I'm having a little difficulty figuring out just what the crux of the argument is in this thread; it seems to me that the answer lies in the nature of mankind...and what is that nature? Man is a unique animal as animals go; he is first a primate that abandoned an arboreal life for a terrestrial existence. He brought with him stereoscopic color vision and a hand designed for grasping. Somewhere in his terrestrial evolution he became an obligate biped...meaning that his walks on two legs and that is the way he motivates. He is also known as the "Naked Ape"; being almost hairless...a condition, coupled with his bipedal movement that enables him to run down and kill wild animals that are much faster than him, but without his stamina...and to keep cool while doing it.
His arms and shoulders are designed to a couple of things well...throw objects such as rocks and spears, and wield a club. These abilities come in handy for a hunter. He is also unique among primates in that his and her sexual characteristics are exaggerated to one purpose...to make sex pleasurable beyond the need for reproduction...to bind the man and woman to their mutual benefit for survival and long enough to raise their children. This bespeaks a social purpose...living in a tribal setting, families need stability...sex and bonding provide this. Man as an individual is very vulnerable. A million years ago he could not survive as a loner; he is designed physically and mentally as a social animal...he needs someone to guard his back. He could not stand alone against a cave bear, but put 20 or 30 men with spears together and you have a formidable opponent.
Another aspect of his existence is his speech. Why would an animal need speech? Mankind as a complex social animal...as opposed to a loner...developed speech as a survival tool ...speech is a valuable communication tool for individuals who have evolved to exist and function in a tribal setting.
Let's look at man's hands. They are uniquely articulate...designed...you guessed it...for making and shaping objects; way beyond what it takes to get a pomegranate to his mouth. In a social setting, this unique hand is used to shape...invent...objects for hunting, cooking, etc. etc. The sky's the limit. Another thing...Why does mankind have such a weak jaw and teeth? Because he has evolved eating cooked food and his socialization allowed him to lose the powerful jaws of an ape or Chimpanzee...not to mention evolve an extraordinarily large brain that requires a tremendous amount of energy (provided by eating cooked meat of course). This brain, oddly enough, is blessed with an inordinate curiosity and inventiveness that exists independently of warfare.
So what do we have? A animal that is designed by nature to live in a social setting in order to survive. He walks upright, is nearly hairless and hunts animals for food, which he cooks, creates and uses tools and weapons, is very sexy, bonds to his mate, communicates fluently to other members of his tribe, who he also depends on for his existence. Oh, did I mention that he is territorial? He tends to defend his territory and even take over the territory of weaker tribes...his hunting and toolmaking skills come in very handy in the case of tribal warfare...which probably happened frequently. They did stop to interbreed occasionally tough.
Ah, religion. There seems to be a mounting body of evidence that says that mankind began to gather and live in one place because that place had a religious significance...the beginning of cities, a sedentary horticultural and farming existence...domestication of grains, animals and the birth of the plow and draft animal...agricultural if you will. Of course, it is always easier sometimes to raid the neighbor's grain bins and carry them home if you are of sufficient strength, or even absorb your neighbor.
Bottom line...mankind is a product of millions of years of evolution, and we are still the basic physiological animal that we were a million years ago. Our cultural advances have dressed us up in a Brooks Brother's suit, but we still have the skills and instincts of a hunter in animal skins running down a gazelle on the plains of Africa. Man's potential is only limited by his culture, his intellect and the physical universe. Oh, BTW, this is all my personal observation and conclusions, so don't cite any of this on an Anthropology exam.
