Figures
4.1Two worker ants of the species Temnothorax albipennis performing a tandem run, image courtesy of Thomas O’Shea-Wheller, 2016
4.2Meerkat (suricata suricatta) digging in the Kalahari Desert, photo © Tim Jackson/Getty Images
4.3People raise their hands to vote during the annual Landsgemeinde meeting at a square in the town of Appenzell, April 29, 2012. Appenzell is one of Switzerland’s two remaining Landsgemeinden, a 700-year tradition of an open-air assembly in which citizens can take key political decisions directly by raising their hands, photo Christian Hartmann/Reuters/NTB ©
4.4Olive Baboons crossing Uaso Nyiro River in Kenya, photo Don Farrall/Getty Images ©
4.5The honeybee waggle dance. The direction the bee moves informs others about where the site is. The duration of each dance informs about the distance to the site, photo Paul Starosta/Getty Images ©
4.6Hackathon in Berkeley, California in 2018. Students work at Cal Hacks 5.0, the largest collegiate hackathon, in Berkeley, CA, November 3, 2018, photo Max Whittaker/The New York Times/NTB
4.7Cow moose defends her newly born calf from the Grant Creek wolf pack while surrounded in a tundra pond in Denali National Park, Alaska, photo Patrick J. Endres/Getty Images ©
4.8African Elephant herd walking on marshy area of Amboseli National park, Kenya. The oldest female is the leader of the herd, photo Manoj Shah/Getty Images ©
4.9Starlings move as one giant organism to synchronize their defence against predators, Kent, United Kingdom, photo Sandra Standbridge/Getty Images ©
4.10Bronze whaler shark swimming through a giant ball of sardines, waiting to feed on them. Off the East coast of South Africa, photo wildestanimal/Getty Images ©
5.1The Venus of Willendorf. This is an 11-centimetre Venus figurine estimated to have been made around 25,000 years ago. It was found in Austria and is carved from a limestone that is not local to the area, photo Dorling Kindersley/Getty Images ©
5.2The kleroterion, the Greek lottery machine. These machines were primarily used to select jurors in Athens. Each court had machines placed in front of the entrance. The model of this kleroterion has 11 columns and was probably not used in the courts, but in the Council. There were 12 tribes in the third century BC and the kleroterion could then be used to select committee members representing all tribes except the one holding the presidency, photo Gianni Dagli Orti/REX/Shutterstock editorial/NTB ©
5.3The Chigi vase from seventh century BC showing hoplites going to battle, photo Francesco Bino, image courtesy of The National Etruscan Museum ©
5.4Ostraka, shards of pottery used as a voting ballot. The name of Themistocles, son of Neocles, are written on the shards of pottery. He was banned from Athens through ostracism in 470 BC, Agora Museum, Athens, Greece, photo Akg-images/NTB ©
5.5The Pnyx hill in Athens where the Assembly had its meetings, photo Miguel Sotomayor/Getty Images ©
6.1Leafcutter ants following the same trail when carrying leaves back to the nest, photo Ricardo Riechelmann/EyeEm/Getty Images ©
6.2Cathedral termite mounds near Adelaide River, Northern Territory, Australia. The termite mound structures are approximately 100 years old and can stand up to seven meters in height. The mounds are made with a combination of soil, mud, chewed wood, and saliva. The life of the termite is a constant race against rain because a heavy downpour can ruin part of the mounds. Therefore, the termites will always be rebuilding their mounds, photo Yvonne van der Horst/Getty Images ©
6.3Potter wasp building mud nest, São Paulo, Brazil, photo Kassá/Getty Images ©
6.4Two hornets building a nest together by making hexagonal cells, Mana, HI, United States, photo Craig Damlo/Getty images ©
6.5Cheetahs scent marking their territory together, Masai Mara in Kenya, photo Mike Powles/Getty images ©
7.1Inscribed clay tablet from third millennium BC. Proto-Cuneiform clay tablet with seal impressions: administrative account of barley distribution with cylinder seal impression of a male figure, hunting dogs, and boars ca. 3100–2900 BC. Sumerian, Mesopotamia, probably from Uruk (modern Warka), photo Raymond and Beverly Sackler Gift, 1988/The Metropolitan Museum of Art
7.2Egyptian scribes managing granaries when reaping the corn. The scribes record quantities of harvest wheat, probably for tax purposes. Tomb of Menna. Detail from the frescoes in the vestibule, XVIII dynasty of Amenhotep III in Luxor. Original ca. 1400–1352 BC, photo Z. Radovan/Bible Land Pictures/AKG/NTB
7.3The Printer’s Workshop, 1568. One of 133 woodcut book illustrations, showing the interior of a printing press. In the foreground, two men working at the press, the right man applying ink onto the letterpress matrix, the left man taking off a freshly printed sheet. In the background, two men seated in front of type drawers, holding a composition stick. In the foreground, two piles of printed and blank sheets of paper. Credit: From Panoplia by Hartmann Schopper. (Frankfurt-am-Main, 1568), Photo © The Trustees of the British Museum
7.4Martin Luther’s translation of the New Testament, 1524. Luther’s first translation of the New Testament arrived in September 1522. This 1524 edition was printed by Melchior Lotter in Wittenberg, Germany. Its most stunning distinction is the 44 woodcuts made by Georg Lemberger in what is known as Fürstenkolorit. In this type of illumination, the woodcuts are colored and heightened with gold, suggesting this Bible was created for an aristocrat. Luther downplayed the importance of priests, arguing that the divine text was straightforward enough for everyone to read and understand, Image Courtesy Museum of the Bible Collection. All rights reserved. © Museum of the Bible, 2021
7.5Book frontispiece from 1679. Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1605–1689). Tavernier was a seventeenth-century French gem merchant and traveler. In 1675, he published Les Six Voyages de Jean-Baptiste Tavernier from his six voyages to Persia and India between the years 1630 and 1668. Credit: State Library Victoria, Australia
7.6Printed illustrations in John Gerard’s Herbal History of Plants from 1633. This is the most famous English herbal, first published in 1597. Credit: Gerard, J., Davyes, R., Johnson, T., Priest, R., Dodoens, R. & Katherine Golden Bitting Collection on Gastronomy (1633). The herball: or, Generall historie of plantes. London, Printed by Adam Islip, Joice Norton and Richard Whitakers. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, Washington, DC, United States. www.loc.gov/item/44028884/
7.7Theatre of the World, 1570. Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Theatre of the World), is considered to be the first true modern atlas, written by Abraham Ortelius and originally printed on May 20, 1570, in Antwerp, World Map. Credit: Ortelius, A., Diesth, A. C. & Llwyd, H. (1570) Theatrvm Orbis Terrarvm. Antverpiae: Apud Aegid. Coppenium Diesth. [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, Washington, DC, United States, www.loc.gov/item/98687183/
7.8An overview of human stigmergic evolution through three different phases, author: own work
9.1Smiling baby girl pointing at a unicorn figure, photo Westend61/Getty Images ©
9.2Regular flint handaxe from Boxgrove, West Sussex, England. From the Acheulian period. The typical tool is a general-purpose handaxe. Credit: © The Trustees of the British Museum
14.1A juror identity card or pinakia identifying citizen by names. Clay fragment with Greek inscription, fourth century BC. The identity cards list the name of the juror, his father, and that of his area (demos). When selecting jurors by lot, these plates or “identity tokens” were inserted into the kleroterion, the randomization machine. This fragment is located in the museum of the Ancient Agora, Athens. Photo John Hios/Akg-images/NTB
15.1Printer’s workshop in Antwerp, sixteenth century. Fourth plate from a print series entitled Nova Reperta (New Inventions of Modern Times) consisting of a title page and 19 plates, engraved by Jan Collaert I (ca. 1530–1581), after Jan van der Straet, called Stradanus, and published by Philips Galle around 1600. Illustration of men working at the book mill in Antwerp, Belgium. In the background, a man prepares paper for printing in the press depicted on the right. In a screw press such as that shown, each sheet had to be laid on the type, moved into the press, and pressure applied using the screw. In the center of the foreground, a young boy lays out the newly printed paper for proofreading. On the left, workers set type to be printed. Credit Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1934. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication
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