ABSTRACT
Human societies have always attempted to control the behavior of their members. Even among the most primitive tribes, there exist customs and beliefs which everyone accepts and which typically are adhered to, primarily out of fear of punishment for violating them. These systems of control are more or less informal, embodied in the stocks of knowledge members have about their world and how to act within it. Many of the beliefs and practices of early human beings would appall modern sensibilities, but it must be understood that such primitive practices did not emerge out of thin air. Rather, whatever has been reported or discovered about early human behavior is typically reflective of the environments within which these human groups lived. Virtually all acts taking place within human groups are collective attempts to survive given the limitations of environmental resources and the threats to life and limb, whether real or perceived.
