˈkɑːn/) Opening Theme Song by E JuneClosing Theme Song by Spam Risk:https://spamrisk.bandcamp.com/album/s-t

David Wengrow, archaeologist and co-author of The Dawn of Everything, challenges conventional narratives of human history, discussing topics such as the origins of inequality, misconceptions about the agricultural revolution, contradictions within the family unit, interpreting violence in prehistoric societies, reimagining human nature and history, and the experience of co-writing the book with David Graeber.

Archaeologist David Wengrow challenges conventional linear stage theory of human history, highlighting interconnectedness and agency of prehistoric people. The podcast explores indigenous diplomacy, the ancient cities of Cahokia and Teotihuacan, Eurocentrism in slavery abolition, coexistence of Homo sapiens and archaic humans, and the emotional journey of publishing a best-selling book with a deceased co-author.

We cover the first part of chapter 3 of David Graeber and David Wengrow’s book The Dawn of Everything: ”Unfreezing the Ice Age”, and we investigate the authors’ claims that human inequality has no origins based on archeology from upper paleolithic europe.    In doing so we also look at the difference between dominance hierarchy and democratic hierarchy, and what the necessary criteria are in order to establish a a dominance hierarchy.   We also discover that Graeber & Wengrow actually have no arguments for why human inequality supposedly has no origins! all music by *69 *PLEASE* SHARE AND LET PEOPLE (ESPECIALLY MATT CHRISTMAN) KNOW ABOUT THIS SERIES!! TRANSCRIPT BIBLIOGRAPHY YOUTUBE CHANNEL (live action! graphics!) RSS FEED PATREON tweeter: @worbsintowords https://archive.org/download/10.3-smurfs/10.3%20-%20SMURFS.mp3