History & Area Studies / World History / Ancient & Medieval History

The Prehistoric Collapse That Forged the Ego: How We Became 'Me'

Imagine a society that spent centuries building massive stone monuments, not for kings, but for the collective—where individual identity was literally ground into dust. Then, in the blink of an eye, it all vanished. This video dives into the archaeological evidence from the Iberian Peninsula, exploring the shocking transition between the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. We uncover how a hyper-communal civilization collapsed under its own weight, and how from its ashes, a new world was born—one obsessed with individual power, bronze weapons, and the glorification of the self. Based on the research compiled in 'Between the 3rd and 2nd Millennia BC: Exploring Cultural Diversity and Change in Late Prehistoric Communities' (edited by Susana Soares Lopes and Sérgio Alexandre Gomes), this is the story of how we became 'me.'