The Dawn of Everything

David Wengrow, co-author with the late David Graeber of “The Dawn of Everything,” presents archaeological and anthropological evidence that overturns the standard story of human social evolution. The familiar narrative—that we progressed inevitably from egalitarian hunter-gatherers to hierarchical agricultural societies to modern states—turns out to be largely fiction. In reality, human societies have experimented with an extraordinary diversity of political forms, from urban centers without centralized authority to seasonal shifts between egalitarian and hierarchical organization, demonstrating far more creativity and conscious choice than we’ve credited them with.

Wengrow’s talk reveals how the “just-so story” of human progress from simple equality to complex inequality has shaped everything from political ideology to our sense of what’s possible. If hierarchy and inequality are natural evolutionary outcomes, resistance seems futile; if they’re historical choices, alternatives become imaginable. Drawing on evidence from Mesopotamia to the Americas, Wengrow shows how past societies deliberately organized themselves in ways that prevented the concentration of power, suggesting that our ancestors thought deeply about political philosophy and acted on their ideas.

The implications extend far beyond academic history to contemporary debates about inequality, governance, and human nature. If we’ve spent most of our species’ existence experimenting with different forms of social organization, many of which avoided permanent hierarchy, then our current arrangements are not inevitable but contingent. For anyone interested in political possibility, social justice, or simply understanding the human story more accurately, Wengrow’s talk—though longer than typical TED presentations—offers a paradigm-shifting perspective that restores agency, creativity, and genuine choice to human history.