We got scared

Originally Posted by tater

Murder was FAR more common in early human history than now. An insanely high homicide rate per year is now on the order of 0.03% per year.

For an average life span of ~35 years (spitball estimate for average human lifespan since we became Homo sapiens. It's probably high, lol.) that's around a 1% chance to death by homicide. Studies of paleolithic cultures that were extant into the 20th century showed that their lifetime death rate to homicide was 20-30%.

True but then banishment, blood feuds and weregild's became the cost of murder as neolithic hunter-gatherers created early static societies and the first agriculture based communities. Placing a social cost on murder facilitated the order and stability that farming needed to thrive. God need not apply; community self-interest demanded that anti-social action was met with some sort of community sponsored sanction.