Thanks Victor. But remember, I'm just another guy, so even if what I say seems insightful, don't accept it as truth before thinking it through yourself.
So I say fear evolved before intellect because a) I believe we evolved from 'simpler' primates and b) while they do display some intellect, observing their actions and reactions shows that they're ruled most often by instincts, such as "fight, flight or freeze", which is fear. So I think it's reasonable to believe that because those primates display more instinct than intellect, we also once had more instinct than intellect. And we still do, though we constantly tell ourselves otherwise.
And yes, I do believe fear, and other emotions and instincts, do keep evolving. Our fears once served the purpose of protecting us from real harm, but now, where harm is less immediate, our fears are often imagined, yet we have the same instinctive reactions to those fears. It's a gradual change in response to our changing environment.
As for whether our ancestors experienced (that's what you meant, right?) things before judging them as dangerous, I don't know. But from what I've heard and read and reasoned, if our ancestors rushed into any dangerous situation without fear, then they'd probably die. And even if they did possess enough intellect to assess how dangerous a certain situation was before moving forward, they'd have to have some reason for doing so first. So either they observed someone else get hurt and learned fear (in which case they already possessed fear, but learned to apply it to a new situation), or they already possessed enough fear of everything unknown.
Your last question is a good one. I imagine a caveman would be full of fear, but if he were used to a jungle environment he wouldn't fear it that much because he's proven to himself that he can survive its dangers.
But most people from our time wouldn't be familiar with a jungle environment, so they'd be full of fear too. But that's not a fair comparison.
If both caveman and average modern human are unfamiliar with jungles, then I'd guess both would experience the same degree of fear. But a caveman would probably adjust to the environment faster, and therefore become less fearful faster than the human who'd be used to all the comforts we take for granted.
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