BIBLICAL fundamentalists are unlikely to be either persuaded or
bothered by the series Andrew Marr's History of the World
(BBC1, Sunday of last week), because they would probably have
guessed in advance that he chose starting points other than the
first chapters of Genesis. For the rest of us, however, this is a
way of rounding off Sunday evening which, on the evidence of its
first two episodes, can well be accommodated into our pattern of
Lord's Day observance.
There is, in fact, more conver-gence than might initially be
suspected: Homo sapiens's aboriginal home on the African
savannah may well be echoed in the deep memory of the Land of Eden;
and the long millennia of hunter-gatherer existence can be equated
with the idea of finding our sustenance from nature, before that
most fundamental of all human revolutions, the invention of
agriculture.
Discovering a way of ensuring next year's food supply by not
eating all this year's seeds but planting the best of them had
enormous consequences: for the first time, humans had to settle in
one place rather than move around as soon as the food was
exhausted.
But hunter-gathering, despite its high mortality rate, might
perversely be a healthier lifestyle than settled farming; and farm
animals are the source of most human diseases. Genetic research
suggests that every non-African human on the planet descends from
one single female, from the one tribe that migrated from Africa to
Arabia - a kind of Eve, if you like. And there are legends
worldwide of a great flood in about 2000 BC.
Much of the series consists of dramatic reconstruction - a
Neanderthal is hunted to death by usurping Homo sapiens;
an ancient Egyptian village puts its errant youth on trial; a
Minoan priestess sacrifices a young man. Although put together with
historical expertise, these scenes still teeter on the edge of
parody.
But you can let them pass, because the sweep of Marr's narrative
is compelling. He offers some surprising theses: as important as
the evolution of any stone weapon was the invention of the needle;
for the ability to sew clothes enabled us to survive a wider range
of climates than any other species. Religion is given appropriate
attention: in the second episode, Judaic monotheism, the teaching
of the Buddha, and Confucius were all presented as central to the
human story.
Another, more recent evolutionary leap forward was chronicled in
Room at the Top (BBC4, Wednesday and Thursday of last
week). Here we saw the post-war transformation of British society
played out in a northern town, the upheaval of the Second World
War's ensuring that things were never the same again. The old order
of class and hierarchy was dismantled, and the exposure to horror
and violence made people aware of their visceral nature; so sex
took centre-stage in a new way.
The real breakthrough, though, is the hero's unpleasantness. He
is a new predatory species, dissatisfied with his lot and
determined to better himself. John Braine's novel was brilliantly
realised, the odd solecism in dialogue overtaken by searing
performances. This Brave New World seemed a tawdry, tragic
development - but inevitable.