PANDEMICS – FROM ANCIENT TIMES TO COVID19. SOME THOUGHTS

Abstract

Since the dawn of civilization, there have been epidemics and pandemics. They are, in reality, an unintended
consequence of civilization. Prehistoric societies (our ancestors), surely have been affected by diseases, but
they had few opportunities to exchange germs outside their own culture since the earliest humans lived in
small isolated bands. The condition shifted drastically when, about 10,000 years ago, the agricultural revolution
replaced a nomadic, hunting-gathering society, with a sedentary lifestyle. Here we present our views on
the causes of pandemics, the human and natural causal factors, review some hallmarks of regional / global
diseases from history, while in outbursts we recall the theory of complexity from the non-linear human cultural
evolution.