Introduction -- Modern political philosophy and prehistoric anthropology: some preliminary issues -- The Hobbesian hypothesis: how a colonial prejudice became an essential premise in the most popular justification of government -- John Locke and the Hobbesian hypothesis: how a similar colonial prejudice became an essential premise in the most popular justification of private property rights -- The Hobbesian hypothesis in eighteenth-century political theory -- The Hobbesian hypothesis in nineteenth-century political theory -- The Hobbesian hypothesis in contemporary political theory -- The Hobbesian hypothesis in anthropology -- Nasty and brutish? An empirical assessment of the violence hypothesis -- Are you better off now than you were 12,000 years ago? An empirical assessment of the Hobbesian hypothesis -- Implications.