But at what moment did the consciousness of existing as a species appear? No doubt along with tools, fire, co-ordinated hunting, replies Marcel Otte. Other artefacts maybe – certainly – signal the appearance of what constitutes the human spirit – dances maybe – but they have not come down to us. The tools, for their part, have done. These tools were not fashioned by chance.  They result from a certain learning, thus a cultural act. Because carving a river stone in such a way presupposes that one knows why one is doing it, that the use of this tool has been anticipated: ‘these worked on stones explicitly convey the determination of a species not to be restricted to the anatomical place biology has assigned to it in terms of the power relationships in nature.’ And Marcel Otte continues: ‘It still remains that this adventure only became possible because, taking over from natural selection – or outstripping it –, certain species introduced a new criteria, depending both on the quantity of the usable grey matter and the ways of putting it to use, privileging shrewdness, anticipation, the co-ordinated behaviour of a group and, along with that, empathy between individuals.’

Spirituality as a motor

The question which thus arises, very logically, is whether or not it is spirituality (the author uses the term in its widest sense, ‘that which has to do with spirit’) which is the motor of evolution. For Marcel Otte, the response is clear. Leaving the forests, eating meat, supporting one another, these things are not done by chance, and such acts and behaviour needed to be thought through: ‘in other words, the only function which ‘determines’ us is ourselves. The perpetual quest, kindled by dreams, desires, thinking, is at the root of our destiny.’ Marcel Otte thus paints a broad panorama, that of our history, made from challenges overcome to challenges overcome, without ever establishing an hierarchy between them. Going to the Moon is certainly no less of an act than leaving the forests, the two feats are of the same nature; the technological warfare of today is the first hunt eternally begun again. 

But in that case, what of the field of the science of prehistory? We won’t be surprised to read that whilst the author acknowledges that it has given rise to various interpretations based on incontestable facts (bones, tools, paintings, etc.) allowing carving techniques, hunting methods, migrations, etc. to be explained, it has, to his mind, missed the essential: not touching on the foundations of evolution, not looking for the meaning of all these observations, these facts: ‘it seems to be not only legitimate but morally indispensable,’ explains Marcel Otte, ‘to look for the causes beyond every phenomenon observed.’ And if the author sets his discipline this urgency, it is maybe because he is worried. His fresco finishes in the future, which he does not necessarily foresee being a bright one. If we lose this spiritual impetus which led our ancestors to leave the tropical forests, would that not mean the programmed end of the human adventure? ‘From tool to myth, every human adventure is contained in this struggle, carried out essentially by the spirit in a state of perpetual dissatisfaction.’ Should this collectively shared ideal one day be lacking humanity will be heading for its fall because it would have lost the meaning of its nature. A lot more certainly than because of a nuclear explosion or virus attacks.