Nietzsche 2 - Sudden Occurence or Gradual

I found the passage on page 84 and 85 very interesting. At first, I thought that Nietzsche was trying to go against Darwin. Instead of supporting gradual adaptation in response to a change in environment, it seemed like Nietzsche was supporting a sudden, instantaneous change. But then again, it seems sudden to the individual; the change seems sudden because records of the first civilization appear quite suddenly and out of the blue.

BUT. For some reason I was reminded of this article that I'd read a while ago - Now, as opposed to when Nietzsche wrote these essays, there is research and archaeological findings on Lucy, a preserved Stone Age human. Lucy was found to have a bone disease that advanced slowly and gradually over time and induced a lot of pain and suffering.

However, Lucy lived with this disease for an extremely extended period of time, which went against the idea that humans during this time period were isolationist and didn't really associate with one another. Scientists concluded that Lucy must have been cared for by another human in order for her to live as long as she did with such a disease.

So, perhaps Nietzsche is wrong. Perhaps, as Lucy demonstrates, the beginnings of society started sooner than he thought and advanced more gradually.