This is the same temporal discounting dynamic that characterizes human decision-making in modern contexts involving addictive substances.

The capacity for habit and addiction.

Whether or not the clinical definition of addiction applies, the sustained habitual use despite harm is a form of behavioral pattern that reflects specific cognitive and motivational dynamics.

None of these inferences is surprising given what we know about Late Pleistocene modern humans.

They were fully cognitively modern — capable of art, symbolic thought, and sophisticated tool-making.

But each data point that fills in the picture of their daily life and behavioral repertoire contributes to a richer understanding of who they were.