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What if Our Ancestors Didn’t Feel Anything Like We Do? - The Atlantic

theatlantic.com · 6,107 words · saved by 1 readers

The historian rob boddice sat cross-legged on his couch in Montreal on a frigid day last winter and conjured for me the image of a medieval carpenter, hammering away in his workshop. “Imagine this guy; he’s building a table,” he said. Suddenly the carpenter misses the nail and bangs his thumb instead. “What did that feel like for him?” Boddice asked. I stared for a few seconds while Boddice smiled encouragingly, as if he’d just asked me to solve a quadratic equation in my head. “I guess it probably stung, and then his thumb throbbed?” I ventured, remembering actually banging my own thumb a few weeks back while assembling an IKEA desk. Boddice nodded, then said, “Let me ask you again. What did it feel like for him?” Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read. Boddice is an energetic 48-year-old academic who has stormed the field of the history of emotions and senses, a specialized branch that has grown significantly over the past two decades even as most others (suc

Listen − 1.0 x + Seek 0:00 33:32 Updated at 8:17 p.m. ET on December 15, 2025 This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here. T he historian Rob Boddice sat cross-legged on his couch in Montreal on a frigid day last winter and conjured for me the image of a medieval carpenter, hammering away in his workshop. “Imagine this guy; he’s building a table,” he said. Suddenly the carpenter misses the nail and bangs his thumb instead. “What did that feel like for him?” Boddice asked. I stared for a few seconds while Boddice smiled encouragingly, as if he’d just

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