If the Inca and Aztec Empires were separated from Eurasia for tens of thousands of years, yet developed characteristics strikingly similar to Eurasian polities, can we draw some hard conclusions on universal social, political, cultural, and all aspects of humans?

by spiralsandjeremy

History has very few opportunities for laboratory experiments, but it seems to me that the organization of societies in the Americas is one of the best natural laboratories we have. Separated from Eurasia for tens of thousands of years, American societies evolved in much the same way that Eurasian societies did, developing agriculture, ever more complex social structures, religion, writing, astronomy, abstractions for time, innovations of all sorts, the list goes on and on.

What do you think it says about the universality of human behavior that American societies, isolated from Eurasia for thousands of years, developed in much the same way?

Searocksandtrees

Hi OP, just a quick suggestion that you might consider x-posting this to our sister sub /r/AskAnthropology. Developments in human society, and human migrations (in particular, the timing of migrations to the Americas vis-a-vis cultural developments) are a better fit for anthropologists. There are some anthropologists here, but do x-post for better coverage.