Even Deep History is Not That Far Away

The Dunbar Number is 150. It is an estimate of the number of people one might have in a social circle.

If we go back 150 lifetimes - assuming 40 year life expectancies - we go back 6,000 years, which takes us to around 4000 BC.

4000 BC corresponds roughly to the early Bronze Age, a time when human societies were increasingly using metalworking, developing urban centers, and establishing complex social structures in various parts of the world.

How far back is that?

Well, Mesopotamia was just in the Copper Age, leading into the Early Bronze Age. Mesopotamia, particularly in the region of modern-day Iraq, was seeing the rise of complex societies. These groups would eventually develop into the Sumerian civilization, one of the world's first known civilizations, which arose in the later parts of the 4th millennium BCE. No dynasties had yet emerged in what would become ancient Egypt, China, or the Indus Valley.

The people you know represent enough lifetimes to take us back to pre-history.

What do I take from that? Even deep history is not that far away - fewer generations than the number of people we know.