Large nation states as a form of organizing a society are a fairly recent phenomenon.

A “stateless” society doesn’t usually mean that there is a singular wide-spread power vacuum that is ripe for state takeover. Rather it means that there is a patchwork of varying levels of organisation grade with maybe some city states more akin to modern day social democracies or widely other forms of organisation. The vital distinction being that it is much easier to vote with your feet and that they are united in their wish to not be dominated by a nation state. So called democratic confederalism is one of the better known variants of this idea, and this has also been the dominant form of society during most of human history.