Scott Alexander presents evidence against the existence of advanced Ice Age civilizations, particularly those rivaling ancient Egypt or 1700s Great Britain. Longer summary

Scott Alexander argues against the existence of advanced Ice Age civilizations, categorizing potential claims into three levels of advancement: Stonehenge-like, Egyptian-like, and 1700s Great Britain-like. He presents three main arguments: the lack of archaeological sites that would survive sea level rise, the absence of evidence for early crop and livestock domestication, and the lack of elevated lead levels in ice cores and human bones from that period. While he doesn't completely rule out Stonehenge-level civilizations, he finds strong evidence against more advanced societies. The post concludes with probability estimates for future discoveries of pre-11,000 BC structures at different levels of sophistication. Shorter summary

A critical review of 'The Dawn of Everything' by Graeber and Wengrow, examining their challenge to standard prehistory narratives and proposing an alternative hypothesis. Longer summary

This book review of 'The Dawn of Everything' by David Graeber and David Wengrow critically examines the authors' attempt to challenge standard narratives of human prehistory. The reviewer praises the book's wealth of archaeological evidence but criticizes its political bias. The review explores the book's key arguments about the diversity of prehistoric societies, the non-revolutionary nature of agriculture, and the 'indigenous critique' of Western civilization. It also discusses the book's treatment of the 'Sapient Paradox' and proposes an alternative hypothesis about prehistoric social organization based on 'raw social power'. The review concludes by drawing parallels between this prehistoric 'Gossip Trap' and modern social media dynamics. Shorter summary