It's probably one of the best things humanity ever came up with (good luck making money being a writer in the the pre copyright days...).
Yes it existed, at a massively smaller scale.
> Like you need a monetary incentive to get a human to do anything.
So we agree? Or was that a question? Because the answer is yes. Without copyright it was almost impossible (and still largely is) for any creator to make a living without being independently wealthy/being funded by a third party.
If you're fine living in a world with almost no books (especially no fiction) and approximately zero non ultra low cost TV/movies (unless you count ads which would effectively become the only way of funding anything substantial..) etc. than sure maybe copyright is not really necessary.