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Full text of "Tree of culture"

 

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

 

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGY

 

CENTRAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL

LIBRARY

 

 

THE Tree of Culture

RALPH LINTON

 

 

PREFACE

 

 

Dr. Rai devoted four yeori of the -spjtre time salvaged from a

 

busy life in the writing of this bonk. However, the concepts were

evolved and the data accumuktcd during forty years of WTirk in the

varied fields nf atUbrnjjologyj archeolog)', ethnology, and studies in

anthropolngiciil tlwnry and personality and culture- This book is an at¬

tempt to ^nthcslze the esperienco, the reading and thinking of a life¬

time into one volume which traces the iwokition ol culture from its

multiple beginnings at the sub-human level through its divergent lines

of developtneiit. The purpose of the h(X>k was to make a factual presen¬

tation of the most significant data now available. This was a project

which required not only broad knowledge but considerable temerity.

Anthropological data has licen accumitlatiiig with such amazing speed

in recent v^ars that few scientists venture to deal with the inaternd

except as specialists in particular areas or periods. However. Ur. Linton

felt that the vast body of information which is available should make

possible differentiation of the main divergent lines of eiiittiral develop¬

ment and the as-signment of culture elements to their points of origin.

This could he aec<)mplLsbed only by a wide nvet-all presen tatian, which

precludes definitive treatment of the many eras and areas covered. Dr.

Linton felt that It w'3s important to iisscmblc this material in compact

ami intelligible order.

 

Tlie title of the Itook refers, rmt to the familiar cvolntioniuy tree

w'ith a single trunk and spreading branches, but to the banyan tree of

the tropics. The branches of the IjanyBii tree cross and fuse and send

dnwti adventitious, aerial roots which turn into supporting trunks. Al¬

though the banyan tree spread-s *md grows until it becomes a miniature

jungle, it retnains a single plant and its various branches are traceable

to the parent trunk. So cultural evolutiim, in spile of diffusion and bor¬

rowing and divergent development, can be traced to its prehistoric

origins.

 

The first half of the hook deals with tha general development of

culture: the change From food-gathering to food-raising and the other

discoveries and inventions w hich have given man constantly improving

control over his cnvininmeiit. Another consistent trend has been the

 

 

 

Preface

 

tribal orgnntzation <jf Ifwal groups sharing a conimun fungilagc Eiod

culture. There has also been a teadency toward iticreaiiing large so-

cial aggregates formed through the domination of one group over

another (empirEis) or through voluntary association of originally inde¬

pendent groups (confederacies). These have everywhere resulted in

Increased efficiency in maintaining order and coordinating effort. City

living h:is been an outgrtmlh of these patterns, although the city

emerged so late in human history that onr species is still not perfectly

adjusted to this phenomenon-

 

Tlicse common directional trends correspond to (he first growth of

the banyan bee svhen it sends forth bunl: and branches from its original

roots. The second half of the book deals with tlie growth of cKilizations,

and the com|>nrison here 1.s with the branches which send down roots

which find favorable groimrl and turn into sturdy independent trunks.

 

.411 cultures grow irregularly. They have iX'rtain foci of interest

which have induced them to develop to a high degree those elements

which seem imjjortant to tliem and to lag behind in the development

of others or to reject them completely. In blowing from other cultures,

which is one of the most important processes of ctifhirc growtli, they

select only those elements which fit into their interest patterns. .411 the

great civilizations of the world have developed along .such specialized

lines, elahorating and integrating the processes in which their interest

centered. This trait has served to increase the richness and variety of

world culture, for the successful achievements of one civilization are

sooner or later taken over by others.

 

The Chinese, from the first, have had a practical interest in govern¬

ment and very early evolved a system for the control of large populations

in both city and niml areas. Their govcminent has endured for a longer

continuous period than that of any other civilization and has contributed

many patterns to the political systems of otlier countries. Indians primary

contribution has been in the Gelds of religion and philosophy, but the

Indians have exhibited a decided cultural lag in technology. Oishar-

monic development in cultures is prevented from going too far by the

fact that eventually the disharmony will produce conditions which prove

too hampering for essenbaJ processes of the culture, making adjustments

imperative. .4 case in point j$ the American preoccupation ivtth tech¬

nology and our lack of interest in socfiil and political clionge, which has

created a situation in which our itistitulions and distribution system

have failed to keep up with technological advances.

 

The area in which evolutionary developmetit is least clearly recog¬

nizable is that involving the satisfaction of the psychological needs of

individuab. The most urgent of these needs is for favorable response

from other members of society, but since this is usually expressed

 

 

Preface [vii

 

through svTiboUc beha\ior^ its expression may assume a great VTiHetj of

forms, any one of which is satisfying to those who have been taught to

value it- Keeds for soinc sort of aesthetic expression and for eseaj^es

from realitj^ also seem universal, and each of the various cultural lines

has <lcveloped its own solutions and Im set its own goals.

 

The deveInpTnent of techniques for adjusting individuab to their

social and cultural cuvirunineut also faib to show any geueral evolu¬

tionary trend^ Apparently llie attention of societies has not been con¬

sciously directed toward the shaping of individual personalities, per¬

haps because knowledge of the factors involved and the techniques

required ore even now $o incompletCH Most significant of all, in view of

the present w'orld situation, is the fact that no society so far has de¬

veloped adequate tcchitiques for adjusting the individual for life in a

rapidly changing cultural milieu.

 

This book is not liistoty in the usual sense. In an agriciiltural .so¬

ciety (and most societies were agricultural until a kw hundred years

ago^ and a large proportion of them still are)+ tlie invention of a new

t)^pe of plow is of much more importance than a victory on the battle¬

field. To a hbtoriiin it may seem strange tliat more space is allotted to

the Australian aborigines dian to die Roman Empire, but to the anthro¬

pologist the Australians represent a laboratory where one can see the

operation of many elements of culture w^hieh otherwise can be surmised

only from archeological findings. However, the reUgioiv the social or¬

ganization, the focus of interest of culture do affect the live$ of all the

people in the society, and an attempt has been made to show' how such

elements and processes grow and what has determined the charucterb-

ties of die great cmlizatioiis of the w orld.

 

The Tree af Ctiliure was neariug completion when Dr^ Lin¬

ton died on Uccember 24, 1953. In 1948 a grant from die W^enner-Gren

Foundation for Anthropological Research made possible the traiiscrip-

iiou of the lecture course on which the book is based. Aldmugh Dr;

Linton himself made use of these transcripts only as a guide and outline,

thev have proved invaluable for the completion of the book, wliich t

have undertaken, but which would have been impossible witliout these

manuscripts. That this is not the book it might have been had Or. Linton

been given time to complete and i^dit it himself is undeniable, t tuive

done my best to make it as nearly as possible what he had planned and

hoped to make iL

 

1 am grateful for the valuable advice and help which Dr. Linton's

friends have generously given me. J especially wish to thank LeRoy and

Nfartha Davidson, Mehille Herskovits, Floyd Loimsbury\ Sidney Mint?,

George P. Murdock, Inking Rouse, Halph Tnmert and Kfartin Vang. A

special note of thanks is due to WiU Huntington, not only for doing the

 

 

 

 

VI ti] Preface

 

excellent drawings in this book, but for his undcrrstanding coopeTHtion

with Dr* Linton. Cbire Vemick, to whom Dr. Linton dictated most of

this book and w'ho had worked w'lth him on it since its inception^ has

also been of inestimable help, and I am gratefu) to Yale University for

making it possible for me to retain her serv'tces for ihe completion of

this volume.

 

 

Aimjx Lixto?/

 

Kcto Hacfn, Cannecticvt

June, I3S4

 

 

Contents

 

 

part ONE: W THE BECISKING

 

 

V On ihe Way to ilomo Sapiens 3

 

U. Tlie PJeistrtctJiie Age 12

 

part TWO: £V^OLt 7 'iO*VARl‘ Pfl(?C£SS£S

 

ZII. Race SI

 

1V> Society, Culhire, and the IndRidual 29

 

V. Processes of Culture Change ,^1

 

VI. Cultural Evolutaun 49

 

PART THREE: BASiC /jVV£.\T/ONS

 

VII, Fire and Tools 63

 

VIII. Doinestication of Plants and Animats S6

 

IX. Metallurgy, ^Vriting, and Techuotugical Inventions 103

 

X. Cities and States 118

 

PART FOUR: HUSTEBS AjVO FOOD^GATHEREES

 

XI. Paleolithic Cultures 133

 

Xll. Historic Hunters and Fond-Cathcrers 150

 

PART FIVE: SOUTi/EAST ASIATIC COMPLEX

 

XIII. Southeast Asiatic Neolithic 173

 

XIV. Oceania and Madagascar 1S3

 

X\\ Southeast Asiatic Post-Neolithic 207

 

PART SIX: SOUTHU'EST ASM AND EVROPE

 

X\T. Southwest Asiatic Neolithic 445

 

X\TI. Diffusion of the Southwest Asiatic Complex 235

 

XVIll. European Neolithic 241

 

 

jJ Contents

 

XIX. Aryans and TurkoTatars 257

 

XX. Semites 2&

 

XXJ. ^teso{H>ta^1ia 294

 

XXll. Near East and Mediterranean 313

 

PART SEVEN: AfED/TEfliifWEAN COMPLEX

 

XXIIL Crete 3*3

 

XXIV. Greece 339

 

XXV. Barbarians 353

 

XXV'I. The Roman Peninsula 3^

 

• XX^TI. Islam 37S

 

PART EIGHT: AEBiCA

 

XX\in. Prehistor>' 393

 

XXLX. Egypt 400

 

XXX. Historic African Peoples 4*5

 

XXXI. African Civili7.atians 443

 

part NINE: THE ORIENT

 

XXXIL Prehistoric India 4®7

 

XXXIII. Early Historic India 4^6

 

XXXIV. Buddhism 499

 

XXXV. Pre-Colonial India 5®7

 

XXXVI. Prehistoric China 520

 

XXXVII. Early Historic China 53®

 

XXXVIH. Late Dynastic China SS7

 

XXXIX. Japan S73

 

PART TEN: THE NEW WORLD

 

XL. Nortli American Aborigines 59^

 

XLl. High Cultures of the South 634

 

CONCLUSION 66i

 

BiBLiocRAPrnr 675

 

Index follows p. Cga

 

 

Illmtrations

 

{by will Huntington]

 

 

VVerf Ajricon Ceremonial Mask

 

frontispiece

 

Sub-Human Family

 

6

 

Broniosaunts

 

>4

 

The Iae§icient Gun

 

43

 

Irish Elk

 

51

 

South Sea Satitxs with Jeep

 

56

 

Metate

 

57

 

Eolith; Flint Strike-a-iight with Nodule of Pyrite

 

64

 

Fire Satii

 

65

 

Fire Drill

 

GG

 

Fire Plow

 

67

 

Shaping a Pole

 

68

 

Tree Cutting

 

69

 

Weighted Digging Stick; Wooden Hoe

 

7 »

 

Australian Aborigines Acquiring Raw Materiah

 

73

 

Hammer Stone C^it^ing

 

74

 

Pressure Flaking

 

75

 

Kf///ng Birds with tlte Bolas

 

77

 

Spear Thrower { Ailatl)

 

79

 

Composite Bow {Wood and Horn)

 

So

 

Composite Bow {Wood and Rawhide)

 

3 i

 

Cuinea Trap

 

83

 

Soay Sheep

 

89

 

Open Stone Mold

 

104

 

Double Piston Bellows

 

108

 

Crook Ard

 

115

 

Neolithic Loom

 

116

 

Cace Painting

 

13S

 

Neolilhk Art. Spain

 

141

 

Female Figurines, Aurignaoian

 

14a

 

 

 

xii]

 

 

lUmtrsiiom

 

 

and Stone Flake Sickle: Bone Arroic Stmightener

Mousterian Point; Mpu^erinn Side Scraper

Chcllean Hand Axu; Clactonian Flake Tool

Lower Aurifnpacian Bririnp' Loiccr Aurignacian End Scraper

Winter Fts/iing

Early Snomshocs

Early

 

Painting, Africa

Australian Costumes

Throiving Club

Bwrncrang

Australian Shields

Dlfalmtnng Spirit^ Arnhcmlaud

Malignant Spirit, Arnhr:inland

Food Bowl, Admiralty Islands

Ftij Whisk Handle, Tahiti

Outrigger Sailing Vessel

Wood Pillow, New Guinea

Bird Man, Easter Island

Stone Tiki, Marquesas

Warrior^ New Britain

Coconut Grater, Marianas

New Guinea Mruks

Bachelor Raiment, New Guinea

Wooden Figure, New Cuinca

U^r Cotip Hawaii

Burmese Temple

 

Hut, Eurofk:an Neolithic

Cooking Pot; Beaker Pofienj

Heavy Plow

 

Mongol Mcfchants in Lhasa

Afongot Warrior irt Quilted Armor

Mongol Prince

Yurt Houses

 

Sword Scabbard from Hallstatt

Minoan Jar

Mfnoan Jar

 

 

1^3

 

M5

 

146

 

147

14S

 

153

 

156

 

15S

 

160

 

161

 

162

 

163

J64

1B6

184

183

 

i86

 

iSS

 

1 S 9

 

^93

 

*95

 

*97

 

*99

 

2jDO

 

212

 

242

 

^54

 

*67

 

269

 

870

 

872

 

3»S

 

324

 

3zS

 

 

Ilhtsirofhm

 

 

[xiit

 

BuU Baiting

 

 

333

 

Cre^k Ship with Furled Sail

 

 

340

 

Chimera of Arezsji

 

 

34 *

 

\fusic Lesson

 

 

345

 

Greek Wftrri£>r

 

 

347

 

Offerings io tite Dead mth Spirits Hovering

 

 

3 »>

 

Visigoths after the Baitte

 

 

355

 

Cauls

 

 

,358

 

Etruscan Daibf Life

 

 

 

Drawing from an Iranian Afarutscfipt, XV Ceninry

 

 

381

 

Lustred Tite^ Kashan

 

 

386

 

Fricst. Carved Wooden Panels Third Dtjnastfj

 

 

4«3

 

pharaoh Mucerinus with Galdess flathor and Gtkldess of fiw

 

 

Jackal Nome

 

 

4“7

 

Nilots and Friend

 

 

43*

 

W^hI/ African Female figure

 

feces p. 43d

 

Mud Housr^ Nigeria

 

 

44 *

 

Godded, tr^us Valtetj, saoo H,e

 

 

473

 

Seated Buddha at Sornaih

 

 

502

 

Sica, Four Armcd^ Tmfcre, X Centime

 

 

5 «

 

Shrine at Yamada^ Province iff Jse, Jaftan

 

 

540

 

Pagoda, Pekir^g

 

 

548

 

Temple of Heaven, Peking

 

 

554

 

Entrance fo Theater^ XVtll Cer^tury

 

 

580

 

Eskimos

 

 

597

 

Bull Head IVor Clubt Iroifuois

 

 

601

 

Stone Pipe, Tenm^e

 

 

603

 

Shell Corget, Tennessee

 

 

two

 

Stone Disc, Mississippi

 

 

607

 

Pottery /tfr* MissMppi

 

 

609

 

Effigy Pipe, Ilopeweil

 

 

610

 

Effigy Pipe, Hopewell

 

 

611

 

Shell Mask, Tentiessee

 

 

613

 

Pottery Jar, Pueblo, Netc Mexico

 

 

617

 

Poiiery BouJ, Hohokam

 

 

61S

 

Painting, Northern Arizema

 

 

eao

 

WarCod^Zuni

 

 

621

 

 

 

xiv]

 

Knchina, ffopf 62^2

 

Poftiery Boivlj Mimbres 625

 

Wooden Rattle, Haula 627

 

loory *ScMjf Catcher* 6^8

 

Pecked Stone Pile Driver, Kicokmfl 629

 

Hand Adze, Kwtdiiutl €130

 

Pcimtc^cl Ma^K Kicokiutl 631

 

Pointed MesK Kwokiutl ^32

 

Porphyry Mask, Maya G35

 

Sculptured Marble Vase, Maya 636

 

Stone Ball Court Marker, Honduras 637

 

Recumbent Anihropomorph, Mexico ^8

 

Aztec Pottery Desigrv 6^0

 

Thtf/M, Cod of Rain, Aztec 640

 

Quetzalcootl, Cod of Learning, Aztec 641

 

Textile Designs, Aztec 642

 

Pottery Design, Chichimec, Prc-Aztec 644

 

Clay Tiger God, Zopoiec 645

 

Mural, Bonnmpak 646

 

Clay Bottle, Nazea 647

 

CoZd Fidfit, Colombia G48

 

Mochtca Jar e4g

 

Painted Clay Bowl 650

 

Gold Tumbler, lea Valley 651

 

CeromonicZ Um, South Coast Peru 652

 

Inca Cup 654

 

Inca Bowl 655

 

Pointed Dish, Inca

 

Inca Wall near Cuzco 657

 

 

Ma^s

 

[by theodobb b. milleb]

 

 

1 . Lost Clacial Age

 

13

 

II. The Beginnings of the Uie of Metals

 

105

 

III, Dispersal of Early Peoples

 

175

 

rv. East Indies

 

209

 

V, Southeast Asia

 

217

 

VI. Central Mediterranean

 

24s

 

VIT. Mongol Migrations during the Middle Ages

 

*73

 

Mil, Europe

 

*77

 

IX. Ancient Near East

 

291

 

X. £flr|jej< Civilizations

 

*97

 

XI. fixpunsion of Islam to igfis

 

383

 

Xll. Central Africa

 

4*7

 

XIII. Clitinci anil Japan

 

571

 

XIV. T/te Neu> World

 

595

 

 

 

 

 

PART ONE

 

 

In the Begin uing

 

 

 

Chapter I

 

 

Oil the Way to Homo Sapiens

 

 

The miMAJiv puqMwe of this book is to set down what we know about

the ongins and gniwth of what the anthropologist tails culture: the mass

of behavior that human beings in any society learn from their elders and

pass on to the younger generation, Howes'cr, before going into this, it is

worthwhile to say a little about the origins and qualities of the animal

rospansible for this curious behavior, Tliis is the more necessary because

tliere Ls, as always, a lag between what the scientist knows and what the

non-scientist believes. The battle between llie anthropologists an<l the

anti-evolutionists, which in any caise was mainly shadow-boxing on the

part of the anti-evolutionists, has long since been fought and won. Out¬

side of a few geographical or intellectual Imck districts, no one questions

toilay that we are descended from some sort of animal. The main prob¬

lems arc what sort of animal, and what line human evolution has fol¬

lowed. We con dispose of one popular misunderstanding immediately.

It is certain that man is not descended from any anthropoid ape now ex¬

tant. These apes ore not our ancestors but are cousins whose line of de¬

scent branched off from our own at least a million years ^go-

 

In the attempt to reconstruct human ancestry we have to rely on the

evidence of a few fossib, eked out by what we know of the processes of

evolution, and by the fairly clear picture which we have of the pattern of

primate development in general. It would be nice if we had more early

human and scmi-hutnnn fossils, but it Is unlikely lliat the supply will

ever be very large. Until very recent times, in fact, until man learned

to raise his own food, he was a comparatively rare species. Our semi-

human ancestors were even rarer since they were not as weU equipped

for exploiting tlicir environment os the Srst true men. Fifty square miles

to support each individual would be a consen-ative estimate even in fa¬

vorable territorv. Morco\'er, fossilization requires special conditions, A

body which lies out iu the Open becomes one more item in the economy

 

$

 

 

Part Ouet In tiie Discinninc

 

 

4 l

 

of [nitiire by way of buzzaki-iLs^ and all sorts of oilier camtin eat-

 

tiTS clovii"ti to tile b[icti'riii thill Cfinstjme the blood and marrow ip die

Ixines, and the rodeots that finally gnaiw tliese liones for tiie gchilin anti

lime in them. If n skeleton ts to he preser^Td, it mo^t he covered up.

Most of the fossils of land animals that wo Iiavo arc the rornains of indi-

Wdnah who w^ere caught in hogs or c|iiicksands or were drowned in riv¬

ers and carried down to still pools where the fumes sank to the bottom

and wnre covered. Even oiir sembhiimnn ancestors presnmahly gol

caught in bogs and quicksands less frequently thon their larger and stu¬

pider animal compaidotSj while primate^ in general show a strong dis¬

inclination for bathing. A comparatively small nmnber of mammalian

fnssib come from cashes, but caves are found in only a few localities and

at the time man svas evolving thej^ tendeel to be occupied by large and

inhospitable eamivore^^

 

111 spite of these difficulties^ a moiferate number of liutnan and sub¬

human fossils have hevu found. Tliere is no point in trying to destTiljc

these in detail, since new find.s are being made every few months; a list

dmwu wp no-vv wmnkl probaldy 1 h* iiicompletc by the time this l>Dok ap-

pciirs. Tlie main significance of these fossils h that they indicate the line

of human devclopinent. They are points alotig an evolutionary trajeC’^

tory, and by sighting from one to another we can extend tliis evolulicm-

ary trajectoT)' from ourselves back into the remote past. When it ccjmes

to extending it from ourselves fons'Eu-d. llic problem becomes more dif¬

ficult. During the last half-million years or so, our species has done most

of its adjustment by using its brains instead of its genes, a switch which

introduces so many new variables into the picture that predictions be¬

come little Ix^ltcr than guesswork.

 

From eveiythiug lliiit we now know, it siH'itls that oiir remote ances¬

tors ^vere nionkeys. Those who are annoyeil by this may take comfort

from the fact tli+it at least die founders of our Famih' line were educated

in the higher branches. They prnbahly were fairly small Ix^asts who

trotted along branches on all fours in the fashion of most modem mon¬

keys and jumped from limb to limb spread-eagled* ready to grab hold

with any one of their four corners. .\ithough they probably had tadSp it

Ci highly unlikely tliat they were able to swing by them* Tail-swinging

Seems to be a special development of the .\ew World monkeys, who are

fitr from I lie human family line. Any time you read a travel book iii

which the author mentinns seeing African or Asiatic monkeys bchiiviog

in that way. you can transfer the volume from Truret tn FictJon.

 

TJic first step in the direction ol man caine when these little beasts

took tn a new method of travel. Instead of [limping from branch to

brunch, they began to swing from one branch to another in ver)' much

the fashion of an athlete on the Hying rii^igs. Tliis brought about impor-

 

 

/. On the Wmj to Homo S(ipi<?ns

 

 

[S

 

 

tiuit chances in structure which really bid the groiindwnrh for most of

the later and more specific features of man's bodily development In

branch-swinging, the l»ody hangs from the aims and is tlius brought into

a quite different position' froni that which it lias in animals tbit travel

 

on all fours, ^ . j i

 

Tliis resulted in a scries of structural adaptations. The body became

 

shorter and more compact so that it could bo swung for long distances

from the anns like a weight on the coil of a string. Thu iielvis took over

llie task of supporting the viscera, which had formerly been held up by

the sling-like abdominal muscles, and became deeper Uiid more bowl-

shuped. 'llie shoulder joints, which had previously had only a moder-

atelv free rotation, ns in modem monkeys, were loosened until tliey de¬

veloped the sort of articidation which makes It possible for man today

to tlirow a baseball. This was a tremendously important development

since, among other things, it extended the range of mans aggression

through the thrown rock and spear and the swung club. Tlie front fee^

now complctelv released from supporting the weight of the body, had

its toes elongated into sky books, while on each foot one of these toes

bt^ame increasingly set off from the rest to serve as a thumb. LosUy, the

freciueut elimination of individuals wbo could not judge distances when

iumniiig or gmb branches successfully led to a steady development of

patterns of stereoscopic vision and of neuromuscular c™rdiriation. In

Ollier words, most of the things which made the modern man physicaUy

the sort of (diinioi that he is today got their start in this branch-swmging

 

sidsiptiitioiii,* I i. j'

 

M •poinc time during tfiis branch-,swiugiiig penod the himian and

 

anthropoid lines sepriUed. The anc-cslors of the antirropoids stayed in

the trees long enough for their arms to become elongated and to perfect

mechanisms for free travel. Later, when some of them become tM large

fur tree living thev hud already evolved so far in this direction that even

when they came to the ground they' were unable to adap^l vct>' success¬

fully. The lung period of progressive adjustment to bmnch-swdngmg had

left them ovenveigUted forced and weak in the lund legs When moil-

ern anlliropoids travel on the gromid, they noniially travel on a 1 fonrs.

Vt die same tUne, their adaptation to tree living has gone so far tha

their hands and feet arc by no means as weU adapted to ground travel

as those of their monkey ancestors. Anthrupoiils walk on the outer edges

 

of their feet and the knuckles of their hands. ^ ,

 

While dm ancestors of the anthropoids were following the tree road,

our ancestors took to the ground. We haw no way of idling why they

did this but w'c do knmv tluit during the Miocc^ne gcolo^cal ^-nod.

whidi was probablv the time when the human and the anthropoid lines

sepaiatcd, there were very c.xteiisive climutic changes in many parts of

 

 

Part One; In the BeDcrNNtNc

 

 

 

tht> 1<?ft them. Howt-ver, the ODe thing that we ciin he sure of is that

OUT aju.'estors crame to the ground after their anus atKl eyes had hecotiw

fairly well adjusted to tree-swingmg but before their bodies tiad become

so well adjuaited to it that they^ could not start out handily oa another

tack. Even the earliest semi-human fossils which we have show the

modem human stymie of leg and foot fully deselopeth while such ancient

forms as the Keajiderthal man had arms which were relattvely shorter

tiian those of modem man.

 

Our type of head seems to have been the last modem characteristie

to appear in human evolution^ The earliest human ancestors, such os the

Java man and the Fckifig man and the recent African finds^ must have

looked very much like the animal headed hunmns figured in medieval

bestiaries. Tliese anccitors had human bodies but heads which were es¬

sentially ape-hke except for one striking difference. Even the earliest

semi-humans lacked the large canines of the ape and had teeth which

were strikingly like our own. This is especidly significant since it indi¬

cates that even these remote ancestors probably enjoyed both meat and

vegetable foods. Although the brains of tliesc semi-humans were rela¬

tively larger than those of any lining ape^ they nevertheless were very

small by modem human standards. The change in this respect seems to

 

 

 

SUB-HITMAK FAjkttLY

 

 

 

 

 

/- Dm the Weij to IJornti Sapiens [7

 

have pfitm? with a ruxh, since the i^Uest skulls of o«r own species have

a hrain capacity quite up to Of even larger than the modem average.

There is a gap in tiie record here that is still waiting to he bridged.

 

h'rom the physical point of vie^v man is mettly another large ter¬

restrial primate. He is actually not as far evolved in terms of structural

S|reciali2atjoii as his cousins the anthropoids. He is set off from the other

inembcTS of his order, and indeed from other mammals in general, by his

tremendous ability to learn, to think, and to conimuniCJite to others what

he has learned and thought. In such matters, just as in his physical struc¬

ture, it Is possible to see him as tlic end product of certain generalized

evolutionary trends, but bore the record is even more incomplete. The

break which separates man from tlie nearest animals in all these respects

is SO' enormous that the differences become not simply quantitative but

qualitative.

 

In rating these special human abilities most people today would

probably put intelligence Erst. This is a direct reflection of our current

cultural values with their stress on reasoning ability, as sho^vn in l.Q,

tests. .Actually, the two most important human qualities are probably su¬

perlative teaming ability and language. It is wonderful to be able to

solve problems by reason rather than trial and error, but we tend to for¬

get that the results of thinking can be no more valid than tlie premises

with w'hieh the process starts. These premises have to be learned, usually

from other people.

 

The ability to learn is by no means limited to human beings. Its

high development in our species is the culmination of a recognizable

ev'olutionary' trend, All living forms respond to their environment with

cither instinctual or leajTied behavior. In instinctual responses the circuit

of receptor to effector is built into tlie ncrv'ous system, A particidar stim¬

ulus automatically produces a particular response. The most estrcinc es-

ampies of this are to be found in the insect world where exceedingly

elalxirate behavior, such a.s that of the mud wasp or trapdoor spider, is

carried on quite automatically. In learned behavior, on the other hand,

the response is established through practice and experience. If the be¬

havior is rewnrdetl and is repeated often enough, it becomes automa-

tizeil. i,e., is developed into what we call a habit. Habits are carried on

witliout involving the conscious mind and superficially may look vciy

much like instincts. The great difference is tJiat any habit which has

Iwen learned can be extinguished and another more effective habit ac¬

quired in its place. This makes for nwch greater flexibility in the indi-

vidnaFs adjustment to his environment.

 

At the lower levels of evolution, most Ireliavior is controlled by in-

sHnet, nlthougb even such lowly forms os earth worms and cockroaches

can learn a little. As animals increase in the complexity of their nervous

 

 

Pari One* In the E^in^ninc:

 

 

81

 

syst<"m_s, thrt& ts st prugTiJiiSsiive shift (inm instirurl to learning as the domi¬

nant factor in flieir 1>chiivior. Instincts practically disappear by the time

one reaches primates in the evolution ary ^cale. ^Vhen we get to humans^

who arc the ultiinate products of the evolutionari^ trends toward more

and more complex neurological organization^ antomatie unleamcd re¬

sponses seem to he liniitci:! to reactions controlled by the autonomic

nen nu$ system k These would include such things as the digestive proc¬

esses, adaptah^on of the eye to light iutensityt arrd slmiliir irivolnntiiiy

responses, Ttie fesver instincts a species possciscs* the greater the range

of hehavtors it enn develop, and this fact, coupled with tile enonnoiis

capacity' for learning which characterizes humans, hjis resulted in a rich¬

ness and variety' of learned behavior which is cf>mplctely ssithoul pataU

Jd in nther spedes.

 

Tliants to the vvnrks nf tnixleni psychologists, we understand the

processes inv olved in learning fairly well Uiifortunalely* wt knowran-

stderably less about thinking. This process seems to represimt a reorgan¬

ization of previously leamtid responses to meet an unfa miliar situation.

The same end can be aecompHshecI by trial and error but much more

slowly and clumsilj'. The nKliments nf thinking ability are found in

many mammalian species other tlmii mao. Primates, and especially an-

thrijjinicl^, are better at it than most other animals, but here again the

gap w’hich separates even a stupid human from the mo.sl iiitelligeut an¬

thropoid is tremendoii.s. Anthropoid reasonlhg reaches at best the level

of that of 0 three to four year old human child.

 

Tlie it'se of language is very closely associated with the superior

thinking ability of humans. In his ahility to communicate man differs

even more from otiier animals tluin he does in his learning or thinking.

Most mammals make sounds or have movements expressive of such emo¬

tional States as hunger^ anger, fear+ pleasure or pain. The^te are recog¬

nized by other imlmdnals of the same spedes and serve for cornmuni-

cation, as anyone v^ho bos kept |>ets can te.stify^ However, man is the

only species which has developed coninumicaricm to the point where he

tan transmit abstract ideas. The symbols wfiich sve use are normally ver¬

bal and We usually think of speech and langnagc ns synonymous, but

the same sort of communication can be achieved in other ways. It is only

necessary' that the symbols used should have the same value for Ixith

communitating parties, Ttujs, the sign language of the Plains Indians

can be used for such complicated purposes as giving geographic infor-

tuation^ preaching a senjion, or making a proposal of marriage with suit¬

able financial gtiarnntees. However, sueli developments in commiinics-

tlrm are atv'pical. Most human Imguagc is based on speech. Although

research has shown that speech begins witli the shaping up and fixing of

particular phonetic patterns w'hJch fall within the range of chance varia-

 

 

L On ihe ^Vay io Homo Stipiens [9

 

tion in tliL^ sounds inside by tlie ti-hiki, lumt of speeth hii!^ to be lesirnetl

|)y iinit[itioi>. It is a eurious fact that there is no mammuJiaii spceics other

thun rimn u'hich imitates sounds. The almost insum^ountablc dlfliciiltics

whidi have attended all efiorts to teiieh apes to talk seem to be due

largely to the impossibility' of getting them to imitate sounds. An smthro-

poid can Jcom readily enough to associate particular objects or acts witli

particular words just as horses Or dogs tan, but the idea of trying to imi¬

tate these words cannot be gatten over tt> tlicin. in this respect^ hiunans

are truly unique^

 

We know absolutely nothing about the early stages in the develop-

merit of language^ although this has not prevented philologists from put¬

ting fonvartl a number of more or less ingenious tlieorics with which we

need not concern ourselves here. There is also at least one esperiinenton

record* The Emperor Akbar, having been told that Hebrew was the

original language of mankind and that children who had been taught 110

otlier woijd speak it automatically, had a group of infants isolated with

deaf mutes as nunics to see what would hiippcn^ When tliey were pre¬

sented to him a few years later he found tliat tliey comnuitiicated by

gestures, like their iHirse$,

 

It is safe to con chide that the use of language is exceedingly old.

but IInwritten languages disappear without leaving a trace. By the tiTne

that writing first appeared, in Egy pt and the Near East, about qiX>o B.C.,

the evolution of language was complete- The earliest languages which

have left a record were ns comples in their grammar and as adequate for

the conveyance of ideas as any modem ones. Moreover, every thing inds-

cates that during die early part of human history there were far more

bnguages spoken than there are at present. Each of tlic little, strictly

local groups in which early man must have lived probably bad its own.

 

The so-called primitive languages can throw' tio light on language

Origins, since most of them are actually more complicated in grammar

than the tongues spoken by civilised peoples. They present a truly be¬

wildering array of concepts expressed in gramniatical form, such things

as gender based on shape or consistency'; singular, dual and plural pro-

iiouiis indnsive and exclusive; and a host of other forms. Qne suspects

that in tlie development of many languages grammar must reach a point

where It becomes so unwieldy that the pwple cease to bother with it.

like an American soldier abroad. After all a surprising amount of com-

munication is possible without the correct use of irregular verbs. Such

brt‘akdowns result in almost grammarless languages such as Chinese nr

English, the latter a cry stani:Ked survival of the patois which the Nommn

man-at-arms used with the Saxon har-maid. However, in the absence of

grammar, with its possjbOities for expressing multiple ideas by slight

modifications of a few roots, a larger vcsciibulary Ix^comes nccessan * The

 

 

Par# One: In ttie Beginning

 

 

lo!

 

cnairnnus vocubularv of English is a iieetssity if the Lmgiiuge li to he

us^ to convey precise ideas. EtjuaUy grammar less Cliinese, wLtli a

much more limited vocabylary. has ihc brevity and iincertaiiity of meoti-

Log of a cablegram.

 

Ill spite of such differences, we have abundant evidence tliat any

idea can be conveyed in any langtiage. The differences lie in whetlier

the society has hi^en fatniliar enough with the idea, or sirffidently inter¬

ested. to coin a single term for it. Thus, to convey the idea of an airplane

in an aboriginal Australkn dialect would require se^'cral hundred worrU^

while La English a single word would do it. However, it would take

quite as long to eonvoy in EngUsh the idea of .\lchiifinga aueeslor which

could be conveyed by a single Australian word.

 

The symbolic system created by language is a tremendous aid to the

individual in thinking, although the concepts embodied in the stnn^urc

of the language in which he thinks arc likely to have their effects on the

oiitcoitie. This is a field which b just beginning to be esiploretl by the

emergent science of semantics. Thus, the fact that there b no inanimate

gender in Indo-European languages makes all their speakers animistic in

their approach to abstractions. If our grammar divided the contents of

the universe into paJimte and inanimate, as do the Algonquin Languages^

our philosophers would have been saved from wandering into many log¬

ical bypiaths.

 

Most of our thinking is done in wnrds, iiithough other symbols can

also be used. Thus the artist Cir musidau operates with a different, non¬

verbal, set of symbnls und has corresponding difficult}- in <1 escribing his

creative processes. With the aid of symbob it b possible for the individ¬

ual to solve probleins iuid arrive at results without going through the

slow and clumsy proec^^ of overt trial and error, llie use of w^ords in

thinking is very much like the use of matheitiatical symivob in calcula-^

lion. Mathematical symlxils make it |Missible to solve all sorts ot prob¬

lems without weighing or counting actual objects. VVorrl symljob rnake

it possible to determine the results of particular actions without actually

performing them.

 

The human combination of cstreme learning ability itrid language

has made it possihk for our species to accumulate nnd tninsmit from

generation to gencratlun a wealth of knowledge and tested behavior pat¬

terns which no other species CEin even approach. Jn other inammoIiaD

species, offspring can and do learn a few simple forms of behavior by

imitating their parents, but the possibilities arc limited both by the par¬

ents' inability lo transmit abstract ideas and by the relatively short time

that parents nnd young arc together* In humans, the child's dependence

on and consequent association wltli parents must CM>ntinue for lo to ta

years as a rnimmum. Before the first third of this period has passed, the

 

 

/. On tJie Vroy to Homo Sapiens [ii

 

child has acquired longtiage and the pnrent can thus transmit to him die

proper responses not only for situations which arise while they are to¬

gether but for those which may arise in the future. Parents can tell chil¬

dren about all sorts of things which can Happen and what to do when

they do.

 

Since hunrans are the most iiitelligent and also tlic most easily

taught of animals, one would espect them to he the tnost highly indi¬

viduated, No two persons are esaclly alike in their physical and mental

potentialities, autl certainly no two individuals, even identicul twins

rearerl in the same fainih'. have the same estperiences. Human beings are

thus potentially less alike than the individuab of any oilier species, ft is

most surprising theref ore, that tlicy have chosen to live in closely organ-

ijced groups whose memhers curry on a variety’ of specialized activities

hut are mutually interdependent for the satisfaction of practically aU

their fundamental neerls. Many other mammalian species live in herds

or packs, but the organization in tliese is minimal. The only division of

actiritics is that devolving upon the two sexes by their different roles in

connection with reproduction, while social control is a simple matter of

the poorer fighters giving precedence to the better ones. To find any¬

thing which even remotely resembles the complexity of human societies,

one must go to the social insects, such as the ants and the bees. Here the

cooperation which is necessary for the survival of the community is as¬

sured by the physical specialization of the various groups of workers,

fighters, and so forth, and by a High development of instincts. Since hu¬

mans lack sudi instincts, it Ijecomes necessary tn subject them to an ex¬

traordinarily long and elaborate training if they are to function success¬

fully as members of a society. VVe are, in fact, anthropoid apes trying to

live like termites, and, as any philcwophical observer can attest, not do¬

ing too weU at it

 

 

CJiapkr II

 

 

The Pleistocene Age

 

 

\\h: iKJ Nxrr kxow %vhcrc tlie Erst rccogni/jiblc! riepre^ntaClv^^ of <wir

species nppeared, but wc cun be fairly sure that it was not tn some suUhlK

dearly delimited area. There w^as nn Garden of Eden. Subhiimart fossils

which might be in our Hue oF ancestry have been fotiticl as far apart as

Chim, Western Eiirojje and South Africa, and we can be fairly sure that

various subhuman species occupied all the temjiemture and tropical

parts of Eurasia and Afric'a. We do not know whid^ of these is our an¬

cestor or whether i\vo or more subhuiriLin speti^^ may not have coutrtb-

uled to the making of tnotlem man. It seems that whni any two primates

of opposite sex and of the same or similar spcdcs meet, their normal

reaction is to make a pass at each other, and if the various species of

semi-hamaiis did not mix their genes, it was prolifibly not for lack of

trying*

 

As has been said before, the fossil record is cxsx‘ediingly fragmen¬

tary; but the earliest remains of oiir own six?cies winch have been dis¬

covered show them to have been like modeni men in every' respect* Ap¬

parent Ivt these first represeutatises of hoTiio sapiens were like onnselve^i

even to the extent of having the same psydiolugical potentialities* Hie

gri^tit flifferenee between their way of life siii^l ours was ihic to the dif¬

ference in the amount of knowlt-dgc which wsL'i amiJnblc For them to

learn and tnmsmit.

 

Since nor species emerged, it seems to have made most of its envi¬

ronmental adjustment hy way of changes in its learned transmitted be-

bador* It has, to be sure, produced physitul varieties partly in response

to environmental factors which it could not handle in any other way;

partly, it seems* by chance, hut none of these changes have been very

far reaching. Their results are to be seem in what we call tlie races of

mankind.

 

Before undertaking a discussion of these human varieties and bow^

 

u

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One: hi the Becinsikc

 

the}' came about, it may be best to digress briefly to give some picture

of the world in which otir first human ancestors found themselv^. By

the middle of the Pleistocene* the earliest date which wc can assign for

our own $pecies, conditions were very much as they are today. The

mammals had established world domination long before. The dinosaurs,

beloved of the comic book artists, had been out of the way for many mil¬

lion years. Birds were entirely as they are now. Evert the same families

and genera of birds were living much as they do today. The mammals

also bad evolved into species vcr>' much like the present ones. Allhough,

when men Erst appeared, sudi bizarre forms as saber-toolh tigers and

 

 

 

SBO.VTDSAOaUS

 

 

shovel-jawed elephants still survived fn a few out of the way places, by

the middle of the Pleistocene the general character of animal life in the

various parts of the world was not very different from what it is today.

Tlie main differences were in the iocation of various ecological aggre¬

gates rather than in their content

 

The Pleisloccoe was a period of eilTeme cHmatic fluctuations. In

the Northern Hemisphere, there were at least four extended periods of

low temperature with ice advance, and three intervening periods when

temj^ratures were higher than they are today. Ehiring the second inter¬

glacial period ^ for instance, hippopotami sported in the Rhine and

Thames. These periods of glacial advance and recession were tremen¬

dously long, some of them running into huodretls of thousands of years.

Within these periods there were also minor fluctuations in temperature

like those which have taken place during the historic period and which

are still going on, Thus^ we know tliat in the Bronze Age Scandinavia

w'as much warmer than it is now and that this Favorabie period was fol¬

lowed by one of lowered temperature which gave place again to w'armer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

II. The Pleistocene Age [15

 

weather around 1000 a.d. This woirner period made it possible for the

Norse to settle in CrecDland and to raise barley in Iceland. By the 14th

century temperatures liad gone down again, while at the present writ¬

ing they seem to be going up eveiy'where. During the last few years, the

glaciers have been retreating on all fronts and in Iceland have uncov¬

ered fields which were farmed by the Vikings.

 

The reasons for these temperature fluctufltioiis arc still very imper¬

fectly understood, and, after all. have little to do with our present dis¬

cussion. Suiiice it to say that earliest innn, like any otlier animal, was in

very close adjustment with his natural enviranment and unquestionably

shifted with the clumging climate, as did die plants and the animals on

which he was accustomed to live, tt seems highly probable that this is

responsible for much nf the confusion that archeologists find in some of

the earliest European sites. We know that until iW) or 30 thousand years

ago cultures developed very slowly, PeriCKL: longer than the whole of

recorded history might go hy without any recognizable changes. It is

quite possible that the climate changed faster than culture and that the

mucture of cultures which is found in such sites reflects the ebb and flow

of peoples across Europe in response to its changing ecologies.

 

During die Pleistocene period, although tlie general arrangemeat of

the world s land masses was much as it is today, there were differences

in the details. Some of these must have been important for early man.

We will only deal with the Old World at this point since what svent cm

in the New World bad no bearing on human beginnings. Man did not

manage to reach the Americas until a mere so to 30 thousand years ago

at the earliest, and possibly not before »5 thousand years ago. By this

time, he was physically indistinguishable from some of the historic

American Indians and had a culture more advanced than that of some

of the food gathering peoples living today. We also need not concern

ourselves with the outer islands of the Pacific, whose settlement came

even later. Only people who had already learned how to build good sea¬

going vessels could reach Polyuesia, which probably was not populated

much before the beginning of the Christian era.

 

It should be remembered that even at the peak of the glacial ad¬

vances ico never covered the whole of the Eurasiatic continent. Its dis¬

tribution was always irregular, with different centers for the different

glaciations. As such periods developed, ioe moved out from the variO'US

Asiatic and European mountain ranges, but except at the very height of

a glacial advance even the interiors of the eontinoDts were never com¬

pletely covered. Thus, far Northeastern Asia seems to have never been

glaciated, ollliough the temperatures there must have been exceedingly

low at the time of the glacial advances. Probably, the snowfall in this

region was too light to form gbcial ice. Across Southern Eurasia and

 

 

Part One: IxN the Beclkxinc

 

 

16]

 

Africa there wtTe no glaciers. Here the |^qtJIvalcJlts of the gliidal periods

were the so-cptled pTuvials. The^e were tunes of comparattvely cool,

rainy w'eather \vbich made luaciy regiarks which arc now' desert desirable

for human occupation.

 

During and immedlotcly after each glacial advance, there was a

marked drop iu 50a kveh varying from 100 to as much as 250 fecL It is

generally believed that this was due to the locking up of great quantities

of %vater in tlie continental glaciers. Whatever the cause, it had tlie ef¬

fect of making aJ] of the world^s land masses more extensive tlian they

are at present. Eastern Asia extended south to take in Java, Sumatra,

Borneo and most of the other Indonesian Islands. To the south of this

enlarged Asiatic continent^ and separated from it by a strip of deep sea

much older than the Pleistocene, there w-as another continent in which

Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea and most of tlie Melanesian Islands

were linked togetiier. The strait which separated these two continents

was narrow enough so that man ^vQlS able to cros$ into the Sauthem con¬

tinent in fairly early Bines. He brought with him his first animal friend,

the dog, w'ho thus became the only otlier mainniiil of modem placental

ty'pc to gain a foothold in .Australia. The native fauna there are still

archaic marsupials such as kangaroos and opossums.

 

To the westward, the Eurasian continent was much more dosely

linked with Africa than it is today. M\orthcasl Africa and Southwest Asia,

if they wem not acbiulty joined, were separated only by an easily pass¬

able strait at the mouth of the Red Sea, while the Isthmus of Sura was

there then as it is aow'. Perhaps more important tlian th^ actual distribu¬

tion of land at this point is the fact that during the Pluvials the territory'

on both Sides of the Red Sea, which is now some of the toughest desert

In the world, was well-watered park country willi abundant game. The

only barrier which migrants had to pass wus, tlierefore, a narrow water¬

way. That man did go back and forth here from very' early times is

proved by the practioal identify of the older cultural remains on the two

sides of the Bed Sea.

 

Farther to the west, the present site of the Mediterranean seems to

have been (Kcupied by two lakes divided by a ridge running from Sicily

to Africa and cut off From the Atlantic by another ridge at Gibraltar.

The arcbcoingical remains show no indications pf people going hack

and forth between Italy and North Africa until relatively kte times

when they were able to travel by sea, but there is abundant evidence

that there was travel back and fortli betw een North Africa and Spain by

way of the Cibrnltar land bridge.

 

Much of what is now the Mediterranean Sea bottom was probably

well suited for occupation during the Pluvials. In these periods what is

now the d^^ert of Sahara was abo weD watered and teamiiig w'idi game.

 

 

IL The pleistocene Age t ^7

 

In spite of tlic Pluvial and Interplavial variation in rainfall, most of Af¬

rica south of the Sahojra seems to have had very much the same range of

climates as are found there at presents This accounts for the survival in

that coutinent of such archaic beasts as the elephant, rhinoceros^ and

 

giraffe. , j r_£

 

To sum up, when modem man appeared Eurasia and Africa were

 

much more closely tied together than they are at present^ and great

areas which are now undesirable were well suited for human occupa¬

tion. During the wann inter glacial perieds, it would have been possible

for a family to wander from North China to the Cape of Good HopcT or

from Sumatra to Scandinaviap without encountering any insurmountable

natural barriers. Needless to say, any family would have encountered

many different environments in the course of such wanderings and it is

against the background of such environmental differences that we must

look at human varieties and their origins.

 

 

" /z" .f r.-r — If-I JH

 

t.> H,-! * ' * ^

 

N. ‘

 

* PH

• Th

 

llVfl - -""ii

. *-

 

^ ^ i

 

i H

 

 

 

 

1 #^

 

“T"

 

 

i

 

i'S *

 

 

I

 

=1

 

I

 

 

I

 

 

 

_

 

 

 

 

 

PART TWO

 

 

Evolutionary Pivcesses

 

 

 

I

 

 

 

 

Chapter III

 

 

Race

 

 

PnonurMR or pace, and particularly of race relations, absorb so much of

our interest at the present lime that a discussion of buman history ^jch

tlid not involve some mention of tiiis subject would be incomplete, ^ere

is a tremendous amount of literature on racial origins and a number of

ideas have become generally accepted fn spite of the fart that there is

very little direct evidence on which to base conclusions- Even the field

of human genetics is still very' imperfectly understood- Unfortunately,

human beings do not lend themselves to genetic espenments while an

even greater dilScultv arises from the fact that subject and Qbscr\'er

have the same life sjJan- No scientist is likely to see even four genera¬

tions of a single human fatnlly Uoc. « j . j

 

As was Mid in an earlier chapter. tJiere seems to be go<^ evident

that during the Pliocene and Pleistocene there were a number of sub¬

human species scattered throughout tlie tropical a«d warmer templ¬

ate regions of the Old World, mile none of these species were Wly

human from the anatomical jjoiut of view, several of them behaved like

humans to the ertent of using tools and fire. It is interesting to note that

most nf them also seem to have been addicted to the exceeding y human

practice of cannibalism, rare in other mammalian s^ies. We do not

know whether our own species, homo sapiens, evolved from a angle one

of these prehuman species or whether it began as a bybnd between two

or more However, it may he said authoritatively Aat the vanous great

divisions, i.e., racial stocks, commonly used in classifymg modem human

varieties, are not descendants of different subhuo^n ancestors. The old

idea once held by physical mithropologists. was that there were onginal

clearly differentiated Negro, Caucasoid and Mongoloid groups and that

the innumerable intermediate types which now link the extreme esarn-

plcs of each stock came about as a result of crossmg. A$ a matter of fart,

the earliest finds of true humans do not substantiate this idea m any

 

 

 

Part Twot Evolutionatjy Procelsses

 

 

saa]

 

way. The earliest represealijtives of homo sapiens show a striking diver¬

sity in all the physical characteristics used a$ a basis for racial clas$i6ca-

tion and none of them are readUy assignable to any one of the great

stocks. This may be due in part to the fact that we lack data on their

skin color, hair texture, shape of nose and lips^ and similar superfldal

characteristics on which current racial classification is so largely based.

Nevertheless^ the variabilit)' of these early forms i$ truly aiauuing^ Thus,

in the upper cave at Chukutien in Northern China^ three skulls of ap¬

proximately the same age have been identified ns being respectively

North Chinese of modem tjpe, an Elskimo and a Melanesian. Since it is

highly improbable that Chukutien was the center of an antedJJtiviati

United Nations^ the only ans^ver would $cem to be that even w'lthin this

one locality the population was estceedingly variable. If we take the

whole range of known upper Paleobthic skel^ons, we find that very few,

even of those from neighboring localities, are alike*

 

It would seem very desirable to review the problem of racial differ¬

entiation in die light not Only of fossil evidence, but also of what we

know of early human patterns of settlement and their possible efioefes op

racial differentiation. Early man seems lo have spread over the Old

World rather rapidly until he occupied all but the Circumpolar and most

inhospitable desert regions. However, if we may judge froiri the situa¬

tion in those parts of the world where the inhabitants w^ore still fottnw-

ing a simple food gathering economy when first encountered by Euro¬

peans, the distribution of the species was by no means uniform. As with

any other wild species, the population density of early man varicti from

one region to another in direct relation to the food supply. We have

every reason tp believe that even the carKest men hved in bands, i.e.,

units composed of several families. The members of such a unit normally

camped and traveled together* The possible sue of the bands in any lo¬

cality' was set by the number of individuals who could be supported by

hnnlers and food gathcicjs working out from a central camping place.

It is improhable that any of the early human bands exceeded 200 to 300

Individuals, while most of them were oertainly much smaller. Modem

food gathering peoples without domestic animals other than the dog

rarely live in groups of over 50 or 60 persnos.

 

As long as unoccupied territory is available, populations spread by

a sort of budding process* When the membership of a band becomes too

large for advantageous exploitation of local resources, the group sphts

and a new band is formed. Under normal circurnstanccs, bands are not

free-wandering units- Each band normaily occupies a definite territory

within which it makes regular annual circuits, coming back to tlie some

camp sites year after year at the same seasons to exploit the local food

resources* Several bands usually form a larger unit, a tribe, whose mem-

 

 

in. Bace

 

 

[^3

 

bejs have a vague feeling of unity based upon common language and

customs, but in the absence of formal patterns of government such tribal

units cannot to any great size. In general, trespassing on another

hand s territory h resented and punished. However, it is a significant

fact that none of the really primitive food gathering groups Indulge in

anything which can be called ^stematic warfare. Hather than one group

attempting to drive another out of its territory to provide room for in¬

creasing numbers, the pattern seems to be for the population to stabihze

In rektiun to its footl supply. Although there may be considerable fluc¬

tuation from time to tune in accordance with good or bad years, the gen¬

eral population levels remain very much the same. It is highly probable

that this was also the situation with early man.

 

The members of a tribe normally many ameng themselves and even

bands are frequently endogamous. Observation of many different spe¬

cies has shown that the situation of small, highly inbred groups is ideal

for the fi.'tation of mutations and consequent speeding up of the cvolu-

tionaiy process. In general, the smaller the inbreeding group, the more

significant any mutation becomes for the formation of a new variety. In

large populations, single mutations tend to be swamped out and lost;

while in small ones, single mutations, especially if they are of an advan-

tageous sort, will he propagated to more and more individuals In each

generation, the mutant genes reaching them through a large percentage

of tlieir ancestors instead of through only a few. In this way the new

characteristics can spread rapidly to the entire group, resulting in a per¬

manent change. When the pattern of small, inbreeding groups is com¬

bined with occasional contacts with other groups, resulting in transfers

 

of the locallv fixed mutations, one has the most favorable situation for

 

#

 

adaptive evolu tioo-

 

We can picture the early human population os consisting of a great

number of small groups, the members of each of wliich showed what

might be called a family resemblaneo. There would be occasional trans¬

fers of genes ,ts a result of sporadic contact oocutring between different

hands or tribes. Since genes are transmitted either individually or in

small linked groups, the tendency would be for each mutant character to

show a continuous geographic distribution, but to vary in its frequency

of occurrence from high frequency near its center to low frequency at

the outer Umits of its occurrence. Since different mutations would arise

at different points, tiieir spreads would overlap, producing a wide range

of different combinations of physical characteristics. Thus, to take a hy-

pothetical case, the cpicanthic fold, i-e., slant eyes, might be distributed

across Eurasia from its presumably Far Eastern point of origin, becom¬

ing less frequent within various populations as one went westward and

combining k various gri>ups with such utimongoloicl characteristics as

 

 

 

 

Part Tivo: EvoLtmosAHV PnocESSES

 

 

curlji' hair, gray eyes, aod so forth. These other characteristics ia him

would have their own geographic centers of distributiati, diminishing in

frcqueocy froin these ceateni toward the peripheries of the area in

«'hich thej’ were found. Very much this situatian is res caled by tire cur*

rent studies of blood types which show fairly systematic disirilmtlons

but do not coincide with other racial criteria. This picture is greatly sim*

plIBed and could be modified in various svays, especially os a result of

large scale migrations, but there is good reason to believe that large

scale migrations were rare in pre-food*ralsiiig times.

 

Since the very beginnings, human beings have been able to do most

of their adjusitment tg their environment by way of learned behavior,

i.e., culture. Thus, a lake or a river people would meet their problems of

travel on the water by the development of canoes and paddles rather

tlian by the progressive sejection of the individuals who wore best

adapted structuraUv to sivimming. However, there arc certain aspects of

environment which cannot be dealt with culturally, or at least can only

be dealt with by ebborate devices which lay beyond the capacity of

early man. Among ttiese are temperature and light intensity.

 

Although our information is still very inadequate, it seems that cer¬

tain tj-pes of body build are better adapted to certain temperatures. Tlie

human body is an engine and, like any other engine, must dispose of the

surplus heat generated in its operation. Tall, rangy mdivitiuals provide

more radiating surface than do short, ehunlcj- ones of the same weight.

As a result, natural selection w'outd give ti'ill, skinny individuals a better

chance in high temperature areas and short, chunky ones a better

chance in the Arctic. While this sort of selection would uot show results

at once, its effects would be cumulative. Thus in some of the hottest re¬

gions in the world we have the Nilotic Negroes, many of whom are well

over six feet with a huild reminiscent of a stork, and in the Arctic, the

Eskimos, whose build is reminiscent of that of a granite boulder. Vn-

fortunately for ihese geDcrfllizations there are also exceptions. The tall¬

est, although by no means slenderest, human variety known to science is

the Scottish Wlander, who occupies a far from tropical dimatc, wliiJe

the Congo Pjgmy, not to be confused with the Oceanic Negrito is al¬

most to chunky as the Eskimo, However, the generalization holds in

enough cases to suggest that natural selection really has been at work

 

 

.1, ^ selection has certainly occurred is

 

ftat oilskin ^or in relation to light. Jt can be said with certainty that

there IS nowhere in the world where very dark skinned groups are to be

found in regions deficient in sunlight, such as Scandinavia, or in which

 

sunlight. Unfortunately, the selective mechaoisms involved are stiU im-

 

 

TIL Eace

 

 

[25

 

pt-rFectly understood, but it seems that there is an optimum amount of

sunlight for bumao beings and that either too much or too little has to

be balanced off by pigment changes. Too much actinic ray apparently

results in damage to the nen’ous system and also, if the experience of

xvhites in the tropics is to be trusted, in injuries to the female reproduc¬

tive system. Where sunlight is insufficient, on the other hand, the ray

screen provided by henry pigment Is definitely disadvantageous. The

dark members of a eomrnijnity udU be more subject to rickets than the

lighter members. Needless to say, these difficulties are not immediately

fatal, but in any group whose menubcrs varied in tiie depth of their skin

color, they would eventually sliif t the group norm in the direction pf die

depth of pigment which w'as most advantageous under tlie lotul condi¬

tions. It Ls certainly significant that it is not only in Northwestern Eu¬

rope that we have the emergence of lightly pigmented types, A tendency

toward light pigmentation can be traced dear across the cireum polar

areas of die Old t^'orld and even to the Indians of British Columbia. In

this far northern Pacific region, where the skies are ahiiost as cloudy as

those over Scandinavia, itidividtials of unmixed Indian anoestry often

show pale skins, green or gray eyes, and red hair,

 

TTierc are probably other and subtler human adjustments to natural

environment for which we arc still unable to trace tlie connections. Also,

os a factor in die establislunent of distinctive local types one must take

into account the purely social matter of the preferences which certain

groups feel for certain physical charaeteri.stics. Thus, there are many

African tribes who prefer the black that shines, while odiers regard fem¬

inine avoirdupois with reverence and carefully fatterr their women be¬

fore marriage. The Maya combined with their keen aesthetic seose a

preference for such characteristics as big noses, retreating foreheads,

weak chins and cross eyes. The extraordinary profiles to be seen on

Majm monuments are not caricatures but represent the classic type of

May^ beauty, as thoroughly approved socially and probably no farther

from reality than the classical type of Greek beauty. It has been urged

that social selection is of no great significance af the primitive level since

all members of a primitive group get married. Hosvever, diey do not all

marry the same people. The most beautiful girls, whatever this means in

local terms, can many the best hunters and their children have that

much better chance for survival. As for the handsome male, his oppor-

hmity for propagating bis genes in or out of wedlock is always consid¬

erably better Uian that of the ugly man.

 

There is one other aspect of evoludonarj' adaptation which has

lieen exceedingly important in determining the spread of various racial

groups. Unfortunutely, little attention has been paid to this factor in the

past, since it is oot immetliately obvious, but one may predict diat it will

 

 

Part Two: EvoLtmoxAffY Paocisses

 

 

2B]

 

become of increasing importance as popnlati on movements in the mod¬

em world become freer* This is the acquisition by difFerent human

groups of tolerance for dMercDi diseases. We know that w^hen any Iiu*

man group is subjected to the attacks of a particular disease for severaJ

generations, those who survive will develop a certain degree of toler¬

ance* The disease will be much less destnicdvo to them than it will bo

to a group who hav-e never been exposed to it previously. Since the

members of the tolerant group are very frequently cajriera of the dis¬

ease, they are able to wage a type of bacterial \varfare which h none the

less deadly because it is unconscious. All students of early American hJs-

tojy' will be familiar with the terrific ravages of smallpox when it was

introduced into the New World by Europeans, while students of Euro¬

pean history will be equally familiar with the far reaching political atid

social consequences of sypbiliSp which the American Indians graciously

gave to the Europeans in exchange. Fortunately for Western EuitJpe,

this introduction was not followed by die invasion of a swarm of 5)q>li-

ilis-tolerant individuals of a diflerent race and culture^ but even without

this its influence can be traced in such diverse phenomena as the defeat

of a French army in Italy, the eliminatioti of bathing as a Nortli Euro¬

pean cu$tom and the introduebon of wigs as necessary adjuncts to aris¬

tocratic mole costume.

 

One of the most mteresting cases of disease tolerance in its relation

to racial distributions Is provided by malaria. Most Negro groups appf?ar

to be mueh more tolerant of the malignant variety of malaria than Euro*

peans or AsiatiesH EuropeanSp on the other bund, have a higher tolerance

for the variety of malaria known as benign tertian than do Negroes. In

Oceania we find that a faixty elear-cut line can be drawn between the

areas in which two racial types occur. Peljaiesians^ brown skinned peo¬

ple of Southeast Asiatic origin, are to be found in practically all areas

where there are no anopheles mosquitoes and consequently no malaria.

Melanesians, dark skinned people of Negroid type, are to be found

wherever there are anopheles mosquitoes and malaria. The only excep

tion to the rule seems to be in Fiji, where a Negroid population is to be

found in the absence of anopheles, a quite understandable situation

since the absence of malaria would not affect settlers tolerant to it-

 

In Madagascar, brown people of Southeast Asiatic origin occupy

the central plateau of the island w here there wcijc no anopheles mos¬

quitoes until they were introduced by the building of a railroad from the

coast. Completely sorroiinding this Island of Asiatics was a belt of Ne¬

groid peoples who occupy aU the fever infected coastal lowdonds. One

of the most interesting aspects of this situation wjis that die Negroid

people all speak .Malayo-Polyncsian languages and have cultures which

show a strong Asiatic tinge. There can be little doubt that they arrived

 

 

Ill Race [a?

 

on the island after the Ma!ayo*Pol)Tic5iaiis by a process of gradual inai-

traUon rather than mass settlement. They presumably brought malaria

with them froiii Africa, with tlie result that the Asiatic racial ^'pe was

eliminated in all areas where there were fever carrying mosquitoes, al¬

though not before the Asiatics had transmitted mudi of their culture to

the Negro immigrants.

 

In the New World also, Negro slaves introduced malignant malaria

into many tropical regions, leading to the practical estinction of the lo¬

cal Indian population. Even in Europe. Negro slaves who were brought

in by the Portugese were responsible for the depopulation of the Tagus

valley by malignant mabria. We cannot say how often such situations

have arisen in early human history, hut disease tolerances and suscepti¬

bilities must cerbtinly have played a considerable role in establishing

racial distributions.

 

In summary, we can imagine a long period during which there was

a great multiplicity of human tj-pcs. each of which had very limited geo-

grapliic distribution and was represented by only a small group of indi¬

viduals. This situation probably persisted for many thousands of J’ears,

at least during tlic whole of the Old Stone age. An abrupt change must

have occurred with the invention of food raising. As has been said be¬

fore, food giitliering populations tend to stabilize on the basis of the ex¬

isting wild food supply. With agriculture, the productive potenbal of

land is tremendously increased. In the presence of an assured food sup¬

ply popnbbons can double every riventy-five years. Thus, to cite a cur¬

rent example, the Navap Indians, who were supposed to number be¬

tween twenty- and tweaty-Bve thousand when I first encountered them

b 191a. now number over sixty thousand. Groups who for any reason

had acquired food raisbg were thus at a great advantap, the more so

since with the new technique they could utihifi the temtories of tribes

who were still on a food gatiiering economy.

 

The result was a rapid expansion of the food-raising peoples. There

is abundant evidence for great migrations having taken place from the

Southwestern Asiatic center of Old World agriculture early in the food-

raising period Both the Alpine and Mediterranean physical types, domi¬

nant in historic Europe, can be traced back to this general region. Such

migrations not only increased the numbers of the racial grouiK who

practiced food-raising, but also automatically deCT^ed the n^ber of

hunters and food gatherers. Even if the migrants did not kiU off the

lier populations of territories they invaded, they reduced their numbers

bv irstroying the supply of wild foods. Actually, the migrants do not

seem to have esterminated the old food-gathering populations of Eu¬

rope. but simply absorbed them, as the occasional apparance of Paleo¬

lithic physical types in the present European population shows.

 

 

Fart Two; Etolutioxakt Processes

 

 

2 &]

 

In spitfij of the fact that the world's popubHon has increased enor-

mous])r since the inventiDn of Iwd-raising, there are probably fewet hu¬

man varieties p i,e*^ races, extant today than there were at the end of the

Old Stone age. Although the processes leading to production of new

human ^^eties are still operahvep they have not had time to differen¬

tiate such great, rapidly expanded groups as the McditejTan^n Cau¬

casians or Malays into any large number of distinedve sub-tjpes^

 

Aside from tbeir relation to disease tolerance and adaptatiqi!i to cli-

matet racial differences seem to have had little or no effect on human

history. Tlieir present signiBcance is almost entirely social; i.e., the indi¬

vidual s physical eharacteristies are rignificant only in so far m they

mark him as a member of a particular social group. In spite of numerous

investigations and a great mass of literature on the subject^ the eiistence

of significant psychological dlSerezices between various races has never

been proved. Apparently* the members of any racial group can assume

any culture in which they arc reared and %vc know that members of ail

the great racial stocks have made important additions to cuUtire at one

Ume Or anathen The only significant effect tliat race can have on culture^

so far as we can detemme at present, is that the sizt% strength and agil¬

ity characteristic of a parUcuIar group s members is likcdy to influence

the type of tools and weapons they prefer and their methods of using

them. ThuSp it has been found tliat hlalay workmen, most of whom arc

small and lightly muscled, have difficult)^ in operating machines \vhich

have been designed for large and physically powerful Europeans.

 

It is quite possible that there may have been actual hereditary dif¬

ferences in intdligence between Some of the original small racid en¬

claves into which early man was dirided, but contact and competition

bctw'eeii various racial types has been going on for so long that any in¬

nately deficient groups, if they ever existed, seem to have been elimi¬

nated. For the purposes of the study of cultural history^ and develop

ment, all human groups may be taken as equivalent. This does not mean

that all have made an equal contribution to the growth of culture, but

everything indicates that the differences which exist are due to historic

accident rather than to any innate qualities of the groups in question.

 

 

Chapter IV

 

 

Society, Culture, and the

Individual

 

 

Most of human existence revolves about the interrelations and interac¬

tions of societv. culture, and the individud. These entities a« so clo^ly

inlerdepcndenl that investigators are likely to become (infused whm

they try to differentiate them. In particular, the terms cidture smd s«i-

L*ly are often used iuterchangeably. Nevertheless, each of the ^ee is a

phenomenon of a different order and each has ite own special character

istics and its special role in the d>mamic confi^rotion by all

 

three toeetlier. A society is an oigaiiizcd group of individuals. A culti^

is an organized group of lenmed responses characte^tic of a particular

society. The individual is a living organism capable of mdcpendeiil

thoudit. feeling, and action, but with his independence hmitcd and all

his tisponscs profoundly modified by contact with the society' and ciil-

ture in which he develops.

 

The individual has a limited life span. Societies and ciiltu^, on the

other hand, arc continual with no predetermined duretiim. They nor¬

mally persist far beyond the life span of any of the.rmd,vidii^ members

and th«e seem to be no inherent factors which might pr^ent them from

sur%'mng indefinitely. Certain philamphic histonaiw to the contrai^we

have no evidence that societies and cultures ever die of old age. -^ey

frequently succumb to violence or economic poverty, ut t e eu r

meclianism is so flexible that, as long as the personnel of a ^lety can

be maintained either by physicil reproduction or recruitment the soci¬

ety can survive. It may have to modify most of its structure and change

its methods of Ufe profoundly, but it will still as an orgamzed

 

functionin? group.

 

Why human beings have a tendency to form aggregates is a ques¬

tion for which we have no final answer. It is a fact that most primates

 

 

3 ^

 

 

part Tmo: Evolittion-ahv Fbocesses

 

 

30]

 

are gregarious and the 50da] scientist of two or dirce generations ago

blithely took care of this universal human pattern by positing the exist-

etioe of a gregarious instinct Unfortunately for such an attractive the¬

ory, it is very questionable whether human beings have any instincts in

the sense that this term is commonly used by students of animal behav¬

ior* However^ aU human beings have certain experiences which predis¬

pose them to group living. Thus, human infants are always exceedingly

dependent little animals w^ho cannnt survive without the care and aid of

adults. As a result, an uneonsdous association is established betw^een

comfort and security and the presence of other individuals.

 

A further contribution toward this predisposition for group living is

made by the difference between the breeding interv'al in our own spe¬

cies and the time required for the individual to reach a point W'here he

can take core of himself. Evidence from many societies indicates that

where there is no artificial spacing of birthst a w'oman will produce off¬

spring every 18 months on an average, while even in the simplest soci¬

eties where economic factors are least signiEcaut, children cannot very

w'ell become independent hefore the age of twelve. This means that dur¬

ing several of the most formative years of his life tlie child is in close and

constant association not only with parents but with brothers and sisters

older and younger than himscU. In this way he obtains an intensive

training in cooperatioq and social adjustment and a reinforcement of the

psychological effects of his infantile dependency.

 

The human tendency to foim aggregates is linked with an etjunlly

strong tendencj* to transform these aggregates into societies through nr-

gonization. This process con be seen in operation in summer cximps,

work crews, offices, and, m fact, wherever groups of indivniduak remain

in contact for any length of time. Perhaps It would be better to call such

units subsocielies. since they ustially are part of a larger social whole.

The interactions of the individuals who form the group are reduced to

habitual, predictable terms; leadership emerges and tasks arc allotted.

The organization of new subsocieties is fadlitated by tlie fact that tlie

individuals who compose them have all had experiences of social li\ingr

Very often the culture will Include patterns for the organisation of sucb

new or temporary units. For example, the iSth century British culture

provided crews who mutinied and *‘went on the accoiinr (turned pi¬

rate) with a convenrional pattern of organizatJon developed by genera-

tiotjs of free-booters.

 

Although new societies can be formed readily enough, a society of

what may be considered the normal type usually has a lengthy existence.

It Includes individuals of both sexes and nil ages and insures its survival

by producing children and training them to fill places in Its system of

organization. The nucleus of such societies is composed of its adult and

 

 

IV. Society, Culture, and the Indicidual [31

 

ablo'bodicd members. Children are able to male some contribution to¬

ward its operation, but their role is primarily that of replacements. Like

the members of a second team, they are in training, lenruiDg to perform

the functions and preparing to occupy the positions currently associated

with dieir ciders. Old people in most societies make their social contri¬

bution mainly by acting as repositories of ejcperience and by offering ad¬

vice, a role which, as anyone can testify, they usually find congenial.

 

There has been a tendency on tlie part of some of the more formal¬

istic social scientists to picture any society as groups of individuals try¬

ing to hold thcms<dves together by more or Jess ingenious devices. Such

devices may be needed where aggregates of adults are organizing the^

selves into new societies or under conditions like tliose in a mndern city

with its anonymous population. Hovvev'er, the small, long continuing, lo¬

calized aggregates which fonn the basis for most societies certainly re-

(juiro no such devices. 1 he members of such a community are held

gether not only by economic interdependence but even more strongly by

emotional ties based upon affection and habitual association. Above ail,

as sharers of a common culture, the members of such a group are able to

understand each other belter and to feel more at ease with each other

tlian they can with persons having a different cultural background. Note

the behavior of Americans meeting in a French village. Even in those

cases where the structure of a society has collapsed under the impact of

a stronger alien society and culture so that the group can no longer

function adequately, it is an observed fact that its members wiU con¬

tinue to stay together simply because they sbaie a common language

 

and have common understandings.

 

A contiiiulDg group of individuals such as that provided by the nor¬

ma] society craii be organized in several different ways simultaneously.

To understand this, one need only think of the multipliei^ of organiza¬

tional svstcins which exist in siidi a gf oup as a college coTnmunity* Here

one can observe the organization of the entire group for edu^tiojsai

pmposes into units whose membership is deterinined by academic

ress. At the same time, tl^e same aggregate will be organized along quite

different lines in response to considerations of socral prestige and for the

carrying on of social activities in the popular sense of that term. There

will be numerous fraternities and sororities and a non-fratemity student

group, not to speak of various scientific and literary clubs^ membership

in w^hich is based on interest in particular subjects.

 

Human societies of tlic usual self-perpetuating t}pe always have

the foUowing simultaneous patterns of organization as a miJiimum, First,

the group^s members arc classified according to age and sex and, strictly

on this basis, are assigned certain patterns of behavior. Thus, at the

primitive levek men are universally expected to do the hunting and

 

 

3®! port Tu?o; EvoLunowAftY PnocTEiSscs

 

Qghting. women to collect vegetable foods and care for small children.

Second, the society's members are divided into smaller organized units,

i.e,. families. Unfortunately, the English term "family" fails to differen¬

tiate between what is frequently referred to as the nuclear family, con¬

sisting of a couple and their children, and the various groupings based

upon blood relationship, either real or assumed. The individtial's mem¬

bership in a family unit iinmcdiately establishes for tiim a series of re-

dprocsil rights anri obligations toward a %vhole series of other persons

who are members of the same unit. Ttiiid, all societies: recfjgntzc the

existence of formal, enlturally patterned relationships which individuals

enter into voluntarily. The distinction between these and the unavoid¬

able relationships based on kin ties is neatly summed up in our orra

proverb, "God gives us our relatives, but tliank Cod we can choose our

friends." The functional importance of tliis type of organization differs

greatly from one society to another. There are certain societjes in which

the great majority of personal relationships are prescribed for the in¬

dividual on a kin basis, others in which most personal relationships arc

of a voluntary type. However, relationships of both h-pes are always

present,

 

L^t, in every society both individuals and the categories of indi¬

viduals established by the variuiis simultaneous systems of organization

will be rated in a prestige series. Every group whose existence is recog¬

nized by a society, whether age category, family, or athletie club, is

regarded as inferior or superior relative to some other group of the same

type. Thus, in practically all societies, men will rank w'omen socially,

and adults will rank children. The relative ranking of adults and the old

is less constant. However, it seems to be a fact that even in those sode-

tics in which the old are theoretically dominant, only those old people

who bave attained high individual prestige while active adults exercise

real power in old age. Similarly, families within a sodety are always

ranked in a prestige scries. Such differences appear most clearly ivhen

marriages are projected, each family wanting its member to many up

when possible. In spite of the numerous variations in systems of prestige

rating in different societies, it is Important to ntrte that there are no

genuinely equalitaiian human societies. The so-caUed equalitarian so-

ciedes are simply those in which the mdtviduaJ is given a minimum of

social handir^p and allowed to find his own level.

 

Most societies have other patterns of organization in addition to

the minimal set just cited. In most cases, a series of local groups with

similar cultures and patterns of organizatioii are united into larger units

Such as the tribe or state. The division of an entire society into social

classes differing in prestige and normally in social functions is also a

common phenomenon. In both these cases the units which have com-

 

 

IV, Society, CutUite, and the Individual

 

 

[33

 

 

bined lo form the larger 5Dci€t]r will be found to differ cultonilly at cer*

tain points and to possess a feeling of internal solidarity and a degree

of organization greater tbau those existing across gronp lines. In other

words, the classes or local groups which compose a society are really

sub-societies with their own distinct sub-cultures. Contrast the beliavior

of the English gentleman and the English cockney or the values of Hoi-

IvwckkI and Richmond, Virginia.

 

' Although a culture and a^iety are always associated, they are

phenomena of different orderstllie relation between them is establislied

through the medium of the individuals who compose the society and

express the culture in their behavior. However, each individual ex¬

presses only part of the culture, never the whole. No one person is ever

familiar with the entire culture of his society, yet tlic organized group

of individuals who compose the society are jointly able to know and

practice the whole culture. They have enough common knosvledge to

understand and predict each otfiers’ responses, but tlie fact that they

are members of a society makes it possible for them to be specialists

Knowledge Or skills vital for the group may be conaned to a very sm^

ijcrcentace of its members.'Thus, tlie knowledge and practice of uieth-

cine in our socich- is delegated to only a few individuals, often to only

one in a communitv; vet all the community's members can sull benefit.

Moreover, medical knowledge and practice wiU be interrelated with a

number of other patterns within the community’s culture, mBuenemg

the form and operation of these and being influenced in hire. For ex¬

ample, neither the doctor nor tlic sanitary engineer m a moderii im¬

munity will be familiar with more tluin a small area of the other s Geld,

yet they will strongly jnfitience each other's technical practices.

 

Perhaps the best e.xpression of the relation behveen a culture and

a society is to say that the culture l>ears very much the same relation to

the society as the total knowledge and habitual response patterns of

ao individual bear to him as a living organism, lake the knowledge and

Imbitual responses of the individual, the culture represents an mlcgra-

lion of past experience, in this case Uiat of the society tliroughoat its

duration. It also forms a configuration all of whose parts are to some

degree interrelated, although the interdependence between the vanous

elements which compose a culture is even looser than that betweea the

various elements which make up the personality of an individiia]

 

Discussions of culture content arc hampered at present by a hope¬

lessly confused terminology, but I will refer lo the distoguisbable in¬

ternally coherent responses or groups of closely interrelated resp^^

which make up a culture as cuUiire ctemenls. This term, although far

from precise, would seem to be Hie most nearly neutral among those

now to use. Tlic presence of a culture element is assumed if the response

 

 

Part Two: Evoluttonaft Processes

 

 

34l

 

of a socaet}'*s members to a repetitive situation is ako repetitive* Uow-

ever* ctilhire elements are by no means as ile£mtc or clearly delimited

as they have been assumed to fae by fnany writers on the subject. As

wc know bom modcni semantics* no two tilings or acts arc ever identi¬

cal: they are merely more or less similar. Although a culture element is

usually treated as though it were a single prescribed responsej e%'ery

culture element is essentially a range of ^uriationi* Responses which

fall widLin this range are effective; those which fait outside the range

arc not. In discussing cultural phenomena, it is customary to take the

mode of the varying behaviors wliieh faU within the effective range

and to treat this as if it were an invariable pattern of response. How¬

ever* this must he regarded as primarily a descriptive device. It gives

only an approximation of the actual situation. The fact that every real

culture element is a range and not a point enntrihutes very considerably

to the Sexlbihly of cultures and their capadtj' for undergoing nuinorous

changes and stresses without actual disruption.

 

The interrebtions between various culture elements arc often exceed¬

ingly loose, so much so that eertain elements can be climinatod from

the culture or added to it with no recognizable effect on certain other

elcmenU already present. Thus^ for example, if bridge were relinquished

by Americans in favor of canasta, the effect on our patterns of air travel

w'ould be Imperceptible. Even when much closer interrebtions arc pres¬

ent, they are often by no means obvious^ In tnany ea^cs^ they become

evident only in change situations where the introduction of new culture

elements or the elimination of old ones result in unanticipated mabtl-

justments. For example, the changes resultant on the intrcKluclion of

money into a society which had previously had a barter economy may

reveal previously unsuspected rebtions between family structure and

agricultuml techniques.

 

Although It is the individuals composing a society who transmit and

implement its culture, any culture mvoK cs the participation of so many

indh'iduflls, especially if one rccpgnizes its persistence in time, that the

differences between its participants largely cancel out. It 1$ possible

to study and compare cultures without reference to the particular per¬

sons who have implemented them and on this basis to arrive at certain

valid conclusions regarding the functions of cultures, their normal con¬

tent and structure, and the processes involved in their growth and

change. The function of any culture as a whole is to assure the survival

and weH-being of the society with w^hich it is asscxriated. It does tins

by providing the soaetyk members with tested techniques for meetiug

various problems whicli arise. The most immediate and pressing of these

problems are those of providing food and shelter and of obtaining and

processing raw matenalsi These are immediately rebted to physical

 

 

rV. Societijf Ctilinre, tind the Individual [35

 

sim^iviil and unless they can be solved adequately, the society is doomed

to extinction.

 

The lechuiques developed in this connection are at^^ys basic to

the organization and functioning of mneb of the rest of tbe culture. At

the same time, there seems to be bltle Justification for the position of the

more extreme economic determlnists who regard all other aspects of

culture as by-products of tlie technology. Comparative studies show

tlmt the technologicii] equipment of any society sets limits to the range

within which many of tlie other elements composing its culture can be

developed and elaborated, but this range is wide enough to permit

several alternative!;. Cultures which are closely similar in their technob

ogy may differ profoundly in their formal social structure, religioa and

art.

 

Problems of physical survival are only a few among the many for

which a culture must offer adequate solutions* It must also provide the

members of a society with techniques for Ihing together with a mioi-

tniim of friction and engaging in cooperative activities. The whole or¬

ganized configuration of such techniques constitutes the social system

in the oldest and longest estabtishcd meaning of that term* A social

system is that part of 0 culture which provides solutions to the problems

of group living in ihe same way that another part of the culture provided

the solution to the problems of physical sur^'ival. The culture must

further provide techniques for the training of individuals, so that they

can function as members of society, and for the control or efiminatign

of individuals whose training has not been successful.

 

Lastly, culture must make allowance for die psychological needs of

individuals. It mu$t provide them with harmless escapes from boredom,

as in games, story telling, and aesthetic activities, and provide them with

reassurance in crisis situations. This last is noimaUy taken care of by

those elements of culture which w^e subsume under the terms magic and

rcilgion. In connection svith these, the culture must also provide a series

of prououucements on the nature of the universe and on the origins of

things in so far as the curiosity of the society s members requires satis¬

faction.

 

A culture as a whole provides answers to all the needs of a society

and of the average individual member of it* Howev^er^ any attempt to

establish direct and complete correlations between partieuloj needs and

particular cultural elements is foredoomed to failure. Ever)' element of

culture appears to have multiple functions, and the same element may

bear a significant relation to several different needs. ITie most that can

be said in any case U that the primary function of a particular culture

clement seems to be related to this social or individual need and its sec¬

ondary functions are related to such and such other needs. For cxamplCi

 

 

Fart Two: EvciLmios-iAftY PiiOCESSO

 

 

38]

 

the cooGgiinition of culture elements involved in making n bow might

be said to have its main function tn connection with food getting, since

a bow is a bunting appliance, but at the same time, a well made bow

may serve to eoufer prestige upon Its maker, in satisfy his aesthetic urge,

and evetip because of the metusion in the procedure of manufacture of

certain magical elements^ contribute to the reassurunce of die indi\idua]

who uses the bow in situations of doubtful outcome^ ^juch as bunting or

war expeditions.

 

Every' culture is elaborated far beyond the point which would suf¬

fice to insure the survival of the society. Moreover, one is constantly irti-

pressecl by the disharmony resulting from such elaborations. Thus, the

Australian aborigines have developed social orgaiiir^ition to a fantastic

degree w^hile paying Utile attention to technology. Tiie Puchlo Indians

devote a large pan of their time to making religions paraphernalia and

performing elnlKirate rituals, w'hite tiie realistic techniques for tlie agri¬

culture on which they depend for their food supply are exceedingly sim~

pie. We ourselves have developed our technology to an extrcine degree

w^hiie allowing our poUtieal system to become archaic and inefficient.

 

These elaborations can only be explained in terms of the various

societies’ liJerarchics of interest, t-e., of the relative v-alne w'hkh they at¬

tach to various activities. Those activ-itics which a society considers im-

portant serve os nuclear points for the organization of luimerous culture

elements. These may contribute little to the performance In practical

termSr but they meet the psychological needs of indi%iduals, eisjpeciaJiy

their desire far prestige and for favurahk response from others. Activi¬

ties which carry high value will naturally result in greater rewards to

the individual who is successful in them or invents new elaborations

connected with them.

 

In the internal stmeturing of culture also, wide areas of culture

content tend to bo oriented about the doininaiit interests of the society.

A good esamplc of this is afforded by the contrast in ttic roles of sports

in modem England and in Fnmce. The reJativo importance attached to

these activities bj' each conn by may be judged by the space devoted to

them in newspapers, the time which die average individual spends

either in sports nr as a spectator, the amount of Jnn<l devoted to playing

Gelds, the amount of money expended on sporting appliances, and 50

forth.

 

'Fhe dements which compose a culltiie arc of several different or¬

ders. The most readily accessible to direct observation and record are

lliose associated with tile technology and the artifacts which it pro¬

duces, Early in the development of anthropological studies the term

iTUi/erwrf culture was coined to refer u> such artifacts. However^ the

present tendency among anthropologists is to exclude the objects them-

 

 

TV, Society, CuUxtre. and the Ijtdividud [37

 

selves from the culture concept but to include what might be termed

the patterns for objects. Thus, a stone axe itself is not regarded as a

culture element, but the shape, size, finish, materiab, and so forth char¬

acteristic of the axes made and used by a particular society are con-

^defied ciiltuTe elements.

 

Somewhat less readily ascertauiabJe than the culture elements of

these first two orders are the behaviors which control the social rebtioas

of individuals. Although these can frequctUly be observed in action, the

fact that so many different individuals with d^crent personality chiw-

acteristics are in close interaction leads to a heightened degree of varia¬

tion in practice. The investigator's diflSculties arc also increased by the

existence in many cases of ideal patterns: conscious statements as to

the way in which individuals in different social positions should behave.

In comparing such statements willi the real culture patterns, one often

finds striking inconsistericies. Still less accessible to the investigator are

those generalized patterns of response which may be termed hi ue-

attitude systems. In maav cases these systems are actually unconscious

and unverbalbed, but like the content of the subconscious mind of tlie

individual, thLy’ e.vcrcise tremendous enioUoual effect and are reflected

in numerous patterns of overt behavior. The study of this level of culture

is the most difficult of all. since it involves constantly making subjective

judgments in which the investigators ovm past experiences and per-

spnality iiri^ likely to influent'c tho outcorne, ^

 

The third cornponent in iht: hum Lin trilogy, the indhiduak might

seem at first sight the easiest to deal with. The individual is after all a

living being: a distinct biological entity with inborn capacities for

thought feeling and action- However, the individual, as he exists at ^y

point in time, is a product of a very complex interaction between his

geneticallv determined physical and psychological potentialities and Ins

environment. The individuals patterns of overt behavior and, even more,

that subtle thing which we term his personality, represent an intogratlOT

qf his past experiences. Most of these experiences ran be phrased m

terms of culture. They derive mainly from contacts tvith other members

qf his society, whose behaviors fall within the ranges established by its

culture. i.e., its real culture patterns. Because of the very multiplicity of

these indi^duals, the differences in their interpretation of the culture

patterns will tend to cancel out, so that the ultimate result will be very

much the same as if the individual had been exposed to repetitive ex-

pericnce with the mode of the pattern rangen

 

The influence of cultiitc upon tf.e individuEd is exerted m two quite

different ways. On the one hand, the developing individual is given aii

opportunitv to learn a great deal of his society's culture greedy

obj^vely. All societies have conscious techniques for educating the

 

 

Poft Two: EvonmoNABY Processss

 

rising gPivcrabon and it mny be said at once that for the transmission

of knowledge and cfjncrete patterns of behavior these tcchnifuies are

always adequate, if lliey were not. the society could not survive tlie

of tljc founding generation. The individua] can leatn anything

within reason on the basis of anb'etpated rewards for success or punish-

mcdt for failure. Even in those areas of culture where there is no con¬

scious education, a great variety of patterns are transmitted through imi¬

tation- As any parent can testify, children tend to model their behavior

u^n tliat of older associates, thus not infrequently acquiring habits

which arc congruous u-ith the actual culture pattcnis of their socielv

rather than with its ideal verbaUiced patterns.

 

On the other hand, societies have not yet developed effective con¬

scious tedrniqnes for the transmission of many of their values and atti¬

tudes. These are nonnally a.ssuined by the developing individual quite

^consciously as a part of his acquisition of the total culture. They are

implicit in nutnerous mutually consistent patterns of behavior within

the culture. The individual derives them for himself, generalizing from

such pattunuE, wlu'ie his own performance of the patterns reinforces ttie

values and attitudes in his own mind. In a period of cultural confusion

su^ as our own, the values and attitudes actually incorporated in our

which are ideally prescrilred by tt may and often do

differ widely. The unfortunate modem educator finds that parents ex¬

pect him to inculcate in their ehildren the ideal value-attitude systems

to which they do not adhere io their own conduct and that they hlame

him if be fails in what b certainly an almost impossible task. The attempt

to transmit value-attitude systems verbally usually results in nothing

more nor less than verbal transmission. The individual Icarus wliat he

should say about the correct values and attitudes and can produce this

verbal statement on demand, but the statement is not charged with

emotional effect and bears very Lttle relation to his actual conduct.

 

In addition to the transmission of concrete behavior patterns and

knowledge, culture also exercises its influence in another and more

subtle fashion. It shapes the individual by what a society’s members

acting m accordance with their culture, do to the children. Thus, every’

society has its own cidhirally prescribed patterns of care for infants. In

rome societies they will be swaddled or bound rigidly on a cradle board:

in other societies, they will be left unhampered by clothing of any sort

In some, they will be kept in almost constant physical contact with an-

other person, carried astride the mother’s hip or on the back of another

child; in others they will have pracUcaUy no direct physical contact with

other individuak. In some societies, tliey will be fed whenever diey

cry: in others they wiff bo fed on a rigid schedule or simply at the con¬

venience of the mother. From what we know of the effects of early ex-

 

 

/V. Society, Culture^ and the Individual [39

 

pericnce cm the development of person Eility in our own society, each

possible combination of these technicjiies might bo expected to have

certain more or less enduring results. The adult is quite incapable of

remembering the treatment he received as an infant, but at the same

time, this treatment will leave its mark in the deep levels of his person¬

ality. From the degree to whidi the first few years of life are secure

and comfortable, and particularly from the degree to which the child is

able to elicit favorable response from his ciders, will come the picture of

the vi’orld w'hich he will earry with him subconsciously in later years*

 

Tlii.s picture will influence his interpretation of all sorts of situations

as they arise and, through this, his responses. If his earliest e 3 q>erienees

leave him with an anticipation of hostilily^ he will act on this assumption

and approach adult relationships ^vith a “'chip on his shoulder” If. on

the other hand, his earliest experiences have convinced him of his ade¬

quacy to meet situations and of the general friendliness of tlie world in

which he finds himself, he will face new sitiuitions ^sithout anxiety and

bo able to evaJtiate them and meet them realistically. If his early en¬

vironment is neither hostile nor friendly, but indifferent, the tj'pe of

environment which is created by most institutions which have to care

for small children epi iriasse* he is likely to develop a subconscious an¬

ticipation of futility based on his failure to elicit any sort of a response

when he was a small child, and to have his energies sapped by constant

anticipation of failure. Research on die personality characteristics of

individuals in different societies, which is one of tlie newest develop¬

ments in the anthropological field, indicates that these are by no meaiis

empty speculations. The perj^ouality norms for members of different

societies do differ, and the normal type for each society, in the sense of

that which is of most frequent oecurreneo, is of the sort which one

would expect the particular society s techniques of child care to produce.

 

No matter what the method by which the individual receives the

dements of etiltnre chEiractcristic of his society^ he is sure to internalize

most of them. This process is called enctr?^uffltion. Even the most de¬

liberately unconventional person is unable to cscsipe his culture to any

significant degree* Thus, anyone who has become acquainted with the

free spirits of Greenwich Village must recognize that theh uncoaven-

tionalitv is almost os thoroughly patterned 0$ the conventionality of

Park Avc, Their revolt against bourgeois culturo has merely produced

another subculture within the general American pattern, Th^ ^ndJ^ndual

imagination cannot be sufiScienlly divorced from its culturally dominated

experience to permit any really profound originality. Cultural influences

are so deep that even the behavior of the insane reffecls them strongly*

Thus, Napoleon and Julius Caesar are rarely to be found in asylums to¬

day^ having given place to Hitler or Frankhn O. Roosevelt- Mysteria^

 

 

■ 40 ] Part Two: EvottmoKABY Procibssbs

 

which may legrtimalcly be regjirtled as manifestations of the tmeon-

sdous. are so thoroughly conditioned by etdture that the distribudcni of

the various types can be mapped iu time and space os accurately as

those of fashions in dress. Thus, the fainting lady of the eighteen-fifties

is as extinct today os the Mcxlel T Ford, and demonic possession ended

when witchcraft vanished from law codes-

 

In spite of the diorough enculturation of tlie individual, he still

retains the capacity to think and to devise new forms of behavioir itt

response to situations for which the patterns of his culture are Inade-

epute. Enculturation merely limits the conceptual took with which he

can operate and the directions in which he will think. Tlio individual is

the irreducible variable in every social and cultural situation. He is the

yeast in the cultural brew, and every new clement of culture can be

traced buck ultimately to some individual's mind.

 

 

 

Processes of Culture Change

 

 

All Cultures, even thft simplest, seem to be in a contiiiuous state of

change. The earlier anthropologists assumed that ciilturcs \vith reb-

tively simple technology and politico] structure represented only slightly

modified survivals of the ancient conditions of our own ancestors and

for that reason dubbed lliem primitive. Also, largely as a device for

simplifying theix own tlicorelicfll studies^ they assumed that such cuI-

lures were static or nearly so, persisting unchanged over long time

periods. Actually, we have plenty of evidence tliat this Is not the case.

Not only do all archeological records, fragmentary as they are. show

change through time, but wherever esplorers have visited a “primitive"

tribe at intervals of a generation or more, their reports show that changes

have taken place. Since there is always the possibility that these changes

may have been set in motion by the first c-xplorer’s risit or by contact

with other Europeans during the interval, the archeological evidence is

more reliable. From this it appears that changes in technology, the

only part of culture on which it provides conclusive evidence,

cjeedinglv slow duxiug the fitst of huitiau existence. Thou-

 

sands of years seorn to have gone by without tlie introduction of any

new tool or appliance. However, during the last twenty-five or thirty

thousand years, there has been a progressive speeding up of cultural

change. Certain curious features of this speeding up process will be

 

discussed later, . c ,

 

in their operation, the processes of culture change fall into a definite

 

sequence. The first step is the presentation to the society of a potential

addition to its culture. This is foUowed by the new dements acceptance

or rejection. If accepted, there are further processes of modificatjon and

intceration by which the new element and the pre-ejusting culture are

brought into adjustment. Lastly, there is usually, but not always, the

 

 

4^1 PoTt Two: EvOLimON^ARY Processcs

 

clmiiTiiitiDtt of an older culture etemcnt or elements whose functions

have been taken over by the new clement.

 

A potential elemctit of culture may be invented or borrowed p In

citlier case, the new idea or appliance odginates with some imJivjdualp

or at most with a small series of individuals who have eitlier pooled

their ingenuity to solve a. problem or contributed improvitig details

during the development of tlie inventlonp There can be no invention

without an inventor. The main difference bshveen Invention and bor¬

rowing 15 that if the new thing originates within the setting provided

hy the society and its culture^ vve refer to it as an invention^ w^hde if It

has originated in some other society and has been taken from another

culture by the group under consideration, wc speak of tlse process as

culture borrowing or as the diffusiaii of the particular trait. The actual

processes of acceptance or rejection and of integration will be the same

in either case, although the attitude of the receiving soefe^^ toward tlie

one in which the patential element originated may influence acceptance.

 

One of the problems which has mtTjgued philosophers for many

years and i.vhich is still debated today^ largely liccatise of its itivolve-

ment with totalitarian doqbincs, is whether the inventor is a free intel¬

lect operating on his own initiativ^e or w^hether he is merely an agent of

society. In support of the latter position, totalitarians point to the fact

that inventions seem to appear at the times w'hcii societies need them.

ThuSp again and again, mechanical devices designed for the same pur¬

pose and veiy often employing tite same principle have been invented

at approrimatdy the same time by sevcml differcrit rnen working in¬

dependently. Also, when any element of culture faik to perform its func¬

tions adequately^ new dements which will meet the need usuiiillv seem

to be invented or borrowed. If only this evidence is consider^, (hr

conclusion that the inventor functions simply as an agent of his sodetj^

is almost inevitable. How'cver, there are other factors which make this

conclusion much less probable. In the first place, a successful invention

ts not simply one which will work and fullill the purposes for wliich it

w as designed; it must also be one w hich will he accepted hy the sociely

and integrated Into the culture. Unless this second step occurs, the in¬

vention is stiD-boin, In non-Htcrate societies or, before the days of patent

offices, e\en. in literate ones, the invention which was not accepted w^as

permanently lost. The phenomenon of invontoris responding to the needs

of their scJcictScs is thus in most cases more apparent than real. If the

inventor were merely a social agent, he would scarcely produce device.^

for which his society had no need and in w*hieh they took no interest.

Nevertheless, we know that mniurierable inventions of this sort have

been made. The famous notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci are a case in

pomL Here he amused himself by sketching devices, most of which

 

 

Vm Processes cf Culture Change [43

 

were' uiKjU'Pstiotiiibtv worksible, but most of which in tnrti were ticv'er

even constructed until the reoeut fascist Italian regime built them for

prestige and exhibition piiqjoses.

 

In sumniruy, the inventor is quite capable of operating as a free

agent and may invent witliout reference to his society s needs. At the

same time, any deficiency in his society s culture will be recognized by

him and by otliers and will therefore give direction to the exercise of his

itivcntivo ability. Moreover, if the deficien^ is a significant one, ^bolh

the financial and prestige rewards for the individual who remedies it

are likely to he more considerable than those for one who devotes his

attendon to some problem in wliieh the society is not particularfy in¬

terested. consider, for example, the rewards wliich would accrue in

OUT own society to an individual who, in time of increasing gas shortage,

produced a carburetor which would double tnileage to the gallon, with

the rewards for the inventor of a new technique in non-objective paint-

 

iog*

 

In the case of either inventions or borrowings, an important role m

acceptance is usually pbyed by an individual whom we may caU the

innovator. Inventors themselves are rarely good salesmen. They tend to

be too heavily involved with problems other than those of publicity.

The innovator sees in die invention or in the boirow'cd, clement an op¬

portunity for personal prestige or profit or for those disinterested good

works so deeply suspected by the modem student of personality. In any

society, the innovator who is of high social rank has a great initial ad^

vantage. This fact is reflected in our own advertising campaigns, where

 

 

 

Tllli: IKESrfc'lGIENT <^UH

 

 

4+1 Part TttJo; Evolutionarv Phockssbs

 

tlie products are alvrays described as being used by wung society ma¬

trons or men of distinction rather than by waitresses or boiler makers.

 

Although we belong to a society whose culture has been undergoing

changes unparoUeled in esttent and rapidity for the past 200 years, we

actually know surprisingly little about the various factors involved in

the acceptance or rejection of new culture elements, Verv few case

studies have been made. We are accustomed to think of the'utility of a

potential culture element as the most miportnnt factor dFecting its ac*

ceptance, but this is certainly an oversitripliRcation. Utility is a highly

rtdative matter. The potential effectiveness of any new appliance de¬

pends upon the ability of members of the society to operate it, or at

least upon the difRculty involved in learning to operate it. Thus, a gun

in the hands of a native who usually fires with his eyes shut is consider¬

ably less dfident than a bow and arrow. Similarly, such a culture ele¬

ment as the parliamentary system is likely to be much less effective *Hiin

a dictatorship among a people who have been accustomed to authori¬

tarian control within each social unit from the family up.

 

One thing which we can be sure of is that a ucw culture element

which is congruous svith the preexisting value system uf the society will

he accepted much more readily than one which is not. Again and again

one Ends that tlie acceptance of institutions or devices which would

seem superior on a purely' titilitarian level are blocked because the new

thing controverts some existing values. Thus, during the Crimean war.

 

tary ethjcs were enough to insure the rejection of Captain Dun-

ready's highly practical suggestion thut the Malakoff could he taken

without loss by using a few ions of coal and a few hundred-weight of

sulphur when the wind would blow the fumes into the fortress. Again,

during a post-war period when most Etiropean nations suffer from a

marked shortage of males, a simple and effective ansvver w'ould seem to

be to legalize the instttution of polygyny. There are abundant examples

of this institution to be Dbserv<ti in contemporary societies, in most of

which it seems to function efficiently, yet certain values of our iJwn

Culture preclude its acceptaitcir.

 

The importance of the innovator's social status in determining a

society’s acceptance or rejection of new things has already been men¬

tioned, In the case of borrowed elements, similar considerations extend

to the society w'ith which the new element originated. Every society

looks up to some otlicr society for its reaJ or presumed superiority along

certain lines and at the same tijne regards it as inferior along others.

Thus, women's fcishions, svith the possible e.xccptio[i of those in the

.sports Geld, are presumably better designed by the French than by

anyone else. Men's fashions, on the other hand, arc presumed to be best

designed by the English. Germans are. or were untd recently, regarded

 

 

V, Proce.sses of Culture C/i«ngc [45

 

as pre-eminent in the field of chemicaJ inventions^ Even before World

War I[, no one would have tried tp popularize eitfjer ttien's or women’s

fashions in the United States by uniiouncing that they were of German

origin, still less to launch a new chemical product as a French invention.

The initiid prestige which attaches to an object because of its place of

origin nr the social level of the Innoxators who accept it first will have

profound effects on the willingness of the society to incorporate it into

its culture.

 

One of the most important factors in conncctinn witli the diffusion

of cultural elements is that they transfer from one society to another

almost exclusively in terms of tlicir form. In other w^ords, the borrowing

society copies particular patterns of behavior os it apprdwnds them,

usually without understoading their original culture context. The new

clement is thus tronsfoTTL-tl at the objective Icwcl and comes into the

receiving tullurc strippwl of most of the meanings and associations

which it carrietl in its original context. The assignment of new mean^

ings is one of the most important iisiiects of the integrative process. In

this way, new elements can lie made intelligible to the members of the

receiving society and can be adjusted to its existing values. Thus, in

British Columbia, the Eagle and Beaver trade-marks of the Astor and

Hudson Bay Companies were used as crests hy leading families trading

with them. Excellent examples of this sort of reinteiiiretation can be

seen not onlv in cotiiicctioii with the transfer of tcclinicjues but also and

particularlv'in the effects of the transfer of religions from one society

to another. To understand the way in width forms may be reworkr^

to become congruous with preexisting attitudes, one need only study

the history of Gliristianity and its progressive modifiratioiis as It passed

from a Jiwish sect, to a proletarian secret society with mutual aid as-

poets, to the state religion of Imperial Rome, and ultimately to the war¬

like barbarians bevond die Roman borders. Surely, in spite of a simi-

brity in outward fonns. it would be hard to find a greater coulrasl than

that between primitive Christianity and the dot trines taught byits

founder and the elaborate ritualistic religion wluch sired die Cr^ades.

 

Tlic last process involvt’d in culture change is that of the elimina¬

tion of older culture elements. This elimimtion is much less complete

than on.* might anticipate because of the factors of multiple function

which have been discussed elsewhere. It is very rare for a oew culture

element, ev.m after its integration into die culture, to be able to take

over all tbe functions of die element whose main function it is assum¬

ing. For example, although the rille and pistol have long since replaced

the swore! in Us original weapon functions* the sword still swfvtvk as a

piece of ceremonial parapbcnialia. carrying %vilh it i^soebtions of aris¬

tocracy and military command. In die introduction of new nou-matenal

 

 

Part Two: Evolutionary Processes

 

 

461

 

c^lcincfits we find a someu'^hat simitar situaiioe. The sacred of an

old religion stirvives as foMore when the former worshipers have be-

came apostate. The deities of the older faith fuse witfi the new gods,

and in due course of time one finds them with their names changed^

perhaps, but with most of their old attributes intact.

 

One of the most interesting aspects of culture change is the variable

rate at which it proceeds. The pattern, as revealed lo us by history and

archeology* indicates that in many mUtures long periods of slow change

and relative quiescence have alternated with periods of ejtcecdingly

rapid change and development The most significunt of these periods of

rapid change liave been associated ivith the introduelion of new tech¬

nological processes such as agriculture nr^ on a smaller scale, iron work¬

ing, which opened up obvious new eulhire possibilities w'hich the society

was quick to esrploit fEosvever^ there have been numerous periods of

rapid cultural development which arc not correlated vdih any such

fundamental technological changes. All educated Europeans will recog¬

nize such examples fn the Great Age of Athens or the Italian Renais¬

sance in our mvu culture Une, but everything indicates tliat these were

not isolated instances but ratlier eitamples of n gencml tendency. The

causes of Such periods ore stiil very imperfectly understood. In the

southwestern United States the use of tree ring dating has made possible

an accurate reconstruction of the chrnnology- In this region there seems

to have E>een a long period during which, in spite of the presence of

coni and rather casual agricitlture, the culture remained at a low level

with a sparse population occupying small settlements. Technological

development was minimal; such appliances 05 pottciy, the iaom, and

the bow were lacking Suddenly, in about 750 A.n., the cultvire began an

extraordinarily rapid development which^ by the year 1000 a.d.^ had

carried it to a cultural level equivalent to that of the Historic Pueblo In¬

dians.

 

In Egypt we have indications of such a period of extraordinarily

rapid development at the bfiginning of the dynastic period. For hvo or

three ceniuries the rapidity of change was almost comparable to that

in our os^m society at the present time. For instance, the largest and

most skillfully constnictcd of the pyramids was built within 150 years

of the time that (he Egyptians first began to use stone in any form of

construction. Coupled with these technological advances went the in-

vetition of fdabonite techniques for the exploilntion of die peasantry and

(he diversion of their economic surplus into religious ehannels. Appar¬

ently these teebniques became too effective, result Jug in widespread

hardship and+ finally^ social revolt, and a period of confusion follmved

from which Egyptian culture etnerged In very much the form It kept

for the next thousand years.

 

 

V. Proce&si^s of Culture Change [47

 

The rea^oDS for these sudden upsivings Ln culture seem to be highly

varied, but In each situation one can detect the presence of factors

which resulted in a sudden nelcasc of energy. In the culture

 

of the Southwest, the only new factor which appears at the beginning of

the period of rapid advance, is the cultivation of beans. One is tempted

to believe that this crop^ by providing a large source of proteins, estab¬

lished the local food economy on a sound basis. Com and beans provide

a nearly balanced ration on which any population enn live with a few

supplements from wild plants and small game. Tliis, in common with

unexploited soils and a rainfall possibly somewhat heavier than at pres¬

ent, resulted in a more ample food supply, a rapid increa.se in popula¬

tion, and corresponding energy release. In Eg>'ptp the sources may be

sought partly in an Asiatic invasion shortly before the beginning of the

dymastic period which seems to have introduced new ideas. However^

this ill itself would not liave resulted in the marked Increase In energy

necessary to exploit these ideas. Since there was no change in the ba$lo

economy as for as we know, it seems probable that the establishment of

centralized government and the elimination of the constant wastage m-

volved in the wars between the Nomes was the significant factor.

 

Between these periods of rapid growth there is alwa\^ a slow tide

of change going on. Because of tlie phenomenon of fixation of interest

during a grovvth period, there is a tendency for the culture to concen¬

trate on one or a hw lines of development wdiile paying little attention

to the rest. This results in increasing disharmony within the culture,

wliich in turn has a braking effect on the speed of cultural growth. As

the disharmonies within the culture become increasingly pronounced,

more and more of the society's energy and resources have to be ex¬

pended oti makeshift adjustments until the period of rapid change

gradually grinds to a halt. Our ovm %ocicty would seem to be in such

a period at the present time. Its ticmendous and still accelerating de¬

velopment of science and technology has not been accompanied by an

equal development in sodak economic, and politleal patterns. If nothing

else, our unwillLngtiess to deal realistically w ilh the problem of war, even

in the face of modem atomic developments, is likely to bring this period

. of rapid scientific advTince to a close simply by the destruction of the

eennomic surpluses upon which the leisure required for scientiEc in¬

vestigation and the funds required for laboratory apparatus depend.

 

In the past, the^ periods of rapid advance have been foUowed by

much longer periods in which the main energies of the society have

been devoted to sorting and integrating the new culture elements whidi

ha\e been developed Or honored during the period of rapid advance.

Part of this process consists in the eUminatiou from the culture of many

of the alternative patterns and. in some cases, the dropping of new cul-

 

 

Fait EvOi.UTlOKABY PrtOCESSES

 

III re elemetits which experience shows cannot he successfully integrated,

 

WTiile one hesitates to eit^aluale the importance of cult tire elements

of different orders^ it must be admitted that a combination of technology

and nahJial environment seems to set the frame within winch other de¬

mists of culture have to be integrated. While technology docs not in-

dicate any single line of 'cnlturat development or any form of institution

as the only possible one, it nevertheless establishes a condition of limited

possibihtics. So long as there is no fundamental change in technology^

variations in other elements of the culture vlll be limited in both their

direction of growth and their scoise. It is intercstijig to note in tliis con¬

nection that the Greek concept of the cjTlical nature of history' was

thoroughly justified in terms of the time span for which they had in¬

formation. As long as Creek culture depended upon rather crude tech¬

niques of hand manufacture, with die additional handicap of slave

artisans and their indifference, the cycle from monarchy to <lernpcracy

to oligarchy to tjTanny to monarchy again would almost inevitably re-

peal itself time after time. On the other hand, by opening up possibili¬

ties for further de\^cfopmcTjt^ a basic invention or series of inventions iri

the technological field may result in exceedingly rapid and fur-reaching

changes outside technology'. Note the startling changG$ in many areas of

ouf own culture set in motion by the development of mechanical trans¬

portation from railroads to airplanes.

 

If one observ'cs the development of culture as a whole, three really

revolutionar)' (echnological advances can be recognized. First, the

epoch-making potentialities opened up with the first human departure

from the animal conditiou, the use of tools and the dornestication of

fire. Second, tlic domestication of plants and animals followed in X'ojious

places in both the Old and New ^Vorld by exceedingly rapid ctilturiil

advances leading eventually to the development of the city, one of tlie

most revolutionary social inventions in the wdiole of human history.

Third, what may be termed the domestication of power based upon die

ability' of man to produce po^ver at will and, with few exceptionSj wher¬

ever he needed it, as distinct from llie earlier use of the wild pow'cr of

wind or water at the points where it w'as available. Intimately linked

with this has been llic invention of tlic scientific methods which prom¬

ises increasing control of many other aspects of nature. We are now in

the early phases of this tliird period and xire only beginning to explore

the potentialities which it offers for developments in our ^tiirc out¬

side technology, particularly in ttie social, political aud economic fields.

It is safe to predict that even two or three centuries from now, such

soda] inventions as modern-ty'pe Capitalism, Fascism, and Communism

will he regarded as primitive experiments directed toward the adjust*

ment of modern society to modern technology*

 

 

Chapter VI

 

 

Cultural Evolution

 

 

StNCK 'tiiE DISWJX-ERV of principles of biological cvolubon, there have

been repeated attempts to apply a similar concept to the development

of culture. It is obsioiis that there has been a vast am^nt of culture

change and enrichment throughout human history. The problem »s

wheSer tins diangc and enridiment shows any consistent direction or

s«iucnccs of events which have been repeated in numerous cdtnral

lines. If it can be shown that such is tlie case, we can say ^

 

velopmciit of culture follows cvoluti«nar>' prmeipl«. and it should

possible to extrapolate from the direetton of past developments to fu-

 

ture firmly con vinced of the existence of such

 

principles and believed that all cultures had p^secl

same successive stages in their development. They even attempted to

classify all cultures according to the system they had set up. and they

regarded the so-called primitive cnltur^ as examples ^dupment

arrestc-d at various stages. The work of later anthropologists has defi*

 

nitelv disproved the theory of arrestment. All ^

 

equdlv long history and, as far as we know, no cu tore ever reaches a

rtate of co^lete stasis. The so-called prinntive cultmes merely repc^

sent the tcmUnal points of divergent lines of cultural development,

one point at which certain of Uie “primitive coltmcs of today can ^

said ^ resemble early stages in the development of

technoloev and its social consequences. As %ve have not^, the state o

tcchnolodcal advance in a society, particularly *e techniques rt em¬

ploys for^gclting food and shelter and manufaehinng necessary oh,ecte,

doLm to setirtain broad limits to the forms winch son^ fo¬

ments of the culture may assume. For exam^c. it «

people who live by hunting and food gathering con ^

 

Eng with his accompanying court and ritual trappings. This type of

 

 

49

 

 

Fafi TuXf: EvOLtmoxAHY Processes

 

 

sol

 

political structure has as a prerequmte a settled popubtiaa with a con¬

siderable economic surplus. Again, we find that organixed city life has as

a prerequisite the development of agriculture and of techniques for the

transportation of goods in bnlfc* In the absence of these no large con-

centradon of population can be victualed. In other words, the tech¬

nological basis of any society' does not indicate a single form for each

of the other associated institutions, but limits the number of possible

forms and rul^ out certain forms altogether.

 

Much of the confusion with regard to the application of evoUi-

tjoimry theories to culture phenornena stems from the failure to realue

that hinnan culture fi$ a w+hole is made up of many cuIitiTCs. The sihm-

tion is closely similar to tliat found in living foim^, where there are a

tromeudous variety of Species, Genenak Families, and Orders. In the

case of cultures^ die resemblances of even the most diverse forms so far

outweigh the cidferenccs that they should be regarded comparable

to the Species and Genera of a single biological Family. We know that

in the evolution of life certain fundamental principles have been at

workp but that the end results of the operation of these prindptes have

been profoundly different Thus, the meohanlsin^ of chance mutations

and natural selection, operating through different gene aggregates and

envixonmentSp have produced such divergent forms as the elephant, the

ostrich, and the bee. Each of these can be shown to have evolved from

simpler forms, but in order to find any organism ancestral to all of them,

one w'ould have to go back to the level of the annelid worms.

 

The actual processes of cultural evolution are those already de¬

scribed in the discussion of culture diange given in the prerious chapter.

Tliey can be regarded as cTOlutionai)' only insofar as the changes which

have gone on in culture show some definite, fairly consL^tent direction.

In the evolution of cultures, as in that of living beings, the change proc¬

esses have bcen^ in general, directed toward a better odfustmenl of the

socia! organism to its environment. This holds for a large majority of

cases^ although in culturab as in biological evolution, there are examples

of degenerdtion, of nondunctiDnal elaborations in response to previously

established trends* and of hypeTtruphies*

 

In the nonoal course of cultural evolution adjustment has involved,

first of all, an mcreosing control of the natural environment through

technology. Coaeuirent with this has been the adjustment of the non-

technologicol aspects of the culture to the conditions created by the

interaction of the environment and the technology. In this, cultural

evolution is quite comparable to that of living organisms, flowcver^ it

is one of the pujqding aspects of evolution in both culture and Hiving

forms that certain trends appear for which no practical explaudtion can

be founds and that these trends may continue until tliis results in h}per-

 

 

 

V/* Cultural [S*^

 

trophy. At the biological level, there appear to be a number of examples

of species which actually developed certain features of their structure

to a poiiit where they were deleterious to the survivul of the spedes in

any ravironment The enormous horns of the Irish elk have been cited as

an example. This feature of hypertrophy seems to be associat^ with

the closing phases in the evolutionary development of Families and

Orders. After such animal groupings have reached the climax of their

development, they tend to proliferate odd and often apparently non¬

functional characteristics. It has recently been suggested by one scientist

that our own spedes represents an example of this same phenotwnon.

The long established anthropoids, whose great period was the Miorei^,

in the Pleistocene produced a spedes. homo sapieia, characterized by

cerebral hypertrophy. In plain English, man is an ape with a

active for his own good. Anyone observing the developments m the Bdd

of modem warfare will probably agree that, ns has so often been toe

case, this particular type of hypertrophy tlireatens the existence of the

 

species.

 

 

 

mlS H EXiK

 

 

. r

 

 

I

 

 

 

 

5 *]

 

 

Part Two: Ev'Oi.LrrjONAfiv Processes

 

In thtf de\‘e)opnient of inilture obo, we have numerous exiimples of

hypertrophy. In our discussion of the organi/jitton of cultures wc men¬

tioned that each society has certain dominant interests about which it

tends to elaborate behavior. Such interests and elaborations mav be

carried to the point where they become authenticafly non-function a!

and where they es en interfere with the successful operation of other and

more nceessaiy aspects of tlie culture. Our own soeietj' would be an

excellent case in point, since our preoccupation with tcchiiological de¬

velopment has led to a neglect of soda! invention which may well prove

catastrophic. For example, our tremendous interest in mediaaics has

resulted in an exceedingly rapid increase in production potential, wliilc

at the same time we have failed to devise any aderjuate teclmii^uc for

the distribution of die products of this potential. At the present moment,

ivar or the preparation for war seems to be (he oidy u'ay by which w'c

can keep onr industrial maeliine opi-rating at full production capacity.

Although a considerable part of our population is still badly clothed,

boused, and fed, our distributional technii^ues arc still so faultv that run¬

ning the [udustrial plant at full blast in peace time results in overproduc¬

tion, unemplcyment and economic pwiilj'sis.

 

Turning to less advanced cultunrs, w'e find similar examples of

hyperirophy. The Southwestern hidians had developed ritualism and

ceremonial observances to tlie point where tliey actually took up most of

the time and energy not employed in (he business of food-getting.

Among tfie Indians of the Northwest Coast, the struggle for wcaldi to

be used for purposes of ostentatious waste anti prestige enhancement

overshadowed all other considerations, so tjiai nil activities came to be

evaluated in economic terms. Among (be Kwaliiiitl. even marriages were

regarded as forced loams. Theoretically, the bridegroom forced the bride

price upon his wife5 father as a loan to he repaid with interest and the

wife was given as the first instullment of repayment. If the marriage was

TOngenial. the son-to-bw took care to force other gifts upon his father-

in-law from time to time, thus keeping him in his debt. If he failed to

do thus, the marriage was not necessarily dissolved, but n svotnan who

did not return to her own family under these circumstances was referred

to contemptuously as one who “stayed for nothing ”

 

Like living forms, cultures seem to have begun with a few differ¬

entiated lines. If there was ever a time wlicn all humans shared a single

culture or even a group of closely simtIiU’ cultures, no traces of this

peri^ have so far been discovered. Tfie nearest approximation to it

would be the widely distributed pebble and flake cultures of the Erst

inter-glacial, and even these show numerous local variations. At the very

beginning of implement design, different traditions of stone working

were followed in different parts of the world. Unfortunately, technologi-

 

 

 

VJ. Cfiltural Emlution

 

 

[53

 

c»I development h the only part of the culturaJ record which is avail¬

able for most of human Iiistory and even in this the record is e^icceedingly

incomplete, sinee all groups make many of the thiiig$ which they use

put of perishable materials. One can draw only g few condusions as to

thi" social and Intellectual life of a people from die archeological record

alone. One may, for example, conclude from the finding of sevcml

beartlis at the same level in a cave diat several fatni[ie:s probably occu¬

pied it simultaneously. This in turn would suggest that there mn^t h^\e

been some sort of social organization and some in-group larger than the

Family itself, but it is t|uitc Impossible to say what the actual structuring

of either the families or the larger society was. In the same way, when

we find a Neanderthal skeleton buried in the sleeping position with

weapons and die hones from a supply of meat laid beside hlm^ we may

conclude that the Ncfmdcrthal people had some heHef in sun^v-al after

deatli, but It would be quite impassible to conjecture what their picture

of heaven might be.

 

It is only w'hen we reach the level of recorded history* beginning at

the earliest about 4000 B.<x in Egypt and the Near East, that we can

begin to fill in tlie larger part of the picture. Even here, imfortunatelyp

several millennia passed before the ihlngs which die modern anthropolo¬

gist would like most to know about were written down. Writing in its

inception wus a tool for die glorification of gods and kings. It was only

when, in the hands of die clever Semites* it was proletarianized through

the inv^ention of the alphabet and applierl to everyday bu^iaoss, that we

get records of what people actually diought and felL

 

hi spite of its innumerable deficiencies, human history as a whole

does show certain sequences as normal, though not universal. Thus, as

far as we know, hunting and food-gadtering preceded food^raising in

ever)* part of the world. This does not mean that in certain cultures

there may not have l?een a rcnersion from fned-raising to hunting and

fcwd-gathering. Thus, after the intmductlon of die horse, a number of

Iridian tribes, who bad previously been agricultural, reverted to a purely

hunting existence. Similarly, the development of agriculture and settled

village life everywhere prt*ceded the emergence of the city+ In tech¬

nology we find that the use of stone seems to have preceded that of

niptaj in d] cases, although here again there are isolated instances of

reversion. Thus, on the isLinds of Matt)- and Dorour on the northeastern

edge of Melanesia, there was no metal in use at the time of their dis^

CO very. Nevertheless, certain of their tools and particularly their weap¬

ons were accurate copies of meUxl prototjpes* the metal forms being re^

produced even down to such details as rivetheads can-'ed 00 the hiuidles

of wooden s^vords- In the development of metal-workings fn ttim* there

seems to have been a fshly uniform sequence bcgiimirig with the use

 

 

Part Two: EvoLimoNAfiY Processes

 

 

34I

 

of native metak^ copper, gold and,. r;ajfelyt silver and meteoric iron+

which could be worked cold. This was followed by the development of

forging, follow^ed by smelting and castings with tlio rapid invention of

bronze and other allo^^s. Iron working noimally came considerably Later

in the sequence. However, here again exceptions can be noted in par-

tieuloT cultures. In Mebnesia, because of European contact^ Use popti-

lation passed directly from stone-using to iron-u^ing m the latter half

of the 19th century, [n Africa a ssmibr sciiuencc can be noted. There

appears to have been no Bronze or Copper Age on the continent south

of the Sahara^

 

In social organization and reUgion the sequences appear to be much

less constant, although the devetopmenl of certain forms must have been

inhibited until the emergence of the necessary economic base. Thus it

is safe to assume that the earliest human beings everywhere lived in

small scmi-nomadic units composed of several families. The size of such

units %vould have been sot by the available food supply. We may further

conclude on the basis of patterns found among modem food-gatheiing

pcoples,^ as w^ell a$ mammals in general, that each of these earliest buman

groups occupied a fairly definite Icrritory, moving within it seasonally

and according to the abundance or lack of food in various parts of the

range. Both the high mobility of domestic anlmabusing nomads and

tile permanent settlement of agricultujiii villages must have succeeded

this early semi'Uomadic type of Ufet but it is impossible to place these

two as constant stages m U general evoludouary series. They represent

divergent developments from a common base.

 

The study of $uch developmental sequences in particular aspects of

culture would corTespond to the study of the evolution of pi^icular

organs in biology. No corresponding sequences can be shown for the

development of cultures as wholes. Even in die evolution of technolog)'

two significantly different trends are evident, [n one of these, technologic

cnl advance centers upon perfection of the appliances used and involvos

a scries of improving inventions often extending over many centuries.

Thus, the development of European w'caving involved the progressive

improvement of the loom beginning widi the simple weaving frame

and terminating in the modern multiple hcddle power-driven apparatus.

In the other line of development technological advance rest^ primarily

on the acquisition of manual skill by successive generations of workers.

Ail outstanding example can be found in the case of Peruvian tertUcs^

where both spuming and weaving rctnaiiied mechanically primitive.

The Peruvians nev^er even invented the tlirown spindle, but n'lade their

thread by a finger-twisting process, with the spindle semng primarily

as a reel. In the same w^ay^ their loom remained of an exceedingly simple

and primiElve type from start to fLnjsb. However, without improving £tic

 

 

VI. CuliuTal Evolution

 

 

[ss

 

appliances, they were ahlc, through development uf greater and greater

manual skill, to produce thread as Gne or even finer than that which

can be produced by modem machinery, and to duplicote on their simple

looms every tvpe of weaving known anywhere in the world, plus a few

unique local forms.

 

Of these hvo trends, that toward apparatus perfection leads to

greater procluction witli less labor. That toward perfection of manipula¬

tion may lead to a superior product hot is prodigal of labor and soon

reaches a developmental dead end. it is iatcre^ting to note that the first

line of evolution seems to be characteristic of many Old World cultures,

while the second is more characteristic of New World ones.

 

Another pattern which is frequently encountered iu the evolution

of technology is a tendency to increase the number of materials used

while reducing the number of purposes for which each material is used.

Tfie culmination of this trend can be seen in modem plastics or alloys

tailored to ser\e a single purpose. This multiplication of materials is

frequently coupled with an actual loss of technica] skills in working a

particular material, since such skilb are no longer required* An eiLam-

ple of the last would be the progressive loss of skill in the making of

chipped stone implements which characterised tlie late phase of stone

implement making in Egy'pt at a time when stone tools had been re¬

placed by metal for all except ritual purposes. This trend is w'eU il-

iustratal by the archeological record from western Europe. Here all

but the last phiaes of tlie Old Stone Age (Paleolithic) witnessed a

steady improvement in the utilization of fiint and related stones.

Throughout the svhole period, up to and including the middle Paleo¬

lithic, such stones were chipped and flaked mtire and more skillfully,

with a steady increase in the number and varietj’ of specialized forms.

At the close of the middle Paleolithic one flint working skill, tlie abPity

to produce long, slender blades, continued to develop, but skill in shap¬

ing small implements by percussion diminished as the demand for such

implements declined. Stone now gave place at many points to hone,

atitlesT, and ivory, materials which combined toughness witli hardness

and w'crc actually better suited than stone for such things as svedges,

favelin points, and hatpoqns.

 

Still later, in the Mesolithic, the number and variety of chipped

stone objects decreased still further, even the large, relatively slender

blades and gravers of the Upper Paleolithic giving ^^ce to small straight

edged flakes. This transformation in stone technique has led certain

investigaton to conclude that the Mesolithic was a tcchuologically de¬

generate era, However, the occasional finds in peat bogs indicate that

the declines in stone working and the reduction of tlie number and

variety of bone and antler implements was actually the result of the

 

 

Pari Two; EvoLimoNARY Pjiocesses

 

 

5S]

 

invention of a new teehnJque of tool making in which small flints wtTe

set into a wooden base in order to give a cutting edge. Such composite

tools combined the toughness and ease of working of wood with the

harder cutting edge of stone and as such were superior to clther There

is good reason to beliei^e that a parallel but difierent evolution took

place in Southeastern Asia during the entire period from the first use

 

 

 

SOimi SEA WATfVES WTTH JEEP

 

of stone artifacts to the introduction of metal This tropic region offered

a variety of hardwoods^ and especially hamboOn Bamboo is an invaluable

matejial for knives and projectile points. Its hard, siligious coal gives an

edge which cuts on the same prindpJe as the edge of a highJy siiied

piece of paper and is almost as effective as metal for cutting any soft

material Bamboo arrow and spear heads arc fully the equals in effec¬

tiveness of either stone or antler ones* The stone implements from

Southeastern Asia show a striking continnitj' for many thousands of

years, remaining crudely shaped and relatively iinspecialu;ed* When well

made chipped stone implements, such as knives and projectile points, do

appear in the region toward the close of the Slone Age, tliey seem to have

been introduced by migrants coming from the north or west. In this

case, the presence of bamboo apparently precluded the developnicdt of

the finer types of stone^working by either percussion or pressure Baking,

and when chipped stone implements do appear in groups whose cnllure

derives from the Southeast Asiatic area, thej' gi™ every indication of

having been reinvented locally or derived from simple onginals.

 

While the linkage of certain culture elements is fairly common, the

integration within cultures is loose enough so that some parts of a cul¬

ture may be highly evolved while others have remained simple. The

 

 

 

 

V/. Cultural Evolution ts?

 

situation here is further eompUcatfid by the factor of diffusion, so that,

as at present In some parts of the South Seas, groups who show a simple

vi]lage-t)'pc of otganizatioo and a Erm belief in the validity of magic

are also good mechanics, repairing jeeps and motor boats. Even where

outside contacts have not be^ significant, the tendency for disharmonic

development within cultures interferes ivith any clear picture of univer¬

sal evolutionary stages.

 

To dte a few examples of such disharmony, it is generally taken for

granted that agriculture is a prerequisite for the development of settled

life, elaborate craflsmansliip carried on by professionals, and aristocratic

patterns of social structure. Ncs'ertheless, on the Northwest Coast, where

tlse only domestic animal was the dog and where agriculture was never

practiced, we find all these phenomena present in well-developed form.

Here the food economy w'as based on a combination of annual salmott

runs and berry harvests with techniques for food presen'ation. There

was liius an sde((uatc basis for permanent settlement The housing in

this region was more permanent than that of agricultural villages any¬

where in America north of New Mexico. The art reached a development

in both technique and ronceptuaUzation which has rarely been paral¬

leled by uncivilized peoples, while the social patterns were highly com¬

plex, with not only a hereditary aristocracy, but with techniques for

vertical molnbty through the ostentatious expenditure of wealth.

 

 

 

METATE

 

 

 

 

58 ]

 

 

Fart Twot EvOLUTiONAJif PrcxxsseS

 

 

In California, although the dcv'cbpment of culture \ms not as high as

on the Northwest Coast, we again find non^agriciiltiiral groups who

were as thoroiighlv settled as any people in the w'orld. Here the econ¬

omy leaned heavily on a natural crop^ acorns^ which could be stored for

considerable periods. The average California [ndian spent his life ld

one small area which his tribal m)thology informed him was the oenler

of the world and the place where it was created. In fact, the old men

could point out the spots at w hich each of the acts of creation had taken

place. With this pattern of settled life went highly developed patterns el

trade, property, and of social status based on wealth. In technology + the

basketry^ of the region represented probably the highest point to svhich

this prraluct was developed anywhere in the w^orld, but, for m recog¬

nizable reason, pottery was completely lacking in the area excqit at one

point on its sou them periphery' w^here it could clearly be traced to fairly

recent diffusion.

 

Turning to more elaborate milhires, wc find the Inca in South Amer¬

ica reaching an extraordinarily high development in technology, but

even mare in political organization. The Inca State was the first genu»

indy totalitarian state In historyv with an absolute control and benevo¬

lent care for its subjects which might be envied even by a Stalin. The

control was so complete that there was not even private trade or a

monetary system, and the ruler s recognition of the old adage that “Satan

finds some mischief still for idle hands to do” resulted in a tremendous

production of structures and objects. It is ako evident from the study of

the Peruvian sequence of cultures that these techniques for the utiliza¬

tion of labor rmd for keeping the entire population occupied in ail its

waking hours had the result of stultifying Ludividua! creative ability.

Throughout the reign of tlio Incas, the same things were done with

greater and grieater technjcsil skill and on a larger and Larger scale, bu^

with a progressive diminution of artistic merit and originality^

 

The same influences worked to stultify intellectual activities. The

Peruvians seem to have made no important advances in astronomy or

mathematics, and the examples of Inca literature which have survived

arc far from inspiring. Most curious of all, m view of the amount of

“paper work” inevitably involved in the administration of a large and

highly ceutralizfKl state, tliey never developed any system of writing.

They^ did have a feeble substitute in knotted string records, "quipu,*^

but these seem to have been simply appliances for keeping nccounts qnd

aids to die memories of a special class ol offipals whose brains consti¬

tuted tile national archives.

 

In contrast to this, the Maya, w^ho produced the greatest civilization

in Middle America^ never developed anything like liie Incas' tech¬

nological skill. Even at the time of the Spanish conquest, they were only

 

 

VL Culturat EiKJ^urton

 

 

[S9

 

 

beginning (t feeblo use of metal, nnd their buildings, although they

astonish by die ebboratiem of their decoration, shoived a poor under¬

standing of stnictural principles. Throughout their entire history, they

were never able to develop patterns for enduring political organization

on any bnsU larger tlian the tribe, and the energies of the civilization

Were wasted by constant internal wars. In spite of tbis, they developed

an art of amaring beauty and originahty, and a writing system, which

at tlie time of conquest, seems to have been on the verge of emerging

Into a true syllabary. They also made amazing advances in mathematics

and astronomy, among other things inventing independently for them¬

selves the use of zero and of notatioti by position. Their calendar vv^

extraordinarily elaborate and accurate, and the few books of theirs

which have survived show' a surprising understanding of tlie movements

 

 

of the heavenly bodies.

 

These are only a few examples of many that might he cited, but

they may sufBce to show the dilEcnlly of airanging cultures as whol®

in anything like a coherent evolutionary senes. It *s almost as cu t

to do this as it would be to arrange all modern species of animals in a

 

simibr order. . , , , i

 

At the same time, the existence of a definite direction in tlie devel¬

opment of culture would seem to be fairly weU demonstrated by the

numerous parallels between the Old and the Kew World cidtures.

Similar parallels between Old World cultnres can conceivably be ex-

nlflined on the basis of diffusion even when geographic distaiicc and

impossibilitv of direct contact would have made the transfer of culture

elements from One society to another impossible without other societies

acting as intermediaries. However, tlie emergence of the ^ew Word

civili^tionii was so widely separated from that of the Old World civili¬

zations in both space and time that any interchange of culture elements

would appear impossible. Thus, by the time die Maya civilization took

definite shape, Egypt which has frequently been suggested as its source.

 

 

wos already a Roman Prownce- . j

 

In spite of this lack of contact, the two sets of colWs do show

striking parallels which, it would seem, can only be explained on tlie

basis of some general trend in cultural development which we can

describe as evolutionary. Thus we find the Maya at a certain pomt in

tlieir development producing a system of writing which ev^n seems to

have followed the same steps in its development as those which charac¬

terized the earliest writing systems in the Near East. Again we tod that

the sequence of metals used in the development of metallurgy in Ainenca

paxalJels that in the Old World up to tlie ponit of iron working. Tlie

 

mnler of this development seems to have been

 

from which it spread to Mexico and Peru, All the Old World tech-

 

 

ica.

 

 

Parf Tu^o: EvoLTjno?«AHy Processes

 

 

6oJ

 

niques of metal workings except tbo^e involved in the use of tyori, were

developed independently with onljf slight differences. The Inca even

durried their nvetatlurgy to the poirit of being able to melt and

ptabnum. In view nf these skills, ono can scarcely doubt tliat If irotj nre

had been availahle in their territory, they vvould have carried America

on into the iron age^

 

In social and political organ izAtinti we see the emergence of theo¬

cratic rule among the Maya and of divine Idngsliip among the Itica, both

closely paralleling similar institutions iti some ol the Old World civiliza¬

tions. Even the concept of formal kw, with judges and trial procedure^

which is notably lacking in most Anierican Indian cultures emerged in

Mexico and Peru, probably as An una^'Oidnble accompaniment of the

development of urban life. This list of mscmblaaccs could be extended

considerably.

 

In the study of the evolutic^n of culture, it is necessary lor us to

substitute for any one evolutiontuy scheme a recognition of separate

lines nf culture evolving in various parts of the wnrld but following

somewhat the same developmenl^n] patterns. In spite of the complexities

Introduced into the picture by diffujsiao and by tribal movements, it is

possible to place most historic cidtia^s rebtive to one or another of these

main lines of development. Some of the basic elements in these patterns

will be examined in the chapters vvbich follow.

 

 

PART THREE

 

 

Basic Inventions

 

 

 

Chapter VII

 

 

Fire and Tools

 

 

The use of fire and the making and using of tools arc common to the

whole of mankind and differentiate humans sharp])' from all other ani¬

mals. Both of these go back to an excccdingljr remote period in history.

In fact, there is no ev idence of the use of both fire and took by subhu*

man species, presumably including our own ancestors, before homo

sapiens had been evolved. Both fire using and tool using have enough in

common, wberwer found, so that unnccesisary repetition can be avoided

by treating them in general terms before going into their more specific

manifestations in particular lines of cultural development.

 

The evidence for the use of fire by early man and even by various

prehuman groups is conclusive. Charcoal, being pure carbon, is hard

and indestmcUble, ^en buried, it will last indefinitely. Although in

some cases it may be impossible to tell whether charcoal is a relic of a

m-itural or a man-made Bre. it has been found under conditions which

leave no doubt that fire was actually used by prehuman species. Thus,

the lower Chukutien cave from which Sinanthropus remains have been

taken contains hearths, and some investigators believe that the South

African caves in which the older and less human Australopithicus Pro*

methens have been found show traces of Bre.

 

Fire is, of course, infinitely older than man. It may be started by

volcanic action, by lightning, by spontaneous combustion, or even by

the friction of two dry branches rubbing in the wind. Most aniinak are

afraid of it Man lamed it and utilijsed it for many millennia before he

learned how to create it. While there have been repeated travelers'

tales, first of tribes who did not know Ere and second of those who did

not know how to make it, none of these have proved true. At the same

time, any of the technologically less advanced peoples found fire-making

a difficult and laborious process. Fire, once kindled, was kept going for

as long as possible, a practice svhich is still characteristic of peasant

 

^3

 

 

Pori Tkreet Basic I^tv^ntions

 

 

64]

 

girotip$ eveiywherc m the world. Fire is not diffieuU to preserve by the

use of rotten wood, lichen, sterns with pithy centers, such as the dry

fennel stalk with which Prometheus stole Bre for man, and other slow

btimirkg materialsK Fire is regularly carried by such groups as the Aus-

trrdjjiu aborigines or the Oceanic Negritos when they move camp, while

among settled villagers die fire On the hearth^ unless temporarily ex*

tinguisbed for ceremonial reasons, is kept going for as long as the house

stands.

 

 

 

a: rxJLiTH Bt FUKT snUKe-A-uiUrtT wmi ndduix of pyrtte

 

Even our prehuman ancestors made stone implements by perevrs-

sion and must have been Familiar with the sparks produced by striking

two stones together. The resemblance between these and sparks from

n fire may have led to the first experiments in fire-making, hut most

sparks produced by striking two stones together arc not hot enough to

kindle tinder. Prior to the use of froti the Only materials which could be

used for striking a light were flint and iron pyritc. The? earliest indica¬

tions that we have of fire making came from the upper Paleolithic period

in Europe, probably not more tliao sg to 30 thousand years ago. Here

flints shaped for use as strike-a-li^ts and pieces of pyrite have been

found together in charcoal deposits. PjTite is available in only a few

places and most of the "primitive* fire-making appliances depend upon

the friction principle. This is employed in such diverse apparatus as the

fire drill, fire saw\ and tho fire plow. However, it is easy to convince any¬

one who has attempted to m^e fire by any one of these methods that

they could have been mvented only after such techniques as drilling,

sawing, polishing, etc. had been developed to a high degree. All these

 

 

VIl. Fire and Tools

 

proccsiics have to be canied do irapidly to generate enough heat to be

noticed and nil the friction mediods of fire making reqimc a type of

skill and, particularly, muscular control which it is exceedingly hard for

 

the amateur to attain. , r ► u

 

At the same tune, once the method of fire-making by frietjon has

been learned, it can be carded out with surprising speed. Oae of my

native Wends in the Marquesas repeatedly made fire for me in 45 sec¬

onds with the fire plow, one of the simplest Wetion devices. Even under

his careful tutelage I was never able to acquire the muscular control

needed to make fire by this method. It depended upon rapid strokes

with heavy- pressure, but with every stroke except the last of exa^y the

same lenrth so that wood dust could accumulate at the end of ^ slot.

The Iflirt stroke had to be not more than ^ of an indi longer than me

preceding ones, ff it was as much as % of an inch longer, the dust on

which the catching of the spark depended was lost and the whole pro-

 

oedure liad to be gone throtigh aguin.

 

Once fire had been tamed, it became man's most useful serk-aot, and

his coIlahoraloT in the earliest of cliemical processes and in a whde

scries of manufactures. We are ]yr0oe to think of the main utility of fire

 

 

 

FTHE SAW

 

 

 

 

 

66] Pari Three: Basic Invet<tioks

 

to earliest man in tenns of light and heat. However, these were probably

less important than some other things. The earliest semi-human fire

users uiero denisons of tropical or warm temperate regions, conditions

under which heat was not too important, and tilcc many of the stinpks-

peoples today, th^ probably rose and lay down with the sun.

 

Fire may have assisted in giving protection against targe carnivores,

but its main value was certainly in connection with technology. Several

European writers have eipatiated on the value of cooliuig as an aid in

the tenderizing of meat, an idea which reflects the troubles of modem

man ond his dental bridgework. Even today, such people as the Eskimo

live largely on raw meat and 6nd no difBeulty in masticating it. Actually,

any form of animat food w'hich can be eaten cooked con he eaten taw,

with the possible exception of a few sea foods. The difference is simply

a nutter of jaw muscles and taste preference. The real importance of

fire to the food supply lay in its lue in the preparation of vegetable

foods, especially those which pcnnitted of preservation. Fruits are prac-

ttcoUy the only plant foods which can be consumed without cooking,

and this does not even hold for all of these. While fruits swell the se^

 

 

 

fhie mtiu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VJI. Fife and Took

 

 

[67

 

 

 

 

rmE PLOW

 

 

Mnal food supply, most of them cannot be presented and are a^-aikblc

tlirciughotit the year only in tropieal regions ^

 

Roots, which lend themselves better to storage, with vei^ few ex¬

ceptions require cooking to make them edible. Even sue ^

 

sugar beets or potatoes can cause imcomfortable mtesb^l up^ls if

formed raw. Taro, the great staple of the Polpesians, is filled with

salicylic acid cry stals which make it exceedingly irritating unless cooked,

while manioc, die staple crop of the South American jungles, contains

hydrocyanic acid, an exceedingly deadly poison which has to be de-

stnned by beat. The various seed crops such as grains and legumes are,

with few exceptions, quite inedible without cooking. These are the cr^

which lend themselves most readily to long lenn preservation and stor¬

age and which, therefore, arc a sodety's best insurnnce against f^me.

■Aey are also forms which, first as ivild plants and later as domesticated

ones, range far north of the tropics. It was the use of fire whi^ made .t

possible for our ancestors to change from the predominantly ^givorous

Set of our anthropoid ancestors to (he predo^nant y seed and root

diet of our own species. By making many new food plants ava, able it

increased the food supply and also extended the human ranp into more

northern latitudes and into arid regions where the hca^ sUrch supply

characteristic of the seeds of many desert plants could become a human

 

earliest technological use of fire was in connection with wood-

 

 

Pari Three: Basic Im-ENTiONS

 

 

68 ]

 

working. Poles cotilcl be pointed by caiefol bomlng and scraping away

of the char, while, if they were nradc of green wood, the process also

served to harden them. Green sticks could be straightened by holding

them over die fire until they began to char and tlien, wdule they were

still soft* laking the corves out with hands and teeth. In the shaping of

wooden utensils, fire was also invalnsble. The discovery that fire which

 

 

 

SMAFLVG A POLE

 

had once taken bold on a block of wcN^d could be controlled and di¬

rected by blowing through a hollow reed seems to have been made inde¬

pendently in many places. With the use of this simple appliance and a

flint flake or sliaqj shell for scraping away the char, it was possible to

hollow bowls and canoes and shape articles of furniture. By this method

an expenencicd workman could shape objects with surprising precision.

Eiccept lor the length of time mvolvcd, it was fully as effective as the

work that could be done witli non-metal cutting tools.

 

In the clearing of land and the felling of timber for use, fire is also

highly effective. Trees of any size can be brought down by kindling a

fire at the root and then scraping away cliar and guiding the fire as it

gradually eats into the trunk. Where a long stick of undamaged timber

is desired, the upward spread of the Bie can be controlled by plastering

wet clay across the top of the scarfs Craftsmen skilled in this technique

can even tlnow a log in the spot they want tt to fall with almost the

precision ol a skilled a?eeman.

 

 

 

V//. Fire and Tools [69

 

Needless to sav, fire is the basis for most of the more elaborate Uter

developments in Icdinology. It has made possible first pottery, then

metallurgy, and eventually a treraetidoiis number of technological proc¬

esses which depend on chemical reactions which take place in the pres¬

ence of beat.

 

The use of tools or, more correctly, the making and saving of tools,

reflects the peculiar qualities of the human miod much more direedy

than does the use of fire. The use of took is not an exclusively human

characteristic; the great apes employ sticks and stones which may come

to hand for poking and pounding and some very curious examples of

tool using have been recorded even among insects. However, as far as

we know, there is no animal which ever shapes a natural object to adapt

it for use as a tool or which saves an object which has been used once to

use again. The human tool is one more manifestation of the cunous

quality of the human mind which makes us conscious of past and future

and able to plan our beliasior with an eye to both.

 

 

 

TRFJj; CUTTIKC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fart Three; Basic I inventions

 

 

70I

 

Eveti the simplest tools require some little skill for their munufac^

ture, as will be discovered by anyone %vho tries to duplicate e^^eu siicti

a simple object as a properly balanced club or stone chopper, Ttie wide

range of tools and appliances which are made by the members of even

the simplest human societies is made possible by the univem) pattern

of Specialization. Even in those societies in which there are no profes¬

sional or semi-professional artisansi all ordinary manufacturies are dele¬

gated cither to men or to women. Moreover, this sex division of labor i$

much the same wherever it occurs. Sucli utuversal patterns derive from

universally present facts, such os tlie greater size and strength of the

male, and his greater activity based on the diHering roles of the two

sexes in connection with the production and care of children^ These

factors unquestionably led to the earliest differentiation in food gather¬

ing activities. This must have beguti at nn extremely remote perioci The

m^es became the main provriders of the animal foods, since they were

able to run dowm their pi'ey and engage it in combat The females, being

hampered throughout most of tlictr adult lives by the presence of infants

either in iflcro or in arms^ w^ere unable to engage in such active pursuits

but were able to collect vegetable foods and shell fish. Their share of

the food quest frequently required heavier and ecrtamly more continu¬

ous bbor than did tliat of the male, but it dfd uot require the sudden

spurts of unhampered activity. Although at a relatively late period in

human history the involvement of men in agriculture somewhat shifted

this original division, the ancient pattern is still reflected In many of out

customs. Thus to this day iu the American family dinner the meal is

placed ill front of tlie father to he served and the vegetables in front of

the mother^ This is a folk memory' of the days when tlie father collected

the meat with his spear and the mother the vegetables with her digging

stick.

 

The division of manufactiirics reHects both the differences in

strength and activity and also the foci of interest of the two sexes^ Thus,

the manufacture of tools and weapons is everywhere a male occupation,

even though such work as the making of stone implements, which can

be carried on on a sedentary basis and most of which requires skill

rather than strength, would seem quite as well adapted to female as well

as male potentialities. Going a step further^ woodworking is nearly al¬

ways carried on by man. Men also make woven artifacts which require

real strength in their manufacture^ for example the mats of flattened

bamboos which axe used in many parts of th^ tropics for floors and

house walls. Woman everywhere make ordinary' mats and baskets-

Woman*s universal association with basketry^ may stem from the fact

tlial most of tlieir collecting activitieji Involved die transportatLou of

numerous small objects such as fruit, seeds* and roots, while anyone who

 

 

 

V/Z. Fire and Tools [7^

 

has attempted to transport a healthy nude infant will recognize that the

tronsportatioa of such an active and slippery object can bo greatly

facilitated by any sort of container that will ser^’e to immobilize it- A

finiil relatively constant item of primitive women’s equipment is the dig¬

ging stick, made in a surprising variety of forms, hiade by men, since

it is of wood, it is wielded by women and serves them both as a tool

and a weapon.

 

At more complex levels of culture, women also make pottery and

weaw, but since these culture elements are lacking in several lines of

culture development, we will not attempt to deal with them here.

 

One who reads any of tlic numerous descriptions of the life of very

ancient man must be struck by the Importance attached to stone tools.

In fact, the first of the great periods into which human history is usually

divided ts knosvn ns the Stone Age, This is not because early man used

stone so much more than be did other materials. A glance at the cave

man s actual equipment would probably have shown wooden dubs and

spears, bark baskets, skin bags and fur clothing, with only an occasional

stone knife, semper, or chopper. However, everything except the knife,

scraper, or chopper was mado of perishable materiak. Only iftone^ anil

later bone, Iws survived for the record. Early man's stone implements

were mainly used for making other things. They were primary tools, like

the modem axe, hammer, plane, and knife. Also, it is interesting to note

 

 

 

 

AX WEIGHTED DICCINO STIC^

 

 

B: VVODtsEN IlOe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

part Three: Basic lNVE?moNS

 

that all our modem hand toob were developed long before the dawn of

history, and that most of them have changed tlicir original forms vciy

little.

 

There are three main types of stone tools; grinding stones, so ob¬

vious that they are iisually o%erlookcd in listings, chipped look, and

pecked and ground tools. The first two go back to the very earliest

^riod in human history, while the third appears much later, A grinding

stone is simply any piece of rough surfao^ stone which can be used to

smooth and shape a piece of softer material. It was used much as we use

sandpaper and did not have to be shaped. Sucli stones must have been

employed at a very early time for wood working and later became the

main instiuments for bone working. Grinding stones are bard to detect

in archeological deposits since the only shaping tJjcy gel comes from

use and most of the rocks which make good abrasives are soft and break

up easily.

 

Chipped Stone took are made from rocks which, like glass, give a

smooth, sharp edge on fracture. Actually, glass is the best material and

when the first telegraph line was run across Australia it became a prob¬

lem how to keep the natives, who were still living in a stone age, from

stealing the insulators to chip into knives. This was solved by dumping a

load of broken glass and crockery at the foot of each pole so that the

native could get his raw material without having to climb for it. Ob¬

sidian, a volcanic glass, is the best natural material, and Stone Age peo¬

ple often traded it over long distances. Obsidian from the Yellowstone

often shows up in Ohio mounds. Obsidian from the Island of Melos was

traded alt over the eastern Mediterranean during the New Stone Age

and made the island rich until the mtioduetion of bronze tools brought

technological unemployment. In most cases the stone chipper bad to Ijo

content with flint, jasper, or the still coarser grained cherts and quarta-

ites. In general, the finer grained and more homogeneous the stone, the

more perfectly implements made from it could be shaped.

 

In the simplest sort of stone chipping the workmatj takes a piece of

glassy, brittle stone and a smooth pebble of dense, tough stone to use as

a hammer. With the hammer stone he strikes off large chips from the

brittle stone. Such chips have sharp edges and can be used as knives or

scrapers without reworking. What is left of the stone after the chips have

been struck off is knowm as the core and iliis also eaa be usisd as a heavy

tool for chopping, especially If some nf the chips have been struck off in

such a way as to leave the core with a sharp edge Or point.

 

While chips can be used "as is." they often come in inconvenient

shapes. One of the early steps in tlie development of stone workhig was

to leam how to strike off hlbdes, long narrow strips of stone, sharp on

both edges. In making these, one end of the piece of ^assy stone was

 

 

 

AUSTHAUaN AEORICIS^ ACQUTBtSC RAW MATEPlAS^

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

74 l

 

 

Part Three: Basic iN^vtuvnoNS

 

 

 

 

HAl^OfEe STONE OUPPINC

 

broken across to get a flat surface^ called a rating platform. The work-

man then struck dos^ on tliis flat surface fust back froni the edge. Each

blow, ii deltvered at tlie right angle, would knock off a blade roiining

the length of llie piece* With good material and "know how"" such w'ork

went very rapidly. Eight or ten blades could be struck off in a minute.

The core was thrown away when it got too small to give a good striking

surface, Tlie blades could be used undl dull, a matter of only a few

strokes, and tlien broken Into lengths and shaped into arrowheads,

scrapers and so forth.

 

Surprisingly delicate shaping could be done by light blows with a

small hammer staue. but tlie high point in stone chipping technique

came with the invention of presmre flaking. This was the method used

in making all but the crudest American Indian knives and arrow beads.

The workman took a large flitke or blade and held it in the palm of his

left hand, resting on a piece of buckskin. TheiiT ^vith a bone about four

inches long, ground to a narrow chisel edge at one end, he pressed down

on the edge of the flake, forciog off a chip. When he had gone urgurid the

edges of die flake on one side, he turned it over and treated the other

side in the same way.

 

The mnking of chipped stone implements is by no means a lost art,

as many curio coUcctors have discovered. In skilled hands the work goes

wdth surprising speed. Given good materiak an excellent knife or arrow-

 

 

VII. Fire oTid Tooh l7S

 

head can be made in half an hour and a serviceable one in half that time.

Wlien an Indian lost his arrow he grieved much more over the shaft and

feathers than over the easily replaceable stone point.

 

While an Indian arrowhead is a good example of stone chipping,

the ordinary Indian axe is an equally good example of pecking and

grinding techniques. Although stone implcmenU made by this method

appear v'Cry late in hnninu histoiyT it requires much less skill than stone

chipping, To make a stone axe, the workman takes a piece <rf stone

which is hard and dense and ivill not break like flint. Granite is good,

basalt better, and jade the best of all. Then with another stone he bat¬

ters its surface, pulverizing it and knocking off little pieces until it has

the shape he wants. Lastlv. he grinds down the rough surface with sand*

stone or sand and water and sharpens the edge by rubbing on a flat

rock. If he puts in a few extra hours of work polishing, it will not cut

better but be may feel liappier when be looks at it. A serviceable stone

 

axe can be made in about eight hours. , , i, ♦ i.i

 

Pecking and grinding stone go best when they can be handled like

fancy work, and this may be the reason why the technique did not come

into use until so late. A man who was always on the move would not

want to carry an uuBnisbed implement around with him for weeks so

 

 

 

that he could work on it in his spare time. Ground and polished stone go

best with crops, cattle, and a house ssbere one can keep the tool and

bring it out to work on xvhile one talks to a friend. ^

 

The slowest and most laborious t)'pe of stone working was

drilling. Shallow hales could be drilled with a chipped stone point This

gives a conical depression quite different from the mark of a metal drill

and such depressions are a good guide for determining whether rtone

objects are ancient or modem. Deeper boles were made by dnllmg from

 

 

 

701 Fart Three: Basic I>rvEfcn(>?tfs

 

both sides, but even with this tiecbnique chipped drills were of Ult!e use

w'hcn the stone was more than ao Inch thick. Deeper work was done

with a tuhuhiT drill made from a reed. Sand and water were fed to the

bottom of the drill and the shaft spun between the palms* Of course tlie

soft reed wore aw-ay verj' much quicker than the stono, hut reeds were

plentiful. By this method the kter stone age people of Europe pierced

their axes for hiind,les and the Egyptians hollowed out stone bowls

and jars.

 

The .\merican continent played nq part in the development of

either stone took or stone working techniques. By the time its first hi¬

tlers arrived, some tw^eoty to thirty thou^^and years ago. at the outside,

all the basic inventions in tlifs Geld had been made. The Americans de¬

veloped a few impravements in axes, designed to make them easier to

haft, and a fluted javehn point which had better penetration than the

simple chipped type, hut tljese seem to have exfjausted their ingcnujty.

 

Shapes of band tools have a surprisingly long life* With every sort

of tool there goes a collection of muscular habits adjusted to it. A new

tool form requires the development of neiv habits. Even when the new

tool is better mode and more efficient than the old one. the trained

worker finds it annoying and it takes hiiri same time to adjust to it A

friend of mine who was an occupatjon officer on Okinawa reports tliiat

the Okinawans were quite tinabk to American saws but with their

o%vn^ which had rough blades and straight handles^ they eouJd do as

good work as any American carpenter.

 

We are brought tip to eonsidcr religtoiis observances as the most

conservative part of our culture. As a matter of fact the real centers of

cultural conserv'ahsm are not the church but the kjtcheti-drawer and

tool chest. Christian paraphemalia and ritual trace mainly from the later

Homan Empire, while the wooden spoon^ the combination. ELmnmer-

hatchet, tlie chopping knife and many other objects of eveiydiiv use have

come down with little change in form from the European Neolithic,

 

Side by side with the development of tools, used to make things*

went I he development of weapons^ used to kill things. It has become an

anthrupnlogical convention to speak of our subhuman and first human

ancestors as helpless prey to comivorous animakr Actually, these

cestors were themselves dangerous carnivores, more than a match for

most of the animals they encountered. They had strength, ititelligetice

and the characteristic primate love of destruction for its own sake. If

reports of recent South African finds are to be trusted^ some of the pre¬

humans used weapons even before they used tools. Cave deposits show

thigh bones of big animals nicely suited for use as cluhs, bashed in

baboon skulls whose fractures fit the thigh boiies> and horn points which

would have made good daggers.

 

 

VIL Fire dru? Toois

 

 

Irr

 

By the time our anct^tor!: rcucbcd the huiiiiitL level they ccrtamly

had dobs and speiirs and knew how to throAv stones. They were able

to develop such aggressive e^ension of the personality partly because,

of theh intelligence, partly because of tlicir upright posture and free

s^^inging shoulder joint. Only primates can and only anthropoids

 

and humaiLS can throw really well. While the sword and axe are im¬

provements over the stabbing spear and dub, the real ei’olution of

weapons has been along die lines of increased range. The harder, the

straightcr, and the farther a missile can be hurled, tire more satisfacioiy

it is for bolli offense and defense. Even the atom bomb speeding tow^ird

its target in a jet plane is only the most recent step in an unbroken de^

velopmcntal series w^hidi began with the cast speiir and thrown stone.

 

One of the first additions to this primordial equipment was a cen-

trivTince knu^vn as a bolas. flemoins of tliis w^eapon have been fonnd in

Middle Paleolithic sites and it still survives in use in far South America

and among the Eskimo. It is made from a oollection of w'cights, usually

three, each of which is attached to a cord and all the cords tied together

at their ends. In use, the thrower giusps the cords by the central knot,

whirls the bolas around his head irnd lets drive. The weights spread

 

 

 

nLLtNO BIHDS Wmi THE H>tAS

 

 

 

 

 

Part Three: Basic Invejjtions

 

 

 

 

7S]

 

 

out as tliey fly through the air, like the spre^uJing charge from a shotgun.

When a cord or weight strikes anything^ the &ghl is arrested and the

whole apparatus ^Taps itself about \vhatever has been struck.

 

Another verj*^ ancient missile weapon was the $hng. To the present

younger generation llie name suggests something made from a strip of

inner tube and a forked sticky but tlie ancient weapon w^as even simpler-

It was a strip of skin or woven fiber i^ith a pocket near its middle in

ivhich a stone could be placed. One end of the sling was wrapped

around the lasers palm while the other end had a knot which was

grasped betwwn thumb and finger* In throwing, the sling was whirled

around the head and the knot released when the stone reached the right

point in its swing. The longer the shng, the greater its range and the less

its aceumey. Some of the Melanesians who lived in fortified hilltop til¬

lages used slings she feet or more in length, whirling them over the edge

of to wars constnicted for the purpose. Such weapons were effective for

spray-ing an advancing force at tong range but could not hit any particu¬

lar target. In several parts of Oceania the natives had discovered that a

cigar-shaped sling stone flew farther and straighter than an irregular

stone and carried nets of prepored ammunition into battle with them-

It takes long tiainkig to become an expert slinger, but tliis simple

contrivance can be a deadly weapon in the hand;* of a man who knows

how to use it Admiral Porter^ who fought the Marquesan natives in the

early eighteen hundreds says that their slung stones were almost as ef¬

fective as musketry fire. The Anlandroy of Madagascar are expertSp and

while in their territory I had the pleasure of hearing a native missionary

preach of I>avid and Coliath. After a round hy round description of the

fight which few radio announcers could have bettered, he concludedt

“Now^ my friends, what do we learn from this? Any one of us would

have had better sense than to attack a siingor in the open when we were

armed only with a helmet and breastplate and a jsword, a shield and a

spear, Goliath whs an experienced warrior and yet he did lhi.s. My

friends, this slmws that God takes away the brains of his enemies.*

 

The speor-tlirower was a companion contrivance to the sling and

one which employed the same armdengthening prindpJe. The spear*

thrower itself was a straight piece of wood with an inward pointed spur

at the end. The javelin used with it ha<l a depression in the butt end to

fit this spur. In making a east, the spear-thrower was swung up and overi

pushing the javelin fonvord and approximately doubLlng the force and

range of the same spear thrown by hand. This weapon was certainly

older than the bow. It was used by tlie Upper Paleolithic people of

Europe and by the ancestors of the American Indians and is still used

by the Australians. Although replaced by the bow in most places, it has

some advantages. A heavy javeliu thrown with it at short range has

 

 

VIL Fire and Tools TTQ

 

j^reater penetration and shocking power than most arrows. The Aitw

and their neighbors in the Meucan Plateau kepi the spear-thrower for

military use although they used bows for hunting. They wore heavy

nuiltcxl armor which was largely arrow proof but could not stand up

against javelins hurled with the athtl Ohe Me-vicun name for spear-

thrower), Even the Spaniards deveioped a healthy respect for this

weapon, which could drive a javelin through a steel breastplate at point

bLink range-

 

The bow and srraw seems to have been Inv^intol later than the

spear-thrower but its origin remains a mystery. No one has been able

 

 

 

TTnSOTlVttt (atT-ATL)

 

 

to suffiest any useful appliance from whidi it could have been dev'cl-

oped. Its distribution strongly suggests that it vras invented at some or«

place in the Old World, perhaps the work of some primitive Edison- It

did not reach America until long after the Brst settlement and never drd

reach Australia. It was known evei:y>vhere in SoiithcMt^Asia and the

islands of the Pacific, but in most places it failed to “take as a weapon,

being used in hunting and sport. This may have been due to the patterns

of head hunting and. less universally, cannibalism which existed in

tliese regions. When the retd aim of the fighting was to get beads and

meat, there was little point to picking oil the enemy at long ranp.

 

It takes considerable skill and experience to make a good bow and

arrow and the first w^eapon of this sort must have been relatively in¬

efficient. Unless the early archers used poison, like the modem Bushmen

and African Pvgmies. they could have done little damage to either b.g

game er human enemies. However, as time went on the bow was de-

 

 

Sol Three: Ba^ic lN\Tv>rnoN'S

 

velciped Into the most efficient weapon known prior to the nuidem re¬

peating rifle and rcvoiver. The bow lacked some of the range and pene¬

tration of the earlier Greanns, but it had other advantages. A moderately

good archer could shoot a quarter of a mile and loose ten or more ar-

roivs a minute, while an expert could do much better. As bte as the time

of the Spanish Armada, English longbowmien, some of whom stUi sur¬

vived in the back districts, outranged the Spanish arquebus men as well

as blanketing them with the speed and accuracy of their fire. The real

reason that the bow went out of use in Europe seems to have been the

rise of military conscription. It takes only a short time to train a man to

toad a gun and fire it toward the enemy, but a good archer lakes as long

to develop as a good golfer and has to keep hLs bow-ams in shape by the

sanic sort of constant practice.

 

Bows are of two sortsi self hou», which are rrmde from a .single

piece of springy wood, and composite bom, which arc glued together

from various combinations of springy materiiils, Self bows are best for

damp climates, and both the old English long bows and the bows of tbe

Indians of the eastern United States were of this type. Composite bows

seem to have been developed in northern Asia, where good bow-wood

was scarce. The earliest ty^ was of plain wood reinforced with a heavy

cord of twisted sinew along the back. Later this was changed to a layii

of sinew spread out and glued to the wooden body of the bow. Still later

bows were built up from layers of hom and wood laid on each other like

the leaves in a modem wagon spring, and the whole sinew coated. The

great advantage of this last type was that, without sacrifice of range or

penetratioti. it could be made short enough to be used on horseback.

 

 

 

 

COMPOSITE BOW ( WoOD AND HOItN)

 

 

 

 

VII. Fire and Tools

 

 

[81

 

Such bows become the main weapons of the nomads of the Asiatic

steppes and wno largely responsible for the repeated victories of Huns,

Turks, and Mongols over European armies. The longest flight shot on

record, over eight hundred yards, was made with a Turkish bow of this

type. The classical Creeks borrowed the composite bow from the Scyth¬

ians, and its prcttliar double curve when strung has been immortalized

in the conventional picture of Cupid s bow.

 

 

 

 

C)0^irOStTE BOW (w'ooo AND RAWUIDb)

 

 

Even the club has had its developments as a missile weapoii. These

full into two types: throwing clubs, which have a short, straight shaft

iuitl heavy head, and boomerangs, which arc Bat. curved blades, usually

with sharpened edges- Throwing cluKs turn slowly end over end in

Bight and the thrower most be expert at estimating the distance to his

target. Boomerangs spin in flight like a propeller. If the two halves of

the blade are given a slight twist so that their flat surfaces slope in op¬

posite directions, the w-capoo will circle out when tlirow'n and then

come back to tlie thrower. Needless to say it will not retiim if it hits

anything. Such return boomersngs were made by the ancient Egyptians

and modem Australians and were used by both for hunting birds. The

boonierang would be thrown across a flock of resting birds, flushing

them, and would then come back through them as they rose. Throwing

clubs of citlicr sort are inferior weapons for most purposes and have

continued in use mainly where better appliances were lacking.

 

With the development of tools and weapons there was an improve¬

ment in hunting techniques and On increase in the meat food supply

comparable to the increase that came in vegetable food supply with the

introduction of fire. In particular, with the spear thrower, the sling, and

the like it became possible for our ancestors to handle bigger and big¬

ger game. They developed, if we are to fudge from modern so-called

primitives, great skill in tracking and stalking and probably all sorts of

ingenious contrivances for getting near game- We know, for instance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sa] Part Three; Basic IffVEMnoNS

 

that such modem hunting people os the Bushmen used a most amusing

lot of disguises of one sort of anotliur to get In bow range of game. There

is one very famous Bushman painting showing a herd of antelope and

two or three ostriches; one ostrich looks Just like the rest except that it

has human legs. One of the Bushman's regular stalkiug tricks was to get

in an ostrich shin ivith a slick up through the ne<Jc: and then, imitating

the ostrich's movements, he could work up to the not loo observant

antelope from doum wintl. Also, very early, there must have hc?en the

surrounding of game, drives, and other cooperativo game enterprises

which had the effect of consohdating the community. A great many of

the larger animals and of the herd animals could be hunted proRtably

only in packs. It took several men to handle a mammoth. This, of course,

meant that tliere had to be orgonhuitton of the group and therefore

leadership and direction.

 

Tools. u‘hich made possible the manufacture of weapons, svere also

responsible for the development of traps. These were the first machines,

mechanical contrivances which could do the hunter s work for biro. How-

far back such appliauecs go is uncertain, but some of die cave paintings

In France show what may be either traps or houses. .\ti amazing variety

of traps were invented in different prts of the world, but nearly all

of them are based on one of the ftillowiiig principles or on some com*

oination of these principles: The Pitfall. This is simply n pit, with or

w'ithout a sharp slake set upright in the bottom. The opening of the pit

is eamoiiilaged with a layer of some light material, Anything that steps

on this falls tbrougJi. TJte Dead fall. This is a contrivance by which □

w'eight is dropper! on the game. The Cgiire-four trap used by farm hoys

to catch rabbits Is the most famiUnr example to Americans. Tlie Snare.

This is s miming noose which ti^itcns around the aniinal's neck or leg.

Very often the noose is fastened to some sort of spring pole which will

jerk the animal off the ground when it is caught.

 

To be effective, traps have fo bo ricsigned for particular sorts of

game and set with an uudersta tiding of their haliifs, A trap made and

set to catch anything will usually catch nothing. Pcculiniritics of behavior

in various species have resulted in die ilcvclopinent of some special trap

forms which do not fit any of the regular classifications. One of the most

gruesome of these is the euntrivnnee which the Eskimos use for killing

wolves. They take a bright new knife, sharpen it to a razor edge, and

freeze the hilt info a chunk of iCe so that the blade will stand upright;

then thej’ lay this dow-ii beside the game trail where wolves come. The

wolf will Ifqk any bright object out of curiosity. The wolf licks the knife

blade, gets his tongue cut, and tastes (he blood. .As a cut from a very

sharp iustrument is aot particularly painful, the wolf will proceed to lick

the knife until he cuts his tongue to pieces. Otlier wolves in the pack.

 

 

 

V//. Fire and Tools [8g

 

infuriated by the blood. wiU turn on him and then turn on each other,

A good many wolves can be disposed of in this way.

 

Another gruesome method is used by tlie Eskimo fcir killing befirs.

They take a double-pointed piece of springy whalebone, bend it dou¬

ble, and freeze it in a lump of fat. This is throivn out when the bears

come and since they bolt their food, some bear will swallow it whole.

When it is in his interior, the whalebone springs open as the fat melts

and the pointed ends pierce the bear's stomach. In due course he dies

of peritonitis.

 

 

 

One of the most amusing baps I ever encountered was in use in

Madagascar; it « also used in many parts of Africa. I was traveling

through the open veldt country in the southwestern part of Madagascar

and saw a ring of clav about six to eight inches across and about one

inch high, modeled on a flat rock. My native bearers explained that this

Was a trap for catching guinea fowl. Some ground nuts, which are like

peanuts except that the kernels are larger, rounder, and harder, were

put inside the circle, which served to keep them from rolling off the

rock. The kernels were a little too big for the guinea fowl to actually

pick up, but they would keep on trying. Every time a guinea hen pecked

at one and miss^. its beak came down on ihc rock. As guinea fowl are

persistent creatures, they would keep this up until their heads swelled

up and they went blind. Every day or so the owner of the trap would

come and bunt through the brush near the trap and pick np the dis-

 

 

 

84 ]

 

 

Port Three: Basic Isventioss

 

 

abled birds. This may be hard to believe, but any poultry rniser Imows

that th(! same thing can happen to chickens when they arc fed on a con¬

crete floor.

 

The use of tools and modified w-eapons, such as the harpoon, also

belpcxl rrtan to ^dd fish ta hi^ ^iiipply. As fsir as we can discover^ the Mr-

best men did rot use fish. There are no indications in Eiuope, where we

have the most complete records because of cave living, of fishing basing

been of any interest to humans untij the Upper Paleolithic, at most

t^venty to twenty-five thousand years ago. The use of fish probably be¬

gan with shore scavenging: picking up the dead fish that had been

washed in, gathering oyrierB and sea food at low tide, and now and then

catching fish by hand. Later all sorts of fishing techniques were devel-

opd. Large fish were speared and shot with the bov%- and arrow. Both of

these require a good deal of pracUce. because a fish is not where it ap

pears to be when looked down uiMii through the water, and to be able

to hit it the fisherman mm+ learn to estimate tlie nmoimt of refraction.

Various contnvaiiHis such as fish hooks and gurgie:s were dovdopL^* The

gorge is older than the hook and a simpler device. It is simply a double

pointed piece of wood or hone about an inch and a half long around

winch the bait is WTUppcti. The fish swallows the whole thing. As soon

05 tliere is a pull fjn tlie line, the gorge turns crossnise and the fish is

never able to get off. The only trouble is diat the fish must be sift own

in order to get the gorge to use again. Tliis ty pe of contrivance is still

used in a good many places with set lines.

 

Nets ajid fish bops were prohobly somewhat later developments.

Modern primitives have a great variety of hotli, tluT tx>inmooest net

fonns being dip nets and seines. Fish traps are usually based on tlie

pnnciple of making it easy for the fish to get into an enclosure or basket

and fiJtceedingly difficult for them to get out. When there is a consider¬

able nse and fall of the tides, large stone walled endomres which arc

under water when the tide is In, and dry or verv shallow when it is Out,

highly cfFecti^'^.

 

is important to the history of culture since, where people

developed su^ssful fishing techniques, it k>camc possible for tliem to

settle down. Fisbemen ceased to be nomadic long before the discovers

of food rajsmg and the domestication of plants and animals. Fishing also

opened up great areas for occupation, particiilarlv in the interiors of the

northern glaciated regions, which stretch all across Eurasia and also

across northern North America. These regions haw strings of glacial

lakes set in forest or tundra. Until fairly late in human hislorv when

people had developed snowshocs, skis, the toboggan, and so 'forth to

cope with the heavy winter snow of this region, the onlv way in which

men could survive here over the winter was to settle dtn^m around lakes

 

 

 

VII. Fire and Tools [Sg

 

or at spots in the river vhere the current was quiet so that the river

would freeze over, and get their food by fishing through the ice.

 

The use of tools and fire gave man an incomparably greater control

over hb environment than any other mammal. This made possible an

unparalleled extension of his range- There is no other warm blooded ani¬

mal which is so widely distributed, unless we count man's friend, the

dog, whom he took wiA him in his wanderings. In particuLar, the devel¬

opment of hunting cquipmenl made it possible for him to penetrate into

northern territory never reached by any of his vegetarian primate ances¬

tors. Man b able to subsist on a meat diet, and such groups such as the

Eskimo arc able to thrive in a region where the only possible vegetable

foods are berries, rock lichen, and reindeer moss* The last can only be

eaten after it has been processed by partial digestion in the reindeer’s

stomach. This tremendously wide spatial spread has also enabled hcmio

sapiens to convert itself from n decidedly rare spedes to an exceedingly

numerous one. There is no other large mammal nO'iiV extant which can

approach him fu Jiumbers. In fact, with modem science operating to pre¬

vent the operation of the factors which once held human populations in

lialance with their food supply, the most serious problem which con¬

fronts man at this writing is how to keep hb numbers down to the j^int

where the earth s resources can provide the average indivitlual with a

good life.

 

 

Chapter VIII

 

 

Domestication of Plants

and Animals

 

 

The iKVENTioN of food-mising udiered in the second great period in hu¬

man history. It transformed homo ssopetu from one of the rarest to the

most numerous of mantmahaq species. It also resulted in a treTnendous

acceleration iti the rate of cultural de^elopnienL This was no doubt due

in part to the surplus of time and economic resources which food-raising

made available, but it may also have been Jinked with population in¬

crease.

 

Everything seems to indicate that the enrichment of culture de¬

pends primarily upon above-average mmds which never form more than

a small fraction of die population: perhaps one in 3,000 would be a fair

estimate for most sodettes. These individuals seem to be mutants whose

appearance is quite uiipredirtahle. Their abilities are rarely inherited,

and they may be horn in any racial group and at any social level. There¬

fore. the larger the population, the greater the number of such mutants,

and consequently, the greater the potentia] for culture growth.

 

Early students of the evolution of culture believed that the dnmesti-

catiou of animals preceded agriculture. After man the hunter had tamed

his prey, according to their somewhat romantic fonnuktion, woman, the

plant-gathcrer and homemaker, gently diverted him from hunting and

herding and persuaded him to settle down to planting and plowing.

However, it seems fairly certain that, with very few exceptions, agricul¬

ture preceded animal domestication. It is almost impossible to tame ani¬

mals and attach them to a human group as long as this group is contiiiu-

ahy on the move in search of food. It was not until humans bad begun

to raise crops and settle down that they tamed most of the domestic spe¬

cies which we have today.

 

The most notable exception to this rule is the dog. The assodatJon

 

 

VIIL Doiiu’sfiCirtfoK of Pfenfs and Am’rnd^f [87

 

of man and, the dog began in Mesolithic tiniM and may weU have been

a symbiotic relationship. The dog, with his keen senses of hearing and

smcU, dodd track game and give warning of enemies and wjis rewarded

for tills by being diross-n the scraps of the hunters' feast. At the same

Hme, as any dog owner will recogru^r fh® personality patterns of the

two species were so similar that it w*jis easy for them to como to under*

standings and form mutual attachments.

 

The early stages in this association were probably much like the

situation which is found today among the Australian abongiiies. Here

ihere are both w’ild and tamed dogs of the same breed. When os Aus¬

tralian native wants a hunting dog, he goes out and catches a puppy

which, ss it grows up, is taught to help in tracking and finding wounded

animals. When the dog becomes fully adult, it usually runs away and

returns to its wild life. However, there are occasional dogs, especially

bitches, who become so strongly attached to the human family that they

will not run away. Such dogs and their puppies are highly valued and

are treated very much as members of society. Native women will even

nurse the young animals. Although fully domesticated straius of dogs

could be dc%'eIopcd in this way, the present arrangement must have ex¬

isted for a Jong time. Since man and the dog were the only large pla¬

cental mammals in Australia when Europeans oitived, the aborigines

must have brought the dog with them when tiiey came from .^ia.

 

The otlier exception to the rule that agriculture precedes animal do¬

mestication is the reindeer. These animals provide a rebable food sup¬

ply throughout most of far northern Eurasia in a region where agricul-

tuU is impossible. Because of the reindeer pattern of migration in dense

herds, it was possible for human groups to attach themselves to these

wild herds, protecting them from their natural enemies, tlie wolves, and

killiag from the herd with as little disturbance as possible when food

was needed. Heimieer are not difficult to tame, although they never he-

come completely reliable and have to be lebroken for use ofter a single

season free on the range- Their utilixation other than as a source of meat

seems to have been developed in imitation of cattle- and horse-using

nomad peoples to the south with whom the reindeer herders were in

contact.

 

The domestication of other animal species did not occur until hu¬

mans had established settled village life. There can be little question

that domestication began mtfa the keeping of pets, and that the original

motives were not economic. Even today, there are many uncivilized peo¬

ples who keep a great variety of pet birds and animals simply for the

amusement and emotional outlets which they provide. Young animals

are cute and appealing, The hunter who has killed a mother animal for

food often brings the cubs borne for his chfidren to play with. Young hu-

 

 

881 Three: Basic rx^T-vnoN-s

 

maos and young animals always have an affinity for each other. How¬

ever, ns animals of most species grow older they either run aivay or be¬

come troublesome and go into the pot at tlie first sign of food shortage.

 

Various species differ in their adaptabiJity. In order to become do¬

mesticated the species has to be tough enough to survive abuse and neg¬

lect, and capable of forming suffidcDtly strong attachments to either

people or places so that they will stay around the village even when un-

conhiied. Not all species are capable of this sort of adjustment.

 

It is important to note that the real test of domesticatiou is whether

a species will breed in captivity. Many animals which can be tamed and

even put to economic use cannot withstand this test. Thus, elephants

have been tamed and tised for at least five thousand years, [n the Cilga-

mesb epic, a Mesopotamian religious poem wliich goes back to at least

3500 a.c., there is mention of what must have been a tame elephant '‘that

shakes off its bJanket.’* Altliough the taming and training of elephants

are so ancient, until very recently it has been impossible to breed them

in captivity. Even now in Nepal, Burma, and other regions where ele¬

phants are used as work animals, great areas arc maintained as elephatit

prescr\-es in which the animals live and breed wild. The young adult

elephants can be trained easily when caught, and this holds even for

African elephants, who were never tamed by the natives.

 

It is an interesting fact that no economically significant animal sjjc-

cies was domesticated within historic times. As a matter of fact, a num¬

ber of species u'hich were domesticated at one time have been allow'cd

to revert. For example, the Egyptians herderl various species of gajttlU

and antelope with their cattle. However, these animals proved to be less

productive of milk and meat than cattle and their domestjeatiem was

dropped. The Egyptians also domesticated the hyena, which is c^uite

dog-like in its behavior, and makes a good hunter and tracker. It is hard

to say why the hyena was allowed to revert to a wild state unless its odor

was too strong for even the olfactorally callous early Egyptians.

 

The process of domestication of any species involves the ethnina-

tion of the wildest or most vicious individuals and the development of

docile strains. The animal which became troublesome or dangerous

would fac killed and the docile ones allowed to live. By thb process of

selection relatively gentle breeds can be developed even in naturally fe¬

rocious species. Thus, the lions bred in California for Hollywood use ate

getting Jess ferocious in each generation and also, like other Hollywood

stars, handsomer. No wild African bon cau show the smooth coat and

magnificent spread of mane of the Hollywood variety.

 

Early students of domestication were particularly impressed by the

physiological changes which can be observed tii domestic ooimals iji

contrast with wild ones. Domestic aniinuls tend to show a persistence of

 

 

Vlll. Domestication of Plants and Animals [Sg

 

{uvenOe characteristics, and their bony structure is lighter and the bone

itself of softer and spongier tosture. These differenoes ore pronounced

enough so that in ardrcologicol sites the bones of domestic ond wild ani-

milk of the same species can readily be distinguished. Similar conditions

were noted in the skeletons of wild animals kept in sooSt pMticulaxly

of those bom in captivity>

 

With the intnKluction of proper feeding, based on modem knowl¬

edge of nutrition, the differences between wild animals and zoo-hred

ones tend to disappear. It seems highly probable that in the initial stages

of the domestication process, plain malnutrition played a significant lole.

The tame animal, penned up and fed by its owner, or at leiist driven to

the pastures which he selected, did not obtain all the necessary food ele¬

ments in optimum amounts. It suffered from "hidden hung^" and the

resulting diminution in vigor must have mode it less aggressive and eas-

 

 

 

SOAY Sfl£EP

 

 

 

 

 

Part Three: Basic Intentions

 

 

90I

 

WT to handle up to the point whefe real domestic bsreeds were produced

by selectJon for docility^

 

The fact that we always refer to early man as a hunter and fotid^

gatherer reiects die importance whidi humans attnch to meat^ mneb

does the lirting of meats as the prlucipal dishes on any memx Actimlly,

early man Was not primarily a hunter except in those fortunate locallties

where game was plentiful^ or in the far north where vegetable food was

scanty or lacking. In most parts of the world human bdngs have de^

pended mudi more on seeds, roots, or fruits than on meat Tlie regions

wiiere food rabhig began were those in which the population was al¬

ready heavily dependent upon wild vegetable footk and w^here they had

become accustomed to tlie laborious processes Involved in gathering

roots and seeds. In places where gome wjis plentiful even the taking over

of agricultural techniques already developed ekcw'hcre met with strong

resistance^ since hoeing is a much less entertaining occupatiun than

hunting.

 

The full complex of plant domcsticalJoj] involves a w'hole series of

techniques: planting, adtivation, the use of fertiUr,er or fdlowing, and,

in arid regions, IrrigRtion. However, instead of a progressively logieal

ev^ohition of agriculture in which people always began by planting, tlien

learned to cultivate and fertilise, the distribution of these Lechniques

among living primitives is irregular* Each technique is found alone in

one group nr another as an initial step in llieir emergence from simple

food-gathering*

 

For instance^ In AustTalin, the natives made the discovery that if

they threw peelings and shoots scraped oil in preparing vrilJ yams in a

place w'here tlie soil was blacky they would find a yam patch growing

there when they returned to the camp site the follomng year. They ri*-

planted lops ddibcratclyi but they never cultivated or fertilized yam

patches. This haphazard planting was their only agricultural achieve¬

ment*

 

In British Columbia, on the other hand, the Indians did no planting

except for the oocasional scattering of tobacco seeds on burned-over

ground by some of the southern tribes. However, they prized sweet

clover and skunk cabbage as greens. The skunk cabbage Is one of the

first plants to appear in the spring and its shoots w^ere In demant! fur

cooking with dry salmon which had been kept since the previous spring

run* It probably improved the flavor, and woinen who discovered a good

patch of clover or cabbage w'ould fence it, w^eed It, and put up various

ingenious scarecrows to keep the deer away. Other w+omen would re¬

spect the patch as her property. However, it never occurred to anyone

to try to plant or fertilize such patches.

 

The use of fertilizer is one of the rarest agricultural techniques, yet

 

 

VllL Domestication of Flants and Animah

 

 

[91

 

 

it was used by the Indians of our own Atluntie coast. The New England

tribes put fl herring in each hill of coni when they planted, then went off

to hunt, leaving the com to its oivn devices untU they returned to harvest

any which had survived weeds and insect pests.

 

In the Rocky Mountain plateau the Paiutes neither planted nor euh

livatetl but they irrigated. They were fond of pig-weed, which th^'

used as greens in the spring and ns seeds in the autumn. The Paiutes built

small dams at the heads of shallow valleys to impound the wmter snow

water. The pig-weed grew in the valleys below the dams aud each band

had an official irrigator who made the rounds of the pig-weed patches

from time to time, and if they seemed to be getting too dty, would i»ke

a bole in the dam. let some water run down over them, and then fill up

 

the hole again.

 

It can be seen from the foregoing that there was no one neat pattern

in the development of agriculture. Eacli crop and each climate presented

 

its own problems which had to be solved.

 

Much study has been given to the question of where vanous pJants

and animals were domesticated. A highly ingenious theory has been

worked out by the Russians in connection with the doniesticatjon of

plants. This theory begins with the quite logical assumption that the re¬

gion in which the greatest number of related species and genera ot a

particular plant is found is the center of its evolutionary differenhati<m.

Similarly, the region in which the greatest number of varieties or re aled

species of a domesticated plant are under cultivatiim will presumably ^

the pbee at which it was domestieated. In die diffusion of an already

domesticated crop only a fe^v of the many oripal v^irjies will be car¬

ried to each new territory'. While thU would scarcely hold m mod^

limes with experiment stations deliberately breeding new vairelies, it is

probably valid for ancient farmers. By plotting the distnjution of vim-

ous plants on this basis it has been possible to estabhsb the probable

points of domestication for most economieaHy importent crops Unfor*

iunatelv the Russian insistence that all science should be apphed science

has made them limit their researches to climates from winch plants

could be introduced into Russia, There is still little information on the

 

 

origin of tropical crops.

 

It is higWy significant that in the Old World large numbers of crops

can be trac^ to a few areas which are also those significant for animal

doincstication. It is thus possible to speak of centers for the development

of food-raising, with orUy a few outlying plant and ammal speaes to be

 

accounted^ development of food-raisiog the region extepdlng from

Northwestern India across Asia Minor and south to the Red Sea and the

Sinai desert was of outstanding importance. This region constitutes a

 

 

ga] Part Three: Basic iNV-EsmoNS

 

single ecological area characterized by light seasonal rainfalJ and a con-

tin entnl climate with marked difference in winter and summer tempera¬

ture. Fortunately for the spread ot the type of culture developed hert%

such climates produced species which are highly adaptable and which

can be acclimated to life even in far northern etiviromnents. The only

climatic conditions which they cannot stand are those to be found in

humid tropics.

 

Seven to eight thousand years ago this whole region seems to have

been park country. Either the rainfall was considenibly more than it is at

present or runoff was less, for much of the land which is now desert was

covered with grass and supported game. However, game was not plen¬

tiful and the population seems to have relied heavily on grass seeds for

its food supply. The region contained a great variety of wild grosses,

among w'hich were the ancestors of our modem wtieat, oats, rye and

barley. There were a number of species of wild wheat, distinct enough

to prevent hybrid!JEatinn,

 

The presence of polished sickle flints !n Mesolithic sites shows thfir

the people w'ere reaping grain even before they began to cultivate it, al¬

though these grains are among the easiest domesticated plants to grow.

At first the sowings were mined, but as agricultural teehniejue improved,

and particularly as the grain growing population shifted out of South¬

west Asia into other regions, tlie different kinds of grain were gradually

sorted out. Barley seems to have been the favorite Southwestern .Asiatic

crop in early times, but as farmers moved northward they found tliat

barley did not do as well as wheat and changed their staple crop accord¬

ingly. North of the /one where wheat did best, rye and oats, which had

originally been weeds sown unintentionally with the wheat, could still

produce good crops. Oats flourished the furthest nortli of all. There

were, of course, furtlier adaptations through the development of paiticu-

iar varieties suited to particular soils or local variations in climate.

 

All the biter cultures which traced their origins to this Southwest

Asiatic area were primarily graln-raisers. However, a few other plants

were domesticated in the same general region, A number of plants qf the

beet-cabliage family were brought under domestication, as well as the

onion and cucumber. Apples, pears, almonds, and a bit later, grapes, figs

and dates were cultivated here, and also flax. There were tw'o species of

flax: one raised for its fiber, the other for its seed. Although the oil

pressed from this seed (linseed oil) has now been relegated to industrial

uses, it seeim to have formed part of the diet of Neolithic man, whose

food supply was notably short in fats.

 

Within the Southwestem Asiatic region the Russian botanists have

distinguished two centers; one in northeastern Persia and western Af¬

ghanistan, tlie other in Asia Minor, However, the crops and cultures of

 

 

VItl. Domestication of Plants and Animals [93

 

these two were so much dlike that we need not try to distinguish them,

Presumably os a result of influences from Southwestern Asia, two other

sainewhut later centers of domesticsition were developed. One of these

was in the highlands of Abyssinia, where a surprising number of local

plants seem tn have been brought under domestication, including sev¬

eral species of wheat and barley. However, the Abyssinian plateau is

completely surrounded by deserts and drops away rapidly on the west

and south to tropical lowlands unsaited for the growing of grain crops.

As a center it seems to have had very little influence on the subsequent

development of agriculture. In North Africa various species of hard (du¬

rum) wheats were domesticated. The olive, one of the most important

sources of edible oil, was also domesticated either here or on the north¬

ern shores of the Meditonanean. However, the climatic conditions

which it required were so specific that it could not be diffused much be¬

yond the Mediterranean littoral.

 

Most of oiir familiar domciitic animals seem to have been brought

under control in thi.s same Southwestern Asiatic region. Various breeds

of cattle, sheep, goals, and donkeys were also developed here from the

local wild species. Tlie pig also may have been domesticated here al¬

though, if so, there was a second independent center of pig doinestiea-

tion in Southeastern Asia. In any case, the pig did not figure in South¬

western Asiatic economy to anything like the extent which it did in

Southeastern Asia or in the forested regions of mstem Europe, la the

same region but at a much later time the dromedary camel was added to

the local equipment.

 

Horses had been introtluced intn thi.s region by 3000 b.c., but were

still rare animals used for display or in war. Their first domestication

was certainly not in this region. The backward trail seenxs to lead to tlie

Centra] Asiatic Steppes, but horse-taming may have been an exceed-

iiwlv ancient and widespread practice- Horses run in bands made up of

mares and voimg animals, dominated by a single stallion. Since stallion

ore always anxious to add new mares to their harems, tame mares would

be valuable to horse hunters as decoys, and domestication may have be-

Etin id this wiiy.

 

The utilization of horses for anything but food or decoys seems to

have been later than that of cattle, for the first pictures of horses in use

show a tvpo of harness obviously based on the ox yoke. This arrange-

meot was by no means satisfactory, since the yoke or breast strap inter-

feres with the horse's breathing, but it was not until tlie Middle Ag«

that the invention of the horse collaT in Northern Europe made possible

a reaUy effective use of borse traction. Until fairly late in history horses

were not ridden at all. and it was stiU later that an effective saddle suit¬

able for military use wa-s developed.

 

 

94 ]

 

 

Port Three: Basic Lvventtons

 

The ancient people of Southwestern Asia were also responsible for

the invention of milking, one of the most revolutionary economic dcvel*

opments in human history’. This invention seems to have been made only

once. The American Indians faded to develop it in the regions where

tlicy had a potential milk animal the llama, and even in South China

and Japn tlie technique has been introduced only within the last cen¬

tury.

 

The first animal to be milked was probably the goat, since man was

most evenly inatched with it in size and weight. This is also suggested

Iry the earliest pictures of milking which have come down to os. These

shosv men milking cattle from directly behind, a positfou which would

certainly have discouraged the practice if the first expcrirticnts had been

made with cows. Later the milldng technique was extended to lake in

practically all domestic animals standing higher than pigs, including

such, to us, improbable species as horses and sheep. The economic po*

tendaiides of milking were enormous. As bng as domestic animals were

used only for meat, it svas impossible for settled people to raise enough

animal food per acre to dispense with other protein sources. With milk-

ing, on the other hand, herds of a size which could be pastured within

walking distance of the village could provide a steady increment of nec¬

essary food elements and make the villagers independent of other pro¬

tein sources. The main diet in the Southwestern Asiadc region

of grain hulled but not polished, so that the minerals and x'itnmins were

retained, then cracked, boiled, and eaten wltli milk. This was to become

the b.asic diet of all European and most Asiatic peoples from the Neo¬

lithic on. Until quite recently the Scottish peasant ato little else. One is

reminded of Dr. Johnson s definition of oats as fund for horses in Eng¬

land and for men in Scotland, and the Scot's response, "And where else

will you find such horses and such men?"

 

Boiled grain and milk, with an occasional bit of fish or fresh meat

and greens in season for roughage, provide a diet on which men can live

and labor, and on which cliildreu can build good bones, sound teeth and

strong muscles. Hie main shortage in such a diet is that of vitamins of

the B complex, and tliis was early met by the grain-raising people

through their discovery of how to brew beer.

 

In predjTiastic Eg>pt, as early as 4300 a c,, the formers had learned

how to malt their grain, i.e., sprout it before grinding so as to transform

some of the starch into sugar, and obtain better fermentation and higher

alcoholic content. In all cultures which stem from the Southwestern Asi¬

atic cimter, beer has been a regular part of diet. The laws of Hammu¬

rabi, the world's earliest code of fair employment practices, specified

how much beer and w'liat kind of beer was to be given to workmen on

what kind of Jobs. Dark beer must be given to workmen for heavy labor.

 

 

V///. Domestication of Plants and Animals [93

 

light beer for easier tasks. Since the ancient beer was soupy with yeast,

much like that produced by amateurs during the American prohibition

era, it provided not only vitamins hut a fair amount of protein. It is in¬

teresting to note that the South African natives, who still live mainly on

a mush and milk diet supplemented by beer, suffered from dietary deE-

cienev and consetjuent lowering of disease resistance when missionaries

 

stepped in nnd stopped their brewing.

 

From the Southwestern Asiatic center the culture configuration

based on a milk and grain economy spread widely, taking certain basic

elements with it. Since this culture was ancestral to all the higher civili¬

zations of the Old World it will be described in detail elsewhere. As has

abeady been said, the plants and animals on which the Southwestem

Asiatic economy depended were temperate climate forms. The

were Imrdier than the plants but even so, climate set a definite Umlt to

 

the spread of the complex. i

 

Given sufficient rainfall, both plants and animals could survive al¬

most to the Arctic zone, and in regions which were too for raising

grains, animals could still be pastured. Thus svbcat was cultivated as far

north as Archangel in Hussia. although the season was so short Uiat spe-

dal bams like tobacco bams had to be built to ripen the grain after it

was cut. Cattle were also raised, although hay had to be cured for them

 

and hams built to shelter them in the winter. , . .

 

Grain would not grow well in Africa outside the Abyssinian pla¬

teau, the Medltermnean coast, and the far southern tip of the continent.

Cattle, on tlie other hand, were able to thrive in the Afncao plateau and

were in use all the way to the Cape of Good Hope, moughout this re¬

gion they provided the economic basis of a distinctive tj'pe of culture

with well marked characteristics. However, as far as sve can determine,

not a single animal or plant of primary' economic importance w^ domes-

tieated in Africa south of the Sahara- A few plants, such as okra, some

millets, and tlie oil palm, were brought under culUvalion, but ther^e were

no native crops capable of supporting large populations. As we shall see

later, the effects of this on the evolution cl Negjro culture were tremcn-

 

A secom] and quite independent center of plant and animal domes¬

tication occurred in Southeastern Asia. The dividing Ime between this

and the Southwestern area of domestication apparently ran north and

south through Central India and was directly related to dfierences in

ecology. The climate of the Canges Valley and of much of Southern In¬

dia re^mbles that of the coastal regions of Southeastern .Asia from

Burma to Indochina and of the large Indonesian islands. Its outstanding

filatures are beiivy seasonal rainfall constant heat* Most ^ ^

 

tory was covered with dense jungle in ancient times. Seed bearing

 

 

Part Three: Bask Inventtok's

 

 

981

 

gmsscs, which require plenty of mti and light, were scarce here, but the

jungle provided numerous wild roots iind fruits upon which the ancient

food-gathering economy of the region depended heavily.

 

Throughout much of thb region mountains run down fairly close to

the coast and changes in altitude produce marked changes in environ¬

ment It seems highly probable that this led to the domestication of dif¬

ferent crops in tlie low^lands and in the highlands. Tlie Russian botanists

believe that tlicrc was stiJ] another center of plant domestication in the

mountainous regions of South China contiguous to this Southeast Asiatic

center* but none of the crops which they refer to this region were ade¬

quate in themselves to proside for large populations or advanced i:ml-

tures.

 

The staple low'Und crops were yam^ larOj and banana. Intensive

studv might show' difierent centers of domestication for some of these,

but all three were developed from wild plants of the Southeast Asiatic

coastal region. Brearlfmlt may also have lx^“0 domesticated here, al*

though tlie evidence is less satisfactorv'. Wild varieties of breadfnut are

still Found in Melanesia.

 

The yam is frequently confused w'ith the sweet potato, hut it be¬

longs to an entirely different botanical family^ Although the roots took

very much alike, the yam plant is a lovv bush rather than a vine* Some

varieties reach huge single roots of a hundred pounds weight being

on record. Yams w^iil grow in poor ground and with little care+ but they

also prox ide poor food, high in bulk but low in noutishmedL

 

Taro is a plant of the arum family, related to tlie caUa lily^ ft has a

large heart-shaped leaf and n root that resembles a long, rather warty^

turnip, it is a swamp plant and most varieties do best with their roots

under water. Plants can be left in the field for years and the roots dug as

needed, although they grow larger and ooar^r testured with time. Old

roots weighing 30 pounds or more are not unusual Taro contains sali¬

cylic acid c^>^'itals which make it inedible when raw, lx is usually pre¬

pared by baking in an earth oven and mashing to a paste, when it forms

a palatable and nourishing one which contains considerable fat as

w'cll as starch. The Hawaiian^ increased the flavor by fermenting the

pounded paste in pits, produebg the famous poL

 

The banana is too well known to require description.

 

Breadfruit grows on a large* handsotnc tree which provides good

timber. The fruit ranges in size from as big as a man's fist to as big as his

head, ft is a bumpy, pale yellow-green sphere covered with a thin shell

much like that of an aviicado. There is a small seedless core surrounded

by stiff white flesh which, like taro, is inedible until cooked. The com^

mon method of cooking is to throw' the fruit into on open fire and turn it

until die shell is charred on all sides. The native cook can tell when the

 

 

Yin. Domcstlcatioti of Plants and Arilnwfe [97

 

fniit is done bv its sound when tapped, much as one tests the ripeness of

a walcnneloti' When done it is peeled, emcked open by a light blow,

and the core lifted out. It can be eaten at once but tastes best when

mixed with coconut cream and pounded to a smooth paste.

 

Tliese four plants were all good sources of starch, but since they re¬

quired a hot, humid climate neither their eultivabon nor the Southeast¬

ern Asiatic patterns of culture associated with them could spread very

far on the Asiatic mainland. Thus they could not be grown profitably In

China north of the mountain barrier where the climate was cantioentel,

or in tlie semi-arid region extending west from india to the Mediterra¬

nean On the other hand, the climate of the islands to the south and east

of \sia was favorable, and the Southeastern Asiatic crops and culture

spread into Indonesia and eventually into aU the tropical islands of the

 

Pacific. . 1 tk

 

The coconut also belongs to tliis region. Since it grows only near the

 

sea and does best where there is a seepage of salt water around the

roots, its range was too limited for it to bo of great economic importance

on the Southeastern Asiatic mainland. However, in die Pacific Islands it

became a veritable staff of life. Coconut and pandanus were the only

economically valuable plants which would grow on the low coral is¬

lands and pandanus was of only minor value. The green coconuts pro¬

vided drink, the ripe ones food and fiber for cordage; the leaves were

woven into mats and baskets and used for thatching, while the boiie-

bard wood of the palm's outer shell was au cxceUent material for tools

 

The^paper mulberry svas also domesticated in the Southeastern Asi¬

atic region This plant is still used for making Chinese rice paper, it was

cultivated by the natives as a source of bark cloth, which in this region

replaced the woven cloth of the Western agricultural peoples. Bark cloth

was made by stripping off the bark of the mulbcixy tree, scraping off the

coarse outer bark, soaking tlie inner bark for a few days, and then gat¬

ing it out thin. New strips of bark were beaten on as needed and there

was no limit to die possible size of a piece. A Fijian wUage once made a

single Strip eight feet wide and over a hundred yards long as a prt^nt

for a risiring chief. Bark cloth was well adapted for tropical clothing

since it was windproof but had no warmth- Its main disadvantage was

tliat it disintegreted like paper when it got wet. When natis-es who wore

it were caught in a shower, they stripped off their clothing and w^apprf

it in leaves until the rail, stopped. At the same time bark cloth the

advantage of being plentiful and easily made. A woman could easily

pound enough in a dav to last an average family for a week. The natives

never bothered to cIcjJn or repair it; when it became dirty or tom. it was

simply thrown away. Since the natives had never learned to wash or

 

 

P&rt Three; Basic Isventtons

 

 

981

 

mend clothes it took them ^ long time to adapt to European garments^

which at first were worn until ihoy fell to pieces^ There was a great de¬

cline in cleanliness^ with resulting skin diseases and oilier inlectiona^

The early inissionaries* ijisislence that the natives keep their bodies con^

stantly covered also contributed to thU,

 

Most of tlie Southeastern Asiatic crops are so thorotighly domesti¬

cated that they have bocomo seedless, Bnoanns, breadfruit^ and paper

mulberrj' all have to be propagated by cuttings. This, together with the

great number of varieties wliLch have been developed under cultivation,

suggests that agriculture is exceedingly old in this region. Certainly its

te^niques arc highly developed. Taro was probably the first plant to be

grown in flooded beds^ with all the preparatory^ labor this involved*

 

Two animals domesticated in Southeast Asia have become exceed*

ingly important in w'orld economy These are the pig^ also domesticated

independently in the West, imd the chicken. Both seem to have been do-

mesdeated for religious rather than ecooomic reasons. Even today they

contribute httlc to the local food supply. The people in Southea:^ Asia

practiced what is called barusplcation: dmtiiug from the cutrails of ani¬

mals. The Romans also used this mctliod. Before the Senate opened, the

priests Avould sacrifice an animal and examine its intempi Organs. lh&

Roman substitute for a filibuster wras for tlie die*hiird miuon^y to have

the augur announce that the auspices were bad and the Senate should

not meet that day.

 

The people of the Southeastern Asiatic region divined from pig liv¬

ers and, in factp still do in Eomeo. White admini.'^tmtoirs Lhf?re have had

to become experts iu the art since, when any important question arises

such as leasing land for oil, the natives kill a pig and inspect the liver.

The white adrninistrator has to be able to convince them that the aus¬

pices for the project are good.

 

Figs domesticate easily and pig keeping seems to have begun as a

w'ay of bax-ing one of the animals available whenever it was nccessaJfy to

consult the auspices. Later, pigs came to occupy a peculiar position in

many of the Oceanic cultures. They became a dex^cc for transforming

on ordinary subsistence economy into an economy of luxury and dfsplay.

In all these cultures pigs were kept tied up and were fed by hand, not

driven out to pasture as they were in the West Since the pig ate mueb

the $ame food that humans did, every pig that was added to the estab¬

lishment was the cquix^alent of taking on an extra family member to be

supported. Since pigs xvere usually killed only at funeral feasts or at

cer^^nonies in which die number and si^c of the pigs sacrificed was an

important ritual matter* pig raising became a luxury occupation. It was

really a forni of ostentatious waste.

 

In the New Hebrides in pEuricuIar, the natives seem to have gone

 

 

VIII. Domestication of Plants and Anlniiit? [99

 

hog wild. Some tribes here paid fantastic priMs for hermaphTodite pi^;

others knocked out the upper catiiocs of young boars so that the tusfcs in

the lower jaw would grow in a cirdc. It took sii to eight years to pro*

due© a fuU-cirde tusk, during ail of which time the o^vner ran the risk of

losing his entire investmeDt through the pigs death* For two or three

vears while the tusk was growing down into the lower jaw to complete

the circle, the pig had to be fed soft food by baud. A really enthusiastic

pig-raiser would usually take on a new wife to care for each pig when it

 

reached this stuge. ^

 

Pigs with full-circle tusks were sacrtficed at wrious eeremomes and

 

fixed numbers of them were required for promotion to each grade in the

men's secret societies. By tlie time a boar had grown full-circle tusks be

was so old and his meat so strong and stringy that he was almost mt^i-

ble. Actually, only women and children ate the animals sacrificed at

these times. To complete the picture of ostentatious waste, a particuLuly

hardy boar might live until his tusks grew into tivo complete circles.

Such a beast would confer prestige not only on his o^vner but on the en*

the district. Pig fanciers would come from many rmlea and pay a staaU

pie for the privilege of looking at such a chef cT (Bucre.

 

The chicken also seems to have been domesticated first for magical

reasons. Its ancestor, the wild jungle fowl, also had the trick of crowing

from time to time during the night and always just before dmvn. at the

time when ail ghosts must burry back to the earth.

 

Southeast Asiatic villagers kept chickens to frighten away ghosts

and esil spirits. There may also have been a factor of aesthetic satisfac¬

tion for the wild rooster is a beautiful bird, as colorful as many phew-

ants’. Little economic use was made of them. Even today many South-

east Asiatic peoples do not eat chicken eggs and rarely kiU the bir^

except as sacrifices in minor rites. Although Western peoples put the

chicken to more practical uses, it carried with it in its diffusion the old

nutli of the efficacy of the cocks in frightening away ghosts. Thus the

old Scottish ballad, when the ghosts of the three sons of the Wife of

Ushtjr*^ Well r^tiira:

 

up then creiif the red, red cock,

 

Anrf op and creuf the gmy;

 

The eldest to the youngest said,

 

Tis time UMT toerc aicay*

 

The cock he badna ctaw’d bni once.

 

And clappd his trfngs at d.

 

When the youngest to the eldest said,

 

‘Brother, toe must atod.

 

 

 

Pitrf Threes Ba$ic In^^tions

 

 

loo]

 

*The cock doth cmm^ the datj doth dato^

 

The cawicrin'^ u>ork doth chidci

 

Gin u>e be missd out o* our place,

 

A ifoir pain ice maim bide*

 

*Lic siiU, lie still but a Hi tic ti;eic

Lie siitl but if we nunj;

 

Cin my ntother should miss us when she wakes,^

 

Shell go mad ere it be day'

 

*Fare ye weet^ molJitr dear!

 

faretccel to bam and byre!

 

And fare ye the bonny lass

 

That kindles my ntoilw/s firef

 

The plants and antmaU just described seem to have origiiiated in

the tropical lowlands and were associated with a coastal and riverine

culture which had fish as ouc of its most important resources. The result-

ing economy made for permanent settlernent, since trees, once planted,

continued bearing for many years and the iirigation systems required for

taro involved too much labor and were too continuously productive to

be abandoned. It was this coastal complex which was diffused eastward

into Oceania to becoine the basis for the later Melanesian, Micronesian

and FoNmesian economies.

 

Ip the mountain regions of Southeastern Asia a different type of ag¬

ricultural economy was developed. The jungle w^as cut and humed at

tJie end of the diy' season aud seeds or cuttings planted among the ashes

in holes made w^ith a sharp pointed stick. The Balds yielded a plentihil

crop the first year, a moderate one the second, and a poor one the third,

after which it was necessary to allow the land to tie fallow for ten to

tw'cnty' yearSp depending on the length of time required for the jungle to

grow up again. The rapid decline in production seems to have been due

quite as much to weed growth in the cleared area as to soil exhaustion-

In the absence of systematic cultivation, w'ceds seeded themselves and

increased so rapidly year by year that the simplest way to deal with

them was to allow the |ung1c regrowth eyde to smother them out, giv^

ing the first crop after a new burning a clear field.

 

This kind of agriculture necessitated a sort of slow motion nomad¬

ism m which a vilJage settled m one place until the land yyithin eiisy

walking distance had been exhausted, then moved on. \Vhere wooden

houses were used they were often made so that they could be knocked

down and reassembled at the new site. Such shifts took place every 15

to as years. The high proportion of land which had to be left Ijing fal¬

low at any given time made it necessary for each village to keep control

 

 

Vill. DamesHc^ion of Flants and Aniiimb [mi

 

over a tcnitorv of tnativ square miles* -Another factor wbich must have

conUibuted to setting a patteris of eilcnsive holdings ^ the relative

scarcity of certain necessary food elements. The use of animals for milk

was foreign to the old Soutlicast Asiatic culture, game was not abun¬

dant, and none of the crops raised by the hill people before the intr^

duction of American plants were good protein sources. In order to ob¬

tain a balanced ration every viDage had to have a large area in which to

hunt and gather wild foods. Population pressure inevitably led to con¬

flict, and in tribes with this t>‘pc of economy every ullage was sporadi¬

cally at war with all its neighbors,

 

' The first crops raised bv the hiU people seem to have been yams and

certain varieties of rice. There can be little doubt that rice w_as culti¬

vated bv the cutting and burning method some time before it began to

be raised under irrigation. Even today “dry" rice is grown in various out-

King regions to which the elaborate techniques of irrigated nee cultiva¬

tion are otdy beginning to penetrate, The cultivation of wet nec involves

a pomnlicBted scries of techniques, some of which may very well have

been token over from the cultivation of taro. That the latter is the oJder

crop would seem to be indicated by its wider geographic distribution.

Thus rice will grow well in any of the Polynesian and Melanesian high

islands into which taro has been introduced, and it is hard to believe

that anv people who were as expert and interested horticulturists as the

Polynesians Vk^ould have failed to earn- nd? with them on uieif migra¬

tions if they had been familiar witli it. i v ■

 

The eulUvation of dr\^ rice is generally believed to have begun in

A.ssam, the hill region lying between India and Burma at the bead of the

Bav of Bengal Where the domestication of irrigated rice began is stiJJ

unknown, but the fully irrigated rice complex involved Uie use of a do¬

mestic animal the water buffalo. Tropical swamps are this ammals nat¬

ural habitat. It can be used as a source of milk, meat and traction m re¬

gions where cattle cannot snrvive. Its domestication made it possible to

extend the use of the plow and wheel into the Southeast Asiatic re¬

gion. The combination of irrigated rice, the water buffalo, and the

plow created an economic basis for dense popnbtion coniparable to

that provided by grain, oxen, and die plow in die West. In fact it pto-

vided an even better basis, for rice is the most profitoblc of all crops.

There are areas in Soudieastem Asia where the papulation, living almost

entirclv on rice, reaches a density' of over 2000 per square mile of land

in cultivation. The plant has the additional advaiitogc of having rela¬

tively light mineral and phosphorous requirements so that die same

fields can be kept in use indefinitely by simple fallowing and the use at

animal and human fertilizers. Lastly, and frequently overlook^ m the

ci^diiptioiis of rice ciiltujej tile wanix sballow water cjf the rice s prci*

 

 

Fart Three: Basic Inventions

 

 

loa]

 

vides an Ideal environment for tbe rapid growth of small fish and insect

brvae. The dredging of the rice beds after harvest pn»ides an impor¬

tant supply of protein food in a region where there is a notable protein

shortage.

 

From Southeastern Asia, rice culture was carried northward into

China and eventually to Korea and Japan. In all these regions it became

the basis of a dense and stabilized populatioii. Where the ancient grow¬

ers of Western Asiatic grains were constantly stimulated to migration by

soil exhaustion, the people who grew irrigated rice tended to be non-

migratory. The upkeep of the rice beds required much labor but yielded

rich returns. The spreod of such groups was comparable to that of a

lichen in that they expanded slowly, taking in more and more territory

but covering it solidly. Where a wet rice economy had once been estab¬

lished it was rarely displaced. The spread of Western grain-growers, on

the other hand, tended to be rapid and irregular, with shifting areas of

cultivatinn and unstable frontiers between farmers and pastoral nomads.

 

 

Chapter IX

 

 

Metallurgy, Writing,

and Technological Inventions

 

 

TiiE ESTABLKJ&tEST of grain agrfeulhire and dniiying in the Near East

was followed by an exceedingly rapid advance in culture. Most of the

inventions basic to ancient civilization seem to have been made before

3500 ft.c. One of the most important of tliese was the development of

metallurgy. Native metals bad been known in the Near East since very

early times. They may even have been noticed and vi^orked sporadically

in the Mesolithic. However, the supplies of native metal were small and

the discovery of the new substance had no noticeable effect on the cul¬

ture. It was treated as an unusually tough and malleable stone and

worked cold by hammering and grinding. True metallurgy did not begin

until it became possible to reduce metals from their ores. Even then, for

3000 years or mom metal of any sort remained so rare and so valuable

that its use was largely limited to weapons and ornaments. Metal tools

did not become common until the invention of iron-working.

 

The reduction of metal from ore began in tJie Near East somewhere

between 4000 and Copper seems to have been the first metal to

 

be smelted. Tl>e copper carbonate ores, malachite and ozurite, were al¬

ready being mined and ground for paint. They reduce to metaUic copper

at a relatively low temperature, and one is tempted to refer the bepn-

nings of smelting to the experience of some unfortunate Near Eastern

gentleman svho dropped bis paint bag into the fire on a night w hen there

was a high wind. When the fire had died, he would have discovered in

place of his vanit)' kit a small lump of copper, a material already Imorvn

and valued much more than Its ores. The initial discovery that stone

could be turned into metal seems to have been followed by experimen¬

tation and by s fairly rapid invention of the basic metal working tcch-

nj(]ues. Pure copper is exceedingly difficult to cast in closed molds sioco

 

103

 

 

Part Three: Basic Lwo^ttoss

 

 

104]

 

it bubbles and, unless tlu; gasses can escape^ niins the castingH However^

the presence of very strmll percentages of vaj-fous tinpurities, especially

arscnsiCp serves te deoxygeuate it and make castiiig In closed molds pos¬

sible. It is an interestiiig fact that the Sumerians appear to have used

alloyed copper {bronze) at the very' beginning of their metallurgical ca¬

reer^ then ebanged to pure copper, and still later reverted to bronze

agaipH The most probable explanation would seem to be that they began

their metallurgy with the smelting of impure copper ores which gave an

easily cost natural alloy. Later, w'ben these ores were e:vhaust<^p they

turned Co other sources which gave them purer copper, and still later

 

 

 

OPE.N STONE MOLO

 

they eonscsously alloyed their copper by mixing other metals, especially

tin, with it.

 

The earlie,st casting proeesj seems to have been to mi? the niolten

metal direct from (he smelting funiace into shaUow opeij molds having

the general outline of the implements to be made. The blanks thus

formed were finished by hammering and grinding, much as the native

capper had bf?cu treated. Hammering hardens copper, and by pounding

tlie edges of a knife or axe blade it was possible to get a metal which

would cut as w^ell as soft iron. At the same time^ pounding makes copper

brittle. At a fairly early time the metal workers learned how to compen¬

sate for this by annealing, i.c., heating the nietoJ white hot and plunging

it into water This softens copper and its alloys and makes it passible to

continue the pounding process.

 

The discovery that metal could be gotten from certain stones must

have been an exciting one. Everything indicates dial shortly after die

first discovery of smelting, tlie metal workers experinieiitetl with every

available sort of stone which might be a metallic ore. Most of such ores

 

 

 

 

 

lisfe?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fart Three: Basic In\^’tions

 

 

100]

 

are readily nc^gnizable by thefr weight and texture, and silver, lead,

antimnny and tin were soon discovered. The ancient metal workers must

also h:i\ e been impressed by the surprising changes in melting tempera¬

ture, Buidity, hardness, and toughness w*hich could be produced by add¬

ing even a very siuall quantity of another metal to copper. Appitrcntly^

they experimented with this procedure and finally hit on the combina¬

tion of tin and copjxir which has given its name to the Bronze Age.

 

The best all-purpose bronze is an alloy of copper \vith some tin.

The higher (he percentage of tin, tlie harder but more brittle the metal.

By igoo n.a there is dear evidence that the craftsmen had discovered

this and that they were changing the amount of tin m their bronze cast*

logs according to the purpose for which they were intended. With im

bronze, or di'en slightly before, a special technique of casting was in¬

vented, the hit iwtx method. In casting an object by this technique, the

craftsman first made a core of day in the general shape of the objeti to

be cast- WTieti the core ^vas thoroughly dried, he covered it with a layer

of wax on which he medded and incised the details %vhich he wished re¬

produced in the casting. Lastly, the core and wax layer w^ere enveloped

in a clay shell, and the whole fired. The wax melted and ran out, leaving

a c&yity into ivhfcb the molten metal could be poured, .After the metal

had set the outer sbdl was broken oB and the inutT core dug out, leav¬

ing a hollow metal casting. This technique has never heeo improved

upon for delicate metal work or for ohjects only one cop)' of which was

requiretl. It is still used by our own artists in casting small bronze fig¬

ures.

 

Although objects from the early Bronze Age show all sorts of alloys

according to the region in w'bXch they were made and the metals which

were available locally, tin brouze was by far the best material and grad¬

ually replaced all the others. Tin ores are rekdively rare and the search

for them providetl an incentive for exploration much like our own desire

for gold. At least one early people* the so-called Beaker Folk, seemed to

have been professional prospectors and minerSi Their remains are found

ev€?rywherc in Europe where: there are extensive metal deposits. Their

tiame is taken from tumbler-like vessels of coarse Incised pottery which

arc always found on their sites and which one suspeds were used as

beer mugs.

 

At a later time, the tin and copper deposits of northern Italy seemed

to have been responsible for its in%'asion by an Asiatic people* the Etrus¬

cans. These mysterious precursors of ihe Eomans came from Asia Minor.

They exploited the Itaban mines and traded their products nortti^vard

overland as far as Scandinavia. The routes foUowed by this ancient

bronze trade are marked by numerous hoards* collections of objects

which were buried by their owners in times of stress and never recov-

 

 

IX. MetaUi^rgtfi Writing, and TechnologicinI IntyenOom [107

 

cred. The variety of objects in these hoards and the fact that many of

them arc broken reflects the value of bronze in itself. As the techniques

of metallurg)^ reached more and more parts of Europe^ local styles de¬

veloped, so that it is easy for the areheologi^t to tell v?hen and where a

particular bronze object was madCp Although the Scandinavian peoples

developed a rich and diverse bronsce equipment, they seem never to have

smelted the metal locally. Thej' obtained it from the south in the form of

scrap as well as finished objects, then melted it down and recast it in

thehr own favorite FoitoSh

 

Tlie use of tin bronze marked a real transition from stone to meta]

in Eurasia. The possession of metal for weapons became a matter of

deadly importance, and most of the new alloy went for mihlmy or onia-

mental uses. It was only in the closing phases of the Bronze Age, when

the supply of bronze had been accumulated over centuries, that broiize

took bi^amo common. Even then, the use of stone lingered on among

the villagers in the higher cultures and among peoples remote from civ¬

ilization. Needless to snyp bronze came to earn' prestige, and bronze

forms were frequently imitated in stone by those who could not afford

the originaJSi Tlius* In the closing phases of the Stone Age in Scandi-

navia, we find stone daggers and flint axes which are unquestionably

modeled on bronze originals^ and the hammer axe and the double^

bladcd battle axe in stone, which were the characteristic weapons of the

pt-ople who made the first large-scale invasion of Western Europe from

the Steppes, can be traced without a break from Sumerian originals in

bronze.

 

Why iron came into use only lowjurcl the end of the Second Millen-

nium B.C. must remain a puzzle. Iron ores luc much contmoner than

those of any other metals, and the hematite iron ores in particukr arc

readily recognizable by tlieir weight and tcKtiire. It is hard to believe

that tire Near Eastern metalluTgisLs did not experiment with iron ores as

they did with the other ores in their territory. Akci, the metal itself was

known in Eg)^t from very early times in the form of meteoric iron. In¬

terestingly enough, the Egyptians seem to have guessed its source, for

the htcrogly'phic for iron means **star metal.** Tlie best explanation for

the early neglect of iron lies, 1 believe, in die sharp contrast between the

techniques required for its successful working and those used in dealing

with copper and its alloys.

 

In smelting copper, the molten metal collects in the bottom of the

Furnace while die slag floats on top. In iron-smelting, at loa$t at the tem¬

peratures which could be produced by the ancient furnaces, tlie iron is

never completely hquefied* It forms instead a gray^ spongy mass techni¬

cally known as the bloom. The interstices of this mass are filled vtiih

molten slag which must be forced out by pounding the metal while stall

 

 

Part Thre^^ Basic Lnventions

 

 

108]

 

white hot The process is much like that of squeezing woter from a

sponge. Molten copper can be run into a mold <^ectly from the smelt-

mg furnace. To melt iron requires a verj' high tempeniiture and involved

a second opemtion for the primitive smith. The more eorbou in tlie iron*

the lower the meltmg temperature and the greater its fluidity, but iron

with a liigh curtjon content 1 $ exceedingly hard imd brittle. Out familisr

cost iron is an alloy of this sort and is mninly useful for stoves and ama-

mental railings. Even tu these the metal is so brittle that it can be shat¬

tered almost as readily as a glass easing of equal weight If the early

metallurgists had ever succeeded £0 casttug iron they would have faced

a further difficulty, since aoy attempt to soften it by the familiar tech'

nique for copper, annealing, wouki have produced a violent explosiucu

Even with wrought iroiip the copper anrtealmg technique would nnly re¬

sult in tempering the metal, making it that much harder and more in¬

tractable, It seems exceedingly probable that the early smiths did at-

 

 

 

DOUBI£ nSTON B^JCOWS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IX. Metallurgyf Wri/fng, amJ Technological Inventions [log

 

tempt to snick iron ores and work iron, but gave the metal np as a bad

job.

 

Wliatever the reason, we know that the regular use of iron for tools

and weapons appears comparatively late and that it was first used ex¬

tensively by Barbarians who were marginal to the main area of the

Bronze Age cultures. Perhaps it was these Barbarians’ lack of skill in the

working of other metals which led tliem to try out new' techniques and

eventually to develop die methods fur smelting and using tlie new metal,

 

Iron seems to have been successfully worketl first in Turkestan or in

Northern Asia Minor, h is possible that there was a second center of in¬

dependent development in southern India; in any case, it was here that

steel was invented. While a high carbon conicnl makes iron both hard

and brittle, a lower carbon content con verts it into steel, hard but also

tough. Some groups in son them India still make stee! by a method so

simple that it may well be the original one. The filings of relatively pure

wrought iron obtained from the local ores arc put in scaled clay vessels

ivitb gross and the whole heated in charcoal furnaces. The grass is

charred to almost pure carbon, which combiries with the molten uoii to

give steel.

 

Iron was Uttlc, if at all, superior to bronze for most of the purposes

for which metal was employed by ancient sohlicrs and craftsmen. The

great importance of iron lay in its abundance. The widespread occur¬

rence of iron ores made it possible for ail peoples who had become fe-

miliar w'ith iron-working techniques to shift from stone to metal tods,

When we speak of the abundance of iron it must be remembered lliat

w'e are doing so in tcniis of hand industries. Even today, uumedianized

cultures succeed in getting along with what are, from our point of view,

amazingly small amounts of metal- Many tools and most farm imple¬

ments are made of wood shod with iron only (in the cutting edge, while

such things as steel construction or even extensive use of iron far nails

in buildings arc unknow'n.

 

Although the Bronze , 4 gc is constantly referred to as a period in the

development of culture, the use of bronze was by no means universal. It

seems to have centered in the region about the eastern end of the Medi¬

terranean and to have spread from there over to Europe, eastward to the

Indus Valley, and, somewhat later, to China by way of Turkestan. Out¬

side Egypt, the ancient use of bronze In Africo was confined to the

hfediterranean littoral. Tlie justly famous West African bronze cast¬

ings are mostly brass or copper, and none of them are more than a few

centuries old. There was no bronze age in eastern or southern India or

southeastern Asia. A few bronze objects of the Dong-son culture have

been found in Indo-China, but this culture is relatively late and iron was

in use there at the same period.

 

 

Pofi Three: Basic Inventions

 

The situation in Africa south of the Sahara presents inlerestitig

problems. There Was uncjuustlonably a direct transition lierc from stone^

using to tron-using. Tliis has been sebeod upon as an example of the faJ-

lacj’ of regarding Negroes as a biickward race, and the statetnent has re¬

peatedly been made that Negroes discovered iron-working independ¬

ently and were using iron when Europeans were still in the Bronze or

even the Stone Age. As a matter of fact we have no conclusive evidence

as to the time at which the use of iron appciired in Africa. However, its

use was still being diffused to tipw tribes in tlie iBth ccntujy a.p,, which

certainly suggests a late introduction. The African tcchnirjucs of iron-

working and the forms of many* African tools and weapons differ from

European ones but are strongly suggestive of tfiose in use in Southeast

Asia. In particular, the highly efficient Asiatic double cylinder piston

belluws seems to be basic to African iron-working, with a few- Row Afri¬

can tribes using the genuine Indonesian appamtiis while the rest have

what could easily be interpreted as simplified and degenerate forms. It

seems highly probable that iron-working was introduced into Negro Af¬

rica by migrants from Southeast Asia, perhaps by the same early Indo¬

nesian voyagers svho settled the island of Madagascar. The absence of

either stone or bronze implements on this island suggests that tlie iSrsf

Indonesian settlers already had iron when they arrived.

 

^ Writing was also a Near Eastern invention and one whose conlri-

huHon to civilizaHon has fieeii even greater than tliat of metal. \Vitliout

techniques for recording and presmitig the results of observrations,

science never could have tome into existence. If the ancient priests who

were the first astronomers bad bad to rely on their memories of the

movcmeols of the heavenly bodies, they would never have realized

hoTiV exact and predictable these movements were over long time in-

tcnals. Neither would they’ have arrived at the concepts of nsitural laws

and of a mechanistic universe which were tJie foimdsitions of all later

scientific research,

 

^^riting appears almost sitmiltancoufsly some 3 >ocm6ooo years

tn Egypt, MesopcFtami£ir and the Indus Valley, Another crjually primitive

form of writing appears in China some 2000 years later as part of a com¬

plex of crultwe elements of Southwestern Asiatic origin. Even the ear¬

liest written characters from these various areas ^re quite different^

which suggests that there was do single origin point for writing. At the

same time all these areas have a common remolc cultural ancestry fn the

Southwestern Asiatic food^ralsing complex. Probably this ancestral cul¬

ture had as one of its iiiharadcristics a tendency to record events with

pictures. This tendency resulted in an independent development of pic-

tographs in several localities within the area and the initial local differ*

euces w^ere iuereased by the use of various materials and techniques.

 

 

IX. Metallurgy, and Techrtohgkal fn(;<;jiKons [iii

 

Thus, in Eg>'p^ the fentn of the characters was influenced by their use in

painting an<l bw-rciief canning, while in Mesopotamia their application

to clay led to the dei-elopment of the highly eonventionaliaed cuQcifonn

symbols, in Chinn^ tlie earliest writing technie[ue seems to have been

that of scratching characters on bone or bamboo. Later, they were

painted and this in ibicU modified what had originally been recognizable

pictures to the oonveatioiial Chinese characters.

 

in all these areas the first step in the development of writing seerns

to have been the use of pietographs, i.e.. actual pictures of things. How¬

ever. for these pictures to sen'e to communicate ideas or to have mean¬

ing for anyone except tlic artist himself, it was necessary for them to bo

both simplified and conventionolized. Certain characteristics of the thing

represented had to be exaggerated in order to mate it clearly recogniz¬

able. Tho-s, it would take an exceedingly good artist to draw naturalistic

pictures of a dog and a wolf which would be immediately recognizable

ns different animals. However, if one figure had the tail curled over the

back and the other the tail low, tliere could be no mistake. Dogs' toils

curl up, W'hich wolves* tails never do.

 

In course of time a series of conventional figures of this sort would

come to be generally understood and could he used for tommuolcation.

Some of the North .American Indian tribes had reached this stage inde¬

pendently arid were able to send simple messages scratched on birch

bark. Hie main difficidties of the system lay in the tremendous number

of pictures required for anything except the simplest sort of communica¬

tion and in the impossibility of making pictures of many things. Thus,

no one could draw wind or light, much less such a psychological state as

happiness or an abstract concept like energy. At this point, two lines

emerged for possible future development. One of tliem involved the at¬

tachment of purely conventional values to signs, ns when a scroll repre¬

sents speech, a series of wavy lines water, or a stone tJie abstract quality

of hardness. Pictures used in this way are knowTi as ideographs, The

other was tlic attachment of phonetic values to pictures of things with

monosyllabic names, and the use of these pictures to build up longer

words. Tills technique, known as rebus writing, is sometimes used

among ourselves in mating puzzles for small children. The real transi¬

tion from pictographs to true writing came when people speaking differ¬

ent languages took over rebus writing systems. For them each picture

would have only one meaning: it would stand for the sound of a par¬

ticular syllable and nothing else. The number of syllables employed in

any bnguage is limited, and most sjilabaries, as writing of this sort is

called, do not include more than soo symbols. Such a syllabary makes it

possible for anvxme to Icam to read and write ivithout devoting a life¬

time to the task. However, even the simplest syllabic system is fairty

 

 

Fart Three: Basic lA^'tLvntiNs

 

 

112]

 

compIicati?d and dilScult to Icam, and can bccoint,' the basis of a profit*

able profession, that of scribe.

 

Against the advantages of greater simplification and wider distiibu*

tion of literacy within the society, scribes weighed the possibilities of

technological unemployment and were content with the status quo. In

Egypt in particular, although the possibilities of writing were explored

in very early times with the development of a syllabary, of ideographs,

and even of true olpliabetic symbols, all three forms were retained and

mingled in the same inscriptions. Althaugh the characters Uiemselvcs

were simplified for every'day use, llie scribes, who dominated both

learning and government administratioii, preferred to keep wTiting a

mystery, and thrO'Ughout the w'hole of Egyptian history the writer w'as a

professional who*devoted years to learning his craft. In Mesopotamia.

WTiting was much simpler, and a knowledge of it seems to have been

widespread among mercliants and professionals. Nevertheless, it was

still complicated enough so that most of the population remained illiter*

ate and the letter-writer was a professional even os in many Eastern ba¬

zaars today.

 

The development of a true alphabet proletarianized learning much

as the use of iron proletarianized metal. All alphabets now' in use can be

traced to a single point of origin in the Sinai pcoinsula, The Egv-ptians

carried on extensive mining operations here and employed, in addition

to criminals and prisoners of war, contingents of pastoral Semites who

were forced to work for them when their regular food supplies failed.

The sheiks of the Semites acted as mine foremen and were required to

draw up reports on their output and payroll. Since the tegular Egyptian

system of writing was much too complicated for them to leam, they took

the simple symbols representing single sounds which were a part of the

Egyptian system, and thus developed the first alphabet.

 

This took place about 1800 &.a The alphabet spread from Sinai to

other Semitic regions and eventually reached those great ancient traders

and sea-forers, the Fhocnicians. As business men engaged in lotig-range

ventures requiring contracts and correspondence, the Phocniejans were

quick to realize the advantage of an easily learned and therefore widely

diffusablc s^'stem of writing. They earri^ it west to tlie Greeks, who,

prehensile as alw'ays. promptly accepted it and developed a whole series

of local variations. All of these differed from the original Phoenician al¬

phabet in the use of vowel signs. Vowel signs were unnecessary in the

gutteral Semitic tongues, but were all-important for recording the Indo-

European languages. From Greece, the alphabet was carried westward

to Italy, where it assumed the Roman form, and, by a much later move¬

ment, north into the Slavic countries, where it became the ancestor of

the later Cyrillic alphabet, whose characters differ from the Latin ones.

 

 

IX. Metathirgy, Wn'^mg, and Technotogical Jnocnfiorw [113

 

thus contributing considcrablj? to the lack of understaDding between

Rtissia and the rest of Europe.

 

Chinese writing followed the same evolutionary pattera ss the

Western forms up to the point where a syllabary might have emerged,

but here, for some reason, it took a divergent course. Instead of develop-

ing on into a true phonetic sj-stem, it evolved in the ideographic direc¬

tion; i.e., the diameters came to represent combinations of ideas rather

than combinations of sounds. The reason for this may have been an early

extension of political units in China beyond the limits of particulai dia¬

lects. tlnis diminishing the value of phonetic wTiling; or it may have re¬

flected the philosophic and analytical intercats of the scholar class who

controlled both education and government administration. Whatever

the reason, this evolution produced a system of writing which could be

learned as a scjiarote language. On the credit side, this writing makes it

possible for persons who cannot communicate at all in their spoken lan¬

guages, Chinese, japoitiesiJ, Koreans and Ananutes, for example, to ixTitc

back and forth freely and witli perfect understanding. On (be debit side,

it requires a vocabulary of diameters comparable in numbers to the

word vocabulary' of any spoken language. Knowledge of several thou-

sand characters is required for ordinary literacy, while the total number

is .supposed to be in the neighborhood of 25,00a or 30,000.

 

We know very little about the Indus Valley writing since the oidy

examples of it which have been preserved are on seals and rarely consist

of more than three or four characters. The number of these signs seems

to indicate that it was a syllabarj', but we do not even know the Ism-

guage for which the characters w’ere used.

 

The Sou til western .Viatic center also contributed to the develop-

tnent of civilization three mechanical inventions secondary in tlieir im¬

portance oolv to metallurgy' and writing. These were the wheel, the

plow, and the loom. Until a few years ago it was belim-ed that the

wheel was an exclusive Southwestern Asiatic invention. However, it is

now known tliat the ancient Mexicans had discovered the wheel priii-

tipJe. but, curiously enough, used it only for children s toys. It is still

safe to sav tiiat all wheels put to practical uses, whether for transporta¬

tion or in mechanics, trace back to Simthwestern .Asia.

 

The early phases of the developiiiL-nt of tlie wheel are obscure.

Sledges were used before wheels and probably were drawn over rollers

when hea\7 objects were transported. Apparently, the wheel was de¬

rived from a roller by the ratlier simple device of cutting aw ay most of

the wood from the lollcr’s center so as to leave a solid one-piece pair of

wheels and axle. A box body of some sort was then fastened on top of

the axle by greased leather strap or hoUm^*d wooden blocks widiin

whicJi the axle could lum Simple eart$ of this sort are said to

 

 

114J Fart Three; Basic Ikventioms

 

have continued in use in some parts of India imtiJ recent times. Tlie old¬

est wheels known to us come from the royal tombs at Ur and already

show mther eompUcated construction. Al^ough wheel and axle were

fastened together sohdiy and the wheels were disks, the wheels were

made of several layers of thin wood glued togetlier so timt the grains in

the different layers lay at an angle to each other. The whole was finished

with a rawfUde tire held on by closely spaced copper nails whose heads

fonned the tread. The axle fiwd to the cart with a wheel separate ap

peared somewhat Inter in Sumer, but it was already knoivn by 3000 OiC.

Only shortly thereafter the spoked wheel appeared! Alffioiigh carts were

probably used for transporting freight, the Sumerian monuments Indi¬

cate that one of the first uses of wheeled vehicles was in war. The Sume¬

rian chariot was a dumsy' affair, four-wheeled and with a solid plank

body which protected the chariot crew to above the w'aist. Chariot tac¬

tics probably consisted in driving the chariot into the ranks of the en¬

emy until it lost headway, then using it as a sort of fortiffed fighting plat¬

form from which the crewr could throw javelins and strike down at the

enemy.

 

The discoveiy^ of the wheel principle opened up great areas of tech-

Dieal development. Even today it is basic to most mechanical appliances.

In the lathe it made possible the turning of wood and even stone to sym¬

metries! cylindrical shapes. The same principle, applied to day, became

the potter's wheel. The potters wheel. In its simplest and most universal

fonn, is really an aneient style pair of disk cart wheels with axle at¬

tached. The axle is set vertically and the operator spins the lower wheel

svjth his foot while with his hands he spreads and shapes tlie soft clay

upon the upper wheel. This contrivance made it possible to mass pro¬

duce and standardize pottery, the first technical product for which this

can be said.

 

Fragile as the ancient wares were, they could still replace most

other types of containers since the breaking of a bow] or jar was only a

minor catastrophe. The potter could turn out another in a few minutes

and a large supply would be available at any market at prices which

even the poorest could afford. Tlie ancient potter also rendered an un¬

conscious service to the modem archeologist. Pottery can be broken, hut

pottery' is difficult to destroy. The fragments will survive in rubbish

heaps for ^ousands of years and still provide some of the best clues for

the recognition of ancient cultures and periods,

 

The fact that the wheel began as a transportation appliance Los had

curious consequences which are recogntzabie even today. Transport in

the ancient *Vcar East involved the use of domestic anjinaJs, oxen or don¬

keys, and all work with domestic animals in these early cultures fell to

the men. As a result, all appliances and types of manufacture in which

 

 

rX. Metallurgy, Wri^ng, and Technological Indentions [115

 

wheels were involved were ussigned to the masculuie sphere of activity,

most of them have remained so. Thus, wherever in the Old World

pnltcrj' is modeled by hand, it is a woman's product. Wherever the pot¬

ter's wheel is used the potters arc men. The widely held belief in our

own society lliat women do not make good mechanics is a hy-product of

this same iincienl situahoo. The lady machinist of war-time has long

since disproved this idea in fact, but it survives as a relic of the original

division of labor and the pbee the wheel occupied in it.

 

We do not know how the plow originated or whether it was

evolved from a simpler device. However, the first plows were simple

 

 

 

enough. They consisted of nothing more than a sapling with one lopped

and pointed branch left protruding two-thirds of the way down the

trunk. A pair of animals were yoked to the upper end of the trunk and

the man steered the contrivance by its lower end, as the protruding

branch was dragged tlirough the earth. Since the branch wore away rap¬

idly, one of the first improvements was to add a separate share made of

the hardest wood obtainable or, in later times, shod with metal. Plows

of this primitive type are still in use throughout most of Asia, They are

not adapted for breaking prairie sod or for turning over subsoil How¬

ever, in the semi-arid Southwestern .Asiatic region in which they were

first developed, they ore highly functional, since they break up the sur¬

face soil and provide a dust mulch which prevents the evaporation of

moisture and gives seeds a chance to sprout.

 

The social effects of the plow and the loom were even more im¬

mediate and far-reaching than those of the wheel, In the Southwestern

Asiatic Neolithic division of labor, women seem to hav^ carried on the

first agriculture, to have made pottery, mats, and baskets, and to have

taken care of the cooking and baby-tending much as they do today. The

men, on the other hand, himted, fought, cared for the domestic animals

(after animals had been domesticated) and worked in wood and stone.

 

 

 

 

 

Pari Three: Basic Invex'tioms

 

 

116]

 

VVtth (he development of the plow, which, like the wheel, reejuired

animal traction, men passed over into agrientture. This transfonnation

was most complete in connection with crops (hat were niajis produced.

The plow is an uneeonomic instrument for the small garden which,

after tlie initial breaking of the soil, can be better taken care of with the

hoc. Women retained a place in agrictilture during the hurried periods

of sowing and harvesting the major crops, and in the kitelien garden,

which thrives best under dose attention and loving care. Even today on

many Amtalcao farms, one Gnds that while the field work is done by the

 

 

 

NEOLITHIC LOO.U

 

men, the garden is the women's sphere and any surplus of "truck" com¬

ing from it can be sold for her profit.

 

With die coming of the plow and the potters wheel, women found

themselves with more leisure than they had ever had before, and the

loom served to take up the stack. As with most other simple early appli¬

ances, the exact steps in the development of this machine can only be

conjectured. Probably it began with some sort of simple vertical frame

carrjing a crossbar from wliicii the warp threads were hung. Snch a

frame has advantages for both speed and evenness of weaving over the

simple interbeing of loose strands which one finds in ordinary mat mat-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IX. Metallurgy, Wrttlng, and Technolo^cal 7 nccfi<tor» [117

 

ijig. The first steps in the iinprovemeiit of the mnehine were the attach¬

ment of weights to the lower ends of the threads on the frame and the

introduction of bcddles, i-e., crossbars, which were attached to alternate

warp threads, making it possible to lift a whole series of these threads

at the same time and throw a shuttle carrying a weft thread across the

fabric in a single movement. This speeded up matters and also, with the

development of multiple heddles, made possible the weaving of compli¬

cated designs.

 

The loom made possible a new level of both quantity and quality in

clothing. It also may has-e been responsible for the emergence of the first

ideas of personal cleanliness. The older skin clothing could not be

washed; cloth, whether woven from wool or vegetable fiber, could be.

Cloth could also be mass produced and provided an ideal method for

the busy housewife to contribute to the family exchequer in the brief in-

ter^'als between spells of cooking and baby-tending. The loom could be

set up in the house or under some near-by shelter, and the woman could

repair to it and weave a few inches whenever there were no pressing

demands on her time. The product was sulRcicntly standardized, useful,

and indestructible so that it could serve as currency. Thus, we find in

the earliest Egyptian tax rolls that taxes might be collected in cither

grain or linen, while as late as the loth century a.O- wadmal, a coarse

woolen cloth, useful for many purposes, served as a medium of exchange

in Scandinavia.

 

 

Chapter X

 

 

Cities and States

 

 

Aul students of c-ulturt- recogiiizo that there is more than a quantitative

difiorence between the cultures of peasant comm unities and civiliza¬

tions^ but there U little agreement as to exactly where the line can bo

dra^vn. Ferhaps the best criterion for differentiation is the pruseiico or

absence of cities^ Even today there is little realization of how important

and unique this form of human aggregate is. It represents a social inven¬

tion which in its significance for the growth of culture is fully as impor*

tunt as any technological in vent Jon with the possible exception of food^

raising.

 

Perhaps at this point it would be best to define what is meant by

a city* It is a community which subsists by the exchange of manufactured

products and services for food and raw niateriolsp Its very existence de¬

pends upon this exchange. In this respect it differs from Uie village.

The people of a \iUage derive their food and most of Uieir raw ina-

teriuh from the immediate neighborhood* In general, their zone of ex¬

ploitation is limited by the distance to which a man can traveL work in

the fields^ and return on the same day^ The size of the population which

can exist at the viUage level wiU naturally vary with the envirnnment^

but rarely exceeds a few hundred persons. The eitj\ on the other hand,

has no known upper limit for its population size.

 

As with all definitiems, that just given presents certain difficulties

and one can recognize doubtlu] cases. Thus the village passes over into

the cit)" by imperceptible degrees. In many parts of the world there are

villages which raise all or nearly all of their own food, but which ako

carry on one or more specialized manufactures, usually based on local

materials, and then exchange their special products for the specialtfej of

other village communities* Small villages may also be established for

the exploitation of m particular natural resource, such as a mineral de-

posit, under cooditioiis in which most of their food has to be ob-

 

liS

 

 

X. Cities and States [119

 

taincd by tmdc. Mining camps in the Arctic woukl be a case in point

However, the definition of the city as a community which depends pri¬

marily upon trade and spccialiss^ services for its food and raw ma¬

terials is still generally valid.

 

The rise of modem transportation techniques and of large, eco¬

nomically interdependent political aggregates has introduced some vari-

atinns on the dty pattern, but there arc certain structural features of

dm pre-mechnnaed city which are universal. Its stmeture is much like

that of a cell, svjth llic dty proper as its nucleus, the village-studded

area surroiuiding it corresponding to the cell protoplasm, and witli

uceasional pseudopods running ont to contact sources of necessary raw

materials.

 

There ard certain prerequisites for the establishment of such an

organism. First of all. there must be a relatively dense population in

the area in order to create the surplus of food required to support the

nuclear city group. This factor was most important in the early stages of

city deveJopmeotr Even io unmechanized 'societies, cities can be set up

in sparsely populated territory if they are located at crucial points for

trade e:(change. However, in early times the dense populations necessary

(o support cities were possible only in rivet valleys where die rich soil

allowed permanent settlement and gave heavy returns for culttvalion.

Quite as important as dense population, was the presence of effective

techniques for the transportation of bulk goods. Luxury objects can be

traded ov'cr great distances in periods or regions where such teclifiiques

are lacking. Thus, in Nortli America, the Hopewell mound builders of

Ohio received limited quantities of obsidian from the Vellowstoiie, cop¬

per from Lake Superior, mica from North Carolina, and shells from the

Gulf of Me.xico, However, the transpertation of bulk goods presents a

djfiercnt problem. They can be moved more readily by water than by

iinv other means and, failing this, must rely upon anim^ transport ivitli

or'without the aid of wheeled vehicles. Human transport of such hulk

goods, especially staple foods, is uneconomic since the human bearer

must carry his owm food, thus setting strict limits to llie distance over

which he can carry a payload. Even with the wheel, the victualing of

cities presents a serious problem if water tiansjjort is not available.

 

All the great cities of the pre-mechanaed era in the Near East,

China and India were on rivers or the coast. In this connection, the pres¬

ence of irrigation systems is also very important. The irrigated fields

support a dense populatioii, while the network of canals provides water

transport In America, where the wheel was completely lacking and

pack animals were available only in a limited area in South America,

there were very few true cities. Teoocbtitlan, the ancient city of Mexico,

may well have been the only real city north of the Isthmus. It stood on

 

 

Pari Three: Bastc Invention’s

 

an island in a large lake surrounded by Heh farm lands and could dius

be fed by local produce Lroughl by water. Its politital dominance made

it possible for it to ignore bnd transport costs and have lusiiry objects

anti the more valuable raw materials brought as tribute. Cuzco, the Inca

capital, was also a real city, made possible by the use of pack atiinjids

and its position as administrative center fur a great and highly organ¬

ized empire.

 

It is an open question whetlier (here were any other true dUes in

the Mew World when Europeans arrived, Tlie coastal valleys of Peru,

vrith their high dcvdopinent of irrigated agricijJtnre, offered possibili¬

ties, but tiie pattern seems to have been one nf several settlements to a

valley, each surrounding a ceremonial ceil ter. The so-called cities of

Mesc-America were really tribal ceremonial centers. Creat numbers of

people from the surrounding countr^-sklc resorted to them from time to

time, but the only pennanent residents were small cadres of priests and

caretakers. Thus, in the Maya territory, it is estimated that %vitli the local

cutting and burning agricult«raJ techniques a family could produce its

year's food supply with about two hundred days of labor. The balance

of the time could be spent in celebrating religious festivals and in build¬

ing the great ocremcinial structures wliich still survive. Each contingent

of the mass labor required for these probably brought its own food,

worked for a few days, and relumed to its vilbge when the food was

erfiHusled. A similar pattern existed in the Southeastern United States,

where the sites of such ceremonial centers are still marked bv (m?at

earthworks. ' °

 

W hcrever cities appeared they posed a whole series of new social

problems. Many of those stemmed from the simple biolDgica] fact that

our species even now has not adapted itself successfiiJJy to life in large

aggregates. Until some five thousand years ngo all human beings lived

m relatively small communities which had only infrequent contacts with

emtsiders. Even today, a large part of the world’s population follows

his residence pattern. Under such conditions disease outbreab are

localized and communities rarely have to deal with the vinilont strains

which develop when bacteria pass rapidly through a great number of

hosts. In the dty there is much greater opportunity for tlie exchange of

discMcs and the emergence of %’irtilent mutations, N^ot only are large

numters of people crowded together, hut the far-flung trade on which

^e cjfy depen^ for its existence brings constant increments of in/ee-

hoo. Nearly all of the great epidemics which have ravaged Europe in

histone times can be traced to particular cities into which they were

introduced by foreign goods or tinvelers.

 

T^c mortality' rate for adults in pre-meehanized cities was bad

enough, but that for infants was even worse. It was quite out of the

 

 

X. crnJ States

 

 

[i^i

 

question far siicb cities to maintain their [x>pulatlon by simple reproduc¬

tion. Even now, when modern sanitan' techniques have sredueed the

death mte Lo more reasonable size, it is doubtful whether any ci^ main¬

tains its papdatJOD in this way. As disease diminishes, other factors

come ill to keep the population clown. Tile city dweller, confronted by

the chfRcuIties of rearing children in crowded quarters and by the eco¬

nomic jnsfcurity inseparable from City bfc> limits liis offspring, Tliat

there may be a further sterility factor derived from high tensioa Uving

seems probable, but whatever the complex causes, the results arc the

same. City populations do not and never have reproduced tbemsc]ves>

 

It folbws that city populations have always been kept up by a flow

of iiuliv iduils from the villages and farm lands within the city's zone of

CJCpIoitaticjn—-the protoplasm of the city cel). These immigrants were

the raw' rrmtcrial from which the dtj' shaped its urbanized inbabibijtbs.

Jn colloqufal parlance, the village and farm fed yokels into the cit)'

along with other raw materials pecc^sary to its existence and the city

txansformccl the yokel into a specialized product, the city slicker.

 

The peasants who went to the pre^mechanized city iyere by no

jneaps a random san^ple of tlie rural popiibtiqn. They were mostly those

who did not St into village life. At the lower end of the scale were the

local necrndo-wdls and pettj^ criminals whom the village* when its

pafiedce wiis exhausted, disposed of by the ancient and vvorld-wide pat¬

tern of “running out of town," In the anonymity of the city such iinii-

ladiials could carry on their pettj^ depredations with much less danger

to themsclvesw More valuable Tnaterial was provided by those peasants

who, having lost their equity in tillage lands, flowed to tlie city In the

hope of finding some tyi>e of employractiL The natural increase of

families and the working of laws of inheritance provided a constant

stream of such unfortunates* If the society practiced primogenihire, the

younger suns had to leave the village to fend for themselves. Even if

joint family patterns were desdoped in the hope of bolding property

together fer the kin group, few joint families lasted more than tluee

generations. Successive divisions soon n^ade the holdings loo small to

support a family and the less fortunate or less able men were forced to

sell and t& Toigrate. Such migrants provided the city with a mass of

cheap urukilled labor which fortned the earliest authentic proletEiriat.

It was also the first labor W’hich could be treated as a commodity^ since

it not linked to the employer by ties of blood or familiar associa¬

tion.

 

Lflsthv there muit have been a fair number of individuals who

went to the cJtv of their ovti free will because they were conscious of

tlie added opportunities for advancement and employment w'bich the

urban epyiroument provided. In other the ancieut city drew

 

 

Fart Three: Basic lx\^NnoNS

 

 

1^1

 

most heavily from the dregs and, by our slandarctsp from the cream of

the rural dwellers. This gave the city population a distinctive ijuatity

from the start. It was heavily weighted ou the side of the unstable hi'

dividualp one who lacked the stolid contentment of the successful peas¬

ant.

 

The ci^ dweller loses the seemit}' which comes from living among

neighbors or sharing the activities of an extended kin groiip^ but at the

same time, his success is not hampered by poor rektions. The break¬

down of extended kin ties seems to be charactedslic of city life in all

times and places. In general, city immigraiiLs seem to find the possible

rewards worth the risk. It may be noted that once the peasant has moved

to the city, he is in almost aU cases unwilling to retum to rural life. The

feff motif of the old song, "i low Vo you gonna keep 'em dowm on the

fann^ after theyVe seen Faroe?” seems to have been as valid in Sumerian

limes as it is today.

 

Even today, the popuktion of any dty is composed largely of

strangers, and of socially difficult strangers, ^is sets new problems of

social control. Tlie informal pressures of public opinion, which are ef¬

fective in keeping the average indivtdiml in line iu any small face-to-face

community, become largely inopenitive. No one in the city cares what

you do, nor do you care what strangers think. The behavior of modern

conventioneers turned loose on the town might serve as a ease in point.

It thus becomes necessary^ to develop new systems of control based on

formal patterns of coercion. The police force and the police court ap¬

peared exceedingly early in history in forms not very different from

those wlrich they stiU retain.

 

A significant by-product of the earliest city life of which w^e have

record w^as the emergence of highly formal patterns of law and legal

procedure. The village may or may not recognize the existence of for¬

mal laws as distinct from simple taboos and folkways. However, even

in those cultures in which formal law exists^ it 1$ still possible to achieve

a fairly dcnic approximation of jtistice in small facc-to face communi¬

ties. Where everyone in the communUy knows everyone else, the possi¬

ble number of offenders In any ciise is so limited that apprehension

comes almost certain, while in interpersonal disputes there can be vciy

little dnubt as to who is in the right.

 

In the dty* on the other hand, the number of possible offenders h

much greater and the chance of apprehending the wrong man is in¬

creased accordingly. In Civil cases it is quite impossible for die judge,

who can know nothing of the personalities involved in a dispute or

their backgrounds of previous interaction, to administer real justice of

the sort which emerges more or less automatically in the village. H

seems highly probable that, wheo it first emerged, the whole concept of

 

 

X. Cities and States

 

 

[m

 

forms] law and legal prooedure was actually a by-product of the urban

situation- Confronted by the necessity of dealing with persons and dis¬

putes en imSSC and under circumstances where the judges knowledge

of the actual factors involved was minima], there was an attempt to

substitute for authentic knowledge what were, in effect, magicaJ prac¬

tices, Thus, it was loudly announced that the Liw was no respecter of

persons, a fact which if adhered to would immediately remove its op¬

eration from the possibility of achieving justice. The operation of the

law and its agents was surrounded by solemn ritual, both to impress the

observer and as a part of the magical performance. Proceedings were

carried on with rigid formality and in the solemn atmosphere appropri¬

ate to an approach to the supernatural. One finds that penalties for con¬

tempt of court are practically as old as courts themselves.

 

The lawyer and judge emerged as technologists who studied the

wordings of laws with microscopic care. Precedents w-ere cited, and the

more ancient these were and the greater amount of research rcrpiired to

establish them, the greater their magical efficacy. Only in China, a

civilization divergent in this as in many other respects, was precedent

deliberately ignored in favor of the enrrmit situation.

 

Formal law codes and rtereotyped legal pocedurcs may exist in

lion-urbanized societies, as they do in most African tribes and in Indo

iicsia, with its adat bw. However, the small face-to-faoc community

can function quite successfully without such pattcrnsi The city definitely

cannot. It is significant that although American Indian cultures were

notably lacking in legal concepts, both formal law codes and stereo-

hped legal procedures were developed in the few localities where city

living occurred.

 

In return for raw materials and popubtion, the city fumisbed the

area wliich it dominated with specialised services. The most important

of these were associated with religioa, administration, and trade. The

city was normally a religious center for the inhabitants of the surround¬

ing territory, a center to which the peasantry resorted for impressive and

therefore presumably hyper-effective appeals to the supcrmaturol pow¬

ers. The assembbes created by periodic religious ceremonies readily

lend themselves to purposes of trade and exchange. The pious pilgrims

brought with them surplus produce which they exchanged for gjoods

which their own village could not provide. In this connection, the city

also provided a distribution point for foreign products which could be

much more economically handled in this way than through small sales

to scattered vjlbges.

 

Temple and market were central features of most ancient cities.

Needless to say, the ci^ was a place for the exchange of ideas as well

as goods. Cities everywhere functioned as focal points in the diSusioa

 

 

Fort Three: Basic lN\iENnoNS

 

 

124]

 

of culture. Not only did travelers and merchants come to them from a

distance, but tiiere was also a strong tendency for such strangers to

establish foreign quarters witliin the cit%' itself. This resulted in a close

and continuous association between groups of different cultures with

greatly jnereased opportunities for the eJtcHiinge of ideas. In these an¬

cient cities, as in our modem ones, there was a tw'o-directional accul-

turatioii process whereby the settled stranger within the gates both gave

and received new tiling.^.

 

Tlie importance of the early city as an ndministrative center has

frequently been overlooked. Every ancient eih- had its paloce, which

rt-as not only the ruler’s residence but also the site of the various offices

required for the administration of the citj-'s territory. In the ancient

city the relation between secular and religious rulers was ahvays close,

if not alwajs sympatlietic. and one often finds the palact^s and the ad¬

ministrative offices blending into the temple establishment.

 

The ancient city also supported a much more varied range of ac¬

tivities and specialists than was possible in the village. Skilled crafts¬

men, such as |ewelers, nr armorers, whose services would be needed

only intermittently in a small community, could become full-time op¬

erators in the city, thanks to the expanded market. Tlie presence of

numerons fellow-craftsmen and imports of foreign objects provided

both a stimiiUis to the improvement of techniques and an understanding

audience who could nppeciate and provide prestige rewards for su¬

perior workmanship. The cities were also able to offer contituious em¬

ployment to doctors, lawyers, scribes, teachers, and so forth. Members

of these professions were actuaUy attached to die temple establishment

and aided in maintaining its dnminatLon over the intellectual life of the

community. Much as in the case uf the skilled craftsman, the presence

of numerous workers in the same field had a stimulating effect on the

development of ideas. In the city, for the first time, it became pns,sible

for the philosopher or primitive scientist to meet others with common

interests and lo w'het bis mind against theirs.

 

Lastly, die city was the real center for the development of the sec¬

ond oldest profession. (’The oldest is that of medicine man.) The func¬

tion of the prostitute is to care for strangers. There is little need for her

under vilbgc conditions where the sexes are usually fairly well balanced

in number and all adults automatically marry. In the ancient dty, on

the other hand, there was a heavy surplus of males, since men rtuld

leave their \'ilbges much more readily than women. Evervw'hcre in die

Near East the temple prostitute was n regular part of die temple estab¬

lishment. The city god, like any other male notable, w'as provided with

a large complement of women, hut since he proveil an inactive and

unjealous spouse, these women found subsUtutes for him cbewhere and

 

 

X. CiHci and States

 

 

[i^S

 

 

contributed their cannings to the temple upkeep. A society which was

fjTily emerging from village patterns also required some time to develop

adequate techniques for the housing and feeding of citj' transients, and

(his gave an opportunitj- for prostitution of a different t>'pe. The secular

prostitute was very frequently an innkeeper or had a small apartment in

which she received successive travelers and provided tliem for a few

 

days wdlh a "home away from home,"

 

Altlmtigh the earliest political mi its were the tribe and city, larger

iwlitical units, the precursors of the modem state, began to emerge very

early in the Mear East, Chronologically, and perhaps functionally, such

states are an aftermatli of city development. St was comparatively sun*

pie for the city, already accustomed to the control and exploitation ot

adjoining villages, to extend this rule over neighboring cities lessjpwer-

ful than itself. Still later, as the rising wealth of the cities providetl ui^

creasing temptations for tlie Barbarians who bovered on the borders of

civilization a series of conquest slates of progressively larger size

 

 

CRicrE'ccI

 

The organization of political units larger tban the tribe or cily> P"'

ticularlv of units involving a heterogeneous coUection of groups oF dif¬

ferent language and culture, involved a whole scries of new probl^s

for which solutions had to he found. Patterns of empire as tliey exist t<K

dav have a long background of development. All ^litical units l^ger

tlian the tribe or cih’ belong to one or tbe other of two Mgonizahonal

types: federations or empires. As Robert Lowie has pointed out, both of

 

these originate in war. , , , , , i u

 

The federation may exist at any level of cultural comple.xity. It is

 

based upon the voluntary cooperation of a group of previously inde¬

pendent political units. It begins with an offensive or defensive alhancc,

but offeiisive aMianecs rarely lead to ferleration. If sncce^ful in tlicir

immediate objective, they are almost certain to be follow'^ by deputes

over the distributions of loot and consequent collapse. The defensive

alliance rlevelops into a federation when the external pressures am

strong and continuous. As the various groups in the alliance become

more and more used to working togetlier, cooperative patterns develop,

and economic and political iuicgrption goes on to the point where the

initial alliance is transfonned first into a confederation and then into a

fcderid organization witli cvcr-incrcasmg i»wcr delegated to a

authority. This process can be observed both in the history' of the United

States and in the process now going on in W^tern Europe, where a

confedemtion is gradually emerging under the continuous Russian

threat. The greatest wc.ikn«s of this type of organization bes m the

necessary give and take between the component members. Its sac^isM

functioning involves free discussion, acceptance of the will of the ma-

 

 

Part Three: Basic Inventions

 

jarity, and respect for minority rights. Croups who have not been ac¬

customed to the operation of democratic institutions can rarely federate

successfully. This is particularly true where poliKcal control is absolute,

since ri\^ii]rtcs between the rulers of the component states are almost

certain to lead to war and the splitting of the group. For example, it

would be difficult to imagine a federated Europe based on the coopera¬

tion of Hitler, Stalin, and i\tussoljnj, how^ever similar their totalitarian

ideologies might have been or whatever the effectiveness of a temporjiry

alliance between them.

 

Confederations seem to have been exceedingly rare in Eurasia,

probably because of the autocratic patterns associated with the early

civilizations there. The Hittites, an Indo-European speaking people who

developed a large state in Asia Minot on the periphery of the region of

ancient civilization, may have bad some sort of confederacy, but Infor¬

mation is lacking, The Greeks attempted it from time to time, but their

institutions were far too democratic. Creek politicians were always poor

losers, and the Greek institution of ostracism, which removed the de¬

feated candidate from the city and from the possibility of a local coup

fTetat, was dictated by sound experience. The Creeks rarely got beyond

the point of temporary offensive or defensive alliances, and even these

were hampered by personal ambitions and mutual distrust.

 

In the New World, on the other hand, confederacies were frequent

and patterns of confederate organization highly developed. In Meso-

America and throughout the whole of eastern North America, this type

of organization was the rule rather than the exception. The League of

the Iroquois, with its center in what is now New York Stale, will be

familiar to most readers, while even the Aztec "empire” was based upon

the domination of a league of three cities of the Lake of Mexico. The

great "New Empire" period of the Yucatan Maya was also based on a

league of three cities, Uxmal, Mnyapan, and Ghichen Itza.

 

These American confederacies seemed to have realized that it was

not enough to develop techniques for settling disputes between their

component members. These members also needed an opportunity to

work off their inevitable rivalries and hostilities in harmless action. There

is an almost exact correlation in the distribution in America of confed¬

eracies and of organized inter-community ball games. Whether these

games were the various forms of la crossc played in the eastern United

States or the mure elaborate and ceremonial basketball-like games

played in the ball courts of Middle-America, they had certain features in

common. In preparing for them, the magic used by the contenders seems

to have been essentially the same as war magic. The winning com¬

munity gained heavy profits as a result of the wagers placed on their

team, or by formalized rights to loot. Thus, in the Mayao hall games,

 

 

X. Cities and States {^^7

 

when one team made a goal, its members were entitled to sebse any

article of clothing or ornament from the rooters on the other side. One

can imagino the rapid evacuation of the loser s grandstand W'hich took

place when a point was scored. To make the gajne stil] more interesting,

it was customary in this area to treat the captain of the losing team as a

prisoner of war. sacrificing him to the principle deity of the winners.

The celebrated Greek games may well have had a similar initia] pur¬

pose, but if so, they failed to compensate for Creek individualism and

city patriotism.

 

Empires were characteristie of tlie Old World just as confederacies

were of the New. The development of tlicir organLiational patterns can

be traced from early tiraes, thanks to the Near Eastern habit of writing

an indestructible materials. Imperial patterns seem to have t^n with

the coni^ucst of city by city in the Near Hast and to have received a new

stimulus from the entry upon the scene of successive waves of Barharian

invaders.

 

Empire building began witli simple looting. The armies of one

Mesopotamian city would capture another eitj' and carry oE all port¬

able valuables including, if possible, the city god. This last was a partial

insurance against revolt since the city, deprived of its god, was deprived

of supernatural assistance. From time to time the conquering city would

demand tribute from the conquered under threat of re-invasioo. It might

also demand levies of troops to assist its owm forces in the further ex¬

tension of its conquests. Indeed, during the days of the Egyptian and

later Babylonian Empires, it became almost a convention to enlist de¬

feated foes and use them as the spearhead for future penetraban into

enemy territory.

 

This type of empire required no elaboration of govemmental ma¬

chinery', Ilowever, it had numerous disadvantages. The conquered

groups enjoyed complete autonomy once the conquerors had retired out

of immediate striking distance. They were held in subjugation by fear

and sent tribute only as long as they felt that the conquerors were a

serious threat. Any period of confusion within the conquering group

resulted in the prompt coEapse of the empire. The Assyrian Empire,

for irrstance, regularly bad to be reconquered by each new king as soon

ns he ascended tlic throne. Such a system was uneconomical not only

because of the costs of successive punitive expeditions but also because

of the time rfftiuired for the conquered to recuperate after an invasion.

Severe! years would pass before the flow of tribute could be resumed.

 

Always and everywhere, the real problem of the empire has been

how to obtain the maximum leturn from the conquered wdth the mini¬

mum of cost and trouble to the conquerors. The conquered must have

enough wealth left after paying taxes or tribute so that they will be

 

 

Part Three: Basic Ls^ventions

 

 

liS]

 

willing to keep on workings at tLc itarne time they must not l>e per¬

mitted to accumulate enough surplus to moke war successfully. One of

the earliest methods of solving this problem was that of splitting the

conquered nation, moving part of its people into a distant region, w^hile

part of another nation was brought in to lake their place. This technique

was mdependently invented both in the Near East and by the Inca Em*

pire^ the only true empire dcvelop€?d in the New World. It reached its

highest Old World development in the Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian and

first rersbn Empires^ It seems to have been effective as a preventative

of revolt^ since hostility between the survivors of the original local popu¬

lation and the newcomers was inevitable^ and each could be relied upon

to watch the other and report to the central government any defection.

 

With the Barbarian invasion which began toward the dose of the

Bfonje Age, still other problems emerged. Lacking cities or patterns of

prolonged sfittlemeiiL these invaders had no fixed base of operation.

Wheu they moved down into the territory of tlic more civilized dty

dwellers^ they came to stay. At |he same time^ since their existing socid

and political organization was relatively rudjiaentary% they had uo pat*

terns for governing the conquered and had to improvise rapidly.

 

Two possibilities presented themselves. Tlie ti:nrquerors could break

up tlieir forces after the initial conquest and spread out over the con¬

quered terrilory^ each cliief with his followers holding a different part

of iL I'his patteni required no high development of governmental ma-

chiiieiy% and the care and exploitation of the conquered peoples could

lie earned ou on n basis not very different from the core and exploita¬

tion oF domestic atumals^ in whidi thc>se Barbarians were already ex¬

pert. This pattern was certainly present in most of Western Europe in

early times. It can be recognized in historic Ireland and in Scandiuavia,

and even relatively lale conquests such as tliat of Saxon England by the

Normans vtere followed by an occupation of very much lliis ty^pc. Tlie

main disadvantages of tliis wstem lay in the difficult)^ which tho con¬

querors had in rapid mobllrzation in case of revolt and in the relatively

rapid cultural absorption of the conquering group by die cnnqueretL

Small isolated groups of conquerors sufrounded by an alien population

soon learned the local biiguage and acquired local customs. This proc¬

ess would be accelerated by the use of members of the subject group as

servants and especially as nurses for children, it seems to be a fact that

no aristocratic group is willing to take care of its own children if it can

find serv^ants to perform the task. After the first generation the con¬

querors would feel themselves doser to the local izihabitants than to

distant representatives of their own nation. Rivalries bcHveen local

chiefs easily led to civil wars, llie drafting of followers from the subject

group, and increasing consciousness of common interests, Witliin a few

 

 

X. and Statcfi

 

gen c^ruti Otis cnnquerors nnd coitqimcd would become one people.

 

The other possibility was to concentrate the conquerors in armed

camps in a fe^s* strategic localities. Already existing cities might be taten

over for this purpose, but the more usual practice seems to liave been to

form now settloiiicnts in which the conquerors could curry on some .ip-

proximation of their pre-conquest way of life. This was the sjstem fa¬

vored by roost conquerors in Asia. Under this system taxes had to be

collected from the subject peoples by the central government and then

disbursed downward from the ruler to the conquerors. This arrangement

had the advantage that forces could be mustered rapidly to put down

rcs'olt. It also served to slow up the inevitable process of assimilatioii

of the conquerors by the conquered. Its immediate and practical d^ad-

vantage was that tlic collection, handling, and redistribution of ^biite

required ebborate bureaucTatic machinery and a professional civil serv¬

ice of a sort certain to he lacking in any Barbarian tribe. To maintain

this system, the conquerors had to recruit 8 considerable force of minor

oiRcials from tlie conquered. As a matter of fact, where the conque-st

was one of an idready established empire, as in the various nomad in¬

vasions of China, the lower levels of the existing bureaucracy were often

able to survive with ordy a change of allegiance.

 

This arrangement had important repercussions upon the organiza¬

tion of the conquerors themselves. It inevitably enhanced the power of

their ruler at the expense of his own tribesmen, who became dependent

upon him for their share in the benefits of the conquest, die same

time the alien ruler became to the conquered people a symbol of gov¬

ernment and a potential protector as svell ns exploiter. There seems to

have been a strong tendency for such rulers to recognize common in¬

terests with the conquered and to use them as a curb on the power of

their own nobUity. Especially in those civilizations in which the native

ruler enfoyed personal divinity or other forms of extreme prestige and

power, the Barbarian ruler would be encouraged by his nadve subjMte

to assume these perquisites of office. The gap ^parating chief and fob

lower in the Barbarian cultures was fax smaller than tliat separating

k-ing and subfect in the ancient ci\ilizations. The commoners Of the

conquering tribe inevitably resented their chiePs assumption-s w^e he

in turn found support for his newly acquired honors among the old

 

nobilitv and officialdom of the conquered.

 

Actually, the history of Eurasia is one of successive conquests of

settled civilized group by conquerors and the assimiladon of theM con¬

querors. Every where except in China, the earlier Barbarians belonged

to what has been termed the Dairying Culture. These were followed m

turn by the much belter organized and militarily more efficient true

nomads such as tlic Hnns and Mongols.

 

 

! ! ’mH'TF'

 

 

 

 

PART FOUR

 

 

Himtei's

 

and Food-Gatlwrers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter XI

 

 

Paleolithic Cultures

 

 

Accordixc to the most recent cstiimtes the beginnings of culture, as

stiuwii by tools and traces of fire, go back at least 600,000 years. Men

of our own species have been in exisienee for at least 100,000 years and

the earliest ctilture which can he positively ascribed to them already

shows a greater variety of tools and weapons than are in use by some

tribes still extant. For all but the last 7300 years of this enormous time

span, all human beings have lived by Iiuntlag and food-gathering. The

imporiance of this phase of mans economic development in setting the

pa items for later lines of cultural evolution can hardly be overestimated,

and it is regrettable tliat we still know so little about it.

 

One who has ilic temerity to plunge into the huge and highly tech¬

nical literature dealing with die earlier sbigcs of human history cannot

fail to be struck by the contrast between some nine-teutbs of the Old

World, for which information iS either entirely lacking or woefully iii-

acleqiiate, and a few small areas, France and England in particular,

which have been studied in extreme detail- The material on these areas

bristles with the names of local cultures, each beloved by its discoverer,

whose interrelaboas arc matters of vigorous dispute. The non-specialist

cannot be blamed for feeling that be has wandered into a maae which

has no exit.

 

That Europe should have been the part of the world whose early

history was most intensively studied was a historic accident, a by-prod¬

uct of the invcntioii there of the scientific method, However, it was in

many respects a r^rcttable accident One may questioii whether any

other part of the world which was occupied by early man offers a poorer

guide to the rcconstnicb'on of cultural evolution. It is fairly certain that

man did not originate in Europe, and there is abundant evidence that

throughout most of history the continent has functioned as a receiver

rather than a donor of new culluial developments. The four gkdal ad-

 

 

134I Four: HrjNTnts ANt> FtxJD-GAXTrenERS

 

vaiws and three gbdal retreits wliicb alternately forced man out of

and lured him buck into Europe made the development of culture ap*

pear there as a series of discrete episodes rather than as a continuing

process. To attempt to apply the typologies and chronological sequences

derived from study of European materials to Central nr Eastern Asia

or Africa south of the Sahara can only lead, as tt lias led, to confusion.

This is even more tlie case when one tries to apply European typologies

to American materials.

 

The sctdement of America occurred in such recent times and the

cultural developments in the New World were so IndepC'iident and in

certain respects distinctive that it is best to postpone anv tliscnssion of

American prehistory. Culture began and underwent most of its early

development in the Old World. The most striking fact about this early

Old World record is that even in the most ancient times of which we

have knowledge there were already a number of cultures. These cul¬

tures existed not only in different areas but also, in some cases, within

the same geographic area. In the same area varying cultures may have

belonged to groups who exploited different environments, such as forest

dwellers and pmirie dwellers, or may represent occupations by different

peoples at time intervals too brief to be revealed by the geological rec¬

ord.

 

Since stone tools are the only objects which have survived from

man’s remote past, the classifieations of early cultures now in use are

based exclusively on differences in the form and techniques of manti-

facturc of such tools.* At the bottom of the cultural series lie the so-

callcd Eoliths, implements so crude that it is questionabJe whether they

were deliberately shaped. Tlicse go back to the very beginnings of the

Pleistocene geological period and perhaps before. Next come cultures

characlcrir^d by chopping tools made from large pebbles and by big

irregular flakes. Most of die stone used was of coarse testrirc, and the

work Is so crude that it is hard to identify any consistent implement

forms. Industries of this general type, but with numerous local varia¬

tions, are found over much of .Africa and in Southern Asia from Central

India eastward. A few sites are also known from scuthem and western

Europe, but this was the time of the first gladatioit and most of the

continent was uniuhahitahle.

 

In Europe and Africa the industries of this t)'pe disappeared early.

In Southeastern Asia, on the other hand, they persisted until quite late,

extending from the beginning of the Pleistocene into post-glacial times.

The climate changed very litde here, so that there was no great incen^

tive to technological development, and the presence of plenty of bamboo

 

* A Vt*y lew utijecii of woiod aitd bone have luivived (rmii tbr Lower Pnlcfr-

liUiic, but fiono of thm ue ■ help In cuitunJ clwiriGaitlQD.

 

 

X/* PalcoJUhic CuHures

 

 

hss

 

and hard tropica) woods made elaborate stone-working imnecossaiy^

 

At tlitj end of the first glacial pedodp roughly 500,000 years ago*

two distinct types of eultwrc established themselves In Europe. These

are ktiown from their characteristic methods of sfcone-vvorldng as the

Core Cultures and the FlEtke Cultures. Both lasted until the beginning

of the fourth glacial, or for about 400,000 years. This period as 0 whole

15 known as the Lower Paleolithic. There was a slow iinprovement in

(ecliniques and a diversification of implement forms From first to bst.

Hie various stages in this evolution have been given distinctive names

and are treated a.s separate cultures by European aTcheologists, but

tliey represent progress llimugh time rather than new beginnings.

 

In the Core Culture line the main artifact was a heavy almond-

shaped tool called a hand ase. Tlte makers of these implements tried to

shape them as symmetrically as possible and paid no attention to the size

or shape of the flakes struck off in the process. Some of these flakes were

no doubt used for cutting or scraping, but they were essentially a by¬

product. In tite Flake Culture line, the worker tried to get flakes of a

particular shape and size and threw away the core when no more good

ones could be struck oB- Toward the close of the Second Interglaciul an

important innovation in stone working occurred in this line. The core

 

dressed so to give a flat striking surface at one end. This

bisiiin technique interposed another step between the raw material and

the finished took indicating more foresight and purpose, it also made

possible the production of much better flakes, wdiich were retouched

to produce S|X!cialized tools.

 

ft seems probable that these two lines of development in stone-

u'orkirjg were linked with other cultural diBcrcnccs, There has been

much speculation as to how the hand ases were used. The earlier oues

were often left smooth at the tliiek end to provide a grip, but the later

ones were chipped to a sharp edge all round* If they were held in the

hand as weapons they must have been padded with moss or hide to keep

the wieklcr from getting tut. n^ctuaJ experiments have sho^^m that these

itnplemciits are poorly adapted for killing large animals at close quar¬

ters, and most archecdogists now believe that they were really used

for grubbing roots- This would suggest a heavily vegetarian diet. It is

jdio significant tliat the people responsible for the Core Cultures seem

to havo been aflergic to cold weather. At each glacial advance they

retreated from Europe, probably into Africa, where the reinaiiis show

a long unbroken occupation and on uiuntcmipted evoludou uf their

favorite implement.

 

Tlie Flake Cultures began with the use of veiy Iarge» irregular

flakes. As time went on these assumed more definite shapes untU in the

Levalloman various specialized tools ore recognizable. Few of these

 

 

Pnft Four; Hunters Aim Food-Cathehers

 

 

1361

 

artifact ooufd have been used as weapons, but most of them arc well

suited for woodworking, [t has been suggested that the carriers of the

Flake Cultures were predominantly hunters weU equipped with wooden

dubs ond stabbing weapons. In any case, there ore indications that they

could adapt to colder weather than the Core Culture people. Their

range seems to have lain north of that of the Core people, and they

seem to have been able to hong on in a few European localities through

the Third Glacial.

 

Hie long persistence of these twxj cultural traditions os distinct and

separate evolutionary lines makes it seem possible thiit they were the

svork of dlHerent human spedes. If so, the Core Cultures were the work

of our own ancestors, Uotno sapiens and his precursors, the Flake Cul¬

tures the work of tlie ancestors of Neandertlial. However, all this is pure

conjecture and of no great significance fnr the evolution of culture in

general A spedes intelligent enough to make stone implements as dabo-

rate as tliose produced by either the Core or Flake industries at the dose

of the Tliird Glacial must have been intelligent enough (o borrow the

forms and teduiiquus used by another human group in its stone^work-

ing. During ibo l^ird Interglacial considerable cultural misture seems

to bivc gone on in Europe. Tlie Core Cultures disappear as a distinct

tradition, although not until some of their techniques had been trans-

ferned to the Flake Culture line. lUid a new culture, the Mousterian, ap¬

pears. ThLs period is called the Middle Paleolithic and was much shorter

than the Old Paleolithic, probably not more tlian 50,000 years.

 

Whether the Mousterian was developed in Europe or came into the

continent os a result of a migration from Ceotnd Asia is still in dispute.

The question cannot be settled until we know more of the early history

of Ask north of the great East-West mountain barrier. However, there

can be no doubt that MoustcriUR culture was the final Howering of the

long-lived Flake tradition and that it was largely the work of Neander¬

thal man. This gentleman fa the best known of all early human varieties.

His slightly bent knees, forward thrust head, and massive chinless jaw

decorate innumerable museum walls, and his presumed habits are fa¬

vorite material for writers of science fiction. His evolutionary position

is uncertain, hut the last Neandcrtholers are much less like ourselves

than the earlier ones. Except for a brief flyer into North .Africa, Neander¬

thal seems to have kept fairly well to northern latitudes and he was able

to stay in Europe tluough the first half of the Fourth and last Glacial.

He was human enough to interbreed with our owm direct ancestors in

Palestine, where the two varieties of man shared the Mousterian culture,

and the best explanation for his differences seems to be that he was a

sub-.Arctic human variety in process of developing into a distinct species,

Most of (he things that distinguish him from our own ancestors con be

 

 

XI. Paleolithic Cultures 1 137

 

pariJlekd in nortlieastem as eontrasletl witli southwestern varieties of

other EurasLau mamtnalian species of wide distribution.

 

In anv case, the behavior of Neanderthal seems to have been tlior^

onghly human. During the bitter weather of tlie Fourth Gkeial he took

to caves wJiere^ er these were avoilabJe, and since his ideas on sanitation

were rudimentary, to say the least, he has left considerable evidence of

his living habits. Bones from his meals, aslies from his fires, and lost and

broken implements were simply trodden into the floor of the ctive, foim-

ing in time deposits ses'eral feet thick, Tlie implements from these de¬

posits include triangular Bakes, smooth on one side, which could have

been used ns spear points or knives, and other flakes with a curved edge

showing signs of use os sernpers. Several caves have yielded artificiolly

shaped spherical stones, two or three of these of nearly the same size

often found dose together. There can be little doubt that these are the

remains of bolas fsee p. 77). Simple as this weapon was, its invention

must have involved considerable observation and ingenuity. Such an ap¬

pliance is B far cry from a simple implement like tlie hand axe.

 

It is safe to conclude tiiat the Neanderthalers made many wooden

objects and probably had containers made from l>ent bark or even crude

basketry. Moreover^ in desv of the ghicial climate, of Europe during

much of their stay, they probably Mapped themselves in animal skins.

It mav be noted in tliis connection that arthritis was common among

the middle aged.

 

Only a few facts about their way of life can be deduced with any

certainty. The)' mu.st have had some sort of bend organization like that

of the most backward hunting peoples today. SeveraJ hearths are often

found on the same level in a cave, indicating that sewral families lived

together, and hunting the big game w'hich w'as their favorite food must

have required the cooperation of a number of men. It is idle to speculate

on how the Neanderthal bands w^ere organized or what their family

groups wore like, but frequent evidences of cannibalism suggest that

anyone outside the band was considered, quite literally, as fair game.

 

Still other finds suggest that Neanderthal shared most of the psycho¬

logical characteristics of modem man. He collected red ochre and pre¬

sumably used it to paint himself and his possessions. It must have been

a precious material, yet be placed it in the graves of his dead. That he

believed in some sort of existence after death can hardly be doubted.

He not only buried hi$ dead but placed w ith them food and weapons.

He also practiced magical rites, A recently opened cave at Monte Circeo

in Italy contained the skull of a Neanderthal, its base broken out to re¬

move ftc brain, lying in a shallow bole surrounded by an oval of small

stones. This can only be explained as a relic of some ancient sacrifice or

ritual. There is also evidence that the Neanderthals had some sort of

 

 

13®1 Four: Uoktehs anr Fooo-Gathebers

 

magk&l practices associated with the Ca^-e Bear. This animal was well

suited to become the demonic deity of a Stone Age people since it was

their most daDgeroiis enemy. A full grown bear might stand twelve feet

high on its hind legs, and, from its build, must have been fast os well

as strong. Caches of carefully arranged bear skuUs and thigh bones

liave been found in several caves, indicating that tliere was some sort uf

bear cult. It might also be noted that the bent's are almost alwajrs those

of young animals, suggesting that the full grown bears were more than

a match for tlie hunters.

 

 

 

CAVE PAOTTING

 

 

At the close of the last glacial, a new people entered Europe, bring¬

ing with them a new culture and ushering in a new archeological period,

the Upper Paleolithic, The retreat of the ice had left the conUncot cold

and comparatively dry. Most nf it was park country, open plains with

woods in the river bottonis and clumps of trees where depressions held

the melting snow. Such territory is particularly favorable for grazing ani¬

mals, and there were tremendous game herds comparable to those which

covered the African highlands at the time the first modem European

settlers arrived. It must have been a region of cold winters and hot sum¬

mers, and much of the game probably moved north and south every year

with the changing seasons. The newcomers were primarily hunters and

had equipment which was a great improvement over that of their Mous-

terian predecessors. Their stone work was based on the use of long nar¬

row flakes (blades) struck from a prepared core. For this reason the

numerous related cultures of llie Upper Paleolithic period in Europe,

Western Asia, aod Africa are known as the Blade Cultures, The blades,

in tiun, were worked up into many small, highly specialized tools. Their

most Important innovation in eounection with these was a fiat-backed

knife or graver called a biiffn. This was made from a stone blade, one

• edge of which had been knocked off, leaving a fiat surface so that the

workman could lay his indejt finger along a blade and guide the edge or

graver point when working.

 

 

Xf. PalcolUbic Cultures

 

 

[139

 

Except for a brief interlude m Europe during the pericx] whicb we

call Solutreon, Upper Paleolitlue ^tone tools were used nierely for mak¬

ing oriier tools and weapons. The favorite materials of the period were

Isone, mammoth ivory, and ander. From these were inade javelin points,

wedges for splitting wood* arrow straighteners, and spear throwers.

There were also bone whistles, perhaps used as an accompamment to

the ceremonial dances which we know these people perfonned*

 

Like their predecessors* the Europeans of this period lived m the

mouths of caves when these were avaikbte* and had the indifference to

garbage disposal which an aredc climate makes possible* However,

there were by im means enough caves to go around, and there were

many localities in which they w^ere entirely lacking. Where the people

could stay in one spot long enough to make it worth while, they built

pit houses: roughly circular or oval holes in the ground about three to

four feet deep, whose sides were lined with bark, mammoth shoulder

blatics or stniie slabs. There are no truces of roofs, but these probably

were made from skins or branches and bark piled over a crude frarnc

of saplings. Since they had no tools suited to felling trees, construction

must have been light They made excellent bone and ivoty needles with

eyes, took which arc needed only for fine and careful sewing. This sug¬

gests that tlicy wore tailored garments, but we have no clue to Upper

Paleolithic fashions. Tlieir painters and sculptors rarely represented hu¬

man beings, and* with one exception, always $how^ed their subjects in

the nude. Perhaps, like the pre-misdonary Eskimo, they followed the

sensible prcx;edure of stripping whenever they came into the warmth

of a cave or a houses There is a famous cave painting shoeing a nude

dancer wearing a deer'5 head mask with horns attached, and several

drawings show what may be masked men* The one clothed picture

whicli has came to light so far shows a man's head and shoulders in

profile. The shoulders are covered with some sort of brown gannent,

presumably a fur robe or parka, but it shows no details oF the stylcn

Some of their footprints which have been preserved in the soft clay of

cave floors show the widely spread great toe which is developed hy

climbing chy hills barefoot

 

Although the Neanderthal people had camped in the mouths of

caves* the Cro-Magnon people of the Upper Paleolithic w'cre the first

to penetrate their depths. They carried on ceremonies in the deep gal¬

leries for the increase of game and for success m hunting. Their artists

often worked in places that were so inaccessible tliat it seems unlikely

that they ever expected their work to be seen after they finished it. Prob¬

ably, the drawing, as an act of creation, was supposed m some way to

reinforce the creative powers of the species. In addition to these remote

and hidden figures, which must have been the work of individual roedi-

 

 

x^o] Pert Four : anti Food-Gathe^^ots

 

cine men, there were veritable cave lemples. chambers whieli were ebb-

oratelv Jecorated with series of paintings, and even with animab mod¬

eled in eby^

 

Same twenty years ago one of these caves was discovered com¬

pletely intact. A young man in the south of France, Casteret, who was

an enthusiastic cave hunter* decided that there might be a cave uiside

a mountain from which a fair si^ed river issued. ^Vit^1 tnore courage than

caution he took matches and caudks in a water-tight nibber case and

swam upstream miderwiiter until he came out in d cave which was

e^mctly as the last suitors had left it many thousands of years before.

The footprints of these ancient men were still plain in the clay of the

cave floor* Back from the stream there was a sort of amphitheatre with a

life-size cby figure of a bear. This had had a bear skin ^Iraped over it;

the skull still lying between tlic front paws of the image where it

had fallen off when the skin rotted away. All around the Bgure the

cartli Avas trampled where the cave men had danced. Tliey tiad finished

off tfje ceremony by stabbing the bear figure with spears, die iiiarb of

which were still plain. Other figures of animals were painted on the

walls of the cave and stih otherSp smaller than the central hear figure,

w^ere modeled in the clay of the floor. At one place in the cave a stabg-

mite had formed a cornfortable seat. This was woni ojid well greased

from long use. niche in one side a little below tlie seat contained bits

of bone and antler and several half-finished and finished heads. This

may have been the favorite scat of some guardian of the sacred place, a

primitive verger who amused himself between services by beadniakmg.

Similar ceremonial sites, though rarely as well preserved^ have been

found in many other places in France and in norUicm Spain.

 

Archeologists have been much impressed by the cKtruordiiiary skill

of these primitive artists. Almost all tlie drawings arc of ariitnab, and the

great ma|ority of them fall into two classes: pregnant females or animals

which, from their poses, may well represent dead game brought home.

There ate occasional pictures of animals in vigorous motion but very

few that show any narrative quality^ Tliis is another strong reason for

iissuming that the artists intention was magical ratJier than decorative.

Most carvings of anjmals w'cre on implcmeuts, but there are o few small

figures in the round, probably worn as amulets. There is also a very re¬

markable series of little figures of women, pregnant and with sex char¬

acteristics exaggerated. All these are grossly fat, apparently the ancient

standard of beauty. These figures were probably used in some fertility

cult, perhaps an early version of tJie worship of the Earth CoiWess,

widespread in the Old World in historic times.

 

Farther south in Spain a new type of cave art appears, one which

is diaiaetrically oppcKi^ in its spirit to that of the northern artists. In

 

 

XL Paleolithic Cxiltures [M*

 

this we have numensus paintings of both men and anlTnals, always doing

something and usually in groups. One painting shows a crowd of women

dressed in bell-bottomed skirts engaging in some sort of dance. Another

shows a man climbing a bee tree with the bees swarming out of the

hive entrance, and there are numerous pictures of running animals and

charging bowmen whose \igor and simpUfication it would be difficult

for any modem artist to equal.

 

Even the Spanish cave paintings rarely show men in combat, and

it is improbable that these earliest Europeans carried on systematic war-

were certainly amicuhle cont«icts between tlie various local

groups, perhaps somewhat like lire get-togethers of the modem Aus¬

tralian aborigines, in which past offenses and jealousies are worked off

by relatively harmless formalized fights. That ihey met and traded is

proved by the finding of objects far from their source. Sea shells from

tiio Nfediterranean were treasured OS ornaments and were traded as far

as central Europe, There was abo a trade fa seal skins between some

point on the French coast, perhaps Brittany, and Spain, since we find

in the Spanish caves, far south of the range of this particular species,

seal skuLU with no Other bones. Presumably the skins were traded with

thf! attached.

 

 

 

KjEx>Lrncc Ain:, spain

 

 

14^] Pdri Pour: Huntots and FooD^GATifKREM

 

As m the case of Neanderthal mm, we have no coticrete knowledge

on the socml or political organtzatfon of these people. \Vc may assume

that, as fn the m<^mi hunting peoples of the Circumpolar »one who are

certainly their cultural descendants, all adults were married. Since in a

culture of this sort where the main food supply was big game there

w^ould certainly be more widows than widowers, it is probable that the

best hunters provided for the surplus by taking care of several wives.

As regards govcrruncnt, the obvious importance of magic tu the culture

suggests that, again as with the modem hunters of the uortli, the most

important individual in the community and the nearest approach to a

chief was a shanran. Such men were specjaiisbk in magic who knew how

to make charms and cast spells, and could even, on occasiotip send their

souls out of their bodies to see \%'hat was happening far away.

 

In this description of the Blade Cultures we have treated Europe

as though it were the center, simply because it m the territory for which

we have the most information. There ore caves lliere which have pre¬

served an eitensivc iuventoiy of objects and even paiJitings which would

have long since been obliterated if they hud been made in the open air*

AlsOp more work on this penod has bccu done in Europe than anywhere

else. HmveveTp it is exceedingly improbable that Europe was the origin

 

 

 

PliMALE fmiDBINESfe AtmiCNAClAN

 

 

 

XL Pal^litkic Cidiures

 

 

[143

 

point of the Blade Cultures. Everythiug points toward some yet un¬

explored region in centra! Asia as their birthplace. From this center they

were spread westxvard into Europe and southward through the Xear

East» eventually reaching North AtHca by way of Suez or by a traverse

farther e^t at the mouth of the Red Sea. The latter is pure conjecture

since^ unfortunately, vve know practically noLEiing of the prehistoric

archeology of or of the ad|oinifig parbr of Africa.

 

 

 

 

(a) woon AM> STONE FLAK£ STCELE (Sl) BONE AKBOW STRAIGHTEN^

 

In Africa, the Blade Cultures became somew^hat simplified and the

elaboration of bone, bom and ivory' implements which characterizes

them in Europe seems to have been lacking. This may be partly due to

the fact that the mme ancient North African sites of this oulture are

mainly rubbish heaps left at open camps. The climate of this region was

unquestionably more hospitable at the close of the glada] period than

it has been since. Many of the camps were in regions where it would be

quite impossible fora huntings food-gathering people to live today. They

contain the remains of a faimo not unlike that of the African veldt, but

in contrast with the Etiropean remains, the rubbish heaps contain few

bones of large animals. The favorite game of these early North Africans

s^eems to have been an edible ^ail, and tremendous heaps of snail sheUs

remain to indicate their skill in capturing It, like their European con¬

freres, they made some rvaturalistiE: draw-'ings of animals on rocks, but

they left no human figures. Even the little Venru figures which are wide¬

spread features of the European Upper Paleolithic are laddug. The few

human skeletons that have come from these Nortii African sites are

definitoSy Caucasoid and show a race not unlike the later population

of the region.

 

Remains of this culture are found all dqwu the .African plateau.

Somewhere in its spread it was transmitted to the ancestors of the

 

 

 

 

Part Four: Hv nteiis and FftoivGATiiEnCTS

 

Bushmen, a purely African variety of hmiiaiis. VVe <lo not know whether

tills transmission was direct or through internicdiaries, but the Bushmen,

whose historic center is in fsir South Africa, once extended at least iis filr

north as Kenya. During the late prehistoric period they were first driven

southward aiui then forced into the more inhospitable areas by the in-

vusinns of Bantu-speating people. In their southward Bight they carried

Upper Paleolithic culture with them aliiiost undinnged. When encoun¬

tered by Europeans they were still using stone implemcuts which svere

essentially of Blade Culture types. It is startling to see Uplier Falealithic

scrapers and points made from the gla^s of iSth century Dutch gin

bottles. They also carried on much tlie same type of animal art which

had been done in Western Europe around 20.00O ».cl Their drawings

combine<l the narrative quality of the Spanish Paleolithic pictures with

the close observation and the realistic coloring of lire French ones. As

one of the few groups of liuliters and food-gatlu^rcrs who survived in die

Old World until historic times, the Bu.shmcn culture will be treated

later.

 

in die Near East, die Blade Culture underwent a progressiv'e evo¬

lution- This region seems to have been relatively poor in game, hut an

abundance of seed-bearing grasses grew in the park lands of the Tnmian

plateau and around the eastern end ol the Mediterranean. The people of

die Blade Culture who moved into these regions gradually changed from

main reliance on I muting to main reliance on reaping. WTiere vegetable

foods are abnndimt and reliable, it becomes possible for food-gathering

peoples to develop fairly pemiaticnt settlements, and this seems to have

been the situation here. With time, the Blade Culture of this region dif¬

ferentiated into fl greot number of local forms, each of whicli differed

from the rest in certain respects, but all of which were deorly in the

blade tradition. Tticre wus a considerable use of bone and antler for arti¬

facts, and although no cave paintings of the European sort have sur¬

vived, carved tool handles and other small objects indicate that natural¬

istic animal art was present. The most important technical invention

made here was that of die sickle, one of die basic Old World tools. The

first sickles were mode from bent pieces of W'ood, along the inner side of

which a row of Bint flakes were set to provide a cutting edge. With use,

these flakes acquired a peculiar glassy polish which makes tliem easily

recognizable in archeological collections. It was in this region and out

of thi.s dependency on svild seed grasses that the world’s first agriculture

developed.

 

We may anticipate diat numerous remains of the Blade Cultures

will be found throughout Central Asia. Not only is this presumably their

point of origin, but there ore hints that they survived here lUitU com¬

paratively late times. Some sites have already come to light on the Cas-

 

 

X/. PateoUthic

 

 

ti4S

 

 

plan, but this region is still largely archi?ological terra iacognita^ Such

work as has been done here has been directed mainly toward the later

cultures dating from the end of the New Stone Age on, and the finds

have been so rich that it is only in the last few years that archeologists

have attempted to reach the older levels.

 

in Europe, the climate began to change about io.uoo b.c. The ice

continued its retreat northward, and the weather, particularly that along

the Athinlie coast, became warmer anti much wetter, resulting in heavy

forest growth and, with this, in a change in the game. Tlie great herds

of bison and wild cattle which had frequented the earlier park lands

drifted eastward and the stag became the mainstay of the hunters econ¬

omy, However, this drop in game was partly compensated for by the ex¬

ploitation of a new food source. In ancient times rivers running into the

Atlantic W'crc rich sources nf fish. Salmon in particular must have come

in by thousands to spawn and the inhabitants became increasingly tic-

pendent upon them. It w'Ould he interesting to know whether, like the

Indians of the Northwest Coast of America, they develo|>ed techniques

for preserving the fish to provide thciii with a footl resersie from one

spawning se:uon to the next, but on this we have no information,

 

The European population of this closing phase nf the Paleolithic

broke up into small groups, living along the streams where the Eshing

was good. The culture became fragjneutc^f into all sorts of local forms.

It is generally said that the culture of this period was degenerate, since

the remains which have come down to us from it show a deterioration in

flint and antler working. The old animal art also disappears from the ar¬

cheological record. I low'ever, an alternative explanation is possible. Dur¬

ing the brief Mesolithic period which followed the Upper Paleolithic,

 

 

 

(a) MOUSraUAN POINT (b) MOLISTEBWN SIDE SOlAPER

 

 

140]

 

 

Pari Four: and FooD-GAimHEns

 

 

craftemen ttimed morc^ a^d irtore t<iwai:d composite tooU, only the stone

elements of which survived.

 

The Upper Paleolithic skill in striking blades was developed stiU

'further in the Mesolithic, making it possible to produce smaU, thin

blades which were straight, flat, and sharp-edged. These blades were set

in wooden Implements to give a cutting edge. The changing ecology

may have stimulated this development by providing an Increased quan¬

tity of hard woods and a poorer quality of bone and antler. Thus^ a dag¬

ger or spear point would be made from a hard wcxid spike grooved along

the sides, with a series of slender flint flakes set in end-ti>end+ The whole

was probably reinfoiced and sbreamjinetl with a layer of pitch. In this

way, one could make an implement which had the sharp cutting edge of

flint and at the same time the tensile strength of wood, Iione, or ivory.

 

Back from the Atlantic, extending across Eastern Europe and Asia,

the climatic changes following the lost glacial retreat seem to have re¬

sulted in little more than a progressive northward movement of ctimaHc

and ecological zones. Tlie park laud conditions which had existed in

Western Europe at the close of the Last glacial advaace tasted much

longer in for Eastern Eur{)pc and Central Asia. As the ice retreated still,

farther, open grass lands (the steppes) appeared to the south and, to the

north, wide belts of forests (the fiego). Tliese forests extended from the

Baltic practically to Bering Strait, with harrl woods to the south and

conifers to the north. North of the forest lay the tundra, a treeless zone

where the ground was frozen to a great depth and where the surface d-

tcniatcly thawed and froze with the changing seasons. This was and still

 

 

 

(a) CI]El.r£AN HAND AXE (s) CLACTONIAN ELAXE ItXJL

 

 

XI. Paleolithic Cultures 1^47

 

is an excessively inbospitablc zone for human occupation. The summer

thaw tums the surface to mud and the standing pools breed great hordes

of mosrjuitocs and stinging flies. During the thaw, overland travel be^

conies Impossible and all movement has to be by canoes on the rivers-

North of the hmdia lies the Arctic Coast, a region which offers a richer

food supply than the timdra, but which requires a highly specialized

 

 

 

( a) LOWEB AOBlCSAriAN BUfUN (&) loweh aubicnaoan emd scrapeb

 

culture for its successful exploitation. In the New World the final con¬

quest of this region was actumplishcd by the Eskimo who, with their

dog teams, sledges, snow houses and techniques for sealing through the

ice, were able to wiring an adequate living from it.

 

The Upper Paleolithic of Far Eastern Europe and Asia are stUl im¬

perfectly known, especially to European and American scholars, since

the results of most of the archeological work which has been done in this

region have been published in Russian and are not readily available.

However, it seems safe to assume that at least the park land and forest

lielU of nortbcTU Eurasia were occupied over a long period by people

witli cultures of the Blade type. The time of this occupation, depending

as it did upon the progre.«i'veIy changing environment must have been

earliest in the soufheni and central regions. There are nn indteatiems that

Upper Paleolithic peoples reached far northeastern Asia.

 

The northern Mesolithic cultures were by no means static and im-

dcr^vent a progressive development down to the historic period. Pottery'

seems to have been invented independently in this zone, its use was lim-

itetl to conical cooking pots of coarse grit tempered ware, poorly fired

and decorated with incised designs if at all. One of the most sigmficant

developroeuts, of which we have no indications in Europe, was that of

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part Four: Huxtehs and Food^atheihehs

 

 

148I

 

the technique of fishing through the ice in winter. In this the fisherman

cut a hole in the ice and covered the hole anil himself with a smalt skin

tent. From this darkened spot he could look down into the water, wotch

the fish moving about, and tempt them within reach of his spear by the

use of a minnow-shaped lure of bone or stone let down on the end of a

cord. Ice fishing cotdd be carried on only at lakes Or at those places in

rivers where the water was quiet enough to permit the formation of

thick ice. At these points people settled for the winter and protected

themselves by building pit houses, the same type of structure known to

the Upper Paleolithic peoples of westent Europe. In summer ther

ranged widely In the forest, probably breaking up into small groups of

at most two or three families. The entire band returned to the same win¬

ter camp year after year.

 

The Mesolithic cultures of far northeastern Asia are of particular in¬

terest to Americans since there can be little doubt that the first settlers

of the New World had a cultural equipment of this sort In spite of the

claims of various enthusiasts, the presence of Old Paleolithic or even

 

 

 

 

WINTER FlSfDNC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XI. Paleolithic Cultures [i49

 

Upper Paleolithic cultures in America has never been proved, while the

recently developed Carbon dating tcchnifjne sets the date of the ear¬

liest known American remains at somewhere around 12,000 h.c.

 

VVe still know comparatively little of the cultures and ecological

conditions in Mortheastem Asia at the close of the glacial period, but it

can be said with certainty tliat w'hen Asiatics liad acquired the skills

needed to hnnt northern game, and shelter themselves in an Arctic en¬

vironment, the way to the New World lay open. Even if Bering Strait

had C’onie into existence by the time tliat men reached this remate fron¬

tier, it would have formed no serious barrier for people who had canoes

or w'ho were accustomed to traveling on sea ice in winter. How succs-

sive w'iives of migrants reached tlic N ew World, how they spread over it,

and how, in certain favored localities, they built civilizations curiously

like and yet unlike those of the Old World is a fascinating story which

must be left lor a later section of this book.

 

The history of SouUieast .Asia during and immediately after the

closing pliascs of tiic glacial ixriod is still exceedingly obscure. As was

pointed nut in an earlier chapter, technological improvement here seems

to have taken the form of an increasing use of wo^ and bamboo. Since

these are perishable, the archLulogical record gives a false effect of cul¬

tural simplicity. One baa only to contrast the stone inventory of modern

Stone Age peoples such as the Melanesians or Polynesians {both with

cultures stemming from Southeast Asia) with the total content of their

material culture to realize how deceptive such a record may be. An ex¬

tensive and elaborate equipment of basketry, matting, wcxrden utensils,

bamboo tools and weapons, and even a complicated art inay have ex¬

isted in Southeast Asia in Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic times and

passed without leaving a trace.

 

 

Chapter XI I

 

 

Historic Hunters and

Food-Gatherers

 

 

The E9UIPMENT df ancient hunters and fcKKi-gathereys* though crude by

modem standards, enabled our species to occupy a much greater range

of environment tlian any other mammal. People who were sldl at this

technological level reached all parts of the world which did not require

long ocean voyages and settled nearly all the regions which are in-

babited today. In the process they encountered a wide range of eHmates

and natural resources and adjusted to both. It is highly probable that by

the end of the Mesolithic there were more distinct languages and cul¬

tures in existctice than the world has seen since. However^ all these

cultures were subject to certain limitations inseparable ffom the hunting

and food^atfaering economy.

 

In the first place, the world s population must have been smalit

There probably were not a biiudred thousand people on the entire con*

tinent of Europe at any time prior to the introduction of food-raising.

Tile upper limit of human population was set^ like tlmt of any other wild

species, by the supply of food available year in and year out, A series of

good years might bring an increase but this would be cut back sooner or

later by famine. In temperate regions the human population may very

well have followed cycles of increase and abrupt decrease comparable

to thc^ which have been observed in game animals in various parts of

the northern homisphere.

 

Even more siguifleant for cultural development was the small size

of local groups. The number of individuals who can live together con¬

stantly is set by the amount of food which they can obtain by working

out from a central camp. Even tinder the most favorable conditions die

local groups of hunters and food-gatherers rarely reached aoo persons,

while many of them must have been limited to four or five families. To

 

 

XIL Historic HutUers and Food-Gatherers [iSi

 

judge from modem hunters and food-gathcrers, several of such local

groups would get together from time to time to hold ceremonies, ex-

diange gifts and also, legitimately or olhcrsvise, to exchange genes, but

most of the year was spent io isolation. Day to day life offered no oppor*

tunity for the development of the more elaborate skills. All men had to

know how to make their own tools and weapons and all women how to

dress skins, weave baskets, and cany on similar domestic industries.

There is much wisdom in the old proverb that Jack of ail trades is mas*

ter of none." People who must change their occupations constandy to

meet the needs of the moment have little opportunity to become master

craftsmen and still less to explore the possibilities of their craft and play

with their techniques, one of the most fertile sources of improving m*

ventioBS.

 

Still another feature inherent in food-gathering and bunting econo¬

mies is the limits which they set to the accumulation of property. Except

for a very few favored localities, camps must be shifted often. To fudge

from modem examples, the normal pattern was probably one of seasonal

movements within a clearly defined range. Each local group kept to a

particular territory, much as mast animal packs do, and trespass was a

legitimate cause for war. Within its territory, the group moved from oac

familiar camp site to another following the times of v^ious wild har¬

vests and the shifts in game supply. All property had to be carried along

 

at each move. ,. , ,

 

Women no doubt did most of the carrying, a pattern which may he

 

offensive to our modem ideas of chivalry but had a sound basis in c^-

mon sense. When the gremp was on the march the men might be ^llcd

on at any moment to chase a deer or fight off an enemy attack, and they

could not afford to be tangled up in baggage. Under these condiUons.

property over and above that actually needed for getting a Uvmg or for

beautifying the wearer became mere excess baggage.

 

Such fmqucnt moves also affected the development of technology

from another direction. The unfinished object was a useless item of bag¬

gage Any tool or implement which could not he completed during the

few days the group stayed in any one camp became more trouble ^ it

was worth. Needless to say, frequent moves also discouraged the devel¬

opment of architecture. There was no point in building an elaborate

shelter when it would only be oceopied for a few days.

 

Even more important than the technological limitations imposed by

a hunting, food-gathering economy were the social and poUticBl limita¬

tions Food-gatherers could establish kinship systems of extraordinary

complexity, as among the modem Australian aborigines, but other types

of organization were held to a mioimum. Kin obligations and m^agp

tabo^ might confront the individual at every turn, but he would never

 

 

Piid Four: IIuntfhs axd FoorhCATiSEnERS

 

 

152I

 

encountf-T an organl^id system of social classes or an organq£«d chiirtli.

The sort of inteq^rsonal relations existing in small face-to-face groups

were nut antithetical to the recogrdtioii of different levels of indisiJual

prestige, but they operated against the fixing of prestige levels on a he¬

reditary basis. The development of organized religion was impossible

until societies had enough economic surplus to support specialized

workers with the supernatural on a ftilj'tiiae basis. All existing fnod-

gatlicring societies have their shamans, but these functioii only incideu-

tally and, as it wate, in internals between liuntiiig expeditions. Lastly,

organized government, fonnally designated rulers, and police were quite

unknown at the hunting, food-gathering leveL Covemiiients are expen¬

sive, as even we are discovering, and food-gathering people could not

support tliem. Actually, they w^ere also unnecessary under the existing

conditions. Each of the little groups controlled its own members through

informal pressures of the sort familiar to anyone who has Jived in a small

tow'n, while questions of policy or disputes between groups could be set¬

tled by disetission among high-prestige individuals.

 

These generalizations are valid for at least nine-tenths of die

worlds hunting, food-gathering peopIeSp past as well as present. How^-

ever, tliere are some exceptions as there are, indeed, to any generaliza¬

tion regarding the behavior of human beings living as memliers of or¬

ganized societies. In a few tncalitiei! a comhinatian of local abundance

and special skills made it possible for groups who did not raise food to

live much as though they did. Ttius, in British Columbia, the Inbulous

runs of salmon ill die springp cximbined W'ith, techniques for preserving

salmon and a year-rijund supply of sea fish and shell fish, gave leisure

and a secure food supply. A rich and complex culture, richer than tliat

of many agricultural villages^ was developed here.

 

The Mesolithic period in the Old World was too short to permit of

the development of such elaborations. We can imagine the Mesolithic

ancestors of both Europeans and Asiatics ns w^anderers, scanty in nuin-

bers and impoverished in culture by kler standards. Most of the hunt¬

ing, food-gathering cultures of the Old World disappeared rapidly after

the Invention of food raising. Regions which provided an abimdaiice of

game or wild vegetable foods werc^ with very few excepbons^ also good

regions for herding or agricuJtvirc- People who knew tlie fcKjd-raising

techniques were able lo increase very rapidly and to spread over more

and more temTory, swamping nut the sparse Mesolithic tribes whom

tliey found In possess ion. That they absorbed rather than exterminated

these tribes is shown by the sporadic reappciirance of individuals with

the physical characteristics of the local Mesolithic people in modern

populations.

 

The spread of the focd-raising peoples seems lo have been very

 

 

XII, HiftOTic Ilunti'rs and food-Gatherers

 

 

l»53

 

 

rapid. During the whole period for which we have «mtteu records Ae

Old World f^ gnAeiitig cultures have been Uinit^ to regions which

were eiAer uosuited to food-raising or so isolated that the food-raising

peoples could not settle Acm- In Ae New World many more decid-

Sly more elabornle food-gathciiog cultures survived untd Ac time of

the European discovery, Ho^^>ever, even in the ^encas Ae mam cen¬

ters of high culAre and, witti few exceptions, of dense population, wem

agriculAral. In the Old World food-gathering, hunting CTltur« suiviy^

im (1) the subarctic zone of Eurasia; { 2 ) Ae Congo Barn Forest, ( 3 )

^d South Africa; U) various hcavdy for^ted areas in «’'’them i^a

and adjacent islands from India to Ac PhAppmesj (g) Ae Australian

 

^subarctic Eurasians were Ae direct inheritors of Ae MesoUAic

culture which dcseloped m Ae northern forests some 10,000 y^s ago.

This culture is best known to us from European sites.

tended, with slight local variations, dear to Ae

equipment which the Mesolithic population

 

Smdants and the improvements and adAtioiw to it which Aey made

 

 

 

 

£AntV SNOWSHOES

 

 

 

 

 

JS4] Fottr: Huntijhs and Food-Gatherers

 

have already been di5cu<i$ed. Due to their long contact with culturally

more advanced peoples to the south, such elements as metal working

and animal domestlealion, based on reindeer, were also widely accepted.

However, these do not seem to have greatly altered the regional way of

life.

 

The local conditions were sucdi as to prevent any large or enduring

settlements, in general the pattern seems to have been that of bands

whose members camped together for part of the year. In the earliest pe¬

riod, before the development of techniques for wdutor movement, the

bands seem to have spent tlie winter at places where ice fishing was pos¬

sible. After the developmont of the sled, snow shoe, and ski, and prob¬

ably in part under the infiuence of a developing fur trade, families spent

the winter scattered out looking after their trap lines and came together

for a time in the Spring.

 

Each band recognized a head man whose powers were mainly ad¬

visory, There was a tendency for the office to become hereditary in a

particuJar family and for band chiefs to be regarded as trustees of fish¬

ing places, desirable camp sites, and other communal property. There

was no tribal organization but several bands who spoke A cominon lan¬

guage and intermarried would regard themselves as a tribe. Such a

group would punish trespass on its territory, but true warfare was un¬

known, and such features as war honors, head trophies, and taking of

captives were completely lacking.

 

Marriage was nonnaJly within the tribe but outside the band. Mo¬

nogamy was normal, but widows and other surplus women, were taken

care of as plun] wives. Descent was reckoned equally on both sides of

the family, but no long genealogies were kepL As a result of the bilatcju]

descent, every individual had recognized kinsmen in each of several

bands and could take up residence with any one of these kinsmen. This

presided insurance against starvation if game failed in tlie territory of

one's own band, but it also bod other implications. Under ordinary con¬

ditions the tnain problem confronting these northern tribes was not food

but manpower. Band chiefs would do their best to attract able-bodied

young men or even women to join their groups. The stingy or inefficient

leader would see his band melt away until its numbers fell below those

needed for survix-al, while the generous and able hand chief could build

his following to optimum size. This partem may well liave been ances¬

tral to developments os diverse as tlie Norse chieftain, whose highest

praise was that he was a “mighty ring giver,- and the Northwest Coast

Indian chief ostentatiously distributing his wealth at a potlatch.

 

Religion also took a distiuctive form in this area. The supematural

world was as anarchic as the human tribe. There whs no supreme being

nor, in fact, any group of deities with clearly defined attributes. Instead,

 

 

XIL Hlstodc Hunters ani? Food-Gatherers [155

 

Ihc world wt»s jMiptilated by gre*t numbers of spirits, some animal, who

might appear in either their o^^'n or human form, some human with sim*

liar shape-changing abilities, while still others, among the most power¬

ful and dangerous, were monsters with partly human, partly animal at¬

tributes.

 

TJiese beings were conceived as thoroughly material but able to ap¬

pear or disappear at will and to change their shapes in the twinkling of

an eye. Any individnal might, with good fortune, establish a friendly and

profitable relation with one of the supernatural beings, but most deal¬

ings with them were left to the shamans, individuals who combined the

officers of priest, magidnn, and doctor. These shamans were persons with

hysteric tendencies who were able to work themselves into trance states

by dancing and drumming until they fell tmconscioas. Wbilc uncon¬

scious they would be visited by their spirits w’ho would speak with vari¬

ous voices from diHerent parts of the lodge, transport objects, touch

members of the awed audience, and in general produce elfects strikingly

similar to modem standard psychic phenomena. There can ho little

doubt that the darkened earth lodge of the Circumpolar peoples, with

its unconscious shaman and its crowding supcmaturals, is the ancestor

and prototype of our own spiritualist stances.

 

This religion concerned itself mainly with two things, the search for

game and the healing of the sick. It is interesting to note that there was

a striking lack of fertility rites. Supernatural powers were used to locate

game and elaborate taboos were directed toward keeping the good will

of slain animals so that they would be willing to be reborn, but the mat¬

ter of increase was left to the animals themselves. If hunting was bad

the shaman, in the trance state, sent his soul to locate the game. He also

sent it to see what was going on in the outside world or among the peo¬

ple on the moon. Tlris must have been an important source of entertain¬

ment and interest to the little bands snowed-in at their fishing places

through the long winters.

 

The shaman also diagnosed illnesses. There was very little fear of

malevolent magic, and this was rarely given as a cause of sickness. Many

maladies were thought to be due to the absence of the person's soul.

Once again in the trance state, the shaman sent his soul to capture the

fugitive and bring it back. In the course of the pursuit he might cross

rivers, chinb mountains and battle demons, all acted out while in Ids

trance. In spite of this preoccupatiem with souls, ideas as to life after

death were eaceedlogly vague. There was a life after death but no cer¬

tainty how or where. A dead person's possessions were usually placed

w'ith'htm, less to provide fur bis comfort than to sever all ties ard pre¬

vent him from coming back to annoy the living. As with other super¬

natural beings, the dead were not conceived of as thin ghosts but as ma-

 

 

1501

 

 

Part Fottr: Hutstehs and Food-Gatmerehs

 

 

tcrial beings whose nidden appearances and disappearances were made

possible by their being exceedingly quick on their feet. Corpses, as dis¬

tinct from souls, might also possess a horrible life of their own and wan¬

der at night devouring men and animals, a belief which may have

stemmed from the long prcsers'ation of bodies in Arctic cold. A similar

belief, either transmitted to or shared by the nomadic peoples of the

steppes, became the background of the later vampire beliefs of Europe.

 

While the Circumpolar culture lias left its mark on at least two of

the great civilizadons, those of China and of Europe, as much cojinot be

said for the other surviving hunters and food-gatherers. In Africa, small

groups of these people sbll live in two regions, the Congo forests and the

arid ports of South Africa. The Congo fo^-gotherers are Pj'gmies of ex-

aggerated Negroid type. They live as dependents of die Wge Negroes

of the region, clothing themselves in cast-offs and obtaining most of their

tools and sveapons from their large neighbors. The relationship is com¬

monly represented as one in which the settled agricultural Negroes ex¬

change their vegetable foods for tlie Pj-gmies’ game. Actually, the Ne¬

groes have their own professional hunters who take care of their need

for meat, and the main service of the Pygmies is as scouts. Hanging

widely through the forests as they do, they are able to give tlie villagers

warning of enemy war parties and to assist them in bying ambushes.

With the end of intertribal war, the usefulness of the Pygmies to their

Negro overlords has come to an end, and, according to recent accounts.

 

 

 

 

EARLY SKIS

 

 

 

XII. Historic Hunters mid Fmd-C^itherers [157

 

the overlords' willlngriess to provide them u^ith food and needed tools

has dimiriLshed accordingly .

 

In far Soutli Africa another group, the Bushmen, have maintained a

Paleolidiic culture until recent times in the Kalahari EJesert. PhysicaUy

they are a divergent race of Negroid stock: small, slender, yellow-

skinned iiidividuak with slant eyes superfici^LUy like those of the Chinese

or Japanese^ but with Negroid features and exceedingly kink^ hnir.

Their took and implements represent u direct coriBnuation of the old

Blade Cultures of Western Europe and North Africa. The present pov¬

erty of tlieir equipment is certainly due in part tq the highly unfavorable

 

environn:ient in which thev are now* found p In earlier times thev occu-

 

^ *

 

pied a much larger area in South Africa and had a more elaborate tech¬

nology which includetl pottery-milking.

 

Tlie most elaborate Bushman artifact is the bow* and arrow. Bows

arc simple wooden stavesp small and feeble: arrowheads haver a trans-

versii cutting edge, like 3 chiiel; a bone barhp smeared with a particu¬

larly deadly poison, is thrust diiigonally into the reed shaft just behind

the head. The chisel edge of the arrow serves to cut veins and to get tlie

poison into the aDimaTs circuLition more rapidly* 'The orJy other imple¬

ment of importance is the woman s digging stick, a straight piece of hud

wood weighted with a doughnut-shaped stone. This is used for collect¬

ing roots and small burrowing aiuinab and also makes a handy club at

dose quarters.

 

Household equipment is limited to two or three mats and a few^ os-

trich egg shells used as w^ater bottles. Clothing consists of scanty Liprons

of soft tanned hide and of fur robes worn against the nightly cold.

 

Bushmen are organized in tribes, vague groupings based on the

sense Ilf unity which comes from speaking a common dialect and occa*

siodul c*ontacts between the members. The tribcp in turn, ia composed of

bands wliich are the real units for social life. Each baud roams within a

particular le^Titor)^ Where the resources are poorest even bands hreiik

down into single families which roam alone, coming together at long in¬

tervals.

 

Each band has a chief, :ui old man of strong iM?rsoitality but doubt¬

ful formal authority', who directs communsil affairs, helps to settle dis¬

putes and. above alk is the keeper of a sacred Rre. Although all adult

Bushmen know how to make fire, this fire occupies u special position

reminiscent nf the days when primitive man had to keep constant guard

aver this gift of the gods to prevent it from being lost. All fires in the en¬

campment of the bands must be kindled from the sacred fire. In the

encampment each family has its own diminutive dome-shaped hut and

its own cooking fire. Unmarried men have a hut of their own to which

the boys repair immcdfately after puberty.

 

 

Pi^rt Four: Huntebs Fooi>-Gather^rs

 

 

158]

 

Families are ustiaily moiiDganious^ although widows and other un¬

attached women are cared for by being tal^en as plural wives of the best

hunters. Wives are always taken from another band within the some

tribe.

 

Bushman religion is poorly known, but they seem to believe in a

supreme being whose representation or vehicle on earth is* curiously

enough, the praying mantis^ Their folklore, consisting maitily of animal

tales, is surprisingly rich, and they have carried over from their Faleo*

lithic ancestors a quite extraordinary skill in drawing men and animals.

Wherever the Bushmen have been* cave mouths and rock shelters are

decorated with elaborate polychrome paintings executed with rare spirit

and ahnpst photographic fidelity. These paintings represent hunting

scenes, dances and fights, but their purpose is unknown.

 

Several groups of hunters and food-gatherers have been able to sur¬

vive untd the present time in the inhospitable jungles of Southeast Asia

and the adjoining islands. These groups show two quite distinct physi¬

cal types, one Negroid, the other, called Veddoid, somewhat Caucaslc,

However, oU of them have in common small stature and slight build,

which may be related to many generations of underfeeding and intense

moist beat

 

In spite of their dillerences m physical type and language, all these

groups depend on much the same sort of economy. Caves and rock shel¬

ters are used as dwellings where available. Falling this, houses are sim¬

ply leaf-thatched lean-tos arranged in a drole about a central open

space. Hunting is done with bow or blow gun^ the latter appliance ap¬

parently having been invented in this region, although its time and place

of origin are unknown. Blow guns are like gigantic pea shooters eight

 

 

 

BOCK PAUraNG, AFRICA

 

 

XII. Hi^oric Hunters and Food-Gatherers

 

 

Im

 

feet or more in length. The simplest type of blow gun is nothing more

than a single joint of a verv' tong jointed species of bamboo which grows

la this region. More elaborate forms with mouthpiece anti sights ore

made of wood. The blow gim arrows, splints of bamboo feathered with

coLton or thistle down^ are much too light to form effective weapons in

themselves but they are tipped with a deadly paralyzing poison made

from the sap of the Upas tree* This has the double Bclvantuges of bring¬

ing dow'd the prey before it can travel far and of being baonli^s when

lalcen internally so that It does not injure the meat.

 

All have much tlie same rudimentary social institutions. They live

in small bands which claim particular tcrrltones and punish trespass.

Chiefs and format political or tribal organization arc lacking. In general

they follow a pattern, also widespread among the more advanced pm-

pies of tJiis region, by which adolescent sex experimentation is permitted

but inarriage is monogamous and unfaithfulness by either pirrty is Se¬

verely punished.

 

Religion centers about a supreme being who expresses his disap¬

proval by thunderstorms, violent enough in this region to be awe inspir¬

ing. Taboos are numerous and are directed toward placating him. There

are medicine men who control disease and work against evil spirits and

ghosts, of which the natives have a \igorous if not clearly rationalized

fear^ It is Interesting to note that there is very little fear among any of

these peoples nf malevolent magic practiced by other persons.

 

Although none of these little people live in the sort of clientage

which characterizes the African Pygmies, they are in general dominated

by larger neighboring groups. Tlie only exception to this i$ tlie Anda-

nianesc in the Bay of Bengal who, until about loo years ago, maintained

complete independence by killing ai^y strangers who landed on their

shore and burning their bodies and their equipment. This inhospitable

Conduct seems to have been motivated rnainly by a great fear of disease.

In spite of this iron curtain, the Andaman Islanders to have re¬

ceived certain elements of materiid culture* notably pottery and canoes,

from their more advanced neighbors.

 

The last, and in many w^ays the most interestiz^g of the Old World

food-gathering groups^ arc ilie Australian aborigines. In this isolated

continent, where many archaic forms of life have survivcxl, wc also find

archaic humans. Intensive studies of the Australian physical typa sug¬

gest that the island continent was reached by three waves of invaders,

differing in race. However, the commonest Australfan physical type ap¬

pears tq represent a very old, highly generaliated human stock corre¬

sponding rather closely in its skeletal characteristics to the oldest re¬

mains of our owTi species which have so far come to light.

 

If there were successive waves of migration into Australia, each

 

 

Part Four: Huntfhs aw FooD-GATHEneKS

 

 

s6dj

 

wuve presumably brought with it a somewhat different culture, but it is

quite Impossible to reconstruct these cultures at the present time. Aus-

tmliun culture is by no rneajis nniform, but it h characterized every¬

where by a poor development of technology. Clothing is nonexistent ex¬

cept for decorative purposes or the occasional use of untauned, tinsewn

skins wrapped around the body haphazardly in cold weather^ Housing

is of the most rudimentar)^ sort, consistiiig of simple open windbreaks in

dry country or, in wet country, of low domed huts thrown logedier of

any materials that might be available, !n cold weather, fire is made to

substitute for both clothing and housing. The traveling native carries a

burning brand which be moves around his body from time to time to

warm himself, and at night he sleeps between fires.

 

The principal weapons ore the spear and spear thrower and a short

knobbed club. The spear thrower is the most important single imple¬

ment, so much so tbat in some of the Australian tribes the name for it is

given the same grammatical form as that used in referring to parts of the

Individuars own body. A bit of sharp hint is often gummed to the lower

end for use as a fcnjfe or scraper* and the shaft is often e3qmnded to form

an oval plate on which food can be cut up, colors for botly paintirig pre-

 

 

 

AUSrflAUAN «>STVXrES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XIL liLstoric Ilunivrs ami Food-Catherer,^ [i6i

 

pared, and so forth. Sptws differ considerably with tlie region and there

» ail extensive trade in various tjpes.

 

Most stone impleoients are crudely made by percussion, but the na¬

tives of VVorora seem to have invented the art of pressure Ikking inde¬

pendently and in fairJy recent times, using it for the manufacture of

spearileads and knives. Crude gruund and polished stone axes, Iiafted in

a bent \vithe, provide die only eXL'eptlQns to the genend PaleoJidiie tone

of tile native stone work.

 

The boomerang, most advertisetl of Austmliafi weapons, is actuall)

present only in northern and central Australia. Those used by different

 

 

 

THHOTIT^rC CLUB

 

tribes vary greatly in size, decoration and details of form. The return

boomerang has a sUll more limited distribution and is primarily a toy or

at most a bird-hunting applianto. It is said that the aborigines do not

understand the principal involved and that a man never knows whether

a new boomerang will return properly until he has thrown it.

 

Shields are used in nortliem and central Australia. They are made

of solid wood and are, with few exceptions, so srmll that they must be

regarded as fending weapons rather than cover.

 

Equipment other than tcxib and Wf?apon5 is of the crudest sort. A

few twined bags and baskets and ooeasional containers of bark or wood

exhaust the inventory- Nevertljeless, objects are frequently decorated

With painted or incised designs which show unusual precision in execu¬

tion, l^Tgc earth paintings symbolizing the outstanding characteristics

of totem animab are made in central Australia as a part of rites for in¬

crease, while in for northeastern Australia, Amhemland, there is an un¬

usually vigorous art of painting on bark with representatioz^ of mytho¬

logical characters and events- The art in general is characterized by

great vigor and movement and the designs ore for the most part abstract

rather than naturalistic-

 

Neither pottery' nor the bow were present in Australia in historic

times, although archeological finds indicate that they had been intro¬

duced in the northern part of the continent but for some reason failed of

acceptance.

 

The poverty of Australian technology is matched by an almost equal

poverty of political organization. There are no real tribes* but only lerrl-^

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ifia] Fart Pour: Hunters and FooD-GATWiatsHS

 

torifll divisions characterized by differences in language and culture.

There are no chiefs, courts, or other formal agendcs of government; con¬

duct is controlled by an elaborate series of regulations based on kinship

and by innumerable taboos, both sets of regulations being enforced by a

combination of supernatural sanctions and pubbe opinion. Any situa¬

tions not covered by one or the other of these sets of reg 4 lations are set¬

tled by informal councils of old and respected men whose position might

be thought of as a combination of Emily Post and a Holy Synod.

 

As with all food-gathering peoples, the Australians live in bands,

groups of families who normally camp together and roam over a well-

defined territory. From time to time adjoining bauds come together to

perform ceremonies, particularly the initiation of boys into manhood

and rites for increase of game. These get-togethers are occasions of high

emotional tension. The meeting begms wtA formalized fights in which

all grudges resulting from trespass, failure to fulfill eschauge obligations,

and so forth, are worked off. Men of different bands throw spears at each

other and the women often join in, belaboring each other with their dig¬

ging sticks. There is much noise and excitement and a fair number of

wounds are given and received. There arc even occasional killings, and

it >5 said that in some of the tribes the bodies of such casualties are wel¬

comed as an addition to the food brought for the occasion. When the old

men feel that the battle has gone on long enough, they call a halt and

 

 

 

BOOMZHANO

 

 

 

Xlli Historic Hunters and Food-Gtttkerers

 

 

(163

 

hold ii feast to whtoh aU contribute. The oombatont^ are recondled

through a teiriporary exchange of women during which the usual rules

of Idn avoidance are suspended,

 

Australian social organization has a complexity which has made it

the delight of students of primitive institutions. The distribution of vari¬

ous patterns of social organization on the ccfidneDt is sufEdently $ys-

 

 

 

 

AUStKAiroN SHIELDS

 

tematic to make possible a fairly accurate reconshuctioii of the develop¬

ment of various institutinns. The most eomples socral patterns are found

in the north-central part of die continent^ becoming increasingly simple

and presumably older as one goes toward the marginSp Patrilineal bands

are present everywhere, and comhmed with these there is a twofold di¬

vision of the trite based on descent in the female line. The functions of

these divisions, moieties as tlicy are called, ore primarily ceremonial

Each moiety initiates boys of the other moiety into manhood and also,

in many cases, takes care for the other moiety s dead* Less peripheral

and presumably somewhat later is a system in which the moieties are

further subdivided into matrilinenl clans. Lostlyv to central and northern

Australia, the dan organization is replaced by a divtsion of the whole

group into four sections^ made by dividing each moiety in half. Under

this arrangement children belong to a different section from either of

their parents and have to marry someone belonging to the one section

remaining whtm both their own and thdr parents'* section have been

ruled out In the next generation^ if tt is a four-cLiss system, the ctuldieD

revert to the section of one of the grandparents. Thus if a b'ite is divided

 

into four sections A -- B

 

C D

 

a man frora A has to marry a woman from B, and their children are In

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10^] part Four: Hwters and Fooo-Gatherehs

 

section D- A woman in D has to maity a ituui in C and Uieir ehUdnen

wdi be B-

 

In the central part of the conBnent each of the four sections is fur*

thiT split in two, giving an eight-class system. Tn this case diildren be¬

long to the class to which their great-gnindmolhcr belonged. An individ¬

ual calls all persons of the same sex and generation included in a par¬

ticular section fay the same reJatJonsfaip tenn. Thus a man will call all his

father s brothers “father," aU his mother s sisters "mother " all the men of

his own generation in his section “brotlicr," and all the women of his

wife's gencratjon and soctinn "wife."

 

Although this elaborate kinship system is ordinarily thought of as

important mainly for the regulation of marriage, actually it governs all

sorts of interpersonal relations. The hunters bringing in game, or the

women returning from a day of root digging, have to divide tlicir lake

with all their kin according to strict regulations. For instance, if a man

JciUs a kangaroo, his wife's brothers are entitled to a certain part of the

animal, his outi brothers to anotlier part, and so forth. He will, of course,

receive a return in kind from each of his relatives when they kill game.

Not only mutual aid and marriage but also avoidance are controlled by

rules based on kin ties. The most rigid of these rules is that a rnan must

 

 

 

UlJAl^hlOXfO SFHUT, AaNHEMLANU

 

 

 

 

X//. ffhtoric Hunten ttnti Fooii^Gnth^rers

 

 

[165

 

nfver be alme with or even address his mother-in-faw\ He a bo must

maititain diflerent degrees of social distance toward a whole series of

male and female relative!;, talking to one calcgorj^ only with his back

(timed, sitting so many paces from relatives of another, and so fortli.

This regidatjon of kin behavior is carried so far that in one of die nurtli-

em Queenslnnd tribes, when a man sneexes, instead of saying Gesiiitd-

/leif all those in hearing 5Jap themselves, die place on their bodies vary¬

ing according ttj their relationship to the sneezer.

 

Bt cause of the rules of b;ind esoganiy and tlie absence of any real

cotitinning warfare between bands^ these kin ties cut across linguistic

and cultural bncs. In some parts of Aiistnilia it js usual for young men to

take n sort of grand tour, in the course of which diey are passed from

band to band and cared for In each by their hypothetical relatives until

t)je\' have made a circuit of several hundred miles# In spite of die differ-

ing kin terms and categories in difiereot regions* the natives are exceed¬

ingly adroit in con-elating the various •svstems- If the individual can End

a kin tie vAfii even one person in the band, living nr remembered, he can

be socially oriented immediately, fiis relatives in different degrees are

pointed out to him and he is told exactly how' to behave toward each. !c

is Said that when a man meets a member of a strange band the first step

is tn sit do Wilt reeite genealogies, Euid tiy to ^tablish such a liiik. If one

ciid be fciund^ all is wdl; if none can be found, the stranger may he

classed as a brolher of any man willing to stand sponsor for him or, fail¬

ing this, will be killed simply iM^Ciiuse there is no social technique by

which he can be fitted into the group-

 

The complexit)' of Austrahan kin orgauixatioa is matched by that of

their cerenronial life. It seems amazing that so many diverse rites could

be performe«I with so little technological equipment. It has already been

said that the variations of physical type in Australia suggest a series of

migrations. If such occurred they must have taken place in some remote

time, for in no other ptui of the world h tlicre so complete a linkage be¬

tween tlic people and the land. The mythical period to which the begin¬

nings of things are traced is known to the Australians by a term meaning

“the <lream time,"* and tlie division between past and present seems to

Ik? far from clear in their own minds ^ at least, it is always possible tn re¬

create this past and to strengthen its influences by ceremonial qbserv^-

ances and for the medicine miin to go back into the "*dream tifiie" and

participate fii its events ■tvliile tn a tnmee state.

 

In the Austntlian m}^lliDlogy\ CTeabon did not take place In some re¬

mote Garden of Eden bill tn the very territory where each band lives.

The mysterious akhiiringa aneestorsp who were neither men nor animals

but partook of the qualities of both, wnndered about performing casual

 

 

Fart Four: Huntcrs and Fqod-Gathehebs

 

 

106 ]

 

mirade$ at well remembered spots and leaving hero and there caches of

souls which could incarnate themselves in either humans or animats^ as

fancy dictated.

 

From the native point of view^ membership in a band depends not

upon biolDgicfll descent but on the possession of a tocat soul. The kui>wl-

edge of the ancestors* wanderings and of the sacred places which they

haw established is the most predous possession of the tribe and, in the¬

ory at least, is limited to adult males. The men of an Austrolian band

really constitute a secret society, with the women and children provid¬

ing the necessary audience of admiring outsiders. At pubeitj' the boy fa

initiated into the secret society of adults by rites which are a dramatic

representation of death and rebirth. He is carried off by members of the

opposite moiety amid the lamentations of his relatives and taken to a

camp In the bush where he is subjected to various taboos and to physl*

cal 111 treatment which varies in violence with the region. As in the case

of kinship regulations, patterns show a fairly consistent gengrapbic dis*

 

 

 

MMJGSA>n: SPnUT, ARNnEmANO

 

 

 

XII. Historic Hunters nnd Food-Gatherers [167

 

tnbutioa- AlutiJfltions performed upon the nnvice vary from simple ^caii-

ficationt in the southern coasts] regions^ to a combination of scarification^

knocking out teeth, ctrcumcisJon, and subind^ion, in central Atistralia-

\VhUe these mutilations are no doubt designed in part to test the cour¬

age of die initiate and to detennine whether he is ready to perform the

necessaiy masculine role^ they alw serve, among a naked peoplcp as vis¬

ible sjgojt that the boy has attained manhood and biows at least tbenec*

essary mimmum of the secret lore.

 

The ceremonies of uutiatiDii usually end with die display to the inb

dates of the chirringii of the band. Even Paieolithic man seems to have

discovered that if a thin slat of wood is attached lo the end of a string

and whirled around the beadp it will make a peculiar whistling and roar¬

ing sound. This appliance^ called a buH-roaner, was used to frighten die

uniniUated away from places where ccreinotiies were going on in re¬

gions as diverse as California, far South America, Melanesia^ and ancient

Europe, hut the bull-roarer cult reached its maximum development in

Australia, The churinga is a glorified hulj-roarer made from wood or,

more rarely, from stone» and caned with Indsed designs. In most crises

it copies the form of the original instruntent but can no longer be nsed

for noise making. Each man is represented by one of these churingas

which has presumably been dropped by his soul when it entered his

mother s womb to be reincamated. When the child is born his Father

searches for the i^/itiringa until he finds it (presumably with the aid of

an older tnan^ eaepert in diiiringa-making}. It is then stored in some se¬

cret place with the cfuiringas of all other hand members and is kept here

erven after the individuals death.

 

^VTiile all men undergo inttiation and are given a glimpse of the eso¬

teric lore, full knowledge of this is reserved for a selected group and it

is not tmmmitted even to these until tliey have reached late middle age.

According to the native statements, such higher initiates undergo an¬

other ceremony of death and resurrection in which their flesh and inter¬

na] organs are magically removed, cleansed^ and then put back with var¬

ious objects, mostly small stones, which confer supernatural powers. The

process as described is modeled directly on thut employed by many na¬

tive groups in actual mummification^ Individuals who have been sancti¬

fied in this way have power to work all sorts of magics to bring rain, in¬

crease game, ascertain what is happening at a distancCp and cure illness^

Their activities are generally benevolent although, as with any wielders

of supernatural power, they can also use their kooulcdge to cause in¬

jury. However they are sharply differentiated In the native mind from

the malevolent sorcerers who have acquired their knowledge in less le¬

gitimate way's and who use Lt for evil, TTiese sorcerers kiU thtdr victims

magically by profecting malevolent objects into them or by stealing upon

 

 

Part Four: Hujraens and FooivGATiiirnERs

 

 

168]

 

th^m at night while tliw jire A^l^?ep and removing their kidney fat or

of their vital organs and stuffing in grass in piaee of these. They

then close the wound niagicaUy. Tlin indivictual revives the nejst morn¬

ing appaiently none the worse for the experience, but inevritabJy dies

within two or three daj*s.

 

There is considerable fear of this black magic among the natives,

but it Is characteristie of their welJ-ad|iisted patterns of social life and

social obligations tliat the sorcerer Is never a member of tlic sictiin's own

band. After a death a incdicinc man will be called Jn to divine the cause

of the death and will accuse some individual frnm another band, tisually

one already suspected of sorcery* A punitive expedition wfU then be sent

to kill him^ and it is said diat the members of his own band will not pro-

tect him under these cireuinstances.

 

Of all the eurious patterns of Australian native life, the one w^hich

ha.s attracted most attention is to(cfwmin. This is the belief tliat a special

relationship exists betwx^n a particular species of aaimal or phiiit or

natnral phenomenon imd h particular human group. In Australia everj^

social grouping is rebtiid to a totenu The native idea is not tliat the hu¬

man group is descended from the animal species but rather that the two

share souls from a eofumon repository in which these souls were left by

the iilchuring^ ancestors during the ^'dream tinje," In general, the hold¬

ers of a particular totem are forbidden to kill or eat their totem animal

except on certain solemn occasions when the old men of the group may

eat it as a sort of a sacramenb reminiscent of the practice of some Aus¬

tralians of eating tfieir ow^l dead. Although members of the group do

not eat their own iotein^ tliey are responsible for its Increase for the good

of the entire couimuulty, and tlie moeft important native religious rites

center about pcrsuanling the souls in the various soul caches to be reborn

as animals. In these increase riteSp events of tJie “dream time" are ret^n-

acted with the aid of ground paintings and dieatrical eoshimes consist¬

ing of elaborate headdresses, besdy paintingp or coals of downy feathers

glued on with bbott. One of the younger men of the totem group Is se¬

lected to provide this adhesive.

 

In discussing tlie life of the Australian aborigines, the present tense

has been used tliioughout as a matter of eouvenicnco. ActuaUv^ many

tribes have become extinct, others are living under direct European

domination with consequent changes in their originoJ patterns of cub

ture, and stdl othtivs, espTCiaUy in the desert regioiiSp arc carrying on

t)]eir aboriginal culture with little change.

 

Tticre can br^ tio doubt thot the Australian aborigines eventually

will disappear as a distinct ethiiic and cultural group. Their culture has

had no infiuence on the main lines nf developing civilizutton. It does not

even throw much light upon the social and religious institutions of the

 

 

XII, Histaic Hunters and Food-Catherer$ [169

 

earliest human sodetiesp for the Austnilian systems are so eb borate and

unique that they can only be explained as a result of Jndependent evch

lutioti. At ihe same time, certain tbemes preseot in Australian culture

can be recognissed as present in the amazingly diverse local cultures of

Melanesia. Tlius, the Australian dependence upon kinship as a guide to

social interaction U pralleled by the compfexit}' and functional impor¬

tance of Melanesian kinship sysleins. The Australian initiation rites and

transmission of magical secrets to men is paralleled in the -\felimesian

secret societies, although xvitb rather cbiuiged emphasis. The amorphous

quality of Australian political organization is paralleled in the relatively

pjor Mebnesian devebpmeut of chieftainship and formal political insti¬

tutions. Lastly^ the art of several Melanesian areas is strongly reminis¬

ce nt^ in its colorfulness, motion^ and Fantastic quality»of the uninhibited

dgor of Australian painting.

 

 

 

PART FIVE

 

 

Southeast Asiatic Complex

 

 

 

Chapter XIII

 

 

Southeast Asiatic Neolithic

 

 

As WE SAW in Chapter XI. evidence of many sorts suggests that food-

raising was iuvcntetl Independently in Southeast Asia and that a distioc-

Uvc Neolithic complex wjis developed there. However, any attempt to

reconstruet this complex is fraught with great difficulty. Very little ar*

cheological work has been done in Southeast Asia and the adjoining is¬

lands and what is available has been tlirected mainly to the rich and

picturesque Hindu and Buddhist cultures of the early historic period.

Moreover, as has been mentinned previously, the development of tech¬

nology in this region seems to have centered on the use of perishable

materials, especiaJlv bamboo, so that the actual remains from the Neo¬

lithic period, mainly surface finds, are scanty and unilluminating.

 

In the absence' of archeological evidence we must turn to that pro¬

vided by marginal survivals. It has often been observed that when a cul-

 

QQjupIgx has been diffused over a considerable area, older forms w ill

tend to survive around the margins and in regions of comparative isola¬

tion Inng after they have died out in the original center of diffusion. The

fact tbat Elizabethan English ballads are still sung by some of our

Southern mountaineers would be a case in point.

 

The Malayo-Polynesian languages have iheir center in Southeastern

Asia and Indonesia and wherever they are found it is safe to assume that

they Were introduced by niigmiits from this general region. Even the an¬

cient Indonesians were excellent sailors and carried their languages and

culture eastward to the farthest Pacific Islands and westward to Mada¬

gascar, When the same distinctive culture elements are found at the op¬

posite ends of this tremendous area and also among isolated, culturally

conservative groups living in remote liiclonesian islands and in the

mountains of Southeastern Asia, it is safe to conclude that such elemfmts

are referable to an old stratum of Southeastern Asiatic culture. It is im¬

possible to say with certainty whether such elements are as old as the

 

173.

 

 

Port Frw,* SoimtEAsr Asiatic Complex

 

 

174I

 

Neolithic, but they certBinly be Jang to the relatively primitive pattern of

life which emted in this region ptior to the Intmduction of Itindu aod

Chinese culture elemenU.

 

One may verj* tentatively reconstruct tlie Southeastern Asiatic Neo^

lithic as having the follouing cliaracteriatic^: the economy was based

upon root and fruit crops, supplemented in inland hill regions by unirri¬

gated rice raised by the cutting and buniing method. Domestic aminals

were the pig» chicken, and the ubiquitous dog. The presence of pottery

seems question able since it is tacking not only in PoljTiesia but even in

the more archaic cultures of modern Madagascar- It was replaced by a

combination of boiling in large bamboos and baking in earth ov-ensp

Clothing was made fTom bark^loth or matting. The loom was unknowm.

The inventory of stone implements was small and consisted primarily

of ackes and chisels whidi were characterized by angularity and com¬

plete pohsh. Chipped stone impiements were rare ami crudely made.

Knives, scraperSp profcctik points were ordinarily made from bam¬

boo, Basketry^ matting, and woodworking were probably highly de-

veloped.

 

The most important %veapons w'ere the spear and dub, both present

in cnnsiderable variet)'. The principal missile weapon was the slings

Shields ssere probably tacking and the bow was unimportant. The fail¬

ure of the migrant Malayo-Polynesian groups and of even the historic

hill tribes of Southeastern Asia to use this implement as a weapon is dif¬

ficult to explain. It seems to have been used by the food-gathering Ne¬

grito peoples whose cultures are certainly very aument m Southeast Asia,

w the Neulitfaic Midayo-Folynesians must have been familiar with it. It

has been suggested that its neglect was connected with a head-hunting

complex which made close fighting abligatorv' if the warrior was to ob¬

tain the necessary trophy.

 

Housing no doubt varied considerably with altitude and tempera¬

ture, but the hmdamenlal house form was rectangular with gabled roof

and floor elevated by building the house either on posts or on an earth

platform, usually stone faced. Even in the Neolithic period there must

hove been excellent cancx^ capable of extended ocean voyages, and it

seems probable that the outrigger and sail were already known.

 

PolitJcal organization was decidedly weak, with no govemmenta]

units larger than single vilbges. Within the village, rule was by family

heads under a sort of oligarchic arrangeincnt with, perhaps, nominal

chiefs whose powers were mataly advisory. Each village was normally

endpgamous and had few friendly relations with other settlements, even

those which were sUmlar in language and culture^ Within the settle¬

ment individual s^tus and social interactions were based on a combina-^

tiOD of kinship and wealth with considerable emphasis on the latter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

part FtKe: Solttheast Asiatic Complex

 

 

176]

 

Descent was probnbly bil-vtcrtil anil the local endogamy incnnt tK&t ev-

erj'one was rekted to everyone else through several difFerent lines.

 

Attitudes toward contrasted sharply with those of the Southwest¬

ern Neolithic cultures and their later derivatives. Adolescent seK experi¬

mentation was not only toleratcil, but was activ ely encouraged by such

institutions as separnte houses for adolescent boys and sometimes for

girls. It wTas anticipatedp as well^ that the adolescent would have set re¬

lations with all other individuals in his or her own age group who were

not covered by simple incest taboos much tike our own. This would be

fallowed by a gradual narrowing of interest until, by the end of the pe¬

riod of adolescent sterility, couples would be "Agoing steady." Marriage

would talce place when tlie girl became pregnant. Monogamy was nor-

malp with perhaps some polygyny for the rich, and married couples were

expected to be faithful, Aduileiy by either the husband or ^vife was con¬

sidered equally reprebensiblep but attitudes toward all sorts of sex be*

havior w'ere rather casual and permissive.

 

Reconstruction of the old Southeast Asiatic religion presents the

most difficult problem of all since^ contrary to general belief, theological

concepts and religious practices are much less conseri'ative than many

other aspects of culture, flowevcr, it is possible to recognize certain

themes fundamental to supcmatural beliefs and practices among all die

margina] Malay o-PoJynesian peoples. The most im porta tit of these

themes is the deep respect for ancestors and ihe belief that ancestral

spirits take a lively interest In the behavior of their descendants^ both

assisting them and punishing them for Infraction of taboos. There is also

a imiversal belief in the existence of deities who contra! the forces of na*

ture. These deities are highly specialized In both activities and interests^

They arc remote and, in general^ uninterested in human affairs. Local

spirits of limited power and uncertain dispositjon are nunieroiis and to

be placated by smell offerings. At die behavioristic level all the marginal

groups arc chameterLzed by an extreme development of the concept of

taboo, so that the Individual Is surrounded by innumerable supematu-

mlly sanctioned tegulations^ most of which have no recognized social

significance or ethical connotations. There is everj'where some fear of

magic, which is employed as a leclmique far social control, and a sharp

differentiation in the native mind between it$ jiistifiable and its purely

malevolent use.

 

The myths In which these themes are reflected and the rituals by

which they arc implcinented among Ihe modem marginal groups are

highly variable and bear the imprint of many independent local evolu¬

tions. This is particularly true with respect to the beings other tlian an¬

cestral spirits, suggesting tliat the^ beings were of so little functipnal

importance in the life of die average native community that they

 

 

Xin. Southeast Asiatic NeolUhic [i77

 

provided a free field for elaboration through speculation and fantasy.

 

The migrations of the Malayo-Polynesian speaking peoples from

their homeland in Southeastern Asia and the adjoining islands present

one of the most amazing phenomena in history. In spite of their atom¬

istic political patterns, which made it impossible for them to organize

large communal projects, and their late aequisitioa of metal, they were

able to encircle a full third of the globe in their voyages of eiploration

and to establish permanent settlements at points as remote as the island

of Madagascar, only ago miles off the East African coast, and Easter Is¬

land, only 3200 miles from the coast of South America and nearly due

south of Denver, U.S,A,

 

Migrations from Indonesia certainly began while the Malayo-Foly-

nesians were in the Neolithic stage of culture and continued until recent

times. Tlius, Malayan trepang fishermen still visit the coast of Nnrtbem

Australia, where they have left mixed blood offspring and have exerted

considerable influence on the aboriginal culture, However, the great pe¬

riod of migration seems to have begun around zooo b,c. and to have

ended by goo a.d,, about the time when Southeast Asia and Indonesia

came under the dominance of Indian culture.

 

It is generally believed that the originators of the Malayo-Polyne¬

sian family of languages and of the Southeast Asiatic version of Neo¬

lithic culture were of the physical type known as proto-Malay, Tribes

predominantly of this type still survive in the interiors of the larger In¬

donesian islands and around the margins of the Malayo-Polyncsian area.

The proto-Malays arc brown skinned, long headed, wavy haired, and

straight eyed, with features much like Europeans. Tliey are generally

classed as belonging to the Caucasic stock. In view of the ancient occu¬

pation of Southeast Asia by Negrito and Australoid peoples, it seems im¬

probable that they evolved in this region, but we cannot trace them to

any outside source. Following the proto-Malays there was a steady infil¬

tration of Mongoloid tribes coming from the north. This infiltration

scctns to have been slow enough for the newcomers to adopt most of the

language and culture of the proto-Malay population while gradually re¬

placing its physical tvpe with their own. The modem inhabitants of

Southeast Asia and Indonesia are predominantly dcutcro-Malnys: brown

skinned but round headed and straight haired, with slant eyes and \ioii-

go!Old feature's^

 

This gradual change in physical type is reflecied m differences in

the appcaraace of the population in diEcrent parts of the Malayo-Poly-

nesiaxk area. The people of the outer Polynesian islands and the oldcf

stratum in the population of Madagascar are both predominantly proto-

\talay. Western Polynesia and Micronesiu show a much greater propor¬

tion of dcutcro-Malay, while this element is also dominant m the Ime-

 

 

Fart Five: Southeast Asiatic Compixx

 

 

178]

 

rida tribe who traditiona]l)\ dw desccridantj of the last group of

Asiatic migrants to reach Madagascar,

 

Between Southeastern Asia and Endoncsia and the open reaches of

the Pacific there lies an almost conrinunus chain of islands estemimg

from the Japanese archipelago through the Philippines to New GoCiica

anil the various Melanesian groups. All these Islands were in ctisy reach

for sailors os expert as the ancient Jndonesians. Malayo-Polyoe$laci mi¬

grants reached the Philippines very early in their wanderings and suc¬

cessive migrations continued until the late 14th century, when the

ancestors of the Moros^ Malays converted to Islain^ established them¬

selves in Mindanao. There can be little doubt that early migrants also

reached Japan and made rignificant contributions to the later Japanese

population and culture. This ^vill be discussed elsewherc^

 

The Melanesian islands arc remnants of what was opce a northern

extension of the Australian continent Many of them must have been oc¬

cupied at one time by people much like the Australian aborigines but,

by the time of the first European contact, most of the Melanesian popu¬

lation w'os more nearly Negroid than anything else. Negrito (black

P>^gmy) groups are found in refuge areas, from New Guinea to the An¬

daman islands m the Bay of Bengal Several hypotheses have been ad¬

vanced to account for the ptesenoe of Negroid peoples so far from Africa

and wdth no other Negroid popubtions to bridge the gap, but none of

them seem satisfactory'. Although the Melanesian Negroids liqve the re¬

quired dark sHn and kinky hair, they are highly vaiiable in thdr other

physical charad:eristics. and there are very few of them who might be

mistaken for membei^ of any African tribe. It seems most probable that

the features which they share with the Africans are a result of conver¬

gent evolution. The chmatie conditions in the large Melunesian islands

are, after all not too different from those in the West African low'buds,

the center from which the true Negroes seem to have spread to the rest

of the continentr

 

Whatever the origins of Melanesian Negroids, it seems safe to as¬

sume that at the dmc the Malayo-Polynesinn migrations began, the re^

gion was occupied by dark-skinned people of Negroid or Aiistraloid

stock who were cnltnrally baclnvard. Lying as it does on the margin of

the Malnyo-Polynesian home territory, Melanesia was subjected to a

constant flow of invader^. By the beginning of the historic period,

Malayo-Polyncsian languages had been established eveiywhere except

in the interiors of a few of the largest islands. However, in spite of a

great many local variations in physical type, the result erf social isolation

and close in-breeding, even today the populatioti is still predominantly

Negroid or Australoid. Proto- or deulero-Malay groups are to be found

Only on a few small off-shore islands^ and even these groups appear to be

 

 

XUl^ Southeast Asiatic Neolithic [179

 

descendants of PDlj-nesians who driited back into the region from the

cast in fairly recent times.

 

The best explanation for thi$ curioiis inconsistency in the distribu¬

tion of language and physical type seems to be that the Malayo-Polyne-

5jan migrants found the Melanesian environment much more hostile

than the Melanesian natives. Even modem Europeans with modem

medicine have found it hard to survive in Melanesia. Tliere are a great

many endemic diseases^ among which numerous strains of malignant

malaria occupy a prominent place^ The early Malayo-Polynesian mi¬

grants probably made numerous settlements on tlie Melanesian islands,

intermarrying with the local aborigines. Their descendants were hybrids

from evoiy' point of %icw* They spoke a variety of languages^ in aU of

which the Mabya-PciljTiesian elements predominated, and practiced a

great variety of local ciiitures based on various eombinations of aborigi¬

nal and Malayo-PoKmesian traits. However, the aboriginal physical type,

with its superior environmenla] adaptation, gradually replaced that of

the invaders. A similar situation can be recognised in some of the older

tropical colonies established by Europeans. European languages and

much of European culture survive, but pre.>5ent populations show few

traces of European blood.

 

The MaJavo-FohTiesian occupation of the Philippines and their

penetration of Melanesia were only the first steps in their eastward

inovemenL When these were passed, the whole Pacific lay open to them

with a tnulbtude of uninhabited islands waiting to be colonized. One

migration route seems to have been through Melanesia and nlong the

relatively dose^lying Polynesian Islands from Tonga and Samoa east¬

ward to the Society group, the Marquesas, and ultimately Easter Island.

Another migmtion route ran far to the north, taking the migrants into

the small and widely scattered Microncsiim Islands, from which they

eventually reached Hawaii.

 

The "settlers who came by each of these mutes bore the marks of

their journey. The descendants of the first migrants to enter Polynesia by

ihe southern route survived into historic times in the Marquesas IslandSp

Mangareva. and Easier Island. They also formed an important element

in the great lath century migration to New Zealand. Although they

showed litde or no Melanesian blood, they shared various cultime traits

with that region. The most important of these were a vigorous head cult,

with headhunting and the preservation of the heads of both enemies and

ancestors, cannibalism of a gastronomic rather than ceremonial type, es-

Ireme political fragmentation and constant intertribal warfare, and a

vigorous, predominantly curvilinear representative art in which human

figures were the usual subjects.

 

The migrants who came by the northern route occupied Micronesia

 

 

Pari Fit^c: Southeast Asiatic Complex

 

 

180]

 

and ieeni Id have E>eet] the first settlers in Hawaii. A radio carbon date

from Saipan in the Canilines gives approjcimately 1500 BrC, for a settle¬

ment there^ but sporadic migradons have conHinicd into modem times

and tile bulk of the ^ficTonesians are of deutero- rather than proto-

Maby physical type.

 

After a sojourn in Xficronesia and cultural adjustments to atoll con¬

ditions encountered there, descendants of these migrants moved south¬

ward into Polynesia, Their tieaVTcst impact secrns to have come in tJie

west, on Samoa and Tongap where they modified the older culture so

completely tliat if it were not lor physical and linguistic factors^ these

island groups would certainly be classed as MicroncsLan rather llian

Polynesian. From Samoa and Tonga they spread eastward across the in-

ter^'ening groups to the Societj- islands. The invaders were technologi¬

cally inferior to the tribes whom they found in possession. During their

Microne-sian sojourn they had lost much of their skill as farmers, makers

of stone implements and hark cloth, and as wood caners. To compen¬

sate for this, Ibi^" had developed a superior t) pe of canoe and sail, and

patterns for the pfditical organization and exploitatioit of oonquered

tribes. They found the Folyriestans of the older stratum divided into in¬

numerable little local tribes quite unable to coD|>erate against the in¬

vaders. They were thus able to establish themselves as a ruling aristoc¬

racy and to set up slates involving a sort of feudal organization. A high

chief stood at the head, wth lower chiefs drawn partlv from the Invad¬

ers, partly from the liereiiitary chiefs of subjugated tribes.

 

Howe^^er, it sffeins that by no means all the tribes vvere willing to

submit, fn later times the Polynesians recognized a tjpe of surrender

with honors of war in which a defeated group was given time to make

and provision ciinoes and then allowed to depart in search of a new

home* We do not know whether such a pattern existed at this time, but

the arrival of the Micronesians certainly set in train a new period of

voyaging and esploratioTi which lasted from the luth to tlie 14th cen¬

tury A.D.

 

New Zealand hud l>een discovered and lightly colonized long be¬

fore, hut now there were the great rnigriitions from which most of the

modem Maori claim descent. During tliis period alsop migrants of mixed

blood and culture sailed northward from the Society group to fLawait,

where they established themselves as rulers of the older population and

also, if the traditions are to be believed, introduced various food plants

and other elements of higher culture.

 

The westward migrations of the Malayo-Polynesians are more diffi¬

cult to reconstnich but tliat these migrations were on no incnnsiderable

S4::ale is proved by the presence In Madagascar of a popubtian not only

Malayo-Polynesian in language and culture but also both proto-Malay

 

 

XIIL Southeast Asiatic Neolithic

 

 

[iSi

 

and dtsntero-Malay in physical type. The Indjan Ocean is the most be¬

nevolent of the earth's oceans. Its monsoons make it possible to sail with

a steady following wind either east or west, according to the season, it

is highly probable that while the Greeks were still harbor-bopping along

the barren coasts between the mouth of the Red Sea and India, the sea-

wse Malayo-Polynestpns had found their way from Java and Sumatra to

East Mrica,

 

The Imeiina tribe of Madagascar have preserved a traditiDn of their

own migration. On linguistic evidence they^ seem to have come from

Sumatra In about the stii centaty a.o., certainly long after the first set¬

tlement of the island. According to this tradition their ancestors left a

homeland In the East m search of a Tand where there was no death.“

After a long voyage they made a landfall among the amiable black peo~

pie and^ since they saw^ no tomhs^ concluded that their scorch had been

successful. They were disiilu-doned when they discovered that these

people ate their Q\vn dead, They^ sailed southw^ord following along the

coast and mode another settlement among people who w^ere also friendly

but who had tails* This finally offended their aesthetic sense to the point

where they once more took to their boats and sailed southw^ard again,

making their last landfall at Tulear on the far southwestern comer of

Madagascar. From there they traveled northeastw^ard over land to the

central plateau where at last they rested.

 

If one substitiitesi for the romantic phrase “land where there was no

death,” the more prosaic one, “region where there was no malaria/’ such

repeated onward movements become more reasonable, since the east

const of Africa is malarial and the Madagascan plateau has been fever

free until veiry' recent times {see pp. 26, There is also much realis¬

tic support for tlie conjecture that the Malayo-Folynesian's migration

route took them well to the north of Madagascar and then down the

African coast. The Mojcambiqne ciirrent sets southward so strongly that

sailing canoes w'onld have found it difficult tc^ beat up against it. Even

today ou trigger canoes* with saik of very^ nearly marginal-PoIynesian

type, are used on the west coast nf Madagascar but are unkno^vn on the

east coast Lastlv, had the migrants sailed directly across the Indian

Ocean they con hi hardly have missed the Mascarens {Mauretfus and

Reunion) or Seychelle kbuids. These groups were not only uninhabited

at the time of their discovery by Europeans hut also sheltered giant

tortoises and succulent wingless birds which disappeared within a few

years of the first hiiinau settlement.

 

Much of tlie east coast of Africa Is bleak and inhospitahle, offering

little encouragement to settlement by migrants accustomed to the lush

tropics of Indonesia. Nevertheless, there are small scattered areas in

w^hich settlements could bo established with an economy based on

 

 

pari Fi ^: Southeast Asiatic Complex

 

 

i8:tl

 

southeast nAsiatic cTops« Prior to the introductian ol American food

plants, the most Important crops in tropical Africa ware the yam, ba^

nana, and taro, all of Southesistem Asiatic origin and probably Intro-

dnced by proto-Malay migrants. Rice may well have been rntrodueed

into tropical Africa from the some saureCp since a primitive type of rice

culture exists in Madagascar.

 

The earliest date for the Malayo-Polynesiati movement to Africa

and Nfadagasear eon only be conjectured^ but stone implements of the

characteri.stie Snutbeast Asiatic Nedidiic types have not been reported

from either locality. Tliis docs not mean that they may not come to light

when intensive archeological work is nndertaken in these areas, but on

the basis of present knowledge it seems improbable that the main Ma-

Iayo-Pol)tiesian migrations took place before the migrants had become

acquainted with iron working Conversely, the techniques of African

iron working, the shapes of many African tools and weapons, and par¬

ticularly the use throughout Africa of various modified forms of the pis¬

ton bellows, an East A^tic appliance, suggest that the iron working of

Negro Africa was borrowed from Malayo-Polynesian sources. {See

p. iin.)

 

 

Chaptei' XIV

 

 

Oceania and Madagascar

 

 

The Malayo*Polyiiesian cultures which have survived in Oce¬

 

ania and Madagascar have contributed little to the main streams of cul¬

tural evolution. However, they have provided shidents of society and

culture with some of their most interesting comparative material. The

relative isolation of many of the islands and the general tendency of the

Matayo-Folyncsians to live in small eodogamous tribes, or even villages

vv'hich avoid outside contacts, has provided an excellent opportunity for

the study of the results of independent cultural grourth. One finds every

conceivable change rung on a small series of cultural themes which are

present almost everywhere. Needless to say, this cultural variety maltes

generalization difficult. Parallel independent developments seem to have

taken place in some regions, while the freedom of movement of the

Malayo-PUlynesion sea rovers has resulted in a series of broken distribu¬

tions which defy the neat culture area classification possible in conti¬

nental regions. Thus, in a general description of Polynesia, a number of

the statements tnie for most Polynesian localities simply do not apply

to Samoa. This group was a sort of aristocratic republic whose members

paid little attention to genealogy and even less to religion. The regular

Polynesian gods appeared as figures in a pleasant and interesting mythol¬

ogy, but (here was not a single temple or professional pnnsl in the entire

group and the ubiquitous ancestral spirits received scant attention.

 

The most famous of die "primitive" Mabyo-Polynesian areas is Pol¬

ynesia, Unfortunately it is also one of the areas whose aboriginal cul¬

tures are least known, since it received the full impact of late iSth

and early 19th century missionary ardor, epidemic diseases, and com¬

mercial exploitation. By the time modem ethnological methods for

collecting and analyzing cultural material had been developed, most of

the Polynesian cultures were moribund. Early visitors liave left valuable

records of what they saw but usually misunderstood, They interpreted

 

1S3

 

 

1841

 

 

part Five; Southeast: Asiatic Compi^

 

 

the PolVMsians is a happy ctunbinaUon of the Natural Min^ then being

idealiz^ by Rousseau and his romantic followers, and the aristocratic,

class Organized society so dear to all “right thUihing gentlemen of the

period. The casualness of Polynesian se* mores and the beauty of the

Polynesian women, especially as viewed by sailors many months at sea,

also contributed to the picture of an earthly paradise. Unfortunately, the

combination of misunderstanding and romanticism led to the develop¬

ment of certain stereotypes regarding Polynesian culture; stereotypes

which were followed miquestioningly by later authors of travel boots

on the area and also hy many serious students. Even today there Is a

tendency' to view Polynesian political organization in terms of European

monarchy and Polynesian reli^on in terms of classical mythology and

an established church.

 

It is unfortuiuite that the early visitors who wrote about Polynesian

culture did not include at least one “bmw Highlander," who might have

recognized bow rnuch Polynesian InbK and Scottish clans were alilte. In

both, the clansmen occupied a particular territory, claimed descent from

a remote common ancestor, and normally intermarried among them¬

selves. In both the chief was simply the man who traced his descent

from the common ancestor in the most direct line. He could never lack

for a successor since, if the tribesmen were taken away one by one be¬

ginning with the individual of highest descent, the last survivor could

legitimately assume the diicfly title and insignia. The resp^ and obe¬

dience accorded the chief by the clansmen were owed to him less as an

individual than as a symbol of the clan. Chief and followers were united

by reciprocal obligations springing from their ties as kindred.

 

To this extent Polynesians and Scots were alike. In New Zealuid.

the Marquesas Isiands, and a few other localities, every tribe stood alone

 

 

 

FOOD BOWL, ADMUtALTY ISLANDS

 

 

 

 

 

XIV. Oceania and Madagascar [i8S

 

except for temporary alliances, mudb as in the Highlands. Id those Poly¬

nesian areas where the later migrants had set up states, notably Hawaii

and the Society Islands, the chief (rf the dominant tribe became a king

and received tribute from the other tribes, usually interpreted as an of¬

fering in repayment for the use of his supernatural powers in their be¬

half, ^e othCT members of this tribe enjoyed added prestige but they

 

 

 

FLY WinSK KANDLFp TAHTTl

 

 

were not transformed into feudal nobles. Unless they reinforecd their

position by marriage with high ranking fjmiilics from the subject tribes,

ihev bad to work like anyone else,

 

Polynesian kings surrounded themselves with courts which were

supported by forced donations from their subjects. The court was made

up partly of toj-al kindred but mostly of individuals chosen for special

abilities without regard to their origin. Visitors from other islands gravi¬

tated to the court, where, if tbe>' possessed the necessary personal rjuah-

 

 

 

 

 

Part Fine: SounjeiASr Asiatic Comply

 

 

Bcations, they would be made royal body servants. Since they were not

descended from the local ancestors, they were non-conductors of the lo¬

cal variety of mttna (see iSg) and could touch the royal per&ou and

belongings without danger to themselves or others. Famous warriors

also came to court, where they not only formed a royal guard but also

stood ready to enforce royal decrees. Councilors were chosen for their

wisdom irrespective of their origin. Lastly, every court included a large

number of male and female entertaiocra. In southeastern Polynesia these

entertainers were organized into a society whose members were vowed

to celibacy though by no means to chastity. They traveled from court to

court in troupes, putting on dances and dramatic performances of an

erotic character It is interesting to note that the natives themselves re*

garded the royal courts as centers of idleness and profligacy.

 

There were two points at which the Polynesian social system was

unique. Instead of looking back to a great age, the Polynesians looked

forward. They conceived of the tribe as an "upward growing, outward

pushing tree." Each generation was superior in rnana to the generation

before and the eldest child in a family ranked its own parents. This was

carried so far that in many Pnlynesiao localities a chief automatically

 

 

OCmUCCEB SAIUNC V 1 S 5 SEI.

 

 

XrV. Oceania and Madagascar 1 187

 

lost his status as tribal head on the birth of an lieir and ruled as regent

only, until suth time as his son became old enough to take over.

 

The second distinctive feature of Polynesian social organization,

and one which has caused endless confusion to students, was their pe-

culiiir system for reckoning descent and establishing rank. The first Ijorn

child, whether boy or girb had highest r^nk within the family. The sec¬

ond bom eainie next, and so down the line. In recounting genealogieSt

the line was traced through die ancestor of highest rank in each genera¬

tion, whether man or woman. PoljTiesian descent w';is thus neither

matrilineal nor patrilineal but primage nitural, an arrangeiment found

nowhere else in the world. In theory, the social position of the Individual

was established by both his own birth order and that of his ancestors.

Smee aU a tribe's monibers were descended from the tribes founder, the

relative ranks of any tw'o individuals within the tribe could be estab¬

lished simply by tracing their genealogies. The more eldest children in

such a genealogy, the higher tlie rank. Since genealogies were abo used

to establish the individuals rights to land and to other privttegeSt such

as a seat in the tribal sacred place, they^ w'Cre kept with great cate. Au¬

thentic genealogies running to twenty and thirty gencratiotis were not

uncommon, while some, probably mythiciil in the early parts, ran for as

much os eighty generations.

 

The primogenitural method of reckoning descent and rank had

important repercussions on Polynesian social and political organization.

It meant that many sisters were socially superior to their brothers, wives

Superior to their husbands, and so forth. This resulted in an unusual

degree of e<juabty between the sexes. Although women were subjected

to a few taboos which did not affect men, and each sex had it$ own pre¬

scribed interests and activities, there is probably no other ^'primitive"

group in which men and women stood so nearly on a par socially.

 

The primogenitural pattern also had important effects on the politi¬

cal organization. If the eldest child of a chief was a daughter, she would

enjov the highest social rank in the tribe and transmit this to her eldest

child. At the same time it was impossible for her to perform the com¬

plete functions af a chief, which included acting its war leader. In $uch

cases the chieftainship would temporarily pass to the oldest of her

brothers^ but if her eldest child was a son, tic chieftainship would revert

to him. [f the senior line had first-born daughters for several generations

while the junior lines bad ficst-born sons, the chieftainship would tend

to become fixed in the junior Une. At the same time, the senior line

would maintain its higher rank and even broaden the social gap between

itself and the ruling line generation by generation. Thus in iSth cen¬

tury^ Tonga, the individual of highest rank w^as the first-bom daughter

of the Idngs elder sister, also first born. Whenever the king met the

 

 

 

Part Five: Southeast Asiatic Compieu

 

lady he had to acknowledge her superior rank by stooping and removing

his upper garment. It is said that the king resented this so Intensely that

whenever he knew the lady was in the neighborhood he kept a screen

of scouts out so that he would be warned in time to avoid meeting her.

 

When a first-bom son appeared in tho senior line a seriotis problem

would arise, since the junior line, understandably, would not want to

surrender its powers. The usual system was to riuike the representative

of the senior line a sacred chief immobiliTed by his sanetitv. In esttreme

cases such a chief rendered everything he touched, even the ground he

walked on or a tree his shadow fell on, tahoo, sO' that he could only go

out at night and had to be carried even then, None except the designated

servants could touch his person or handle his clothes, and any vessel

from which he ate or drank had to be promptly destroyed to preserve

others from injury. One is reminded of the plight of the equally sacred

and impotent Japanese Emperors under the Shogunate. (See pp. 583,-

 

Severat of the Polynesian groups had found brnther and sister mar¬

riage a simple answer to the problems raised by the primagcnitural

descent system. If the eldest child was a girl, she was married to her

younger brother. In this way all conflicting claims to the chieftainship

were eliminated while the offspring reoeisied a double dose of tlie heredi¬

tary TTiana. In most parts of Polynesia, brother and sister mairiage of

 

 

 

WOOD PtlXOW, N'Ew CVIKEA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XIV. Oceania and Madagascar fzSg

 

my other type was as rigidly reprehended m among ourselves. How¬

ever, in Hauuii^ the desire to build up mana seems to have led to the

marriage even of elder brothers to younger siisters, an arrangement

which was regarded as scandalous by the other Polynesians.

 

 

 

anuj MAN, EASTER ISIAND

 

 

It IS impossible to understand Potyncsian political organization and

government without reference to the concepts of numa and tnhoo. On-

forhinately^ neither of these terms can be directly translated into Eiiglisb,

The nearest equivalent for would be ’^power for accomplishmenL'*

Thus any object or person who was capable of rnore than ordinary per-

foimance* whether the subjeer was a hook that caught more than the

usual number of fish or a chief who was more thau usually good in diplo¬

matic maneuveringp showed in this way that it had mana. A similar idea

ur found among many iindviHzed people, but no other group had sys¬

tematized It as thoroughly as the Polyncrians+ They developed it Into a

logical philosophic concept by which all manifestations of superior

ability were reduced to a common denominator,

 

Mana was completely inanimate and non-sentient, like our own con¬

cepts of force or energy. It was thought of as universally present and

available for use, given the correct techniques. One might compare it

to radio "waves, and the people or things wliich manifested it to receiving

sets* Gods and spirits as well as human beings owed their power to their

ability to receive and concentrate rnana. The ability varied greatly lO

degree, so that a living chief might j^ctuaJly possess much more mana

than a ghost or even one of the less important gods. Mann was highly

 

 

 

Fart Five: SoimtEA^ Asiatic Compij^

 

 

190]

 

Infectious and anythbg which had come in canbet with an individual

or object of high m&na was thus rendered dangerous for individuals of

lower mana.

 

While the mana belief was superheiaUy similsir to such American

Indian concepts as niufiitori power and oronda, there w^as one very fun¬

damental differenoe which reflected the different attitudes of PoljTicsiaiis

and Indians toward what we call the supematuraL The American Indian

recognized the presence of power by a subjective test, fie knew it was

there because he fdt awe. wonder, or what Coldcnweiser would call

the “religious thrill “ The Polynesian had no such subjective test for

mana^ He could no more recognize its presence before he saw it act than

one would recognize that a wire was charged with electrieity before he

experimented with it. For this reason objects or places which mana

rendered dangerous liad to be marked. Everj^bere in PoKnesia nthoo

signs were used to indicate that a place was sacred ur that property- was

under magical protection.

 

Taboo also has no exact equivalent m English. The word fir.'it be¬

came familiar tu Europeans through the publicatirm of Captain Cookes

writings in the late 18th century, but it supplied a previnus bek in die

English bngiiage so neatly that it was immediately adopted. To the

Polynesians iapu meant something forbidden, something involving su¬

pernatural danger either to oneself or to others. Tapu did not imply that

the thing was immoral or even lUcgab The tapu object or act wilv always

associated with maruix Violation of the tapu by one v^ith less mana than

the one in whose name it was imposed was automatically followed by

calami ty^«

 

It was only lu the conquest states where the rulers and subject wfere

not linked by ties of kinship that the hihoo snstltution was used for ex*

ploitation. This reached its maximum in Ifawan where^ following the

eighteculh century conquest of the entire group by Kauiebameha 1^

successive rulers and a web-organized priestlioixl imposed more and

more taboos until the commoners were reduced to poverty and despera¬

tion. Deliverance came as a result of a struggle between church and

state. The king himseb broke the taboo by eating publicly from the same

dish with his queen. When it was seen that nothing happened to either

one of them, word spread like wildfire. The entire institution collapsed.

The commoners rose, overthrew the priests and destroyed the templcsi

so that HawHji was ^vithout an official religion when the first itussiou-

aries arrivetl.

 

Polynesian religion, like Polynesian social organization, has been

extensively misinterpreted. The only sup<^rnatural I>elngs worshipped

everywhere (except Samoa) were the spirits of the tribal ancestors.

Each tribe had its own sacred pkee used for this worship and also in

 

 

XIV. Oceania and Madagascar figi

 

connection with funeral rites. The souls of dead chiefs were especially

powerful because of their identification with the tribe as a whole. At a

greater emotional distance than the ancestors, but not necessarily more

^wetful, there were a host of highly specialized deities which took

care of every conceivable acHvity. Thus there were not only gods of

canoe makers and fishermen, but also gods of thieves and even of various

sexual practices which the natives themselves regarded as perversions.

Many of these divine specialists seem to have been the ghosts of espe-

ciallv skillful practitioners of the craft involved, preferably tribe mem¬

bers* Deities whose aid was in demand might have shrines where small

sacrifices were made bj’ individuals needing their help.

 

Lastlv. there were a series of great deities who were associated with

creation or who supervised whole departments of the cosmos. Thus

 

 

 

nsij

 

 

igil] Part Five: SotmiEAyr Asuttc Comply

 

Tangaloa was God of the Sea and, quite uodeirstindably, the special

patron of the Polynesian aristocfades w'hich traced their origin to the

later invaders from Micronesia^ Rongo was God of Vegetation aiid> by

extension, patron of both forests and agriculture. These great deities

WTre sometimes made the subjecls of formal stale cults in the r€?gJOns

where states existed, but in most of Polynesia they had been ^gently

relegated to the abyss of first causes." They were literary deities, a fact

which most writers on Polynesian religion foiled to reah^e-

 

Where groups of tribes had been orgaitized into states^ os in Hawaii

and tlie Society Islands, itfccre were elaborate temple establishments in

which rites were performed on bc^half of the state and its nilers# The

attendance of the subjects was insisted upon as an expression of political

loyalty although they might not be allowed to take part in the actual

ceremonies. Thus In llaw'aii only members of the chiefly group could

enter the temple enclosure. The commoners stood outside and

through die required genuflections and responses w'hen signaled by a

priest who stood on the walL SaciiGecs were elaborate, with human sac¬

rifice a feature of most state cults, and rituals were long and compli¬

cated. As in micient Rome, any slip in the performance of a ritual made

it necessary to begin again at the beginnings and^ in Polynesia,, careless¬

ness was usually discouraged by executing the one w^ho made the mis¬

take.

 

Professional priests were required even for llie tribal ancestor cults.

They were of tw^o classes, ritual priests and inspirational priests. The

ritual priests knew die procedures required in various ceremonies and

also were reporilories of tribal lore of oil sorts. The inspirational priests

were hysterics whn had the happy ability of becoming possessed by

gods or ancestral spirits. WTule in a trance state they acted as divine

mouthpieces, giving oracles, demanding sacrifices, and so forth. Both

inspirational priests and Images w'ere regarded as media through which

the gods and their worshippers could be brought into closer contact-

The god was called into his image to receive the sacrifice or hear the

praycj, just as he came into the inspirational priest to make known his

wants- It is significant of PoljTiesian attitudes in general that ceremonial

priests everywhere ranked inspirational priests so greatly that the rivo

did not conflict.

 

The intricate designs used for the decoration qf utensib and clubs

and in tattooing seem to have had no magical signiBcatice. However, the

quality of Polynesian art as a whole is highly suggestive to ai:iyone fa¬

miliar with the rules for interpreting modem psychological projective

tests such os the Rorschach. Polynesian art, outside the area already

noted as showing Melanesian influences, was characterized by extraordi¬

nary feeling for form and finish combined with a curiously static quality.

 

 

 

WAfUittOn, HEW BRITAIN

 

 

 

 

 

 

ig^] Pflrt Five'. SouTHE-w Asiatic CoNfPLEx

 

Surface w'cre divided into mnny smuU sections filled with Innumerable

repetitions of small design details, suggesting the work of compulsive

neurotics. The absence of color was striking. Wood was polished to

bring out the natural grain or, at most, blackened. Except in Hawaii,

bark cloth was painted in muted browns and blacks when it svas deco¬

rated at alL These lea tores certainly suggest a low level of emotional

response in the artists, something quite in line with the actual condi¬

tions.

 

The Polynesian approacii to life was kinetic rather than emotional.

One apprehended reality by working witli it. and found the universe

orderly aud tompreheusible. If one seeks for a single term to character¬

ize their culture the best one would be ni<rnfpufofii;e. The highest pres¬

tige was accorded to the most skilled technicians, tw matter what the

activity might be. Even in the field of interpersonal relatious technique

reigned supreme. The rules governing social behavior were elaborate

and formal and could never be ignor^. Social interaction took on the

aspects of a chess gjime in which the player who made the correct moves

in the correct order could compel compliance with his demands. Sex

was regarded as an enjoyable physical function on a par with eating.

Romantic love svas considered an adoksceiil sbenation, and admiration

went to the skillful amorist of either sex rather than the faithful one.

 

Even in its mins Polynesian culture has maintaiiwd these funda¬

mental attitudes, European visitors are usually charmed by the Poly¬

nesians, who take as much pride in their skill as hosts as a good Swiss

hotel keeper would, but there is as little emotional involvement in one

case as in the other.

 

Melanesia shows a greater variety of cultures and languages than

any other world area of the same size. This makes generalizations c.’t-

ceedingly difficult, and tlie statemenls which follow must be understood

to refer to a substantial majority' of Melanesian cultures rather than to

the area as a whole. .Although Polynesians and Melanesians spoke lan¬

guages of the same stcx;k and were both Stone Age agriculturists, the

two regions differed fundamentally in their approach to most of the

problems of existence. The Melanesian world view was infinitely more

primitive than the Polyiiestan one. Their uni\ erse, in so far as they con¬

ceived of one, was unorganized and subject to the caprice of innumera¬

ble beings, none of whom had more than feeble and local powers. It

was a universe without natural laws and thus particularly susceptible

to magical manipulation. There were no temples, priests, or actively

worshipped beings of divine stature anywhere In Melanesia outside Fiji,

where Polynesian Infiuencc was strong. On the other hand, magicinns

were ever)fwhcre. Every man knew some magic and would Imve felt

lost without it, since he needed it both to advance his own interests and

 

 

XfV* Oceania and Madagascar [igS

 

to gu^ them against others. The MebneslaRS were, by and large, a

jealous and fearful people who believed that a maa"s gpod fortune must

be at the expense of someone else* Thus, in the Trobriand Islands^ the

natives had a saying, “yam felJcr walk armitid along nighr and believed

that a itiam^s success in jum growing depended upon the magic by which

he could keep yams from leaving his owa field and could lure other

men's into it.

 

This did not meiin that the Melanesians were not careful and la¬

borious farmers. Many of them were and took great pride in the good

appearance of their gardens ttnd even in poducing a surplus of food

 

 

 

OOOOMITT GBATl^t, MAI«A^AS

 

which they knew wovild never he used* Thej' were also eoaipclcnt crafts¬

men, although their attitude toward technology was different from that of

the Pclj-nesians. Many of their appliances were ingenious and effective,

even better than the Fol^itvesian e<|uivalents, but the Melanesians in gen¬

eral lacked the Polynesian feeling for form and finish. Surfaces were left

rough and elaborate carving might be lavished on an accidentally asym¬

metrical obiect. Skilled professionals of the Poljmesian sort were to be

found only in those parts of Melanesia which had come under Poly¬

nesian influence.

 

Instead, the Melanesians had developed complei patterns of local

specialization in which a particular tribe produced one or two things in

quantity and traded their products over a wide area. This w’as the more

surprising since everv Melamesi.'vn tribe was constantly at war with at

 

 

 

 

jgg] Part Fice: Southeast Asiatic Compiex

 

least some of its neighbors, Tlie result was a curious pattera of economic

 

interdependence and social avoidance.

 

The tribal specialization often involved the commoncsl and most

neecssaf)’ tools and utensils. Tlius in the Admiralty Islands one

nrntlc all the matting mosquito bags used in the group, another pr«hiced

most of the pottery. An intcriur tribe in one island made all the nets

used bv the coast tribes for fishing. Still another tribe produced all the

weapons used in the group. Tivis specializatian probably developed be¬

cause it was the Only tribe which bad in its territory obsidian for making

dagger blades and Spearheads. Even tribes which were at war with the

weapon makers reUed on them for armament, obtainitig their munittnns

at second or third hard through neutrals. In some places the tribe.s living

on svaterless offshore islands actuaUy obtained all their fresh water for

drinking and cooking from shore natives, giving sea water in exchange.

Even whin tribes were at war, exchanges might be carried on under

truce arrangementsj the men standing at a distance, armed and glower¬

ing. W'hilt their women went forw-ard and chaffered.

 

In addition to the trade in necessities, there were also long series

of ceremonial exchanges in which ornaments to which Betitious value

was attached moved m a circuit, passing from one tribe to another in

regular order until tlicv finally returned to Uieir makers. Every stage of

such exchange was a^mpanietl by magic designed to insure profit;

the bargaining and tlic establishment of friendship ties outside the

tribes were also a keen source of pleasure to the participants.

 

Most Melanesian societies were wealth-obsessed. While, in Poly¬

nesia, die proper technique for exchange of property was that of volun-

tarv gift and return of carefully balanced value, Melanesian economics

seem a parody of modem fiiuince. There were stone, dog tooth, feather,

mat, and a numerous variety of shell currencies in different parts of the

area. Sometimes half a dozen currencies would be in use in a single

locality, with fluctuating exchange rates. Moreover, only certain cur¬

rencies could be used for particular transactions, such as dowry or kind

purchase. Lo.ins were made with interest rates, shares in pigs were pur¬

chased on spec, and the Mclancsiari financier spent most of his time

in trying to collect from his dehlors aiul avoid his own creditors.

 

All this was really a sort of economic play conducted with surplus,

Even the bankrupt Melanesian was still assured of food and shelter,

I'lis kin group would make sure that he received these, although their

chiiritv would not be tempered by any undue regard for his fceliugs.

 

file basic pattern of social and political organization for the area

was one of small tribes, each of which embraced several communities.

There was no central control witiiiii the tribe and the only units larger

than tribes were occasional temporary alliances. Within the tribe there

 

 

XIV. Oceanta and Madagascar [ 1917

 

were a series of claiis, either matrilioeal or patrilinea], which often but

not always coincided with the communities. As a rule, the tribe was

strictly endogamous, the clan esogomous. In some regions there were

other and more cximplicated marriage regulations reminiscent of the

Australian system. Adolescents enjoyed a period of premarital experi¬

mentation much as in Polynesia, but marriages were usually arranged

bv the families involved with an eye to Gnoncinl advantage rather than

congeniality of the partners. Even in the matrilineal societies the posi¬

tion of women was relatively low. Polygjmy was common and wiws

were valued mainly for their economic contribiitfons. Women were

dominated within the family by either their husbands or their brothers-

 

 

 

NEW CUINEA MASKS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part Frtf: Soutfteast Asiatic CfiMPUac

 

 

196]

 

Th^y were completely excluded from the cercrnotiial life of the tribe

except for providing the necessary mystified audience at puhlic per¬

formances, and even the magic which they knew was of a minor sort;

 

In contrast with the theoreticaily rigid Polynesian system, Melane¬

sian society was exceedingly fluid. Wealth gave prestige; the loss of it,

toss of social position. Genealogies were not reckoned beyond the short

distance required by marriage regulatiDiis, and every man could find his

place in the social hierarchy by his own ejloiis. There were no heredi¬

tary' chiefs anyw'here in Melanesia outside Fiji wherCr ag^in, Polynesian

influence Is obvious. Tribal rule w'as vested in an oligarchy of wealthy

and important men. Although an Individuat of outstanding ability might

dominate a tribe during his lifetime^ there was no way in which he

could found a dymisty.

 

The tremendous development of magle in Melanesia has already

been mentioned. In the absence of anything approuching law or politi¬

cal authority', magic became the maiti agency of social control. It was

regarded as legitimate to work magic against a recalcitrant debtor or

against one who failed to fulfill his social obUgatioTLs^ However^ this

passed over readily into use of magic out of jealousy or for spite. Malevo¬

lent magicians were the only type of professionals present everywhere

in the regions. They derived their profit not only from working magic

on demand but also from blackmail. Thus* if 51 man wanted magic

worked against an enemy^ he vvouJd make Ids arrangements with the

magician and pay a fee. The magician would then go to the enemy^ ex¬

plain the situation, and ask how much he would bid to have the magic

directed against the first mon^ This process of playing back and forth

would be repeated until finally one contestant had reached bis limit.

The magician who made himself too obnoxious would eventually be

speared by some conscientious and respectable citizen with a strong

sense of dvic duty.

 

The ceremorual and aesthetic life of most Melanesian communities

was dominated by the men s secret societies. Even the scenic center of

(he community was the men's house, a relatively huge structure on

which the members lavished their engineering and artistic skills. Some

of these houses were extraordinary constnictioos for Stone Age people^

They might be as mtich as four or five hundred feet long and eighty to

ninety feet high at the front gable. In many regions the front of the

house was designed to look like the head and open mouth of an animal

and the House itself syTuboIized a supemotural being inside whom all

sorts of mystCTiaiis and magical things occurred. When the boys reached

puberty they were taken into the menV house or to a secret place in the

bush for initiation. 'Tliis is reminiscent of the Australian pattern in that

the caindidate was symbolically killed and revived, actually subjected

 

 

X/V. Oceania and Madagascar fi99

 

to various painful mutilations which would later mark him as an initfate.

and given instruction in various itiagicaj matters.

 

The first initiation was only a beginning, like the Blue Lodge in

Masoiuy, It bad to be paid for, but even the poorest family could usu¬

ally finance this step for its sons. From tune to time, as a man acquired

the necessary wealth, he was initiated into higher degrees one afte.r an¬

other. Each degree carried with it an increased knowledge of magie,

the right to handle certain objects which possessed power and from con¬

tact with which the individual drew power, the right to wear special

ornaments On dress occasions, and the right to occupy a certain place in

the men s house. Membership in (he higher degrees of the secret society

w-ns not only a symbol of economic success but also contributed to it

When a man took a higher degree he had to distribute a substantial

amount of property among those who had already taken the degree.

More important, with each degree he learned property-protecting magic

and the antidotes for it. it was thus possible for him to exploit the mem¬

bers of all those degrees through which he had passed while he could

 

 

 

BACBEUOR IIALMEJO"^ NEW CUtKKA

 

 

 

 

Part Ftoe: Southeast Asiatic Comflex

 

 

2,00]

 

only be exploited by members of his own and higher degrees, A man

took as many degrees as he could afford, and at the apex of a society

there stood a very^ $xnalt group of old and nch men who constituted the

real rulers of die comrounity,

 

Melanesian art in general was characterized by vigor, not to say

violence. Human, bird, and fish forms were combined and distorted with

Gothic freedont, color was liberally used, and even the non^representa^

tional art was curvilinear, with a fiuid, dynamic quality quite at variance

with Poiyuesian rtoniis. The most complicated figures and masks came

from New Ireland. These were carved in elaborate open work and

painted with numerous small designs. The Sepik River region of New

Guinea had a distinctive style in which the nose^ here used as a symbol

of virility, was always exaggerated. The Sulka of New Britain had masks

that looked like surrealist nightmares, with shocking pink as a favorite

colorn

 

Melanesian tribal character was too varied to permit a nent charao

terization of the sort possible for Polynesia. Europeans have disliked the

 

 

 

woonE?i ncUBE, new guinea

 

 

 

 

 

X/V. Oceania and Madagascar [201

 

Melanesians aLmost as comistcntly as they have liked the Polynesians—

this in spite of their indiistriousness and their understanding of our kind

of economic values and motivations. Most of the tribes seem to have

been the victims of deep-seated psychological Lnsecurity and mtense

hostilities, which were nonnallv repressed through fear. These attitudes

found expression in fear of the supematurah a fear dramatized in the

terrifying masks and costumes of the secret societies^ extreme develop

ment of malevolent magicv and orgiastic victory rites with prisoner tor¬

ture and cannibalism-

 

Mictonesia, after long scientific neglect, is now' being made the sub¬

ject of intensive investigations along aU Lines, When these investigatiotks

are finished, more information will be available on this region than on

any other part of Qoeaniap but it is not available at this writing. Micro¬

nesia maintained closer touch with (ndonesia, and, indirectly, with the

Southeast Asiatic mainland than did any other of the marginal Malayo-

Polynesian localities. It even received such relatively late Southeast

Asiatic culture elements as loom weaving, potter)', and rite. However,

most of the Micronesian Islands were atoUs, and geography thus im-

paved strict limitations on cultural development. Agriculture was ex¬

ceedingly difficult. Taro could only be raised in beds which were dug

down to bed rock and floored with soil manufactured by composting. In

the Gilbert group, breadfruit trees were planted In pits cut in the coral

rock and filled with pumice, which was gathered whenever it washed

ashore and pounded to powder. The atolls provided no good stone for

implements and very little good wood. Jn spile of this, the technology

was cxcellpDt. Emphasis was on utility rather than decoration, and the

best work was expended on sailing canoes and men s dub houses. The

latter served as dormitories for the unmarried men and visitors from

other islands and as club rooms, hut they lacked any of the Mckmesian

magical and religious connotations. The sailing canoes vvere tlie best in

the Pacific. The Micronesians had also developed a real science of navi¬

gation, and the combination made [>0ssible fi nehvork of inter-island

trade and political ties+ Certain tribes or islands had others fts vassals+

receiving tribute and extending protection. At the same time patterns

of hereditary^ chieftainship and of extended genealogical records seem

to have been lacking. Power rested in the han^ of men who had enough

knowledge of magic and tribal lore and sufficient strength of character

to dominate thetr tribesmen. Social organii:atlDn followed the familiar

Oceanic pattern of endogamous tribes and exogamous bneages, in this

region more frequently matrilineal than patrilineal. Supematurafism was

poorly developed. There was a lively fear of ghosts and sea spirits, but

there seem to have been no sacred structures, cult objects, or prof«-

sional priests.

 

 

Part Five: Southea^ Asiatic Complex

 

 

aoal

 

 

 

\.i. '*■

 

 

SUJ^

 

 

WAft COD, HAWAII

 

Most of the Mi«onesiajis were eourageaus and detemuned fighters,

later-tribal wars were common. The Gilbert Islanders fought pitched

battles in which the line of battle cooristed of chainpionj protected by

complete coconut fiber armor and anned with shark-tooth edged swords

and daggers. Each armored man was attended by one or more unar¬

mored squires who stood behind him and passed him new weapons as

needed.

 

The Malayo-Polynesian outpost to Madagascar has already been

mentioned (see p, t/y). Apparently at least two groups of Southeast

Ariatic migrants rcach^ the island. Event the first settlers seem to have

worked iron, so could scarcely have left Indonesia before looo b.c. Al¬

though there are traditions of their having found Negrito hunters and

food-gatherers in possession, the newcomers seem to have encountered

no serious resistance. They spread over the island rapidly and adjusted

to the great variety of envirouments which it provided.

 

Madagascar is nearly twice the size of Great Britain and Ireland

 

 

 

 

 

 

X/V* Oceania and Madagascar [203

 

combined, Tlie ceast and slopes of the centrd pbteau are

 

hot ill! year mutid, with frequent r*iJn even m tlie so-called dry reason

and aZmost coMtJuuoiis downpours m the wet season. Jungle growth is

deiise, and fields which have been cleared grow up again in hvo or three

years* The oentnd plateau has a temperate climate, with frost in winter,

because of its altitude, and a moderate rainfall concentrated in a rainy

season. At the time ot the first settlement it seems to have been covered

with dcciduo-us forests, but cutting and burning agriculture combined

wih cattle grazing had resulted in complete deforestation by the time

Kuropcims arrived. The southern eud of the Uland and the hroad west¬

ern coastal plain are either sw^ampy or arid and unsuited to any economy

except cuttle raising. Irrigated rice culture is possible in the valleys of

most of the westward flowing nVers, but it w'as unknoivn there m pre-

European times and modem attempts to introduce it have met with con¬

siderable resistance from the local tribes,

 

[t has abeady been noted that the route of migration from Indo¬

nesia seems to have passed to the north of Madagascar and down the

African coast with first settlements on the w^estem side of the island.

The historic distribution of culture ctemeots would seem to bear this

out The most archaic cuftunes are found in the eastern mountains and

along the southeast coast, although the latter region includes tribes who

claim Arab descent and show some Arab influence. The central plateau

was dom mated by the Imerina, d^eendants of the last Malayo-Polyne-

slan migrants w^ho, on linguistic evidence, probably ctune from Sumatra

in the 5th century a.p. The arid regiotLs of the south and west were oc¬

cupied by' tribes who were strongly Negroid in physical type and who

depended largely on cattle. However, aU Madagascar tribes spoke mu¬

tually mtelligibJe dialects of a single Malayn-Polyneslan language and

followed the same baric patterns in both social organization and re¬

ligion.

 

In spite of these uniformities^ differences in technology make

possible 3 partial reconstruction of the Cultiires of the two groups

of Malayo-Polynesian migrants* The earlier group seems to have brought

the regular Soutbea^vt Asiatic crops, with the possible exception of bread¬

fruit, but placed their main reliance on rice raised by the cutting and

burning method. Tliey probabiy had ihe pig and chieken, although the

former never became economically important. Although they knew how

to smelt and forge iron and mined gold, which they regarded as sacred,

they were ignorant of pottery maldng or weaving. Matting and bark

cloth were used for clothing. Megalithlc monuments were erected as

part of the ancestor cult.

 

The later migrants brought with them irrigated rice culture, pottery

making, and hi^ly developed w'eaving, including the technique of

 

 

part Five* SovnmAST A^atsc Complesc

 

 

204]

 

making -cloth by the ikm technique^ Tlitry did not introduce either t!ie

plow or the wheel, neither of which were known in Madagasc^ untit

brought in by Europeans.

 

Nfaduga^cof cattle are of the Asiatic zebu as are most African

breeds. They were probably introduced from Africn at sdiob time be¬

tween the fir^ and second Sifday-n-Polynesian migrations and wet^ never

very successfully integrated into the utilitj^ economy nf the tribes bving

outside the nrid regions. Milk was of very minor importance in the diet

of any agricultural tribesT hide found so Littlie technological use that ani*

mak were ustiidly cut up with the skin on, and even beef was eaten only

when animals had to tie killed for sacriBce. Hie irrigated rice farmers

found the greatest practical value of their cattle to be maiinte and kept

them in semi-subterranean pens so that none of this would be lost. At

the same titz^. cattle ctirried tremezidous emotjonzd vnJue as symbols of

presbge and as the only form of interest-beaiing inveshnent possible

under native conditions.

 

The social organization followed the familiar Malayo-Polynesian

pattern. The basic unit was the village^ an endogamous patrilineal de¬

scent group. Several villages which had a common ancestry and occu¬

pied contiguous territories might form a clan, but such a group had no

internal organization^ and any village which became spab^ty separated

from the rest prompt!)' forgot its kin ties. Every village was divided into

a number of iJjieages, each of which b-aced descent from a particular

founder less dUtant In time than the founder of the village or clan. Each

lineage owned a sepamte w'ard within the village and had the right to

exploit a certain part of the viUage land. The ranking individual in the

village ^vas the hercditarTr' head of the senior lineage. He acted as priest

at the ancestor sacrifices and was held in deep respect. At the same time

he could scarcely be called a chiefs since he had no delegated powers

outside his own linenge. All matters involving community' interest were

settled by an informal eoimdl of lineage heads and other important

men.

 

Tliere was a well developed legal system with orally transmitted

bw codes and a considerable body of regtilations dealing with property

and contracts. Fonnal trials were held Avith the taking nf evidence, and

decisions were handed down by the vilbge elders. Punishment was by

fines or^ in extreme cases, by expulsion from the village* Evidence was

taken under a system of oaths which passed over into trial by orrleal.

Ordeals were used only in cases where the evidence was inoanclusivCp

and physically dangerous ordeals ^ch as swimming a river full of cioco-

diles were administered only to suspected sorcerers.

 

in those regions in which there were no political units larger than

villages the legal system and its administration were reminiscent of in-

 

 

Oceania and Madagascar [205

 

doiiejfiaji iidai [iiw. Wtw^re kidgcioin^ bad come into csistencet the sj'stcm

was renumscent of Africa. The king licted as court of last appeaJ. fn

particular he had £0 confirm aJj eapitoi senteooes passfcd by village

courts, since all subjects were considered his persona] property^ not to

be destroyed witliout his permission. The king ako could promulgate

nc^v laws and received a substantial share of his income from fines im¬

posed, The case with which an Indonesian adat tjpe legal system could

be converted into an African type legal systeiTi suggests that iliis may

constitute another unsuspected cultural lini. be ween the two areas.

 

Tlie development of political units larger than the claii seems to

have been due to foreign influeoce. The ruling clans in these units usu¬

ally claimed Arab anctyrtry, and the Imerfna empirep which controlled

twO”tliirds of tlie island during the J9lh century, was a later crea¬

tion whose arganixation w^as aided by English missionaries. TraditioTi-

ally the development of a state procee<led as follows: a strong and

pugnacious clan w^ould reduce neighboring clans to vassalage by force

of arms* Other clans would then submit voluntarily in order to terminate

long-standing feuds- The latter is not improbable since at first submis¬

sion involved no exploitation. Tlie ruling clan oontented itself with su¬

perior presrige, sytnbolufied by the e.tclnsfve right to iveor goJdp anti

with the iijcreased war |>ovver provided by contingents from die subject

clans. Its menibers occupied their ov\ii territory, depeiided on their own

crop.'?, and carried on all the usual occupatjons. The head of the senior

lineage in the ruling clan was addressed as king and had insignia of

office used on state occasions, but even he did not hesitate to work in

his own fields.

 

A slate of this sort included three social classes: toy^l, common^

and slave, Jn cases where a once royal clan had been defeattfd and

otisted from leader-shipp its members constituted a iruirlh class^ inter¬

mediate hetivt^en roysil and common. They retained certain ceremonial

ritJL■^s, Usually that of kilting die cattle at sacrifices, for which they re-

ceivetl a fee, but the)' were rigidly clebaired from any part in govern¬

ment. Each class was tmrmally endngamons.

 

The slave class included both actual laves and the descendants of

freed slaves. Slaves were mainly unransomed pristmers of war and their

dcsceiid:mts. Tliey W'cre attached to particular hi images and their con¬

dition differed iRtlf from that of pcH>r clan mejiibcrs. Slaverj^ never bc-

camp imporant in Madagascar economy* and slave tnarkets were a late

devclDpineiit under European or Arab influence. In most tribes Uie sale

of a slave was regarded as discreditable to botli slave and master.

 

Tile final step in die evolution of kingdoms came with attempts of

the ruling clan to increase its control of the subject clanSp and to ex¬

ploit them economically, One method for doing this w^as to place fami-

 

 

Porf Fhei SotTTHEAST Asiatic Complex

 

 

206]

 

lies from the royal clan in each subject village, where they were sup¬

ported by the villagers and at the same time could watch for signs of

revolt. Within a few generations this arrangement degenerated into a

sort of decentralized feudal system. The ruling families still formed an

endogamous group* but they identitied themselves with particular til¬

lages or commoner dans which they ruled and led these in war against

each other, with a resulting collapse of the centra] authority. In spite of

political disintegration^ the blood tie between members of the former

royal clan ivas still emphasized. Commoners would fight again^ com¬

moners and members of the royal dun against each other. A commoner

who killed a royal enemy would be likely to be elimmated by his own

ruler. When a village was stormed, if the first attacker hs reach the

village chief was a commoner, it was his duty to carry the chief out of

the viUage on his shoulders and help him to get away. His own chief

would reward him bter for saving a kinsman. If the first ntEUi to reach

the vilbgo chief was also a member of the roj^l dan, the two fought to

the death.

 

A second and more successful system was placing in each village

gn official appointed by die king. Thej^e officials were always commoners

selected from dans other than those to which they were sent. Their

task to collect taxes and finc^ to be forwarded to the king and su¬

pervise the administration of justice.

 

In spite of these attempts at organization, Madagascan kingdoms

were always tninsitory. The culture provided no technique by which

the individuals loyalty to his kindred of the clan and village could be

extended to a political unit. RcUgion did much to reinforce Ihts extreme

parochialism, since the ancestor cult had absorbed into itself nearly all

religious beliefs and practices.

 

 

Guiptej' XV

 

 

Southeast Asiatic Post-Neolitiiic

 

 

As wt^ HAVE Southeflst Asia and the Hdjotnkig islai^ds^ indud-

 

iug the Phdippmes, constitute a single culture area. Although the peo¬

ples involved differ widely in cultural complexity, they ail have a com¬

mon background in the old Southco^ Asiatic Neolithic complex and

have been exposed to the same influences from the great in^'an and

Chinese dvili^tioxis which are their neighbors. Especially at the village

level, their cultural similarities far Outweigh their differences. It seems

legitimatep therefore, to treat this whole region as a unit^ referring to

it as the Southeast Asia area and distinguishing between Indonesia and

the mainlaiul or between ^-arious Indonesian or mainland political units

only when these present significant differences.

 

While the MalayO'PoIjmesia ns were establishing their language and

culture in the far reaches of the Pacific and off die coast of Africa, exm*

ditfons in the Southeast Asiatic area were by no means static. In fact

uiimy of the differences between various MalayO-Polyncsian outposts are

lut^t readily explained by assuming that their founders Jeft the Soutli-

east Asiatic area at different times and with correspondingly different

cultural equipment. Trade relations behveen Southeast Asia, India and

China must have been established long befure the first records of such

contacts were written down. By 160 a.Oh the Greek geographer, Ptolemy

of Alexandriap had heard that the area was rich in mineral resources

and mentions it as producing goJd and silver. The tin deposiU in the

Malay Peninsula were certainly known and worked at a much earlier

period. Many weU-made Neolithic implements have been found in the

ancient workings but no metal objects and it seems certain tliat the

local population was mining the tin for export. Since it came in almost

pure metallic form it would have found a ready market wherever bronze

was made, while its high value relative to its bulk adapted it well to

primitive transport.

 

 

307

 

 

Fart Five; Asiatic OiMFt-EX

 

 

^o8]

 

We do nol know where the yucient Malayati tin went but China

seems the most probable market* Chinese bronze easting had reached

perfection by the Shong dynasty {1765-1122 and bremsEe was the

most important metal in China for the next thousand years. Easlem anti

Southern India, on the other hand, seem to have made little use of

bronze and to have gotten iron at nearly the same not very^ remote dale.

The South Chinese have been good sailors with large and seaworthy

vessels since before tlie dawn of history, aod could easily have visited

the Malay peninsula, w^hile the Southeast Asiatics w-ene equally capable

of reaching South Chinese ports. Lastly, the possibility of overland trade

routes beiween China and Southeast Asia enunot be ignored. The vari¬

ous qiiestious raised here will no doubt be settled when we have enough

anul^^es of Chinese brorutes to establish the sources of the metal and

some information on the archeology of South China, svhidi is now al-

rnost unknown for the whole period prior to the Han dynasty' (202 a.c.

 

to 9 A.D*).

 

Stone implements certainly continued in use in tlie Southeast Asiatic

area until very late times. Both bronze and iron seem to have been in¬

troduced almost simultaneously* Tlie bronzes of the Dniig-son type,

tentathely dated at between 6^ and 300 b.c., are the oldest metal ob¬

jects from tlie region. They are decorated in a style which is emphiiti-

callv neither Chinese nor Indian. The designs find their closest parallek

in the textile designs of some of the more primitive indonesiau groups

and in the carsings and paintings of Borneo and some parts of Mela¬

nesia. The casting technique, on the oihvr hand, appears to be Chinese.

All the Dong'son objects are ceremonial rather than iitilitanan, and iron

has been found in some Dong-son sites. It seems probable that in this

period bronze ivas employed for ceremonial ob|ccts mid iron for utili¬

tarian ones^ much as it was in contemponuy^ China,

 

In spite of the indications of frequent contacts behveen China and

the Southeast Asia area, the first Chinese reference to the region dates

only from the reign of %Vang-mang, 1^3 a.d. At that time a Chinese

embassy was sent to *Huaiig-tche,“ probably the island of Sumiitiu, to

get a rhinaceros for the bnperial zoo* In 132 a.d.^ tlie Indouesian king

of *"Ye-tiao" sent tribute to the Han emperor. Such a statement means

little, since in all ofiicial records, gifts sent to the Chinese emperor by

other nilers were interpreted as tribute. During the latter part of the

Him dynasty, Chinese political control w^as extended over a large jiart

of Indochina. There arc numerous mentions of the region in the con¬

temporary' sources and archeological finds there suggest an iiiSux of

Chiiic,se officials and even of actual Chinese colonists. However, the

best proof of extensive early trading contacts betwet^n C'himi and the

Southeast Asiatic area are prnWdetl by the widespread occurrence in

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

part Five ,* Solttheast Asiatic Complex

 

 

iio]

 

the region of gongs^ antique bronze drumSp md pottery jars which are

of datable Chinese type.s-

 

In spite of this long eontaetp the influence of Chinese culture upon

the Southeast Asiatic area has been singularly slight. Although the Chi¬

nese readily married nabve %vomenp they raised their of spring as Chi¬

nese and jealously maintained their own culture while the native peo¬

ple maintained theirs. Various objects and techniques of Chinese origin

have been incorporated into the native culture, but there seems to have

been no transfer of Chinese social political or religious patterns. It is

difficult to accnunl for this by any recognized setentifie formula, since

the situation would seem to have been an optimum one for diffusion.

It suggests that there was some sort of fundamental incompatibilitv

between die Chinese and Indonesian world views w'hich made it im¬

passible for either group to understand and accept the culture of the

other beyond the simple borrowing of objects and appliuncesH Parti™-

larly notable is the failure of Chinese adventurers to establish them-

sels'es as independent princes or to found djuasties. With their superior

cultural equipment and, above all, well developed pdlitical philosophy,

it would seem that they could have done this even more readily than

the innumerable Indian migrants who became Southeast Asiatic rulers.

Although groups of free-booters did establish soniralled Chinese repub¬

lics in Borneo, the native tribes were never naadtr an integral part of such

groups^

 

in sharp contrast to the Chinese situation, Indian culture permeated

the entire region oud left its mark on even the more primitive tribes.

One is at a loss to understand why this should have been the case- Cer¬

tainly it was not due to political pressure^ since India itself was divided

into many small and mutually hostile prlncipahHes at the time of the

strongest Indian influence in Southeaslem Asia. Perhaps the Indian cul¬

ture, which w^as itself an ancient blend between elements drawn from

the Southeastern and Southwestern Asiatic Neolithic centers, was more

emotionally acceptable to the Malayo-Polynesian temperament. In any

case, the acceptance of Indian culture elements was so e^ctensive that the

Southeast Asiatic area is frequently referred to as Further India. From

shortly after the bcglnniug of the Christian era until the 14th century

A.n. the historv of the region w?as primarily one of conflict between In¬

dian dyuiisties and of expanding and coninietiiig empires w^hosc nJers

were either Buddhist or Hindu.

 

The earliest proof of the presence of Indian rulers in Indonesia Is

a series of four inscriptions from east Borneo. These date from about

400 A.D. If Indians had penetrated to Borneo by this time, they must

have heeo present in java and Sumatra considerahly earlier. A statue

of Buddha dating frtmi the and century a.d. has been found iu south-

 

 

XV. A&i^itic P&st-NeoUthic

 

 

[211

 

etn Siimatni, but this might have been imported long after its manufac¬

ture. The first migrants seem to have foUowed Brahministic, i*c., Hindu^

religious rites.

 

From the time of the first settlement, Java and Sumatra were the

points of maximum Indian infiuence- [n Sumatra, the state of Shrlviia^'a

was in existence by the begictning of die 7th century. Its rulers fob

lowed the doctrine of Hinayana Buddhism, but svere converted about

the beginning of the 8th century to the Mahayaim doctrine (see p.

504 )h Although the Shrivajaya Inscriptions are written in the old Pali

script of south India, die language is an ^irchaic form nf Malay^ indicat¬

ing that the fusion beh^*een the migrants and the original population

had already gone far. In Java, on the other hand, the language of the

early inscriptions is SanskrJL The first princes of this island were Hindu

and seein to have been regarded as incamatiorks of the god Siva They

instituted a policy of extensive temple building which was carried on by

subsequent rulers* In the middle of the 8th eentuiy, contemporane¬

ous With the Shrivijaya dynasty in Sumatra, the strong Shallendra dy¬

nasty was established in Sumatra. Tlie rulers of Utis dynasty^ were Ma-

hayana Buddhists and seem to have come from BengaL They created an

extensive empire which became a sea pov^er^ controlling the South

China sea and even making war on Cambodia.

 

At home, they were responsible for the construction of the Borobu-

dnr, one of the worlds greatest monuments. This structure is a natural

hill \vhich has hecn turned into a gigantic stupa^, or Buddhist monnmenU

There ate seven terraces, the four lower ones rectangular* die three up¬

per ones circular^ w^hile the top of the hill has been flattened to repre¬

sent the roof of a building. The lowermost terrace represents the hor¬

rors of Hell and the suffering of those liring without salvation. The other

rectangular terraces show in great detail first the career of Gautama

Buddha as a miraculous teacher and saviour, and then selected episodes

from his previous incarnations. When the pilgrim reached the round

terraces with his mind prepared for the liigheT reality, he found a serene

simplicity with no ornaments and no sculphires. On the Eat top of the

hill a central stupa of solid stone work contained a statue of Gautama

Bnddha. This is surrounded by a series nf small stupas of stone fretwrork*

each of which encloses a statue of a Dhyani Buddha m meditatinn.

 

Prom the aith century' on there seem to have been no important

Hindu or Buddhist increments from India. The process of fusion bo-

tw'een the native and Imported culture elements went forward steadily*

as did the fusion of Hindu and Buddhist religious practices. By llie latter

part of the 13th century it was possible for a king nf fiihghasari in Java

to build a temple in which the lower floor was dedicated to Siva and

the upper Boor to Buddha* and It was quite eustomarj^ for kings to have

 

 

Part Fhe: Soittheast Asiatic Complex

 

 

J212]

 

their ashes divided between a Shivitic and a Buddhist mausoleum. This

s}7idicsis >vfti assisted by the fact tbit these religions were most ttnpor-

tant to the upper eUsses. Tlie \illagers accepted the rites as superior

magic but did not try to understand the doctnoes^

 

The nejrt significant event fur Southeast Asiatic culture was the ar¬

rival of Islam. The beginning of this can be dated quite accurately.

When Marco Polo visited the island of Sumatra in 1292 as an ambassa*

dor of the emperor of China, he found that the little town of Perlak, on

the nortlieni tip of Sumatra, had been converted to Islam. Most of the

Muslim who came to Sumatra were not Arabs but indJanSp and the tloc-

trines which they taught had already undergone most of the changes

needed to adapt a faith created for desert nomads to the needs of peas¬

ants living ia the monsoon area* Islam spread rapidly.

 

 

 

BURMESE WATER TEMPLE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XV- Sauthensi Asiatic Post-NeoHihic [a 13

 

The last Himlii Indonesian state of importance was the kingdom of

Madjnpuliit in Java. Under the direction of a prime minister of extraor¬

dinary abilityp Caja Mada, it expanded into an empire which took in

most of Indonesin. However^ new foret^s were at work and the fall of the

Mofilppahit empire was even more rapid than its rise. The entire period

of its growth and decline estended only from 1293 a.i). to 1389 aJ 5 . After

1400 tlie Ming dynnstj^ in China embiirked on a short-lived program of

political pan Sion in Indonesia. VVhile its control did not extend beyond

die collection of tribute, the prntecticiii which it offered to princes who

would become vassals of China helped in the breakdo\^ti of the larger

sUtes. As always, tlie Chinese were interested in trade and political con¬

trol not religion, and they accepted Hindu and Moslem princes vdth

equal faciljtj-.

 

The spread of Islam proceeded with great speed. Lt offerc<l converts

re|<rase from a Hindu-derived caste system which must have been un¬

congenial to Southeast Asiatics, and its prescription for forcible con¬

version of the heathen was highly acceptable to ambitious adventurers

and to the Malay pirates who infested tlie Eastern seas. Any leader who

was able to miister a small force and convert a hitherto p^igan or Hindu

district could be sure of reward. The loot provided an immediate incen¬

tive, and the heaven promised belie^ery who fell fighting against the

ialidel w^as further recompense.

 

Before the Muslim could consofidate tiidr holdings, Eurnpean pow¬

ers look a hand, beginning with the arrival of the Portuguese, who were

able to dominale the seaways of the region by 1515- They were follow ed

rapidly by Spaniards, Dutch, and English, svho initiated a period of

foreign control which is only now coming to an end.

 

To study Southeast Asiatic cultures today is like mounting a time

machine and going back through successive periods of European, Mus¬

lim, and Indian domination to the end of tlie Neolithic. As one goes east¬

ward from Java to the Philippines or from the coasts to the Interiors of

the larger islands, one encounters cnltiu'es which show' less and less for¬

eign infiiience. However, there are certain leatnres which are cnnimon to

all or nearly all cultures nf the region and others whose dislribution

points clearly to their origin.

 

The economic basis evcrj^-hcre in Southeast Asia is the cultivation

of rice. The cutting and buTtiing tcchniriue is used in the more backward

areas and in places w'here irrigation is impossible. There are few of the

latter, since even in mountain regions irrigated rice is raised in great ter¬

race systems. The plow with eitlier oxen or water buffalo is used by

groups who have come under stronger Indian Influeiicer but the favtsritc

instrument for cultivation is a long-handled, nairow-hlnded spade, a di¬

rect derivative of the Neolithic digging stick. Domestic animals are rela-

 

 

Fart Fitw* Southeast Asiatic Compu^

 

 

214]

 

tively unimporKaat as a source of food or tratisport, and milk is little

used crvpn in regions where liidiaii hiflucuce is strong. Fishing is carried

on CTtensively cver)^vhere on the colisI and along rivers*

 

Houses arc rectangular with gabled thntdied roofs and £ire always

raised above ground, resting on posts in the hot lowlands and on stone¬

faced platforms in the cooler highlands.

 

Cloth is woven from a variety^ of materials, with cotton and silk pre¬

dominating* It is usually decorated by one of two techniques: tkai, de¬

signs dyed into the warp before the cloth is woven; or buHk, designs pro¬

duced by covering part of the knishetl cloth with a resist before it is

dyed. \'cry' fine metallic brocades arc made in a few localities. Tlie whole

textilD complex seems to have been mtroduced from India and women

of the highest social class pride themselves on their skill as weavers.

Bark cloth is still used by many of the more backward groupSp but the

extent to which it is manufactured is in inverse ratio to tlic extent of In*

dian uifiucnce in the region.

 

People in aU regions and of all social classes chew betel. Slices of the

arecca palm nut are sprinkled with lime and folded in a pepper leaf.

This^ svhen chewed, produces a mild narcotic effect. lu more European¬

ized territories American chewing gum may now be added to increase

the durability of the quid, Tobacco was accepted eagerly when intro¬

duced by Europeans after die discovery of America and is now smoked

everjT^^iefe. Pahn wine is widely made and used in spite of the Prophets

pzohibition on alcohol

 

Primitive methods of fire^making have now been largely replaced

by European matches, but prior to this a homboo fire saw w"as used by

the more backward groups, while the more advanced used the fire pis¬

ton. This was a hom cylinder wiih a tightly-fitting piston, to tlic lower

surfsce of which a of od-soaked cotton ivas attached. Driving die

piston into the cylinder with a sudden blow coinprffssed the air in the

cylinder and generated enough heat to ignite the cotton.

 

Native metal working has deteriorated in competition with European

factor products but was surprisingly well devclo|xxJ even among the

more backward groups. Brass, not bronze, was cast by die “icjst wax"

method (see Chap. IX* p. 106) utid decorative work in gold and silver

with precious stones was ns fine as that done anywhere. Tlie piston

bellows w^as in universal use. Iron was smelted front local ores and

steel w as made. Took and w^eapotis were finely tempered and highly

finished. The spear and shield were used everywhere. The less advanced

tribes employed a flat-bladed axe like a eleaverj wliile die more ad¬

vanced groups used a variety of swords whidr w^ere local modifications

of urigiual Indian tjpes, Krfscj, cutting and stabbing swords with wavy

blades, were chaiacteristic of the region. In Java were frequently

 

 

XV. Fa^t-Neolithic

 

 

faiS

 

made iTOm alt&mate strips of low cirbon and high carbon steel which

gave the blade a combi natien of tnughness and hardness. The strips

were welded logether, beaten out, folded, and rewelded^ repeatedly.

When tile blade w'as fini.shed:, it etched in a bath of ar$eolc and lime

juice which ate a\vay the low carbon steeT producing a highly decora-

Live grain effect like that of weathered wood. The blow gun and bow

are known everywhere in the area but ueitlier is imporiant as a weapon.

 

Tlie less advanced tribes had n veritable ctilt of antiques to w^hJeh

quite fictitious values w'ere attached. The most generally favored objects

wore the ancient Chinese jars and broujce drums of vmous tj'pes, some

Chinese of the Han dynast}^ others of uncertain provenance. Gangs

were valued everywhere and figured in many semi-ceremonial transae-

tions. In Borneo, as in Madagascar and West Africa, exaggerated values

are attached to ancient heads.

 

Clothing is usually scanty, the extent of body coverage being roughly

correlated with the extent of Indian infliienceH Men wear a loin doth or,

in more civilized groups, a wrap-around skirts women a wrap-around

skirt. Both sc-xes usually wear short jackets. Fine fabrics and exceedingly

elaborate headdresses and jewelry arc wuni ou ceremonial occasions by

the more advanced groups. Tattooing is practiced by both sexes and is

understandably more extensive In the groups which wear the least cloth¬

ing. Teeth Are both filed and blackened, the usual explanatiori for the

practice being tliat human beings should not have teetli whiidi look like

tliosc of dogs and pigs.

 

Premarital sex experimentalion was so thoroughly integrated in all

the Southeast Asiatic cultures that neither Hinduism nor Islam has been

able to eliminate it. In most of the more backward tribes adolescent girls

sleep away from the family in a special house where they are freely

\lsited by the unmarried men, and even where this institution no longer

exists, the attitudes toward premarital sex arc highly permissive. On

the other hand. post-maritnJ unfaidifulness in either sex is severely

punished. Marriage is usually monogamous, only princes and a few of

tile rich being able to avail themselves of the four wives and unlimited

concubines permitted by Islam. Even hi Muslim communities women

normally go about freely unveiled, and their social position is little Infe¬

rior to that of men. Each sex has its distinctive crofts, but it Is quite le¬

gitimate for men to assist in cookingi baby tending, and odier domestic

activities^ Villages are normally eodogamous; kin groups within the vil¬

lage exogamous^ The main exceptions to the endogamous rule are in

those cases where the cstablidiment of a rigid class system, always trace¬

able to Indian influence, bmits the number of families of a particiilar

class in any village to the point where their members have to go outside

to Gnd'tnates.

 

 

Fort Five: SouTiUL\ST A-siATif: Co flex

 

 

216 J

 

Legal codes are highly' developed and cover every possible plmse of

social iotemeticn. The attitude toward these coiles is much iifce om ow^rL

They rest on social acceptatioc and are not supported by sopematurflJ

sanctions. They are sharply differentiated from the extensive systems of

taboos which are also characteristic of the area. An unusual feature of

the taboo system is tJie knpositlou upon villages of periods of complete

isolalion and inactivity lasting for several days at a time., Diiting these

periods no stranger may enter the village and wen the more necessary

activities such as cooking and ealitig are reduced to a minimum.

 

In spite of die superposition of Hindu, Buddhbt, and Muslim ritu-

als> religion still centers around attempts to placate liositile spirits and lo

gel help from the ancestors. The w ill of the spirits is ascertained through

mediums who go into trances and allow the spirits lo speak through

them. Divination is widely practiced^ There is considerable malevolent

magic* and poisoning is fairly ixjmmoa.

 

Except where series of villages bad Ijccn consolidated into stales

under a centralized government* intervillagc warfare was endemic until

terminated by European intcrv'cntion. It was maintained by the institu¬

tion of head huuting. This, in ttinip stemmed from a concept of power

somewhat like the Polynesian idea of maw. Each indi^adup] and com¬

munity was supposed to have a ceriaiii amount of spirit power. The

power of persons whose beads were taken was added to the store ah

ready possessed by the sBCC'essfnI warrior or his village. Tlius* in many

tribes, it was hclieved that a man could nol become rich until he had

taken a number of heads and added their power to his owti. Skulls were

preserved, and the successful head hunter's exploits entitled him to wear

a costume of a particular sort or lo have ceitain designs tattooed on his

body.

 

Several other culture patterns arc, or were^ common to those South¬

east Asian regions where tntlian immigrants had established centralized

states. One of these was an incipient caste structure. Tlie extreme avoid¬

ance characteristic of the Indian caste system w^as too incompatible with

Southeast Asian ralues of local solidarity to gain acceptance, but the

marriage of a man of lower caste to a woman of liigher caste was every-

wherc prohibited. Differences in social rank were emphasized by eklio-

rate rules of etiquette. Different forms of greeting had to l>e used for

equals, for superiors, and for inferiors of different degrees of sodal dis¬

tance* and there were distinct vncabularies to be used in conversations

with each.

 

The head of the kingdomp called by the Indian term Rajah, lived in

an eitensive pakoc with a large harem, a place guard, and numerous

household and govemmeulal officials. The most important among the

btter UM a prime minister, to \vhcjin all but a fuw unusually enorgetJC

 

 

AFaHAMii^Tj^N

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part Southeast Asiatic Comfit

 

 

218]

 

Rafail^ were willing to delegate tlie biisiiiifi5 of actual ruling. The Rafah

041 n Symbol of the state and semi-divine had performed his most iinpor*

Cant funttioa when he kept up tlie religious rites which maintained the

slate's spiritual power Virilitj' w-'as one manifestation of this power, and

he w^as expected to add the most beautiful girls in the kingdom to his

harem. However, there was only one queen, w^ho was herself of royal

stock, and only her son could Inherit the kingship.

 

Numerous temples were built under royal patronage and supported

by grants of the revenues from particular villages. Hindu and Buddhist

priests, who imitated the behavior of Indian Brahmins, performed the

official riles in these and exercised their magical powers on behalf of in¬

dividuals rich enough to employ their services. Temples and pakoes

were the centers of artistic activity. The old Southeo^ Asiatic art fonns

were infused with Indian motifs. Indian epics were translalijd into na¬

tive languages and imitated with fair success. Men of the highest class

took pride in their skill as mimes, and painting and literary composition

were regarded os proper occupations for the nobility. They had more

than enough time for such activibes, since the business of mtliig reduced

itself to making war and collecting taxes from an apathetic peasantry.

Although a royal representative, usually some relative of the royal house,

was established in each viUage, the vihagers were allowisd to govern

themselves according to their immemorial adai law^

 

The coming of Islam altered this picture siirprisingly little. The

Muslim sultan comports hinHolf very much as the RajaJi did. Even the

old pictoiTul art still fiomisbes in spite of the \f uslim regulation against

the making of images* Today, Islam has been established throughout

practically the whole of Indonesia and in the southern Philippines. The

only places in w^hicb the old Hindu-Buddhist patterns still flourish are

the islands of Bali and Lombok. “Pagan^ tribes still hold out in marginal

areas such as the interior of Borneo, and even in Sumatra the Mcnung-

kabau, althoiigh nominally Muslim^ still retain their matriUneal, matri¬

archal institutions^ to die scandal of true believers.

 

The Southeast Asiatic mainland, lyiiig as It dcses between China and

India, came into contact with both great cultures very early, with the

exi^eption of the land that lay to the east of the mountains of Laos, In¬

dian influence has been much stronger than Chinese throughout the

mainland. This seems to be due to the fact that the Indians came as

colonizers and missionarieSp while the Chinese w^ere conquerors or

traders. Even after tonquesl they made few permanent settlements in

the territory and kept tliemselves distinct from native people when they

did establish colonics. The Chinese have never been a proselytizing

group, but the TndiaiiSp whether Hindu, Buddhist, or Muslim, included

missionary activity in their colonization.

 

 

XV, Southeast Asiatic Pmt-Neollihic

 

 

[iig

 

The oldest kingdom of Southeast Asia TcVos Futian. This country has

disappeared so completely that early European historians believed it to

have been a legendary kingdom, probably located on one of the islands,

until a French sinologist discovered and translated references to Funan

in early Chinese annuls.

 

Funan was app;irently developed from setllements which spread

over the fertile plains along the lower reaches of the Mekong River. In

the 3rd century it conejnered and subjugated neigliboring states until it

occupied all of what is now Cochin China and Qiinbodia. and the north¬

ern part of the Malay Peninsula. The Funanese were people of the Moti

khmer family, related to those in Siam and Cambodia, The Malay Pen¬

insula, when Funan made it a vassal state, was already under strong In¬

dian influence. Being on the direct trade route between India and China,

it was settled early in the first Christian century by Indian colonists,

who brought Indian patterns into Funan.

 

In the 7th century Funan was conquered by the Khmer people of

Cambodia and was completely absorbed. The Cambodian empire ex¬

tended over most of Indo-China and for a time also embraced northeast¬

ern Siam, which accounts for the similarity between Siamese and Cam¬

bodian customs, drama, music, and dancing, altliough the two people

speak different languages.

 

.\t the head of the Great Lake the Gambcklians erected their capi-

tol, Angkor Toro, and adjacent to it the magnificent temple of Angkor

Vat. This great complex covered an area of over lo.cxxi acres and was

built between the 10th and 15th centuries under the reign of twenty

kings. During the reign of Suriyaiavarman II (1113 tt* ^^ 5 ®) great

temple of Angkor Vat was brought to Its full glory. It was erected in

honor of the god Vishnu, although the monarch, by some Cambodian

twist, identified himself with the god and the temple also became a mau¬

soleum for his majesty. A few Buddhist images have also been found in

tlie temple, indicating that it was at one time also used in Buddhist rites.

 

The style was predominantly Indian, although the classic Khmer

sculptors sought new sources of inspiration in various foreign arts, and

developed forms which were distinct and original. The buildings were

largely of sandstone, with some brick used for construction work. Pedi¬

ments, lintels, and columns were covered with delicate and vital designs.

The exterior was decorated with 1.750 figures of itf>saras (heav¬

 

enly dancers), each with an individual and intricate headdress. There

was at least half a mile of beautiftilly executed has reliefs along the

walls.

 

The Cambodian empire collapsed about 1440, after a long and dis¬

astrous War with Siam. The Chams were also harrying the empire from

the east, and there were dashes, too, with the Annamese. Angkor was

 

 

Fart Five: Soittheast Asiatic Complex

 

 

3^1

 

sacked hy Siamese troops, and iho king and the nobles fled the cit\' and

reestablished themselves sit Pnompenh, the present oapitaL The people

emigrated from the region, too^ leaving to the jungle wilderness one of

the most itiagniBcent city and temple eslablishmetits ever built. That

this great d.typ wliicli bad successfully withstood its encttucs for tw'oceii-

turies of constant warfare, should have been abandoned so completely,

not only by its rulers but by its population, seems strange. It may be thiit

Its overwl^Innng magnificence contributed to its downfall. These glori¬

ous buildings must have been coustnicted and maintained both by slave

labor and the conscripted labor of the villagers. To the masses this gran¬

deur may well have represeuted exploitation and toil from whicli they

were content to See.

 

In the early 5oLh eontuty^p w'heii these buildings were freed from tlie

jungle growth by the French govern inent, practically no cmistructinn

w ork was needed in the rcsloration. The masons who design ed them had

so weU understood the stresses of stone and the distribution of mass that

the buildings had withstood the encmaching jungle and the passing of

centuries. Some of tlie beautiful cartings and rkh decorations w'ere

crumbling but nonetheless retained tlseir striking beauty and vitality.

 

Northeast of the Khmer peoples lived the Cham. They spoke a Ma*

lay an language and, in tlie early part of the Christian era, were a primi¬

tive hunting and fishing group. As ihcy svere half^vity Iwtwccn China

jind Java, they wtfre influenced very* eiuly b)- both of tlrese superior cul¬

tures, although Javanese patterns were must prevalent The Chams first

accepted Hinduism but later were coiiveried to IslonL Tlieir wTitten lan¬

guage was Sanskrit Both Champa and Aniiain were invaded by the Chi-

ncse on numerous occasinns, though Cham[ra, being farlher to the south,,

was never completely suhjngatjtid by China. Jti a war against China

which contmtied From 431 to 44b, the Chinese ravaged the Hindu tem¬

ples of the Chnm suid were said to have melted <lown the golden idols

and canied back to China 1^000 pounds of gold, w^hich report, even

though exaggeroted^. indictiles the sveallh and power of the Champa em¬

pire at tliat time. The Champa capital was at Indrapiira, some distam?e

south of the present Aniisimese capital of flue. The ruins of tlie Champa

temples w^ere second only to Angkor Vat in magnificence.

 

The Chams huik of brick, using stone only for omamentatinn and

facing. The principal shrine consisted of eight temples raised 00 plat¬

forms and decorated with beautiful seulplurcs and friezes. Champa still

shows predominantly Indian elements* but with considerable Chinese

modifications. The Chumsi w^arred with the CambodianSp and for a time

during the 13th century were subjected to the Cambotlian empire.

Champa and .Annam, occupying adjacent portions of the eastern coast of

Indo-Clnna, were continually at w^ar, and in the 15th century Champa

 

 

XV. Asia/ic Ppst-NeoUtbic

 

 

[s^i

 

WHS eonqiipred r»nd onnc^xcd by .\imun>. Th^* Chanis were l^irgely eAler-

minated, and the reriiiiunl^ of thf once pow^erful kingdoni were driven

away from the coust and back in the rriDuntaiiJ rcgiotL*^ w^here they still

live as b minority group. They are riee farmers, hiit^ unlike other Anna^

mese farmers, they never keep pigs^ for the present-day Cham are, for

the most part. Musliiii who cannot touch the fleish of swine.

 

In tlie early part of the igth century', when die Western powers lyere

beginning to realize the jsossibiiities uf e:sploilation Lii the Orientp Annam

w^ns tile dommant culture east of the tnountains in Indo-Chjna. 'Flijs was

the one countrj' of SoiiUieast Asia in which Chinese culture w^as pre¬

dominant over Indian^ For hundreds of years Annam had been alters

nately subjugatcMi bv China and had then regained independence*

Alttmugh the Chinese and Aniiamese remained distiiKrt* with little inter*

breeding or social contact, the religion, governmentp and family organi*

ziiLion of the Aiuiamese w'cre based directly on Chinese patterns. .Anna-

mese scholars studied the Chinese classics. The Coiihicfan ethic, with its

insistence on respect toward elders and its rules of polite behavior, was

the ideal. As in China the family w as die basic social uisititution, and the

worship of ancestors and keeping of ancestral tablets w'ere tlie chief du¬

ties of every' Aniiamese hnujsehold. The religion was a tiii.\turc of a sort

of easy-going Buddhism, a form of Taoism which was concerned more

with the appeasement oi local spirits than with the teachings of Lao Tzut

and a halLhearted acceptance csf the Catholicism brought by the Frendi

missionaries. As in China, the eni|>cror was believed to l>e a direct de¬

scendant of tile sun god, and tile tnaiidurinate was o|>eii to men of aU

classes wiio succcedt^ in passing the cejmpetitive exaiiiinations, which,

as in Chirm, w'ere basetl on the Confucian classics.

 

When the French took over Iiido-China, the old system was abob

ished and the mandarinate w^as replaced b) direct control by French

olficials. The French attempted to xidminister a policy' of assimilation,

breaking up the pEiwer of the mandarinate and the strength of the com-

iiirmcs. or villages, which had l?een self-gov erning institutions providing

for the w'elfarc and education of their members. Although the French

have developed die country^ brought more land under cultivation, ex¬

ploited tile rninerul resources, and built railroads and motor roads, their

rule has not served to unify tlic people* Under French authority great

diversity' has persisted in language and culture in Indo*China, and the

chief unifving element lias been opposition to French exploitation.

 

Siam, or Tliailand as it now prefers to be called, is the Only country'

of Southeast Asia which was able to maintain its independence during

the European pressures of the 191b century', which brought her neigh*

hors into political subjugation to W'estem powers. This was not due to

the strengtli of the country' nor to any i>tj|itical astuteness, but ratlier to

 

 

Puri FivG: SomniEAST Asiatic Complex

 

 

222]

 

the fact that Siam hy between the English sphere of inBuence in Bumia

and India and the FrciKih domain in Imjo-China. Eitlier empire would

have been glad to annex SliMn, but each loicw that such a move would

be bitterly resented by the other; so that Slam, although it lost some

border territory to the French and Eoglbh, was able to preserve its po-

htical freedom,

 

Siam was settled first by Hindu colonists, but in the 6th century be*

came a Buddhist $bite* In the ii^h centuiy the eounhry was annexed to

the Cambodian ernpire, which was mainly Hindu, The Thai people,

from whom the country takes its present name:, rame in during the 12th

and ijth centuries, migrating south from wliat is now Yunan, apparently

driven down by the conquests of the Mongols^ The Thai spread into

Burma, where they are now called Shan, and into Siam, whero they set¬

tled around the Menam River. In the middle of the 14th century some of

the Thai formed a kingdom which subjugated and consol i^ted the

other Thai states. In 1767 the Burmese invaded Slam atid destroyed the

old capital at Ayuthia. After (his defeat a general of Siamese and Chi¬

nese ancestry seized control of the country and set up a new capital at

Bangkok. This general was succeeded by another general, Chakki, who

was the first of die dynasty whidi still rules Siatvu The decay uf the Bur¬

mese royal hoe and the defeat of Burma by (he British in tlie 1S20 s dis¬

posed of Siams principal enemy and rival, and the country has flour¬

ished under this dynasty.

 

Although the Thai are of Chinese origin, the culture of Slam has

been more Indian tlian Chinese. In religion they were chiefly Hinrmyana

Buddhist and more orthodox m their belief than most of the other coun¬

tries of Southeast Asia. Siamese temple architectute, witli its tiers of

curving roofs, is reiamiscent of Chinese pagodas, although its decora¬

tion is strongly Indian in feeling. Like all of Southeast Asia, Siam has

come under Western inlluence, but SiaiFi, as well as having kept its in¬

dependence, in the 19th century w^as more prosperous and had a higher

standard of living than any other Southeast Asiatic country.

 

 

PART SIX

 

Southwest Asia

and Europe

 

 

 

1

 

 

 

Southwest Asiatic Neolithic

 

 

Tjik most Old World centc^r of pJ^t aod auijnal domestica¬

 

tion lay m Southwestern Asia^ in the region rougUy bounded on the

west by the Mediterraoean, on the north by the Btaek and Ca^fan Seas

and the Eurasiatic steppes, on the east by tlie central Asian massif, and

on the south by the belt of deserts extending from the Simj peniusida to

India. This region was for the most pirt one of continetitnl climate* hot

summers alternating with cold winters. There was very little rainfall in

summer, so that the great problem cf the later farmers was that of re¬

taining tnoisture which had soviked into the ground from muter snows

and spring rains^

 

The type of economy developed in this region during the Neolithic

\vas basic to all the ci\ilj3fations of the Old World witli the exception of

Southeast Asia, japan, and .Africa south of the Sahara. Most of the cuh

ture elements which were integrated in various ways to form these civili¬

zations also originated here. No other cultural co-tradition has been

studied as long or ns intensively as thi^ one. Two weU-knO’^AiTi formula¬

tions, that of the use of polished stone tools, the bow, and pottery as the

criteria for the Neolithic period, and that of a constant sequence of Neo¬

lithic, Bronze and Iron Ages in the evolution of culture are based on

these studies and only hold for the areas inHuenced front diis Southwe^

i\siatic center^

 

At the present time it seems idle to speculate as to the exact origin

point within the area of the various grains and animals which were do¬

mesticated (see Chap. Vlll)- We know that by 5000 bxl village Hfe had

been established tlrroughout most of this region and that the various

tribes participated in a single co-tradition. Various tribes might make

use of different forms and decorations on their pottery, build their

houses in slightly different w^ays, and so forth^ but their siniiJarities far

overshadowed their differences* and a plant or animal domesticated at

 

 

Part Ste: SouTEnvEST Ajha ant> EimopE

 

 

±2.6]

 

006 point must have been chfliised within a verj’ $hort time to all parts

of the area where it wotild he economically advantageous.

 

The difficultj^ of ascritiiiig exact origin points ht the area for vorioiis

plants and animals is matched by the difiBculty of ascribing exact points

in time for the origin of many of the features which together formed the

Southwest Asiatic culture complex and which were diffused to other re¬

gions as a part of it. The developinent of food raising in this region

seems to have been foUow^etl by a cultural advance so rapid that the con¬

tent of v^ioiis time levels h not clearly ascertainable- We cannot say

with certainty when the first wheel, plow, or Icjoui was inade^ or when

the first metal was smelted or the first inscription written. We only know^

that* in the Old World, nil these epodi-maiing advances can be traced

back to this region and that they ocentred betw'een 5000 and 35^

 

Since this Ncchthic homeland was also the site of tlie earliest civi-

lizationST most nrchcological work has been devoted to uncoverifig tlie

temples and palaces. It is only within the present century that signifi-

cant wort has been done on the Neolithic sites, and even today our

knowledge of these is not too extensive* However, this seems to he one

of the regions to which tfie term '‘immemoiial East" is really applicable.

In many places the peasants still live very much as their Neolithic an¬

cestors did, and the workmen used on excavations can give a clearer

picture of the uses of the various tools and objects found than most

archeologists. This makes it possible to reconstruct the eccjnomic life and

technologj’ of the Neolithic period with considerable accuracy. Uofot-

tunatciv, we can be less certain of the social organization and religion.

 

Even in the earliest period the people lived in villages. There seem

to have been no isolated dwellings, which suggests the existence of in-

tervilbge warfare. Neighboring settlements no doubt quarreled over

grazing land, and domestic animals were a constant temptation to theft*

At the same time the absence of defensive works around villages sug¬

gests that the wars were not particnbrly deadly. It may be noted that

head hunting of the Southeast Asiatic sort seems to have been coin-

pletely lacking in this culture.

 

Houses were rectangular, made of adobe or of mats fastened over a

wooden frame and plastcre<l with mud. They were either flat roofed or

gable roofed with straw thatch, depending on the local mmfalh Tlie con¬

struction suggests that there wiis already a shortage of timber in many

localities or t^t the villagers were reluctant to expend the labor neces¬

sary to fel! and dress it Small fields were cultivated where die soil was

good, preferably close to the village. Poor and distant land was u^ed for

grazing and presumably was not individually owrted. Farm land re¬

mained the property of the families which had brought it under cultiva-

tion AS long os it was kept in use* Land which was allowed to He fallow

 

 

XV/, S{>uihwest A^Glic NeoUthic

 

 

laz7

 

for several seasons was probably rfealloeated. la tte early period Bdds

were broken with slone hoes and digging sticks. Later, wooden plows

dra^vn by men or oxen came into use. Tlie nfd fj^pe of plow (see Chap.

IX p. li5)r wlitch was developed in this region was poorly adapted for

breaking sod. but by cross^plow'ing with it it was possible to pulverize

the dry soil of early summer and create a dust mulch which would pre¬

vent the evaporation of moisture.

 

The principal crops were wheat and barley, with lentils, peas, on¬

ions, cucumbers, and gourds to vary the diet After the early period of

liigh fertility fields were cultivated In alternate years. Somewhat later a

three-year cycle was followed in which Beids w'cte planted to groin the

first year and to Icguines the second, and w%rc allowed to lie f^ow the

third. Ripe grain vva$ reaped with sickles made from wood or antler,

with fiint Bakes inset along the cutting edge. Each village had its thresh¬

ing floor, a level space smoothly floored with clay and usually sur¬

rounded by a low stone w'aJl. Such threshing floors served a double pur¬

pose, since they provided a n^ost convenient place for village as^mblie^.

The grain was either beaten out of the heads or trodden out by {Lounals

^vho were driven round and round over it. It wa$ then wmnowed by

tossing it into the air on a windy day. The chafi would be blown down

wind, while the grain, being heavier, fell at the feet of the winnower. No

part of the crop was wasted, tlie chaff being used for fuel and the straw

for thatch or fodder. The threshed grain was stored in pits dug m hard

clay soil or in beohive-shaped mud granaries, usually with thatched

roofs. To have mice or rats get into the granary was a magor catastro¬

phe, and some of the earliest Egyptian papyri give recipes for die fumi'

gation of the graDaries and for keeping rodents out by semi-magical

means. The grain was emshed to a coarse meal on a rniMle qisem^ a fiat

slab of stone with slightly roughened surface on which a small fiat stone

was rubbed back and forth with a motion very much like that used vvith

an old-fashioned washboard. The resulting meal was well seasoned with

grit, and old people's teeth were oft™ worn down almost to tlie gums.

The meal was cither toasted or* more commonly, boiled as mush. Flat

cakes were also made by mkiug more finely ground meal with water

and spreading it on a hot stone slab or on the outside of a pot filled with

hot coals. Leavened btund w'as still many centuries in the future, hut

malting and the making of beer had been discovered by at least 4000

BvC, ( see p. 94 ).

 

Domestie animals were kept tu corrals in or near the village. They

were eattle* sheep, goats and, less commonly, pigs. Donkeys were used

for transport but there were few if any horses. Throughout mojt of Near

Eastern history horses have been luxury animals used only in war and for

display^ It may be remembered that one king of Israel was edtidzed for

 

 

Part Si*; Soim^vEsr Asia asi> Euhofe

 

pride because the rode a horse ins(«id of a tltjukey. All llic village ani¬

mals of each sort were pastured together and herded by chslthen, wit

a few aimed men as guards when such were needed. Tlie of the

 

reapiid grain fields prowded a valuable source of animal food while at

the same lime the dung of the animals hclpeil to refertiliae the groun

The animals were milked morning and night, and curds and butter seem

to have been made from very early times. The latter was more impor¬

tant as a cosmetic than as food, hut the dried curds made it ^ssiblc to

Store a milk $urplu5 for use m times of shriftage. The domesHc animat

were too valuable to kill escept at ceremonies, so meat was little used.

The normal diet of the region seems to liavc been mush and milk,

put with vegetables^ wild plants, game, fish, and in fact anything edible

 

which the region provided. ■ u- i.

 

Women did the cooking and also made the earthen pots tn whicH

food was boiled. Before the Invention of tlic wheel these pots were

built up by hand from successive coils of clay, apparently in imitation of

an older technique for making cojied haskelrj', Tliey were smoothed in¬

side and out with pebbles, dried and tlicn fired in the open under piles

of chaff or dried dung. Pottery was made In a number of different

forms, including liowls ami jars as well as cooking pois. Vessels which

were not meant to lie placed on the fire were frequently piiinted red,

black and white with mineral colors, Clnziiig was still many ccnhirics

 

in the future.

 

In addition to cooking and making pottery*, women wove

cloth on simple handlcoms. Thread was made from flax or w'ool rolled

on the thigh tmd then hvisUrtl hard with n spindle. Dyeing was discov¬

ered at a very early period and fabrics stripd in different colors must

have been made almost from the beginning, hut there were a.s yet no

complicated designs. Clotlung was simple, consisting of a kilt for women

and fl Inin cloth for men- A large piece of doth was wrapped around tlie

shoulders, This was taken off when at work and lUied as it hlimkct at

night. Cloaks of sheep or goat skin with the hair on were worn by lioth

sexes in cold wx'athar. All garments were made from rectangular pieces

of doth as they come from the loom. It is interesting to note that the

tailored clothing, which is now tlie mark of civilized man, was. even in

late classical times, the mark of the barharian. It derives not from the

old SoutliwesteiTi Asiatic culture but fmin the hunting ^xoples of the

northern forests, who had to have warm garment which at the same

time permitted freedom of movement. Its acceptauce by groups wh&se

cultures were derived from Southwest Asia was ejuite late. Even in the

Bronae Age die settled people in Scandinavia were still dressing in un¬

cut squares of cloth draped about the body,

 

Normal human vanity expressed itself in many ways. To judge from

 

 

XVL Soutfiu:est S'eolithic

 

occasional figurines, hairdress was fairlv elaborate. The little infiabit-

ants of the honan head, which have been associated with man since his

first appearance, were discouraged by the use of butter pomade, and by

long pins corritrd in the hair knot and used for scratching. The same fig¬

urines which show bairdress have body markings which suggest rather

esleusive tattooing or body painting or both. It is also probable that peo¬

ple ill this region removed their body hair, since tbLs pmeiioe has been

followed by their descendants since the earliest times of which we have

rcTCorcL In the Briiiizc and Iron Age cih' cultures of the region, the only

women who did not depilate were the sacred prostitutes attached to

temples. The custom of shaving the beard is also referable to this region

and goes back to at least the early part of the Broiiite Age. Numerous

ornaments were worn, particularly necklaces, which w'cre made from

beads of shell or semi-precious stone: lapis, eamelian, agate, and ame¬

thyst Analysis of specimens found archeologicnlly lias shown that tlicse

precious materials were often traded over great distances.

 

Knives, scrapers and projectile points were made from flint blades

retouched by the pressure technirjue. Polished axes were made from

tough stones, such as diorite. These were used for felling trees and dress¬

ing timber, bnt their comparative scarcity in archEological sites and the

bek of specialized forms suggests that wooclworking was not an impor¬

tant aspect of the culture.

 

Tlie most significant advance in stone working in this period was the

invention of the tubular drill (see Chap. VH, p. ys). Such drills cut a

cvlindrical hole, leaving a solid core w-hich could be broken out wiien

the drilling was finished. With them, it was possible to perforate heavy

stone objects sricli as axes and mace heads, permitting the type of haft-

ing which we still use. The lubulor drill was also used for the manufac¬

turing uf stone bowls. After the outside of the utensil had been shaped

it was hollowed by drilling a scries of closely spaced holes, breaking out

the cores and the thin separating walk, and nibbing the interior smooth.

From the earliest times a little copper and gold were used for ornaments.

These metak were found notive and worked cold by hammering and

grinding. Tliev were too preciovis to be used for tools, and. in any case,

w'ould have been no better for most purposes than the stone already in

use.

 

Women wove mats and coiled baskets. It seems probable that there

Were also a considerable amount of skin dressing and use of the result.urt

Iciitlicr lor sandals, water skins, and containcr.s of various sorts. cap¬

ons Were the bow, spear, and shield. The axe seems to have been strictly

a tool, Tlie earliest carvings from the region, which are, however, of the

Bronze Age, show' commanders carrying a peculiar cnrv'ed weajmn,

probably a boomerang, and bter Neolithic and early Bronze Age sites

 

 

230 1 Sotmw'E.'iT Asia asi> Eimopi:

 

have yielJed peat-shaped mac* heads drilled through longitudinally and

presumably motinled on a short, straiglit hacditv These are usually made

of decorative stone and were probably carried by diiefs. It is highly im*

probable that armor was worn. Cnide four-wheeled carts appc^ in this

region in quit* early times but the exact period is not known. The ear¬

liest wheels seem to be rnade in one piece with the arle.

 

In attempting to recofistiuct social conditions wc inust rdy heavily

on patterns common to i-uJtures derived from the region, cheeking by

archeological finds where possible. Difierences in grave goods indicate

that there were already diiierences in wealth and social posi tion. The at¬

titudes tow^ard wealtli which formed a part of the Southwest Asiatic eo-

tradition difFeri^d sharply from those incorporated in the Melane$iafi

cultures or in the more primitivx' cultures of Southeast .Isia, In llie latter

regions the iinportiince of wealth was consistently played up and social

prestige was based directly on linandal resources. Even the prow^ of

the head hunter or the skill of the magician was valued primarily as a

means to wealth accumulation, in cultures helongiiig to the Southwest

Asiatic co-tradition, altlmugh the actual power which comes from wcaldi

accumulation was tacitly recognised, highest prestige was attached, in

theory^ at least, to other qualities such as valor, strength, or ritual knowl¬

edge. Thus, even in otir own society, it would be said in praise of a ruler

that he wa$ brave, just, or wise, but rarely that he was wealthy.

 

The main wealth was probably in herds, the only type of interest-

bearing ID vestment possible tinder the conditioas, liut tlie finding of oc¬

casional hoards indicates tlLit there was also accumulation of capital

goods. There unquestionably was trade between netghburiug villages

and even long-di?rLine* trade in higlily valued objects. W* can be fairly

sure that such trad* was frankly for profit without the social fictions and

magical accompauimcnls of exchanges of gocxls in such regions as Mela¬

nesia or Atistralia. It is also safe to assume that there was little institu-

tionalirx'd wealth competition or nf the ostentatious waste involved in

such institutions as die potlatch of the Northwest Coast of America.

 

The plan of tlic villages^ the presence of dwellings svhich must have

been occupied by several nuclear fomdics^ iind the appearance at a

slightly later period of tombs with multi pi* burials obviously made at

different times indicates that there was some sort of extended kin group

and that more than one of these groups might occupy a single village. It

is impossibl* to say whether the early societies were matnliiieal or patri¬

lineal, and descent line quite possibly differed at various places within

the region. Thus we know tJiat tlio middle Bronze Age peoples of the

Mediterranean borders of the area were inatrilincal while those of the

northeni margin ware patiilineaJ at the same period. It seems to be a

fairly valid generalhcation that in the long run the descent line in any

 

 

XVI. Soiithivest Asiatic Neolithic

 

 

[231

 

group will be traced through the ses who?^ activities are of greatest eco¬

nomic importance. This in turn is linked \^'ith an understandable tend¬

ency to pass on property ftom generation to generation within the sex

possessing the skills needed for its exploitation. VVe know that the early

Mediterranean peoples were heavily dependent on agriculture, and

since there is no indication tliat the plow came halo use in this region

before the iate Bronze Age, it is highly probable that agriculture was

women's work carried on with hoe and digging stick. The patrilineal

northern tribes, on the other hand, were in regions where agriodture

had l>ecame of diminishing importance but where the care of domestic

animals, alwayis merits W'ork, was para mount.

 

Whatever the line of descent, we may feel sure that the region

lacked the claboratioti of marriage rcgulatious characteristic of Auslralla

or Melanesia and that kinship figured less in the control of personal rela¬

tions than it did iti Southeast Asia. There w^ere certainly nudeor families

and we can be fairly sure that most of these were monogamous^ although

polygyny was probably penmitted to those wen! thy enough to afford

more than one wife. Marringes within tlie extended unilinearly-defined

kin group were almort certainly prohibited, but, in contrast with South¬

east Asia, iiateiviikge laarriages were probably common. Wc may also

be fairly sure that marriage was regarded as a legal contract rather than

as a ^i:q-ament and that it was always validated by some exchange of

property between tlie families involved, either bride price or dowry, or

more frequently both.

 

To judge from their desceudants^ the people of the Southwest Asi-

ntfc co’tradition differed markedly from Southeast Asiatics in therr atti^

hides toward sex. In tlie Southwe-stem region premarital sex experimen¬

tation was discouraged. Many of the societies which shared this co-

tradition placed a high value nn virginit)' at frunTiage^ and all of them

enjoyed a double standard of sex behavior, permissive for men and re¬

strictive for women. Combined wilh this was a tendency^ toward periods

of ritual promiscuity, usually associated with the worship of fertilitj^ del-

ties. Our own formal attitudes on double standards can be traced back

to Southwest Asia as directly as can the oatrnca! wc have for breakfast.

 

It is improbable dial there were any politiKLl units larger thou the

village^ yet t illages which shared a common language and culture prob¬

ably recognized certain tics and were able to combine against outsiders.

ITio village chief led In war. directed communal activities and no

doubt, exercised his authority^ to settle disputes and to maintain peace

within the community. Chieftainship was probably hercditaiy within

particular families biiit with the office actually passing to the ablest can¬

didate. Since viUuges were small facc-lCKface groups, real power within

the community was exercised by family heads and other important men.

 

 

232]

 

 

part Sii: SouniWKCTT Asia anh Et*BOPE

 

 

The operaUoti of lliSs sort of control can be observed In nmny peasant

communities even today and is as Informal as it is effective. The roen of

the village merely converge on some favorite meeting place, often a

threshing floor, in’the cool of the evening, and there discuss any matters

which may be of interest. Any member of the village is privileged to

speak his mind on any matter, hut the young or socially insignil^t are

snubbed, while men of importance ore listened to respectfully. The d™-

sions finally arrived at are always unanimous, since long practice enables

members of the group to sense the direction in which sentiments are

movTUg, and no one is amiious to find himseif the sole representative of

a dissenting opinion. As in all small communities, every NMlithic village

no dowht had a mass of custom which cootrollcd behavior of oU sorts.

That whidi had to do with interpersonal relations was re.ady to crystal¬

lize into kw but probably had not done so at tliat period. A tendency m

regard law as something imposed from above and not to be invoked in

intra-village disputes is as characteristic of the Southwest .Asiatic

trudition as tlie constant appeal to adat law is of the Southeast Asiatic

 

The Southwest Asiatic attitude toward the spirit of the dead was

much like oiir own uneasy feeling toward ghosts. Property was placed

svith the dead in order to provide for their needs in the next world but

alst) with a view to giving (hem the objects to which they hud been most

attached while alive in order to lessen any incentive for tlteir return. No

sacrifices seem to have been made to them after the funeral, and there

certainly were no ideas of their constant presence and participation in

the affairs of the living. Ideas tonceming the afterworld were rather

vague, bu t it soeins to have been represented as a place where the ghosts

led inelfective existences of absolute boredom, in sharp contia-st to the

afterworld of Southeast Asia, with its obligations of guardianship for de¬

scendants and lively participation in everything going on among the

 

ll’dng. ^

 

Each Vilkgc or group of related villages had its own god. Tliese

deities might be cither male rn female. In either case they were provided

with divine consorts of secondary importance. While each deity was

eriuated with some natural plieiiomcnnn, such as the sun. moon, sky. un¬

derworld, and so forth, or linked with a particular activity, such as wtit

or agriculture, his pmvers were estensive wherever the well-being of his

own people was conecnicd. The god was looked upotr as a sort of land¬

lord to whom offerings were made as a rent payment, but wbo was m

turn responsible for the welJ-bcing of his tenants. His control was Sim-

itfd to a definite terriloiy and, as in the Near East at a later period, there

was probably a strong feeling that he paid no attention to prayers made

outside it. Tills attitude continued well into Biblical times. Readers may

 

 

 

XVI. Southicesi NcoUlhic [^33

 

remember the cpiscsde of Nahmiin the leper, who, after tlie prophet Eli-

jsih hud healed of leprcksy by the power of Jehovah, tiegged that he

mi^ht he allowed to- take hack to Daniaseus enough of the soil of Pales¬

tine to cover the floor of an inner room in h is house w here be tx>uld pray

and give tlianlcs to the Di^^ne propdclor of Palestine,

 

Each WUage had its locad shriller which was tisuully a high place

outside tlie village^ and there probably w'ere iilso tribal iihrines to which

members of several villages might repair, \\'orship was carried on

through priestly intcrmediuries who knew the proper rituals and re¬

ceived a share of the sacrifices as pay. Ic judge from the earliest written

records from this region^ muuy of the rituals were in fact mugicuJ for¬

mulae designed to compel the god’s assistimee quite us mudi as to im¬

plore his help. Since the god wtt,s regurded as thoroughly anthropomor^

phic with physical needs for fcx>d and shelter, the relations between him

and hin'i worshippers a reciprocal one. If he did not come across,, they

did not come across.

 

It b impossible to say how far these local divinities had been organ¬

ized into a universal pantheon by Neolithic times. We can be fairly sure

that in spite of differences 4n n:imes+ whole series of local gods possessed

so nearly the same attributes tluil they cfinU! easily be equated with eatl^

other and were in fact fused to form single deities when empires arose

in the territory. Diminution was import unt, and, in later times, inany local

gods had ftimous oracles available to all comers for u suitable fee.

 

Outstanding among the gods were a male and female deity, the

male usually identified with the sky or the ^im, the female with the

abundant earth. These also might he worshiped in the form of local

manifestations but w'erc the basics of more than local cults^ Some tribes

emphasized one of these deities, some the other, the distinction presum¬

ably following closely upon w^hether their social institntioiis were matri-

arciiul nr patriarchal. The worship of the mother goddess in parheular

involved large elements of fertility tuagic oud served as the excuse for

periods of license in which the normally repressed sex drives of the wor¬

shippers Found expressionK The cult of the motlicr goddess goes back at

least to the Upper Paleolitlue, as shown by the curious little V^enus fig¬

ures, with sexual characteristics exaggerated, which came from various

parts of Europe. It survived well into Classical lime$, although with

some of its more sipectacular rites eliminated, and traces of it can be

found even today in die Maryiolatiy' of some ChrLstiao sects.

 

The pattern of local divinities equated w ith one or another of the

mernbers of a universal pantheon also has shownt great persistence. It

was carried to Europe as pari of the diffusion of Southwest Asiatic cul¬

ture and became ancestral diere lo a cult of local guardians. Thus in

Greece half a dozen cities beside Athetrs had their own Atheuas. In Me-

 

 

Part Six: Southwest Asia anu Euiw>pe

 

dicval Eiiropc the Yirgi** of X or the Saint Tlioinos of Y wHs^ rocognized

hv theologians fts an aspect or emanation of the Virgin or Saint Thomas,

at the same time was regarded by townsmen as a spedal being more

deeply interested in their welfare than in that of outsiders. When Chris¬

tianity became the official religion of the Western world, these local a^

poets of heathen gods were not infrequently couverted together with

thoir worshippers. Particularly in the Mediterranean area, one often

finds that the shrine of a local rnanifestation of an Olympian deity has

been used as a foundatiO'n for the shrine of a Christian saint, whose char¬

acteristics are reminiscent of those of its heathen predecessors.

 

 

 

CJuiptei- XVII

 

 

Diffusion of the Southwest

Asiatic Complex

 

 

The E:^AJiL 4 i»iiMi^vT of village life based on a combination of grain agn-

culttire and dairying wiis the starting point in the development of a new

co-tradition* The description of this Southwest Asiatic culture must have

seemed familiar to most readers^ since our own rtual culture is, or at

least was until the mediaQization uf agpeuliure, its direct descendant.

Village life in most of the Old World outside the humid tn^pics still fol¬

lows the patterns Laid down in Sgutbwestem Asia between 7000 and

*f$oo B.c, The only significant break in this continiiity prior to the very

recent emergence of the Age of Science Has been in those regions in

which city living developed or became establbihed. The city was a social

invention of such fsir-reaching consequences that it has served to set the

city dweller apart not only from his ancestors but nho from his rural

contemporaries.

 

Because of this culture! continuity the familiar divisions of Eunisi-

atjc prehistoiy into NcolithiCp Bronssc and Iron Ages has hltle real mean¬

ing for anyone but the archeologist. The grain agriculture and dairying

on which village life was based were carried on at first by very simple

mcdiods. The invention of the plow^ wheel, and loom increased the in-

tlustrial potential w^itbout necessitating any fundamental changes in the

earlier w^ay of life, Tfie same may be said for ancient metaj working. The

war potential of groups who had bronze was greater than that of groups

who had only stone, but bronze was so scarce at Erst that the actual ad¬

vantage enjoyed by those who had it was slight. Throughout most of the

Bronze Age no large military force could be eompletcly equipped vvith

bronze arms and armor. One wonders whether the familiar “heroic'' pal-

lem of leaders engaging in combats between the lines, while their fol¬

lowers waited to fly or pursue according to which leader won, may not

 

 

^36] Fad Six: Sounns^Esr Asu avu Eubope

 

have bL'Ctt chsmblished at a tune when only chiefs could be adequately

amad with metal weapesns. The use of bronze for look came even bter

than its use for w^pon^ and merely mude It possible for the draftsman

to do more and better work in a given length of time*

 

The introduction of iron was more revolutionary in iU conse*

quenccs, since it led to svhat V, Cordon Ghilde has called the proletary

ionization of metal. Iron ores are abundant and w idely distributed, mak*

ing the new metal cheap and pleorifub It was thus available for took

and even agricultund implemenls, as vs'clJ as weapons, and certainly

raised the general standard of living. However it had little effect on the

already ancient and established patterns of village life. Iron-armed con-

fjuerors swept over most of tempemte Eurasia^ hut the ^llager w^ent on

plowing with his oxen, sowing and reaping hk grain, wearing the cloth

his wife w'ove^ obeying immemorial custom, and placating the supemut-

iiral guardian of his fields^

 

At certain places and times the transition from Neolithic to Bronze

Age or from Bronze Age to Iron Age was marked by significant popnla-

Hon movements and abrupt changes in culture. In such cases the terms

will be used, hut it must al ways be kept in mind that these phases of the

Eurdsiatic culture continmnti differed in length in different parts of Eur¬

asia and diat the transition from one to another Kime at very different

times in different regions. Thus the use of metal had become common in

the Near East by 4500 U.C but did not reach the British Isles until £^500

UiC at the earliest The Iron Age had begun in Anatolia by 18-1600 b,c.

but did not become established in Western Europe until nearly a thou¬

sand years later. The most recent phase of the Eurasiatic culture con¬

tinuum, marked by the production of power and tlic application of the

sdenti&c methcxl, originated in \Vcstcrn Europe about the middle of

the i8lh century and has not yet reached some Outlying parts of the

world.

 

The city was a scx?ial lUvenHou whose coiisequences w^erc more far-

reaching than those of any technological invention (sec Clmpter X). For

this reason its emergence may lx* set as a tcriuinal point for the period

tinder discussion* The exact point at which a culture l>ecame city-cen¬

tered and took on urban characteristics is sometimes dilBcult to estab¬

lish, yet die citj^ as an in$;titutiou is unmistakable. It appeared Brst in

Soudiwcstern .%ia and was fully developed in Mesopotamia by 4S^

4000 n.r:. It appe:rred in Egypt about the same timCt although in slightly

different form. The peculiar settlement pattern imposed by the Nile

Icy made the first Egyptian cities little more than religious and admink-

trative centers within a conUnuous area of dense population. The Indus

Valley cities were of a more familiar type, resembling those in Mesopr>-

tamia. Although dating for this regiozi is still uncertain, they' probably go

 

 

DifftL^on of ike Southwest Asiatic Complex [337

 

back to at least 3500 fix. In China ctties did not appear unH] about 2000

11.Q at the earliest. Tumijig to Europe, there were few ri?aj cities even in

Greticc before 900 to Soo bx., while the pattern was not established in

Scandinavia until after 1000 a.d.

 

The spread of NeoUthic village life from Southwest Asia invoh'ed

both nugration and diffusion. Tho increased food ^supply resulting from

combined agriculture aod dairying must have produecd an e^cceedingly

rapid growth of population. It is estiniatcd tliat under optimum cfmdi-

tioTis a human group can double its nunibers every twenty-five years.

Tile methods of primitive grain agriculture,^ without fertflization or crop

rotation, lead to r^ipid soil exhaustion and provfib a struiig s^timulus to

migration. Actually^ migrants seem to have poured out of tlie Southwest

Asiatic region in all directions.

 

All the regions which w^rc suited to agricultural occupation offered

a supply of wild food and were already occupied by hunting, food gath¬

ering tribes, flowever^ these tribes were rarely numerous enough to offer

serious resistance^ and the progressive conversion of their range into

grain fields and pasture mu^i have diminished their food supply and re¬

duced their numbers stiJl further. The situation must have been not un*

like that of the Indians and white settlers on our own frontiefi

 

It seems unlikely tliat many aboiiguial groups were converted di¬

rectly from hunting anti food-gathering to settled agricultural life, A

change of ibis sort %voiild have involved not only a reorganLzatian of eco¬

nomic life but also profound changes in attitudes and values. It seeius

more probable that the first agricultural villagers to cuter a region

traded with the Icx'al food-gatherers and took local women into their set¬

tlements, Since the asstired food supply of the villagers made it possible

for them to increase rapidly, their hybrid defendants would progres¬

sively repliice the older population. When populatiun pressure caused a

new outward movement, many of the migrants would lie of mixed

blood. These would once more interbreed wltl^ the ubongincs in iiewly

occupied territory. In this way tlie original Southwest Asiatic stock be¬

came increasingly diluted as tlie migrants pushe<1 farther and farUier

out, until we fiml the Southwe,st Asiatic patterns l^eing carried into new

Eerritory' bv groups who show no traces of the original racial type or

types, Tlius we know that the founders of the Shang dynasty in north

China were immigrants who iuirived from tlic west at about 1700 bx.,

bringing with them such typically Southwestern Asiatic traits as wheat,

cattle, the wheek and the plow. At the Siune time, these immigrants were

thornughly Mongoloid in ibeir physical type.

 

Migration was most important In the initial establishment of the

Southwest Asiatic patterns oufeule the area of theii origin. The first

group to accept the new thing and to integraEc It into it$ culture would

 

 

Part Sijc; SouTKivEsr Asia and Eudope

 

 

438]

 

modify it eiicyugh in tlie process to make its acceptun<x^ by other groups

easv. Thus It is unnecessary to invoke migration to account for the

dissemination of such devices as the wheel or plow, or even for par^

tienkr items of sotiid orgaiuxatioii or religion. Tliere wore numerous

movements within the agriculture-dairying ttrea after the initial settle¬

ment but these were ciilturaUy significant only when brought into

contact groups w^hose cultures had become div ergent.

 

The most important divergence among the cultures which devel¬

oped out of the Soutliwest Astatic complet was that between the groups

who concentrated on the agricultural aspect of the original economy and

those who concentrated on the domestic animal aspect. In regions where

the local conditions made agriculture precarious the settlers to rely

more und more upon their flocks and herds. Dairying cultures based on

Southwest Asiatic patterns emerged in the Eurasia tic steppes and in the

more or Jess arid parts of Soutliwestern Asia and North Africa^ each of

tlicsc regions developing its own distinctive features. While it is difficult

to convert aboriginal hunters and food-gatherers to die dull routine of

agriculture, they seem able to take up animal domestication with ease.

The reaction of both North and South Anierican Indians to the intro<luc-

tioii of the horse would be a case in point. In northern Eurasia various

aboriginal him ting groups s^eem to have been converted to a domestic

animal ecxinOm)% and the northernmost of these groups went their teach¬

ers one better by domesti eating a new animaip the reindeer. That this

was a case of stimulus diffusion, not on independent invention^ is indi¬

cated by the methods of using the reindeer. These followed those for

cattle in western Eurasia, those for horses in eastern Eurasia. In Africa

a domestic animal economy based on cattle was transmittetl to various

Bushmen and Negro groups and became the basis for highly character¬

istic local cultures.

 

Still other divergences among the heirs of the Southwest .Ariatio vil¬

lage culture oaij be traced to contacts with various aboriginal groups-

These contacts w^ere most significant in regions w^here the euviroument

was markedly different from that in w^hich the original village eomple,T

had developed or where the aboriginal population was numerous and

culturally advanced. Thus the villagers who moved into moistp heavily

wooded northern Europe found a numerous and well-adapted hunting

population already in possession and borrowed from them ejttetisively.

Those who moved into the Mediterranean region^ on the other hand,

found an environment much like that of their Asiatic homelanil and a

Sparse aboriginal population which could teach Uiem little and which

was absorbed without leaving any recogni/Jible mark on thdr culture.

 

The attempt to reconstruct the population movements and cultural

developments, which took place between the rise of the Neolithic cultin*

 

 

XVU. Diffusiofi of the Southwest Asiatic Complex I»39

 

in the Near East and the beginning of the bistoiie period, is fraught with

tireat difficulty. On the one hand, there arc t'oinplete facunac in Uie rec*

[}rd, important regions in which little significant archeological work Ims

been done. Thus the earliest vilkgie cultures uf the territoiy extending

from the Mediterranean to the borders of India and from the sonthem

shores of tile Black and Caspian Seas to the Persian Gulf and the Indian

Ocean arc still largely unknown, although this was the heartland of the

Neolithic development. Research in the early sites of this region has

been discouraged by the rich overlay of kter civilizations which have

left both objects of striking artistic merit and the inscriptions so dear to

the hearts of an earlier generation of archeologists. It is only witliin the

last few years that attention has been turned to the older reinaJns. Ana¬

tolia, simply on the basis of its position, must have played a highly sig¬

nificant role as the starting point for migrations into Europe, yet Anato¬

lian cultures of the Neolithic and early metal periods are still rclotively

unknown. The Balkan region of Europe, which, because of its position,

must have been reached first by Southvvest /Vsiatic migrants, is some¬

what better known than Anatolia but requires a great deal of additional

study. In spite of the highly signifiennt work done at Anau, toward the

eastern end of the Neolithic heartland, we know even less of early cul¬

tural conditions in this part nf the area, while our knowledge of the Neo¬

lithic cultures of j\rabia and the adjoining horn of Africa is still based

almost entirely on accidental surface finds.

 

In contrast with this there are regions in which one suffers from an

einbarrassmeut of riches. Tlie nrcheologj' of western and uorthem Eu¬

rope from tlie Mesolithic on has been studied intensively and the litera¬

ture is voluminous. Tlicre appears to have been a great variety of local

cultures distinguished largely by differences In pottery. The bearers of

llieso cultures were loosely attached to the soil and moved about freely,

trading and eschanging ideas with the various ^ups with wliidi they

came in contact In addition, most European archeologists have been pa¬

triots with a tendency to see the center for all important cultural devel-

opmenb or population movements within their own national territories.

Headers may gain some idea of the complexity of the data by consulting

V. Gordon Childe's recent book. Aflgrafforts in Europe,' which is itself a

summarization of an enonnous amount nf specialized literature. The

complexity of the theoretical structures built upon the data and tlie wide

differences in the conclusions of various presumably competent experts

is even more striking. Fortunately, the scope and purpose of tlib book

do not necessitate a detailed description of these cultures, and I have

 

» Chllde, V. CnidiHi; Prfhtitorii: Minion in Eiifi>pe. Oslo; H. Asehehaugh and

Co.; I9S0. The aulhor wishes to ocknowli.-dge hi* hei^ debt to this work which he

ctSTkijden by far the best getieral wtk oa this ^poch in Ennspfrflii bistory.

 

 

Part Six: $dutei%vest Asia and Eubdpe

 

 

240]

 

followed the system of presenting the facts and conclusions on which

there $eem& to be fsirly general agreement and suggesting in certain

coses shil other conclusions on the basis of a comparison of the Eiito-

pean material with that from other areas in which the dynamic processes

of culture change have been observed directly.

 

 

Chapta- XVIII

 

 

European Neolithic

 

 

Tiie FiBST Neolithic itiigratiU to reach Europe apimrently came from

Anatolia and established a foothold in die region that is now the Bal¬

kans, From this point on there were two main hues of migration. One of

these followed the Mediterranean coasts wid^ gradual infiltration of the

Italian and Ibffrian Peninsulas and settien^ent of the various Medilerra*

nean isknib as soon as seafaring had been siifEciendy^ developed- Some¬

what later this movement was reinforced by direct sea migrations from

the lands at die eastern end of the Mediterranean.

 

The other migration line was into Central Europe by way of dm

Danube and its tributaries. The descendants of settlers who had come by

this routCp reinforced by later migrants from die steppe region further to

the ciist, finally reached eastern France^ Germany, and Scaxidinavaa. The

rivo routes brought the migrants into markedly different environments

and resulted in distmelive cultural developments in each case.

 

When tfie movement of agricultural peoples into Europe began, the

Mediterranean region was covered with pine forests. Because of the

light rainfall this forest could iiol reconstitute itself. Wherever it had

been destroyed it was replaced by dense scrub, the tnaqah, or dry, aro-

mntic heath, the giirngu^* However, climatic conditions were much like

those in the original Southwestern Asiatic center. The rainfall was con¬

centrated in winter so that the ard plow and the dust rmilch which it

produced were as functional here as in the Near East- All the original

crops could be grown without the need for developiug new varieties.

The main handicap was the lack of level as most of the Mediterra-

ncan area is mountainous.

 

The local conditions were set by certain changes lo the original

economy* The shortage of level land w'as partially compensated for by

terracing, but irrigated terrace agriculture was not employed liccause,

perhaps, of the poor and scason^ly Buctuating water supply, histead

 

 

2^] Part Six: Southivest Asia aist> EojtoPE

 

theic was a developmeDl of tree crops. The fig and olive, both natives of

the Mediterranean basin, were domesticated and improved, and various

nut trees were planted and tended. The vine was added to this Invenlory’

driy in g the bter Bronze Age. Allliough it seems to have been introduced

from Asia, it found itself completely at home on the stony slopes of tlie

Mediterranean littoml. Olive oil became indispensable to the Mediterra¬

nean economy. It served to cook food, to make bread and salads more

palatable, to give light, and to protect the skin against cold and salt wa¬

ter. The wine from the Mediterranean vineyards not only cheered the

vine growers but also provided them with a valuable export. Well be¬

fore the end of the Aegean Bronze Age. olive nil and wine were being

shipped to less favored areas. The earliest example of fancy packag¬

ing was when, by 1500 b,c., the Cretans were putting up their export oil

in gaily painted jars. The Classical Greeks carried this trend still farther,

and by the time of the Persian wars Athens was getting most of its grain

from the settled Scythians north of the Black Sea.

 

The Mediterranean settlers brought with them the full Southwest

Asiatic series of domestic animals, hut here again the environment ne¬

cessitated changes. The ox remained the only draft animal, but goats re¬

placed both cattle and sheep as the animals of greatest economie iinpor-

tance. Coals could graze on the dry scrub which took over the steep hill¬

sides when the original pine forests had been destroyed. [addentiUy,

their close cropping and sharp hoofs increased the ravages of soil ero¬

sion and were an added factor in preventing reforestation.

 

To compensate for the relative scarcity of animal products, the sea

 

 

 

HOT, EunorsAN NEOUTtne

 

 

 

 

XVIII* European Neolithic [243

 

was always dose at hand. The Mediteminoan peoples were almost as

dependent on fish as the Indonesians* Every coastal village had its fbh-

iag fleet, and dried fish was an important artide of trade with the inte-

nor. Long before tlie dawn of hfstorj^ the coastal and island tribes had

become ejtcellent sailors, and the earliest sea power on record had its

center on the island of Crete,

 

The development of culture in the ^!edite^^ancaT1 area was influ¬

enced by two opposing patterns^ On the one hand, the isolation provided

by die islands and hy numerous ttincces,sible valleys on the mountainous

mainland made for a higb degree of Icwal variation- On tlie other, the sea

made possible contact Wtween even distant regions and the rapid diffu¬

sion of some culture patterns over wide areas. To further complicate

matters, this diffusion did not proceed systematically but depended

upon the degree aijd nature of contact which various Islands or tribes

had with the more advanced peoples of the eastern Aegean* Thus it has

been suggested, on the basis of recent excavations, that tlie island of Ca¬

pri was the legendarj* Isle of the Sirens. Its Meolithic inhabitants were

cannibals and may w ell liave used tlieir women to lure passing sailors

ashore* Such a group would have had few opportimitics for cultural l>or-

lowing. On the otlier hand, the tribes from the Iberian Peninsula, who

WTre friendly to trader$» received strong influences from dse eastern

Mediterranean in spite of tlie distance mvolveti.

 

Certain culture patterns may be noted as of Mediterrauean origin

end common to the entire area* llie changes in food economy imposed

by the Icwal conditions have already been mentioned. The dependence

on fishings which was a part of this economy^ led to the development of

the w'orld's first seaworthy ships. These seem to have been evolved first

in ihe eastern Medilerraneani* where the numerons islands provided a

good training school for deep-sea sailors, Tlie Mediterranean is a sea of

long calms and treadicrous currents. A vessel wiiich is dependent on

sails idane is lilcely to drift into dangerons waters or lie for days helpless

and roLIiiig, The pictures of boats on Neolithic pottery .show- tiiem with

fnany oars but no masts or sails. .Although the latter had been introduced

by 2000 craft, such as war vessels, which required speed and ma-

neuverability^ were oar powered until w^ell into the 18th century a*d. In-

cidentallv, the technique of row^ing instead of paddling, without which

the later giiUcys would have been Impassible^ also seems to have been a

Mediterranean invcnlioTi*

 

The Mediternmean$ of Classical times did not use the rather obvi¬

ous teclinjque of double or triple manning tlieir oars except in emergen¬

cies* Tile result was a multiplication of oars and benches necessitating

an elaborate arrangement of overbanging galleries for rowers- Since

bulk were built long to provide space for the many oars required and

 

 

Part Six; S<iutwv'est Asia AN'ti El'ROPE

 

 

244I

 

made mm^w fdr sjseed. even the s^dleys nf Cl-iyisical tunes v^ere top

heavy and likely iu roll over or break in twn In bad weather, Added dis¬

advantages were lack of cargo space and the si^pe of the crew rei|uired.

Gallej's could not keep the si^ for any length of bine, since tliey could

not foi?d or adequately sleep their personnel. Even in die Classical pe¬

riod there were no Mediterranean craft capable of crossiug tin? Atbntic.

Houwer. the Mciliterraneaii is a rebtJvely small sea many harbors

and islands, and the galleys sm^cd their purpose well enough as long as

hiiJiiuii labor was cheap and abundant.

 

Wlien the Mediterranean sailors ventured Into the Atlantic they had

difficulU' with the imegiibr winds and tempestuous seas. Most of their

voyaging had to be done in the summer. iJowever, they managed to

penetrate as far north as SLanditiavia, where die Nurse long !ships of tlie

Viking period seem to have hecu simpliliicd and improved copies of

earlv Mediterranean craft. At the same time there was an independent

developinent of shipbuilding along the Atlantic coast. Very huge dug-

onts suitable for short sea voyages anri certainly not derivetl from Medi-

terrnneaii prototypes have been found in Neolithic and Bronze Age sitesK

Caesar recorsb in his commentaries that the ships of the Veneti, built to

withstand the rough seas of the iby of Bisciiyt were massively con¬

st ructed of oak, with leather sails. Ue adds that they were so massive

that the Boman galleys w^ere unable to ram them successfully but finally

overcame them by cutbng their rigging and leaving them helpless, an

excellent indicabon tfiat they were sadetk not rowed. We cannot say

when this school of shipbuilding came into existence^ but wt know^ that

it was present in Scandinaviii all through the Viking period and that the

Norse dkl of their traveling and tnidtng in bhiff-bow^^ed, slow sail¬

ing craft which bore much the same relation to their long ships that a

modem freighter bears to a dt'stroycr.

 

Iii social organization iind religion the Meditertanean patterns also

seem to have departed somewhut from ihoi^e of the Soutlnvest Asiatic

homeland. There is no question that many of the NiXjUthic and even

Bronze Age tribes of the Medi terra neao coasts and islandid were m a tri¬

lineal and matrlarcbaL This pattern can be inferred from son:ie of the

older Creek legends and survivetl even intci Classical times in various

out-of-the-way areas. With it WTut a heightened social petition for

women. They seemetS to hav^e dominated the ritual life of this region

during the prehistoric pC'riod^ for representations of priestesses are com-

mon« while those of priests are exceedingly rare.

 

The practice of building large tombs which were used far genera-

tious indicates that many of the Mediterranean peoples hod some sort of

clan organization with kin groups which were of long duration h The care

expended in the building of these tombs and the presence of consider-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

^6] She: SouTtw^EST Asia axd Europe

 

able tfrnib fumitiire aba suggests that there was an ancestor cult of some

sort^ an idea forcigu to the original Southwest Asiatic culture.

 

Some odicr ^ieditermuean supematumlistit beliefs and practices

were also distinctive. The old Southwestern Asiatic rdigion had alb wed

orgiastic practices in cemnectian with the worsliip of the earth mothert

but one feels that in general the emotional content of the religion was

slight. The Mediterranean peoples^ on the other hand,, valued etnotion

for its own sake and sought ecstatic states in which the individual fell

himself to be possessed and in some sense imited with the deitj\ They

were profoundly impressed by those crises of human existence w'hich

arouse the emotinns most (conception^ bijih^ and death) and built their

religion alwmt these. Their most jinpiirtant deity w'as still the earth

mother, embodying the reprocluctive jirinciple. Her rites were con¬

ducted by priesiesses who probably became possessed and gave oracles

as a regular part of the ritual. Side by side with the worship of the

mother goddess and her orgiastic riteSp there was a svorship of the

Cthonie deities^ powders of night and darkness, who were tlie embodi¬

ments of mans fear of death and die unknown. These rites involved an

ecstasv’ of terror as the rites of the mother goddess did an ecstus)’ of pro

creation. Conducted at night and perhaps in secrecy* they may well have

been the precursors of the later mystery religions.

 

The enviranmental cOnditiorLS on the .African coast of the Mediter¬

ranean were enough like those on the European coast, and the cultural

contacts betiveen the two were so clo^e and continuous that both con be

regoided ns forming a single culture area up until the Islamic conquest

in the 8th eeiitun* a.d. The only exception to this was Egypt, but the

high civaliiOition developed there had singularly little effect on the de-

velopinent of the Mediterranean cultures. iTie main difference betw'ecn

the iiorthem and southern Mediterranean coasts lay In the nature of the

back country^ By the time die first Neolithic startlers arrived, the modem

African climatic zones w^ere already in existence. The Sahanr which had

been grassland with abundant game at the close of the last gbeiaJ ad¬

vance, had become desert. Great areas were uninhabited and were to

remain so until the mtroductioii of the camel shortly before the begin-

tting of the Christian era. Between the desert and the coast there was a

zone of light rainfall in which pastoral life was possible, but where agri¬

culture could be carried on in only a few favored localities. Along most

of the coast there was enough rain to permit dry forming and die raising

of tree crops. The Atlas Mountains, at the western end of die area, had

heavier rainfall, with cooler climate and extensive forests.

 

The most inhospitable part of the North African littoral was in

Libya, the region which would be encountered first by Asiatic migrants

who had crossed into Africa at Suez and were moving westward over-

 

 

XV///. Erimpt*< 3 n NeaUlhic [2^47

 

bnJ. There was little incentive for Neolithic fEurncrs to attempt to es¬

tablish thcmscK'es in this region, and tlik must have silowetl dovvm the

vvcstAViird movement until it eouJd be carried on by sea. Beyond Libya

conditions gradually improved, and there was a substantid XeoIiUiic

population in Algiers and Morocco. This region seems to have shared

many of its culture trails with tlie Spanish peninsula, mid in Liter Neo¬

lithic and Bronze Age times the two formed a culture unit, a new crenter

of migration from which settlers voyaged north along the Atlantic coasl-

There were also voyages to the south. The Canary^ Islands were colo¬

nized by Neolithic settlers from this region.

 

Although most of the African coast from MorMCO to liio D'Oro was

too inhospitable to encourage Neolithic settlement, trade with Negro

Africa across the Sahara ^eems to have been initiated during the Neo

lidiic period. In the absence of camels only a few routes were possible,

and it is unlikely that there was any large-scale southward migration of

Neolithic peoples. However, there was a diffusion of Neolithic culture

elements into the western Sudan and even further soutli. Polished stone

axes of generalized Mediterranean Neolithic pattern are fairly numerous

in West Africa from Liberia to the Camoroons. and there have been

finds of what Is apparently Neolithic pottery; hut the nature and extent

of Snuthw^cst Asiatic Neolithic itifliience on Negro culture remains to be

determined.

 

Pdllowing the initial settlement of the Mediterranean area two cul¬

tural centers emerged, one in the Iberian Peninsula, the other in ffie

Aegean Istonds. The Aegean center was marginal to the develapfng civi¬

lizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt and was strongly influenced by

tliem. It rcachcrl its flowering in the Cretan and derivative Myoenean

cultures w'hich^ because of their close relations with the later Classical

civilizations, require separate treatment.

 

Neolithic migrants from the Ibcriau Peninsula settled in the British

Isles, where their physical ty pe survives in much of the present popula¬

tion. They also follow^ed the AtLintie coast to Soandinavia, settUng most

of France and the low countries and eventually pushing inland to Switz¬

erland, where they met and mi.xcd with other agricultural villagers who

had arriv ed by w^ay of central Europe*

 

The contact l^tw'ecn the Iberian Peninsula and the British Isles was

particularly close and was rnaintaiiied alJ through the Bronze Age. The

peninsula seems to have Ijeen die starting point for the so-called Mega-

llthic complex of western Europe. This consiited in die building uf

tombs and the erection of monuments composed of enormous bloclf^ of

rough stone. There is no indication that the diffusion of this pattern wav

accompanied by any large-scale migration. It seems rather to have rep¬

resent^ the spread of a religiDus cult combined^ perhaps, with a new

 

 

Part Six: SotnwvEsrr Asu anp Euroi^e

 

 

24a]

 

form of tribal exhibitionism. In Eastern Pohuesia each tribe buUt its

ceremonial stnicliires of die hugest stones po^ssible, since the stmctiure

u^Onlil then stand as an indication of the extent of tdbai manpower; one

may suspect that the great Mcgalithic stmchires of Western Europe,

w^hich involved the transportation Utid erection of stones many tons in

weight, may have beeti inspired in part by shnilar inotives4

 

There is an extensive literature on the Megalithk culture of Europe,

and it may be woU to point out that tliere were two patterns of Mega-

lilhic construction in the Mediterranean and adjoining areas which were

almost mutually exclusive in their distribution. Around the eastern end

of the Meditermnean huge intones were used in the building of fortihea-

tions. Tliis was thoroughly functional since the early stope walls were

laid without mortar and could be rcaddy picked to pieces in siege opera¬

tions unless the stones were too hea^y' to handle. Big stone was also

sometimes used in tomb construction, but this use wus not consistent and

does not seem to have been an integral part of the eastern Mediterra¬

nean mortuary complex. Along the Atlantic coast enormous rough stones

were used f or me#i/drs and dolmens and to form erdignmen ts and circles

presumaldy employed for communal religious rites. Menhirs were sim¬

ple standing stones, usiiaUy uncut. Some of the largest weigh thirty to

forU* tons* and their transport and erection must have retiilirud engineer-

iug skill of no mejut order. Dolmens were stone tables, an enormous cap

stone being balanced upon several smaller stoiuai in such a way as to

form a roofed chamber. Many of the dolmens were originally covered

with mounds and were used for burial.

 

However, in Madagascar, where both menhirs^ and dotmem were

still being erected as late as 1928 a.d., the local dolmens were not tombs

but memorials to women p while the menhirs, with their obvious phallic

 

 

 

(a) COOKINO POT

 

 

^b) beajceb potteby

 

 

 

 

XVIIL Europenn NeoUihic [249

 

connotations, commemorated men. Tlie Madagascar dolmens were ako

used as tables on which the offerings were arranged for sacrifices to the

ancestors as n group. Since graves are very rarely associated with Euro¬

pean frtcn/i ir;&, tliey were probably cenotaphs, erected in some prominent

place so that they would keep the person they eommemoratecl in ntitid.

The Megalithic ceremonial strucltues, die best example of which is

Stonehenge m England, are usually carefully oriented and were appar¬

ently associated with some fortn of sun worship. .Although the Mega-

lithic complex appeared in Western Europe Coward the close of the Neo^

lithic, the erection of great stone structures continued during the entire

Bronze Age and the ceremonial structures were still in use during the

Celtic pericol^ 300 to 400 n.(X

 

The introduction of metal w^orking into the Mediterranean areas in¬

creased die economic importance of the Iberian pcninsuln, which was

rich in copper and odier mctalhc ores. Although the earliest patterns of

mining and metal working were probably imparted from die cast, the

peninsula sterns to have been the origin point for a curious group knowm

as the Beaker Folk. Tlie remains of this culture are scattered over die

w hole of Western Europe, widi their maximum concentration in regions

where there are evidences of primitive mining, Tliey seem to kive estab-

li,shcil real colonies oidy in the British Isles, Brittany, and UoUand, thus

folio whig the T1>eri:in migration routes which had been established in

Xetdithic times. They have left no extensive rernams of settlement eUe-

wbere, but many small cemeteries w hose graves contain objects indica¬

tive of verv wide contacts^ Tliey may well have been a group of traders

and prospectors who pushed into *Tjarbarous" northern Europe follow'-

ing rumors of mineral deposits, and exploited them with the aid of na¬

tive labor which they trained. It is interestiiig to cnn|ecture how they

obtained the help of the local aborigines in dieir mining. Tliey do not

,seem to have been numerous enough to coiiqucr or cn:$]ave focal popu¬

lations. Their grave goods are nut vciy' ptentiful and no extensive caelics

of trade objects winch might be referrctl to thcTO have been found. The

licakers from wliieh they take tlieir name, actually Small tumbler-like

clay jars, w^ere probably beer mugs, and one is tempted to guess diah as

with the early European traders among many different sorts of aborig¬

ines, their main stock nmy luivc been alcoholic potables.

 

One last point should be made with regard to the Meditemnean

cultures. None of tlic Neolithic populations who occupied this region or

migrflte<l from thk region spoke Indo-European bngusiges. The only

clues to wlujt tlieir languages may have been are provided by certain

late Bronze Age and Iron Age inscripdons from the eastern Metlitexra-

nean and by such historic surv'ivals as the Basque language spoken in

the Pyrenees and the Berber languages of north Africa. On the basis of

 

 

Part Six; Soutito'est Asia and EmiorE

 

 

450]

 

tlii5 very scanty informatioti it seems probable that the bingtiagf^ were

of Severn] different stocks.

 

The second line of diffusiori of Southwest Asiatic eukure into Eu^

rope ran overland from Anatolia to Balkans and then along the Dan^

ube and its tributaries until the norttiem watersheds were crossed. The

Atlantic river systems w^ere then foLlmved tow'ard the sea. This brought

the central European migrants Into contact with the shghtly earUer set¬

tlements of the Mediterranean migrants and the two traditions blended

to produce a variety of local cultures.

 

North of the mountains which shut off the Mediterranean Basin

from the rest of Europe, the dimate and vegetation changed abruptly*

Except along the Atlantic coast the climate was continental, with hot

summci^ and cool winters much like those of the central United States-

Rainfall was much more abundant than in the MediterrancDn Basin anti

was not seasonal At the time of the first Neolithic migratiODS most of

Europe was covered with deciduous forest much like that of the eastern

United States at the Hme of the first European scltlenient. Along the At¬

lantic margin there were a few treeless tmets resulting from a conibitiB+

don of light soil and sea winds, while toward the east the forests gave

place to piirlc land. Still farther east this in turn w'as transfonaed Into

grasi^land which extetided to the Tien Shan Mountains and, becoming

Lacreasingly arid, into Mongolia. North of the deciduous forest there was

a wide belt of coniferous forest which extended clear across the Eurasi-

atic continent, but most of this lay too for north for pre-scientific agri¬

culture and has remained a haunt of hunters and reindeer keepers until

witliin the last fe%v years*.

 

Tlie conditions which the Southwest Asiatic migrants encountered

in tlicir movements into Central Europe called for a complete reorgani¬

zation of their farming methods- Agricuiture w'as carried on by the slash

and bum technique. If one may judge by the agricultural methods of the

Iroquois^ a Neolithic people living in New York State and Southern Can¬

ada under very similar environmental conditions and with similar tech¬

nological equipment, the method was probably iruich more bum than

slash. It was difDeuU to fell large trees with stone implements and was

really unnecessary tf the only intention was to clear land for planting.

Trees could be girdled and allowed to die and tracts burned over with-

out previous felling of timber. The newly burned Land gave excellent

crops for the first nr three years, but fields w^exe soon exhausted and

had to be allowed to lie fallow until new forest growth had sprung up.

People who practiced this method hod to move their villages frequently*

Among the Iroquois this took place at approximately twenty-year inter¬

vals. Such movements tended to push the Neolithic frontier rapidly

nortlwvard until it reached tlie limits set by climate. It also meant that

 

 

XVIIL European Neolithic [251

 

14^ long as there were new lands to be exploited^ there was little reason

For warfare between Neolithic groups. If they made war at all* it was

probably against the comparatively sparse .\!esoHthic popuhitioDp who

could harass the Neolithic settlers but could make little bead against

their rapid population increase;

 

The initial Neolithic settlement had a spotty distribution beciiuse of

the Ncobthic farmers^ preference lor the loess soils which w'erc best for

grain. Until these had been exploited, tlie Mesolithic population was left

in control of regions where the soil was sandy or of heavy' clay, Hiis gave

opportunity for prolonged contact between the two ctilttjres* and there

seems to have been considerable borrowing back and forth* This was no

doubt stimulated by the sharp change in environment, winch made it

necessary for the Neolithic settlers to alter much of their preexisting

technology. The mud houses of Southwest Asia were unsuited to die

comparatively wet climate of Europe and gave place to w'attk and daub

structures with high-pitched thatched roofs. When the settlers obtained

hronzCp wood working bcc-amc much easier, and even those structures

were replaced in many regions by solidly built log houses svhich were

the prototypes of our owm frontier log cabins. Tlie forest euvironment

made wood and bark available for all sorts of took and utensils^ and w'c

know that the Mesolithic population were already tnaking extetisive use

uf these materials. Tlie sudden increase in the importance of wood in

the cconumy of the first Neolithic forest dwellers in Europe is attested

by the frequency of adzes in their sites. Axe^ are superior took for tree

felling, but the adze is die wood-working tool par excelletice. These

adzes were frequently hafted in autler sockets pierced for the insertion

of a handle, an unquestionable borrow'ing from the Mesolithic cultures.

 

The first Neolithic setders in Central Europe raised wheat of several

sorts, barley* and various legumes^ and kept a few cattle^ although the

last were of Iitde economic importance^ Crops were cultivated with

stone hoes. There seems to have been very little hunting or fishing. Vil¬

lages were small and had to he moved fr€X|ueiitly because of soil exhaus¬

tion. Tlie villagers lived in large obloog houses* each of which must have

sheltered several families, a good indication that they had some sort of

extended family organization. Material culture was simple. The most

striking feature was the rarity of weapons. This and the lack of imple¬

ments of Mesolithic type in the Neolithic settlements suggest tliat set¬

tlers and aborigines practiced some sort of mutual avoidance. Slings

were used, hut the bow seems to have been lacking. The favorite and

almost exclusive wood working tool was the adze. Pottery w&s molded

by hand and decorated with spirak and other curvilinear designs

pressed into the clay. There was some trade from the earliest times.

Shells from the Mediterranean were eairied as far Czechoslovakia^

 

 

252 ] Part Stx. SOLOWVEST AfrA asd Eithope

 

and stone uclzoi and even prttfry were transported for considerable dis¬

tances. The archeological record as a whole suggests a hiird-working,

peaceful peasant soeJet)' wdth few diflerenccs in wealth or status.

 

This first phase gradually gave way to a seconds in whidi the em-^

phasis shifted increasingly from fanning to silfxrk raising. There was

more reliance on hunting and fishing and various tpoU and weapons

show Mesolithic infiuence. The villagers seem to have Iwjrrow'ed from

tile aborigines the bow and arrow, with transverse arrowhead, and the

hammer a^ce, based on an antler protot\ [w. Villages were larger tlian in

the earlier period and were oc'cupied for longer times. Some of them

were fortified. Mouses, on the otlier hand^ became much smaller* sug*

gesting a bfcaidowm of the earlier kin groups. Pottery became tnereas-

ingly elaborate. It wtis made in many shapes and the old curvilinear de¬

signs were now more frequently painterJ than impressed. There were

numerous small clay figurines, most of which represented w^oinea, doves,

or bulk. All these were associated with the cult of the old Southwest

Asiatic Mother Coddess and indicate that she was worshipped here* *-\I-

though the standard of living was higher than in the first phase, there

seem to have been no clearly defined social ciasses. There almost cer-

tainlv were chiefs and either priests or priestesses, but the relation be¬

tween these and tlM?ir fellow^ tril^eiimen w^as not an exploitive oiie.

 

AU through the Central European Neolithic there was a fahly con¬

sistent trend toward increased special mobility. Tlierc are no indications

that any of the Central European penple bt'Came true nomads, but they

moved alKJUt with increasing frifedom, thanks to their progressive shift

from n fanning to a herding economy. This was a reaction to the east¬

ward spread of parkland conditions resulting partly from dehirestation

by human agency and partly from a climatie sliift whieh for some cen¬

turies brought warmer^ drier weather. With the mobility came a pro¬

gressive broadening of trade contacts and a great increase in warfare*

The latter was no dcHihl also stiinuluted by the new herding economy *

since domestic animals are easy' to steal anti have to be protectet! frora

both human and animal enemies.

 

There were a number of resemblances behveeii the Central Euro¬

pean cultures and those of the Aegean Islands, Such resemblances can

best be explained as a result of coniact between each of tlicsc areas and

some intervening region, probably Anatolia. All through the prehistoric

period tlicrc w^as a steady diffusion into Ceotml Europe of culture pat¬

terns originating in the Near East One of the most interesting examples

of this w^iis the appeamncCi at tiie close of tlie NcoHtlnc^ of a new'

w'capon, a donble-bladed stone battle-axe perforated for hafting. The

perforation weakened the w'eapon and made it likely to break in two

under a hea^y blow, but the whole was a slavish irnitation of bronze

 

 

XVIIL European Neolithic [2S3

 

battle-aves in use in MMopotamia and Anatolia at the fame period. Even

tlie ridjfes left on the hnvnflte axes by the picee molds in which they had

been east were often eopled in the stone teproduction.

 

Stone axes of this tj'pe w'ore in use over much of Northern and Cen-

tral Europe. In due course iwious local forms appeared, some of which

show the infliietice of the ancient Mesolithic antler hammer-axe. Various

European schnlars have taken the original doublc-bladed form as indi¬

cation of u distinct "Battle-Axe Culture" brought into Europe from the

east by die first of a long series of invasions from the Eurasiatic steppes.

W'hether tltere was such a culture and such an invasion cannot be deter¬

mined at present. The battle-a.xes are found in many cultures which dif¬

fer in other respects and if there really was a Battle-Axe people we must

think of them as a small, highly mobile and excc*edingly warlike group

of very simple culture who spread rapidly over Central Europe, estab¬

lishing themselves as rulers in a variety of different tribes.

 

The development of metal working in Central Europe ako seems to

have been due to diffusion. A few small objects hammered from native

copjier were in use even in the later Neolithic, but the arts of smelting

and casting were certainly introduced from the Near East. The mineral

wealth of the Garpathiam: no doubt stimulatetl this diffusion. Bronze

was such a valuable material that, aside from the objects placed in

tombs, little of it was lost or destetryed. It was boarded much ns gold has

berm hoarded through the ages. It is said that the American gold reserve

at Fort Knox probably includes gold that was p:ut of the treasure of

Egyptian kings in 3000—4000 b,c., although it has been cast in many dif¬

ferent forms in llic intervening years. Similarly, the supply of bronze ac¬

cumulated all through the Broiize Age, making it increasingly available

and leading eventually to its use for all sorts of specLilized tools and

even agricultural implements.

 

Different ty'pes of bronze took and weapons were preferred in dif¬

ferent areas, and there can be little tloitbt that there were not only local

bronze workers but joiuneynien smiths who traveled from tribe to tribe

nud stayed for a time wherever their services were needed. A simitar sit¬

uation has existed until very recent times in Africa, where clans of iron

Workers might serve several tribes without being considered really a

part of any of them. There also were itinernnl merchants who covered

long distances in their journeys and carried with them scrap bronze as a

part of their merchandise. By 1500 B.C. regular trade routes had been

opened up from the Baltic to tlic Aegean, Mediterranean bronze and

other luxury objects being carried iiortiiward and furs and Baltic amber

traveling southward in return. The itinerant smiths and mcrcliants, with

their knowledge of local languages, must have played an important role

in the diffusion of ideas as well as appliances.

 

 

Part Six: Solitiiwest Asia and Europe

 

 

2541

 

Two important ^dditians to the ContraJ and Northern European

equipment were made during the Bronze Age: the plow and die horse.

The Neolithic Europeans had done their cultivating with stone boeSp

which were well adapted to grubbrng in rooi-fillcd 5011 loft after forests

had been burned. The uso of the plow indicated not only that cleared

land bad been brought under genuine cultivation, but also that some

method permitting condnued land use had been substituted for the old

slash and burn agncultnrol technique. It is highly probable lliat the

Bronze Age witnessed the introduction of the three 6eJd system, which

was tept up throughout most of Europe until after tlie discovery of

 

 

 

rr£4vy plow

 

 

America. In this system, as we have seen, a field was planted with grain

one year, with legumes the second and allowed to lie fallow the thirds

throughout the entire time animab vvere pastured over it whenever

crops were not growiiig. The ancient ard plow of the Near East was un*

suited for breaking sod or for tuming over water-logged heavy clay soLt,

and during the later Bronze or early Iron Age a different and much

heavier type of plo>v, equipped with a mold board, was invented in

Northern Europe. But this plow was also unable to deal with the tough

sod of long-established prairies. Even in .\merica, settlers using the North

European agricultural equipment were unable to conquer the prniries

until the invention of the sled plow in the igth century. The

Eurdsiatic grasslands presented a more serious challenge to agriculture

than any other part of the continent except the sub-Arctic zone and have

remained a presm^e for pastoral peoples until recent times.

 

The introduction of horses into Europe was an ev^ni of prime cul¬

tural importance. A wild forest horse was native to Western EuropCp a

shaggy', heaw-boned animal whieh w^as hunted Hkc other game. 11 does

not seem to have been domes heated during Neolithic times, olthongh It

may have been crossed in bter time witli Ae imported type. Some of its

blood may survive in the heavy draft horses of Northwestern Europe^

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XVni. European SeoUthtc [255

 

The fifil domestic hoTscs appeared In Ooiral Europe early in thcBronae

Age, flitd were of a fast, light boned Central Asiatic breed. Horses were

not partictdarlv profitable animals to raise for either milk or tneat, and it

was a long time before horse harnesses suitable for iieasy traction were

developed. There can be little doubt that the horse was brought to Eu¬

rope as a fightiog animal and that it came as a fundamental part of the

equipment of invaders from the east. However, these Bronze Age horse

drivers must not be confused with the later and much more efficient

mounted invaders who came from the same region. The first evidence

which we hove for the riding of horses m Europe comes from the Hall-

statt culture of the early Iron Age.

 

The first use of the hursc was its a draft animal, in imitation of the

sloiv and docile ox, and the earliest harness was modeled on the ox yoke.

The war chEiriot os sve know it from Homeric times or as it was used by

the Iron Age Cauk was a highly specialized appliance which could be

made onlv by skilled craftsmen with excellent toob. It oertainly was not

it) use as n developed appliance at the time the Bronze Age horse drivers

brought the first horses into Central Europe. Since ox carts were in use

in die Near East by 4000 B.C.. the first fighting vehicles were probably

copicil from them. A crude war wagon with four solid wooden wheels

and planked or wicker-work sides b shown on the Sumerian standard

from Ur, Some of the so-called "hearses," whose remains have been

found in the burials of Bioiize Age chiefs, may well be the remains of

such fighting vehicles, It is highly improbable that there were any

drilled troops in Europe at tlie time the horse was introduced. Bronze

Ago armies, like the Homeric ones, w’ere vmmly mobs of competitive he-

rncs, .\ war wagon driven at full speed into such a mob would break any

line of battle which might have been formed, and when its charge

iKiggcd down, it would stiU provide a platform from which its crew

coidd throw spears and wield axes as if from behind breastwork.

 

The light, two-wheeled, tsvo-man war cbsniot appeared in Central

Europe by the last half of the Bronze Age, but riding came still later.

Brotize Age tombs show no traces of saddlery. Horses were ridden all

through the Iron Age, but efficient cavalry did not appear in Europe

Until very late. Even in the time of Caesar s svars, the cas'alry of the

C:iub and Cemians was essentially mounted infantry. Horses were used

as a means of rapid transportation but riders usually dismounted to

fight. Lacking adequate saddles and stirrups, their seat was too precari¬

ous for hand-to-hand battle.

 

During the late Bronze Age important social changes took place

throughout most of Europe. Kingdoms and even einpir<rs appeared in

the eastern Medilcrtanean. while throughout most of the continent new

aristocratic patterns emerged. Scandinavia supported a population of

 

 

Part Six; SouTHWTsrr Asia ani> Europe

 

 

236]

 

weli-to-dot free-holding farmers but cbewhere the peasantry was ruled

by chiefs or kin^. Such nilers eoucentitited the society s economic

surplus in their own hands and used it to employ foreign craftSTneTn buy

foreign goods and provide themselves with pretentious equipment for

the nest worJdn These changes may have beep due to the diffusion of po¬

litical techniques and governmental patterns, for they seem to have btfen

marked by no sudden or ejctensive changes in the technology of the vai*

ious cultures in which they appeared. However, it seems probable that

they were due to the penetration of Europe by some people with mili¬

tary and administrative skill but poor technology, who established them¬

selves as rulers of the earlier population. The problem is actually very

similar to that pose<l by the hypothetical Battle-Axe people previously

discussed. Europe has witnessed so many "‘barbarian'^ invasions that one

is tempted to refer their beginnings to the prehistoric penod and to ex¬

plain prehistoric culture changes in the familiar terms^

 

In summary^ one is forci^ to conclude that the overland route was

more important for the development of European cultiire than the Medi-

tciranean. Most of the technological and social in vetitions which reached

Europe from South%vcst Asia appeared first in Eastern and Central Eu¬

rope, and tile successive waves nf migration which laid the foundation

for later European civibs^ation all came either from Central Europe or

even further east The priority which has been given to the Mediter¬

ranean and coastal route h largely a result of historic accident The

earliest studies of European historj' were made along the Atlantic coast

and the richness of tlie Central European remains has only become evi¬

dent within the last fifty years, Tlie Classical civilizations have cast a

spell over European scholars, yet one must admit that the modem medi-

anized civilization of Europe owes more to the North Eui'opean eub

turcs and ibeir barbarian background tluin it does to either Greece or

Borne.

 

 

Chapter XIX

 

 

Aryans and Turko-Tatars

 

 

Tioe SFRKAiJ of village eulture from Southwcsteni Asia carried its eeo-

nomic and social patterns not only westward into Europe but also nortli-

ward into the Eurasiatic steppes. Here settlers encountered conditions

not unlike tliose which confronted otir own pioneers when they reached

the Great Plains. The western steppes provided excellent pasture^ but

the soil was dilHciilt to bring under cultivation. There were no forests to

ser\’e os a basis for slosh and burn cultivation, and the age-old prairie

sod could not be broken with primitive plows. To complicate matters

still further* the steppes had long climate cycle$ like those of our own

Plains: a run of wet years alteruattng with a mn of drought years. Un¬

der these circutnstanccs the immigrants turned more and more from

agriculliire to stock farming* Since the pasture was good enough to moke

cattle more profitable than shcepp the emotional and economic focus of

this culture was on cattle and cattle products* with horses, apparently

first domesticated farther to the cast, as a second but less important in¬

terest.

 

At a pre-scientific level of culture the very fact of cattle mising

lias certain unavoidable consequences. A cattle people cannot choose

but be warlike. Cattle ore easy to steal aud their owners must guard

them constantly while under equally constant temptation to add to

their Herds at the ejcpense of their neighbors. A cattle people cannot be

genuinely nomadic. As any dairyman can testfy* cows who are kept con-

stantly on the move will give verv' little milk. Herds may be shifted to

different pastures with tlie changing seasons, but Avhen the pasture is

reached they must be allowed to graae undisturbed^

 

Lastly, a cattle economy lends itself readily to the development of

amtocratic social patterns. For the cattle owner, wealth produces wealth

automatically. All tbit is needed is adequate protectiou of the herd

ligainst thieves and wild animals^ A family without cattle h condemned

 

35/

 

 

part Sjjf: SoirrawTST Asia as® Eueope

 

 

438]

 

to hopeless poverty; one with cattle can at least hope for weoJlh, At tlie

same time considerable social mobility is inevitable. A rich family may

be reduced to povert)' overnight by an enemy raid or. nearly as rapidly,

by an epiJeimc* Conversely, for the ambitious young man, cattle-lifUng

ha5 all the excitement and financial possibilities of stock market specula¬

tion among ourselves. The successful cattle thief is the most admired

member of the community. FaiHng this, it is 0 regular pattern lor poor

young men to attach themselves to rich cattle owners^ preferably kins^

men. They help to guard and care for the patrons herds» receiving in

return his potcction and a shore of the herd increase. Since manpower

is usually at a premium, distant kinsmen or even outsiders are sure of a

welcome.

 

Except for graves^ cattle people leave few clues for the archeolo¬

gist- Tlieir economy is best carried on from small, widely scattered set¬

tlements like the krtusls of the South Africaii Bantu. However, it seems

safe to conclude that cattle cultures of one geneml type were in exist¬

ence over most of the western Eurasiatie steppes by the middle of the

Bronze Age.

 

We have already seen bow grassland replaced forest In much of

Central Europe during the late NeoKthic and Bronze Ages, and the cat¬

tle culture spread eastward to occupy the new territory* Part of this

spread was a result of diffusion* part of actual migratjon. The latter

carried it still farther west, beyond the limits of the grasslands^ for the

cattle people Found in the agricultural peasantry of Western Europe a

new and highly profitable breed of domestic animal. Wlien a peasant

community had been captured, no very dj:ffieult task, it became a steady

source of income. The only danger involved was that some cjlhcr family

of peasant-keepers might try to stcjJ it The situation for the first few

centuries after the arrival of the cattle people was probably much like

that which Herodotus describes among the Scythians. The Noble Scyth*

iaus retaioed their cattle culture but supplemented it by exploiting the

Common Scythians, who raised grain and docilely turned over their eco¬

nomic surplus to their rulers.

 

Between 1500 and iSoo u.c. cattle-keeping tribes pressed south¬

ward from tlie steppes along a front extending all the wny from India to

the Balkans. Records left by the civilized groups whom the)' attacked

indicate that these invaders all spoke languages of the Indo-European

s^tock. The tribes who Invaded India caUed themselves Arpa* hence the

much abused term AryafU One may use Aryan to designate those tribes

who were of cattle culture and Indo-European speech, but the term

should not he applied to groups who lacked either of these character¬

istics. It seems highly pro^ble that all the tribes who shared the cattle

culture of the steppes were not Indo-European speaking. The culture

 

 

XIX. Aryam and Turko-Tatars [259

 

area probahlv tools in certain Turko-Tatar tribes on its northeastern

borders. Conversely, there are iiHlications that Indo-European languages

were spoken outside the rattle area wen In very early times. In regions

such as the Eum^iatic plains, where there are no natural barriers to

[iiovenient, single linguistie stocks tend to extend over w’idc areas^ and

it mnst Ije remeinbercd that in sj^ite of the gradual change from grass¬

land to forest as one moves w'estward, the plains themselves extend from

the Tien Shan to the Baltic. Fkith archeological finds and historic records

indicate that ihere were Indo-European speaking peoples in Turkestan

and the Tarim basin until shortlj before the beginniiig of the Christian

era, and it seems quite possible that the lingnistic stock had a parallel

extension to the west. One exceedingly primitive Indo-European lan¬

guage, Lettish, has existed in the forests bordering die Baltic since time

fnnnemorial, smd the existence in Anatolia of another group of primitive

Indo-European languages has been revealed by the Hittite archives.

 

The spread ol Indo-Euiopean languages over Europe has often

been noted as an inexplicable phenomenon. According to the standard

tht*orv\ the continent wa$ occupied in Neolithic times by tribes speaking

iiiLinv kiugiiages of many different stocks and scholar!s have always been

piiiilcd by the apparent ease widi which they suircndered their original

tongues and ueceptc^l that of their presumably .Aryan conquerors* It

seems %vell within the range of possibility dial this ancient linguistic

ilivcrsitj' w'iis eharacteristic ol the Mediterranean and Adontie borders

of the continent mthcr than the interior. Cetitm! and Eastern Europe

may well have been Indo-European spealdjig even in Neolithic tiines.

Ccrtiiinly there is no indication here of the sort of linguistic competition

which studded Western Europe with non-Indo-European place names

and left the Basques in lingtiistic isolation.

 

All the Aryan tribes w'ere illiterate at the lime of their first appear¬

ance in history. However, they have left recordij w'bjch make it possible

to reconstruet their life with considerable acenrat-y. VarioiLS wniters Iiave

pointed nut that there seems to he some intimate connection betsvecii a

cattle economy and epic poetry. The Ary^nsi were no except!nii to this

1x1 Ic. Bards had an important place in their society^ acting as a combina¬

tion of historical library and ptibliciW agent. The bards composed, nr

more nfteu, memorized, metrical compositions dealing with historic

hiippening.s and die deeds of heroes. In spite of their blood and

diiimlLT subject matter^ modern readeirs find these epics insufferably

dnlL NW epics w^ere composed whenever a great event or wealthy

patron provitied the occcssiiry stiinuliiSp It was the great ambition of

every Aryan chief to be commeu^orated in this way, and there can be

no question that the models of heroic behavior enshrined in the epics

and die desire to be remembered as a hero had a very real mfluenee on

 

 

Part SJjf; Soirrm%^sT A^a a™ Eitrope

 

 

260]

 

behavior. Certainly U was behind t}is‘ widespread Ar^aii belief thal how

a man won or lost was almost as important as whetlier he won.

 

The bard svho inserted the name of his host s ancestor or a locally

popular episode into a well-known epic was certain of an o^tra fee, SO

the historical value of these conipositiotis is not too high. At the some

Ume, the picture w^hich they give of the culture is reliable^ since it is

quite unconscious. From the common denominator of Aryan epics that

have been presented in regions as diverse as India, Persia, Greece, Ire-

IiukI, and Scandina^'ia, it is possible to reconstruct the life of tlte An'ans

at the time when they were adjusting to their new role as rulers of con¬

quered peasant populations. For the carlicT peiitjd, before they had left

the steppes, some evidence is provided by the root w ords common to all,

or a large majority, of the later Indo-European languages. Ho%vevcr, this

linguistic evidence is so fraginentarj' tliat it s«*ms best to limit this

descriplion to the conquest period.

 

\\lien the Arj’ans emerged from die steppes they seeni to have been

casual agriculturalists as well as dairymien* but they ch<rerfully relin-

qiiishcd plowing and planting to their sublets. Trade was regarded as

a slightly dishonorable substilute for robbery witli violence and was

employed only as a last resort, Ixian.^ with interest were considered on a

par with petty larceny* The dominant interests of the .society' were war

and the breeding or theft of cattle and horses. U is suggest!'e that sheep

and goats figure very' little iii the epieSi. although tliey were certainly

kept by many of the conquered peasarat communtties. llarses were ini-

port Lint and were both driven and ridden, although there are few men-

lions even in late epics of fighting on horseback. The favorite cotivey'-

anee of early chiefs and heroes w'as tlie wtij chariot*

 

Technology followed the general Soudiw^est Asiatic pattern^ with

little or no adaption to tiomadic Life, The An'ans hud no pjrtable shel¬

ters comparable to the ijurtJi of the Tiirko-Tptar |M>ples. Wherever they

settled for a few days they built wattle and daub huts, easily made and

easily aliandoned. Clothing was of lornn-w-oven woolen cloth, drapwl, not

lailore<l,although iTOTiisers soon conie into use among the tribes in North-

em Europe^ The wheel and plow were kno'vn and potteiy was made.

All metals except iron w'ere worked at the time of Erst emergence from

tlie steppes, and the use of iron was soon learned. The weapon inventor)'

w'as extensive, including spears, swords and axes of various sorts, the

bow' und arrow, helmet, and shield. The use of body armor during the

early period is uncertain. Wealthy men and w^omcn wore miujy gold

ornaments, and the most honorable gift was one of these stripped off

and given to the recipient directly. During the early perind there were

.Aryan craftsToeD, especially smiths* who occupied u go^ social position*

Later, most mauufactuiing was relegated to the conquered.

 

 

XIX. Anjans rtrrrf Turko-Tatnn [aSi

 

The An^ns were not nomadic* merely loosely attached to the soil.

On any e:tciise djey would pile their goods in ponderous ox carts^ hum

their huts, and set out on long treks into unknown territory, Tlieir in¬

vasions completely lacked tlie lightning speed and mobility of the

iimch later lltinnisli and Mongol attacks. The whole tribe moved as o

ponderous unit, complete with Its cattle. Victory meant now pasture

lands to be occupied, defeat annihllaHoti. As the Arj^ans became Ix'ttor

adjusted to the role of a conquering nobility^ these mass tribal move¬

ments became less frequent* but they continued into the Classical period

and were the lerrtr of the civilized Medileiraiieaii peoples, Note the

Romj^n reaction to Uie tnvasioTi of the Cimbri and Teutnnes^ and the

migration of the Hehetii which set in motioii the Roman conquest cd

Caul.

 

All the epics picture a thrte-class society> consisting of nobles and

commoners* who together formed the Aryans proper, and serfs, who

represented the conquered local population. Tliere svere no kings, in

the ordinarily accepted meaning of the term, nlthouglii able chiefs might

become the leaders of alliances of tribes. Families wliicli hnd produced

leaders over several generations formed the highest arislocruc>% und

their n^embers would be considered first when a high chief was needed.

Chattel slaves seem to have been very rare in the early period. Few if

nnv male prisoners w^ere taken in war betw^cen *\rj'an groups, w^hile

women hetarne the concubines of the victors* and were eventually as¬

similated into their tribe. Commoners and nobles wwe frequently re¬

lated, the diSerence liieing mainly one of wealth and prestige* Serfs,

when they appear at all in the epics, figure as socially inferior to the no¬

bles^ horses and dogs. The Aryans felt strong affection for these animabi,

and their names and tiidividual qualities often appL^ir in the epics be^

side th{)se of their masters.

 

Arj’an society w^as essentially patrilineal, but such great value was

placed upon individual independence and initiative tliat it could

scarcely be called patriarchal. Sons eould escape from paternal autlioriW

as soon as they were growri. Kin ties were reckoned on both sides of the

house and for fis long as they could be remembered. This gave pour

men and younger sons a wide range of choice among family groups to

which tliey might attach themselves* The most generous family head

naturnllv drew the most followers, and stinginess was the most con-

teii'kptib'lc vice \vith which an Aryan noble could be charged. Hospltolily

Was itidL'icriminate and unlimitedp and the host-guest relationship estab¬

lished a He which might be traosinitted to the descendants of both par¬

ties*

 

An yVryan tribe consisted of a series of households, each composed

of a household head^ his wife or wives and chUdren, younger brothers

 

 

Ptifi Six; Southwest Asia aat> Europe

 

 

262]

 

and their families, unless they had had the energj' to rtrike out for

themselves^ and various more or le^ distant relatives who had chosen

to nttaeh themselves to the group. Household heads constituted the

nobilitVi dieir poor rtfibrions the oommoom. Each household owned a

particular territory with the seifs living upon it. TliuSp in order to be

rated as noble in early Ireland^ a man had to own t^venty cattle or dve

families of serfs. The chief of an Aryan tribe was stinply the head of

its w^ealthiest and most important family. His establishment was Uke

that of any Other family bead except for its larger scale and the greater

number of voluntary followers. Many of these could claim remote kin¬

ship with the chief, hut manpower wos so v'aluabic that even unrelated

men would be accepted. Such voluntai}^ followers were supported by

the chiers generosity and gave complete loyalty^ in reCiim, They formed

the chief5 bodyguard In battle and, if he were killed, they were sup

posed to die with him. In them one sees the prototy^pe of King .^rthuris

Round Table and the less well-known Red Branch Fellowship of an¬

cient Ireland.

 

Tile post of chief Ciurfed more responsibility than economic reward.

No taxes were paid to the chief, and he was expected to meet tlie costs

of his establishment out of the income from his own estate. Even medie-

vul European kings adhered to this patteni. and it has echoes even to¬

day in North European countries and in the United States, where gov¬

ernment posts are regarded as a combination of honor and duty rather

than as a source of income. These are the only places in the world where

an honest man's acceptance of government post normally entails severe

financial loss.

 

Although the living arrangements of Aryan households differed

somewhat from One local it}^ to another, the basic patterns were much

the same everywhere. There was a central building, the Halh with

smaller buildings grouped about to ser\^e as stables, work shops, store¬

houses, and living quarters for serfs attached to the household. The

household head and his relatives lived in the Hall, where all ate and

slept together. The family head, his dose relatives, and honored guests

occupied a raised platform at one end of the Hall, At mealtimes trestle

tables were set up and the company was seated at tlsese in order of im¬

portance, the most important closest to the dais. At night tlie tables were

cleared away and the company slept on the floor^ although the family

head and a few otlicr Important persons might have built-in bunks^ Light

and heal: were provided by fire$ built along the center of the floor, the

smoke going out through a slot along the center of the roof. The whole

arrangement was much like that of a British Columbian Indian house of

the early 19th eentuiy- Where the conquered population were nu¬

merous and accustom^ to town living, as in Myceneou Greece, the

 

 

XIX. Aryans and Tur 1 (a-Talars [ 2 ^

 

ruling household's establishment was hea\'ily fortified and might form

the center of on extensive settlement. In northern Europe, on the other

hand, each household lived In isolation, with no defense except the

valor of its members.

 

Life in these households was not too dull. There were always feuds

to keep the members on the i/iii vive and cattle raids against neighbor¬

ing tribes provided both pleasure and profit. Wandering bards c^ame

and stayed os long as the host's generosity wairauted. Camblirig was

iisiinl and heavj^ drinking was the rule*

 

The early Aryan attitude toward sex and marriage, 0$ revealed in

the cpics^ can best be described as casuah Although there was no recog¬

nized period of premarital experimentation, as In Southeast Asla„ Uttlc

value was attached to virginity. An exchange of gifts usually accom¬

panied marriage, but there seems to liave been no formal bride price or

(Jowrj^ during the enriy periotl. Lacking such economic stabilizers, mar¬

riages were brittle* A womans ties to her own family were always re¬

garded as stronger than her lies to her husband, and In case of a feud

she was expected to side with them. Marriage was normally monoga¬

mous, as it actually is everywhere* but a rich or attractEve mjin might

have two or tliree wives. Women often took the initiative in eases of this

s(irts preferring a share in a superior man tn complete possession of an

inferior one. Concubines, taken from tlie serf population, were usual

Concubines and wives all lived In Hall and their children were

reiued together. A common North Europenn follilore moBf of tlie hern's

foster brother who resembles him so much tliat he can impersonate him

b a memory of the days w^hen the foster brother was really a half

brother, son of a concubine*

 

A woman derived her social position from her own kin group, with

the result that wives not infrequently ranked their husbands. Such

women not only dominated the household btsl had as much freedom as

men in the distribution of their favors. Altbougb palyandry was very

rarely inatiriitionalizcd, ft series of lovers do not seem to have been con¬

sidered to a noblew'oman's discredit.

 

Ary^an attitudes toward the supernatural were also rather casual

In the earliesrt period family heads acted as priesits, a practice which

contilined in Scandinavia untd the intruduction of Christianity. Else¬

where* specialists in dealing with the supernatural emerged, but thetr

social status was low. They were kept in noble households to insure the

proper performance of rituals but w'ere treated like family chaplains*

 

Worship centered around a collection of supematixral Beings known

collectively as *Tlie Bright Ones.'* During the early pericKl many of

ihese do not seem to have been dearly indiddualized, but all of them

were antluropomorphic in their needs and motivations. A male Being,

 

 

Faii Sir; Soimm^Esr Asia ajuu Europe

 

 

2641

 

resident in the sky, was preeminent and it is significant that there was

no Earth Mother in^hose importance corresponded to that of the SI^

Father. Male and Female Beings were nsualiy paired a$ husband and

Wife, but each had his or her owtk activities and the pair did not ad as

a unit, an oh^ious reflection of the normal Aryan marriage sUuatiOin

The qualities of Beings other than the Skv^ Father were so vaguely de¬

fined that they could easily be adjusted to the preexisting religious con¬

cepts of llie various regions into which llie Aiy^aris came as conqueror^.

The same holds for the organization of the pantheom Thus, while the

Norse deities and ihe Ohmipian Beings of classic mythology were or¬

ganized along the hnes of an Ary^an household, the CeJb'c, Iranian, and

Indian deities do not seem to have shared this pattern.

 

Certain additional features of Aryan religion may be noted. There

were no animal deities nr even zoomorphic demons. Even such a Being

as the early Persian “O.k Spirit* seems to have been conceived without

animal form. The favorite Arj^^an method of disposing of the dead seems

to liave been cremation. This is a technique which is ordinarily believed

to break the tics of the deceased with earth completely and to protect

against the return of the ghosL As might be expected under such cir¬

cumstances, ancestor worship was conspicuously lacking. Lastlv, all the

Arj'ans seem to have believed in the existence of Fattv an im|>ersonal

mechanism which was superior to both gods and men and wliich could

not be influenced by prayer, sacriBce, or even magic. This belief made

the Aryan hero resigned to ill fortune, hut if also justified Itim in his

belief that he might w-in through, even against the hostility of tlie

gods.

 

The Aryan culture was so simple that its lx urers were able to make

few direct contributions. On the techiinlngical side, these contributions

w'ere almost entirely connected with weapons and techniques of war-

faren On the social side* tlieir influenec was much more far-rcaching.

Tlie institiition of the noble household's protecting and e.xp!oiting the

peasantry living upon its estates became tStc normal one for Celtic and

Germanic Europe. \\-hiIe it is ordinarily supposed to have disappiwcd

in Gaid and Britain during the period of Roman domination* it is im¬

possible to say how Far it persisted in rural regions even during this

time. The ca.se with which it was rc-cstablishtd after the Roman erd-

lapse suggests that it must have been well remembered. In any case* the

psittem hud been retained by tlie Germanic tribes who invaded western

Europe and was embodied in the feudal system. The French meiws of

tlie Dark Ages, from which the more familiar term desmene^ was de¬

rived, was essentially the old Ary^aii household. The only Importout

point at which the feudal organization differed from its ancient prede¬

cessor was in the superposition of an all-over organization by wliich

 

 

XIX. Aryrtru’j md Turko-Talars [^65

 

weaker familie? assurt^d themselves of the support of stronger ones by

their promise of aid m war. Aside from militjiry se™e<j* feudal tines

were normally so light to have little more than symbolic value.

 

Perhaps the most Important contrihution of the Aryans to later

c^^il^2atiOIl was the establishment of the urislocmtic pattern which sur-

vised in Europe until recent times. Any culture of national scfjpe is

inevitably composed of numerous sub-cuUiires. While the peasant and

tKjurgeois sub-cultures of various European countries have been distinc¬

tive* tlieir aristocratic sub-cultures have been so similar that im aristo¬

crat from one nation could understand the attitudes and values of an

aristocrat from another nation better than he cxiukl vmderstand those of

his own lower classes. The outdoc^r hunting life has been an jiristocratic

prerogative since the dawn of Eunipean h^sto^J^ When it was no longer

required to supplement the food supply* it continued as a sport and as

a symbol of niembctship in the aristociatic group. The nobleman had to

be a good horseman, and in fact sudi ten ns a.s riUcr mid cfievalier re¬

duce to this* It has been said that even m 19th century England any

yciung man of the aHstociatic class would much rather have his morab

aspcTscd than his horseman ship*

 

The Europeaii nobleman was strictly limited in his occupations. He

could not work on the land himself without losing caste, nor could be

engage in trade. The one gainful pursuit which was open to him was

horse and cattle breeding. It is interesting to note that now that the

hqrsc has lost its economic importance, young Englishmen of the upper

class can^ bv a transfer of the sort familiar to anthropologists, become

automobile salesmen without violating the taboo on trade. Intellectual

and artistic pursuits were regarded with some contempt, once more

following the original Arj'an pattern. The aristocrat might act as a pa¬

tron of tlio arts and science, but he was not supposed to engage in either

himself. Until very recent times most European aristocnits have been

poorly educated, and the schools designed for them have been more in¬

terested in **clmractcr building* than in providing the student with use¬

ful knowledge or practical skills. It has been said that die battle of Wa¬

terloo was won on the playing fields of Eton, and one might add that

Singapore was lost in its classrooms.

 

The aristocrat might go into the church, esijecially if he was a

younger son, but religlosit)' was frowned upon and Christian taboos

more honored in the breach than in the observance. Sex mores retained

the old Aryan casualness. Aristocrals were expected to marry mthin

their own caste to insure the legitimacy of their descendants, but no

high degree of chastity was required cither before nr after marriage and

the use of lower-class women in casual Uatsons wss taken for granted. In

thb connection it should be noted that in spite of the formal manogamy

 

 

part Six: SoirnmxsT Asia and Eubope

 

 

266]

 

clcmanijed of Cfiristiiins. European royalty has been polygamous until

quite recent times. It wiis expected that a king or great noble WDuld

have a numbet of coucubinies^ iistjalty drawn from various nristocrntic

Families who hoped in this way to obtain additional po!itica[ influence*

The offspring of such concubines, althcugh excluded from the sueces-

sion, nevertheless had a recognized soeia] position within the airslocratic

hierarchy* Since they were debarred from tlie succession and their for¬

tunes depended upon the good will of the royal paretib they w'ere in

general more trustworthy than legitimate heirs and could be placed in

posidons where a legitimate heir might foment revolt. Thus the “Grand

Bas-tord of Burgimdy," a title as specific as that of ^'Prince of Wales* ^

was by custom commander-in-chief of the Burgundian armies.

 

Gambling and heavy drinking could also be indulged in by the

aristocrat without Joss of custen The only requirement was that he gam^

ble honestly and give his gambling debts precedence over all others^

perhaps because these were debts normally owed to equals. To cheat at

cards was an unforgivable sin, only one degree less deadly than physical

cowardice. From the time of tlie first invasionSp chiefs had been

 

expected to lead their followers in battle and to risk their own persons

re^lessly as an example to the rest. Since the supremacy' of the aristo¬

cratic group rested upon the tradition of their superior courage and

pugnacity^ anyone who showed himself lacking In these Was regarded

a$ a traitor to his class.

 

The Enrasiatic steppes are bounded on the east by the Tien Shan

and Altai Mountains^ between w'hich the narrow Dzungarian plain le^tds

into the Mongolian plateau. These mountains form a natural barrier be-

tw^een two different environments and what were once two markedly

different cultures. The western steppes are fairly weD w^aterod* with

abundant pasture making possible the mixed dairying and incidental-

grain-farniiug economy which has just been described as the caltle cul¬

ture. The Mongolian plains, on the other hand, are much drier and stand

at a higher elevation. They include such inhospitable stretches as the

Gobi Desert and are in general too poor to make cattle raising prufit-

ablo. At die same time die pasturage is sufficient for sheep* camels, and

horses. Since die horse %vas in many respects the most important animal

in the locail economy, we will call the particular pattern of cuhure which

developed in this region the horse culture, in contrast to the cattle cul¬

ture of ihc west.

 

The cultures and populations of these two regions originally pre¬

sented marked differences. In the western plains the early population

was, for the most part, Caiicasic in physical type and Indo-Euicpcan

in language. We do not know how far east this condition once prevailed^

but the presence of an Indo-European language* Tokarian* iu the Tarini

 

 

XIX. Aryam and TuTko-Tatars [iSj

 

basin directly south of the Tien Shan mountains suggests that a popu¬

lation of western t>'pe ran to the Dzimgadan gateway. The cattle cul¬

ture typical of this population was unquestionably an outgrowth of the

Southwestern village pattern, and comparatively few elements in it can

he traced to any other source. The people of the Mongolian plateau

have been Mongoloid in physical type since tiie most remote period for

which we have evidence and have spoken languages of the Turko-Tatar

stock. Although most of their domestic species seem to have come from

the west, their culture owed little to that of the Souhwestem Asiatic

villagers. It shosvs so many similarities to the Circumpolar culture that

it can best be interpTCted as consisting of a northern Mesolithic culture

base upon which pastoral patterns Iiave been superimposed.

 

It is rarely realized how late the appearance of the fully developed

horse culture was. Tribes, who sometimes rode their horses instead of

driving tliem, did not necessarily share the rest of the horse culture csom-

ples. Tile Ach&emenid Persians, who ore ordinarily thought of as a

horse people, were actually a cattle people. The ox spirit was constantly

invoked in the hymns of Zoroaster. Although they were better horsemen

than llie Greeks, they were culturally much closer to the primitive

 

 

 

MOKOOL MESalAITTS IK LHASA

 

 

Part Six; Solthwest Asia and Euitora

 

 

268!

 

Arv^ans than to the nopiads cif the eawtem Asiatic plains. During the

initial poricul of Persian eoncjuest ihe great king marched on ftiot at the

bead of his boops. In later times he rode in a chariot, but tlie io,fX)o

immortals, his bodyguard, were always infantTj% The Scjthians had ac-

tjuired more elements of the horse culture, but they were still primarily

a cattle people^ depending heavily on damang^ practicing considerable

agriculture, and keking the horse culture's elahorale adjnstments tn

nomadic life. Turning to tlie eastern end of the Eurasiatic plains, we

know that the horse was intrcxluced into nortliem China by the founders

of the Sbang dynasty, roughly 1700 aa, but it was used svith chariots,

not ridden. In the Shang inscriptions fheir ivestem neighbors arc re-

fciTi?tl to AE sheep-herds and secern to have been able to offer little re¬

sistance to incursions into their territory. Sliang inscriptions record sacri¬

fices of so many osen and so many shepherds as though the two were

considered veiy* much on a par. Chinese records state that the Huns did

not have horses before 500 H.e. This seems highly improbable, hut $00

B.c. may verj^ well represent the first appearance of tlie particular com¬

bination of cultural features which transfnmied the people of the Mon-

goban phiteau from relatively harmtitss slu^'p-herders into effective

cavalry^

 

The priticipal rensem fnr treating the horse cullnre of thr Memgolian

plateau at tliis point is that the history of the sttppes has heen one of

the steady westward prwsurc e^^e^ted by the horse people on the cattle

people. The begiimings of this pressure date back to the sc^cotid or third

Centnrj' it.C,, and it w^iis continued with only cxzcasional intcmiptions un¬

til about 12:50 A.D., when the movement w^as completed with the Mongol

Cf>n<|uest cif Russia, In the course of these invasions must of the bearers

of the original cattle culture were driven out of the western steppes an<l

replaced by tribes predominantly of horse culture. Tlicre seems to have

been plenty of misture ^hiring this period, since conquered tribes were

regularly ineorpomted and used in furlhcfr conqiiesis. Thus Attila's

hca\y cavTilrs' svere Coths. arid the cf3m[KiS4T of dir Niht lungenlied

notes with astonishment the variety of peoples at AttiLi's courts

 

Such groups as tlie linns. Avoirs and, later^ Magyars and Mongols

even jtcnetnited l>cyorid tlie plains into Western Europe, but were un^

able to maintain their distinctive culture in vvhat vvjis still largely a forest

environment, and either withdre^v to the steppes or were absorbed into

the local population. Only the Magyars were nbic to maintain their cul¬

tural integrity and national coherence^ this was probably due to tlic

shallowness of their Europan penetration, which had not carried them

beyond the limiLs of the grasslands. The Turks, although they came from

Central Asia, can scarcely be classed as one of tlio waves of nomadic in^

vaders. Tliey became so tlioroughly acculturated in die course of their

 

 

X/X. Alports and Turko-Tatars

 

inBitration into Southwest Asia that their empire must be considered a

cultural as wdl as political inheritor of Persia and By/antium.

 

The horse culture of the steppes was the most perfect example of a

nomadic domestic animal economy which the world has ever seen. The

tribes who followed it were thoroughly adverse to agriculture. Soi^

times thev sowed millet, which would grow untended, but they did this

mainly as' a reserv e against famine. Under normal conditions they made

no use of agriculturally produced foods or materiuls. Their domesti^c am-

inaU were sheep, horses, Bactrian cameU, and cattle, m order of their

 

 

 

MONGOL WAKBIOR IN QUILTED ARMOB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*7ol Part Sixt Southwest Asia and Eitrope

 

e^Damic Unportance. Sbc«p were mised in enormous numbers. The

historic Kozaks of the region counted their flocks, not bv individual ani¬

mals, but by the number of dogs required to herd them. Sheep were

sometimes milked, but their main importance lay in meat and wool.

Mutton was the staple everyday diet and was eaten in tremendous

quantities. One sheep per man per day was regarded as a standard ra¬

tion, Wool was used fur felt

 

The great importance of the horse lay in its use as a Bghting animal

It WM ndden or used as a pack animal, never for draft. Horse meat was

regularly eaten, and the flesh of a young mare was regarded as a special

dclira<^ usuaUy reserved for feasts. When food ran short, soldiers

dra^- blood drawn from their mounts. Mares were milked and their

milk fermented to make kumiss. Mare’s milk was much richer in sugar

than cow’s uuJk, and by proper fermentatioii it was possible to produce

an alcoholic beverage with considerable authority. The horse people in

general were heavy drinkers, and the end of a successful banquet saw

ail the guests unconscious. Genghis Khan is reported to have said: "A

 

 

 

MONCOI. fUlNC^

 

 

 

XIX. Aryans and TurJiO-Tatars

 

 

[271

 

 

who is dnink is like one struck m the head: his wisdom and sk.ll

Hvail him not at all- Get drtitik only Urree times a month. It would be

better not to get drunk at all. But who can abstain altogether^

 

Camels were used betb Qs pack animals and to draw baggage carts.

They were rarely milked or eaten. Cattle were of mitim importance in

the Mongolian plateau but became more sigmficimt as the horse culture

uspanded westward- Cattle were both milked and eaten, and ooten were

 

used for draft. ^ * 1,

 

The origins of Mongolian domestic animal economy present certam

 

interesting problems- Of tlie four species involved, sl^ and catt^

were certainly of Southwest Asiatic origin. It seei^ probable that th^

were diffused into the Mongolian plateau from the west and that the

first domestic animal economy to develop there was Wt about them.

Horses ore generally believed to have been domesti^tcd

Central Asia rather than in Mongolia, since the wild ancestor oU I the

piesent domestic breeds seems to have been tlie Ta^an, a Centol .^i*

atic rather than Mongolian species. The central position o e ^ orse m

Mongolian culture would not preclude such a foreign odgm,

know from the history of the American Flams Indies that

space of 150 vears a new domestic atjimal can be incorporated into a

pUedsting culture with revolutionary results. There c^ be no doubt

ihat the Bactrian camel w^ domesticated ^ ^be Mon^goUan plat^u.

though the date is uncertain. It seems probable that this took place after

 

the introduction of at least sheep and cattle.

 

It is interesting to note tliat the attitudes of the horse people toward

thoir domestic animals seems to have be^ a highly utihtanan one.

Tliere are no famous individual horses or dogs df^^ed m their epics.

AiiimaU were mass produced and mass consum^. Tlie Mongol warrior

took with him a string of anonymous mounts to be ab^doned or slaugb-

temd for food when they gave out. Perhaps life in the plateau was tr»

hard to allow for sentimental attachments to pets. The horse people

seem to have carried over into the pastoral stage the attitude of hunters

who looked upon animals simply as potential meat. Even m the days o

the Mongol conquests, hunting remained more of a busuress i^an a sport

in this region. Great surrounds were organised from time to time, and

all animals caught in the circle were shot dowm and eaten.

 

Hunting and herding produced not only food liut also clo^ng. The

normal cos^e consisted of trousers, boots with upturned t«s a

sleeved. sbirt-Iike upper garment, short skirted or men and long skuted

for women, and a cap or hood. Over this a cloak was worn m bitter

weather. AU clothing was made of skins or felt, the o^dy exception b^g

occasional festive garments of cloth obtained through trade or loot. The

favorite material was sheepskin worn with the wool inside. Felt seems

 

 

Port Six; Soimm-Effr Asia aso Europe

 

to imve bet:n an lowntjoti of this area. Anyoiicf who has soon a cnmol

in the proce<cs of spring shed can understand svhere the original foil

makers may have gotten the idea. In making felt, wool was boiled, then

spread out evenly on a mat or hide and the whole roIlL«d up. The roll was

then beaten or kicked back and forth between two lines of seated work¬

ers until the wool was thoroughly felled. Prom time to time the bundle

would be unrolled, more wool added in places where It was thin an d

the whole sprinkled with boiling water. Felt lacks tensile strength', but

It is wind proof and more water resisfant than clnth. It makes a perfect

materiid for winter garments and Is excellent as a tent cover, the only

drawback in this usage being its weight

 

The adaptation of the horse people to nomadic life was as perfect as

any tliat has so far been devised. It must be understood that such an

adaptation is in no sense primitis'e. It represonh: Jong experience and the

exercise of great ingenuity. Devebped nomad equipment bears much

^e same relation to that required for suttJed living that a modem trailer

to a dty apartment All objects used by the hone nomads were

light and relatively indestructible. Housing consisted of ynrfs; perhaps

the most effective form of portable shelter so far devised. The side waffs

ol the t^Tt were made from slats which crossed each other diagonaUy and

were together at their intersecliops. an arrangement very much like

the folding gates we use to keep small children from falling dtwvnslairs.

A few sections of this lattice work were set on edge to form a circle with

a single opening left for the door. Rafters radiaffy attached to a central

 

 

 

yurt

 

 

umbrella, were placed on top of these

w^. The frame was then covered with large pieces of felt and the

whole lashed down with ropes passed hack and forth over the outside.

 

The internal furniture consisted of felt rugs on the floor, used for

both sitting and sleeping, a few' wooden chests for valuables, cooking

pots originally of pottery, later of metal obtained by trade or loot,

leather bags for milk and and utensils of wood or horn. The

 

 

 

XIX^ Aryans and TuTkoTaiafs [^73

 

house wjw the care and property of the woman, who was able to dis-

niaotle and pack the entire establishment in m hoiir nr two and to erect

tlie house again %vith equal speed.

 

In the cxirly period all goods were probably packed on animals

when the camp moved Later, camel carts came into use but it is signifi¬

cant that vehicles “were rarel)V If ever, drawTa by horses. Where the

ground %vas level enough^ as in the Khirges steppes in central Asia^

houses on wheels might be used. These steppes were far enough west

for cattle to be common, and oxen were used as draft animals. The

wheeled houses, fdMka, were simply yurts permanently erected on plat-

forms sometimes as much as twentj' feet across and drasvn by many yoke

of oxen. It [s said to have been the eldest daughter's duh^ to stand out¬

side w ith a bull whip and keep the house on the ino%e when camp was

being shifterl.

 

Horses were probably used as pack animals m the Mongolian pla¬

teau even before the introduction of the wheel, and it may be conjeo

hired tliat the Rrrt saddles were pack-saddles and the first riders small

diildren settled among the bundles when camp moved. From tlie

wnoden pack-saddle to the tree-saddle^ the most important invention

made in this area, was a short step. Tlie tree-saddle consisted of a rigid

frame of wood with raised pommel and cantle, the whole suitably

padded to make it mnre comfortable for man and beast. Sbrrups also

seem to have been invented in this region, although we do not know fhe

exact date. In any case they appeared later than the tree-^Eiddle, and

we have no record of tlieir xi^e jnuch before the beginnipg of the Chris-

liaii era. A tree-saddle, especially when combined with stirrups, gives

tile rider a freedom and a control over his meuat olbeni^usc unpossible.

 

Even when the successors of tlie cattle people unliitched llieir

horses from their chariots and began to ride them, they employed ordy

pad saddles^ and their cavalry was correspondingly inefficient. Since,

in physics, every action has its corresponding reaction, the classical cav-

airman could not charge with lance in rest without going over the tail

of his mount whim he struck his target. Neither could be haudle a bow

elficieiilly, since too much attention had to be devoted to c^trolUng his

innunt and keeping bis seat. The combinfllion of the b^ee saddle, the

composite bnw (which was brought to its highest perfection by the

horse people), and the Jance made possible the development of a new

cavalry tactic which eventually gave the horse pieople control of the

whole Eurasiatic plains. In this tactic, the cavalrymen softened enemy

resistance with showers of arrows so strongly driven that diey could

penetrate plate mail Then, when the enemy ranks had been thrown into

disorder, they chiinged to their lanras and charged home. To this was

added, in the eastern steppes, the development of drilletl cavalry' charge

 

 

*74] Port Six; Southwest Asia and Eubope

 

ing in line and with spaced ranka. This combination, plus rigid discipline

and the high mobUity given by the use of swings of horses, produwsl in¬

vincible armies.

 

We do not know when this combJnaUon first emerged or when its

potentialities were first realized, but it evidently came into existence

rather late. The sudden expansion of tlw horse culture during the cen¬

turies immediately before and after the beginning of the Christian era

suggests that it dcwloped at about this time. We find the Chinese on

the western frontier suddenly changing from charioteers and infantry

to cavalry shortly before the beginning of die Han d>'nasty (late 3rd

century ar,.). There was also an exodus of Chinese peasantry into the

steppes at thi.s time, probably to take advantage of the paten tiali ties for

conquest and loot provided by the new arm. It has even been suggested

that the building of the Great Wall was designed to keep the Chinese

peasant in a$ well as to keep the horse culture invaders out.

 

The social organization of the horse people differed from that of

the early Aryans in certain respects. Marriage was regularly polygynous

and was accom|janied by the payment of a bride price. At the same time

the position of women was relatively high, although not as high as

among the cattle people. Both sexes herded and milked tho domestic

animals. Women rode like men and also foiight in emergencies. Wiv'cs

could acquire property, including animals, by gift or inheritance, and

the husband had no control over this. Each wife had her own ynri where

she lived with her children. The first wife was generally regarded as

head of tlie family group mid took charge of iJie entire establishment,

uicluding the husband's flocU and Iwrds when the husband was away.

The husband's control was more autocratic than In the Aryan family.

There was no regulation as to bow much time he should spend with

each wife. Sons were subject to their fathers and younger brothers to

their elder brotliers. Tlic tic between mother and son seems to have been

particularly close and to have persisted throughout life.

 

Class distinctions were based mainly on wealth, oitliough the clans

in a tribe xvere arrainged in a hierarchy of impoiiance. There were no

serfs and few if any chattel slaves, since the economic patterns made

them useless. The Nfongol custom of massacring all but a few selected

captives at the end of a campaign, when the army was to return to the

steppes, was carried out simply because they did not know what else to

do mth captives.

 

The local economy made it necessary for the horse people to live in

small, scattered family units throughout most of the year. In summer a

man and his wives and children usually camped alone. Summer pasture

wan abundant enough so that the land which provided it hud little vulue

and was not regarded as property. Winter pastures, and particularly

 

 

 

M&a-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

^7^3 Part Six: SourinvEsr Asia anb Euhope

 

spnngs which ciid not fi^cze, werv oMiied by groups of closely related

families, ’niuse groups were strongly Isnit social units. They fought other

groups fflf pasture in hard seasons and were held responsible for each

other's acts in feuds. Several of such winter pasture groups claiming de¬

scent from a common ancestor in the male line formed a eW The fam¬

ily and winter pasture group were always exogamous, while the clans

seem to have been exogamous in some tribes, endagamoiis in others. Tlie

clans, in turn, grouped themselves into larger units, tribes, under control

of a ruler normally chosen from one partlcubr clan. The tribal units

were vague, being held together imunly by fear of ati enemv attack or bv

the desire for loot, A successful chief would drasv into his tribe an ever-

increasing number of clans and families, while a sveak one svouid lore

liis fnllowers. even within hts own clan.

 

In ordinary affairs there was a high degree of democracy, nil mat¬

ters of general interest to the clan or tribe being settled in op^ council.

Among the Yakut, who seem to have retained the ancient patterns of or¬

ganization into mcdcro times, the seating in this council reflected (he

social importance of the tribe’s members, Tbe innermost circle consisted

of the beads of clans. Behind these came tlie heads of winter pasture

groups and then the heads of families. .Anyone was entitled to speak on

any subject, but only the words of important men carried weight.

 

On military expeditions, on the other hand, strict discipline was

maintained. After a leader had been accepted, his word wa.s hiw and dis-

olredience or even carelessness was punished with dcalh, TIvis pattern,

which made possible coordinated long-distance maneuvers like tliose

of a modern army, was strikingly different from the undisdplincil. com¬

petitive htToism of the cattle people. It may hfts^e originated in the rig¬

idly disciplined coordination required to make hunting by tlie suiroiind

technique effective, and parallels to it can perhaps be found in the hunt

regulations and the hunt policies of the otherwise anarchicolly demo¬

cratic and individualistic Americim Plains Indians.

 

The derivation of the horse culture from the older Cireiimpolflr

huriting complex comes out clearly in its religious pottems, which were

tv'pically shamanistic. There were no temples or images and no organ¬

ized priesthood. Shamans cooperated at certain ceremonies and differed

in prestige according to their reputation, but lliey did not form a hier¬

archy. Regular seasonal eercmotiies were held in the spring and fall to

dramatize the struggle between light and darkness and to reinforce the

powers of light. Animal sacrifices accompanied these ceremonies, horse

offerings being most valued. Public sacrifices on behalf of the clan or

tribe might also be made in time of stress, but most rdigiuns abserv-

antes were carried on for the benefit of individuals.

 

Although a single great and powerful deity, resident in the sky, was

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part Sir; Soimwesr Asia A>"n Europe

 

 

27S]

 

reccgnbEcd as the sotiree of power^ the supernatural beings who had to

be placated were mainly locnl spirits and those related to particulw ac¬

tivities. These were approached by the shaman in a tr^fice state induced

by drumming and singing. While in the trance his soul left his body and

journeyed to the spirit land, where he interviewed the Beings and

Icanictl from them what had to be done to achieve the desired ends.

Even ordinaiy' men's snub were supposed to leave their bodies during

sleep, and dreams, as real soul experiencesp were regarded as highly sig-

niGcanL The dead were regularly buried, with offerings including do-

mcstic animals and even occasional human sacrifices, but ideas regard¬

ing details of the futuie life wttc vague. There was little fear of ghosts

and no ancestor svorsliip.

 

The conquest-empires created by the horse people were in gcoerid

short-lived. iTiey passed like a scourge, taking for themselves whatever

they could understand and use and destroying the rest. It is said that

after the hfongol conquest of China they seriously considered extermi¬

nating the Chinese and tumiog ihetr territory back into pasture bnd*

Where they settled among conquered populations, they maintained their

clan and tribal organization, living in concentrated groups and adhering

to their old nomadic life as far as possible. They had in thetr own culture

few patterns which could be applied to the rule of subject peoples, and

the Idgh organization of such units as the Liau empire in China or the

later and much more extensive Mongol empire w^as due to the adoption

of Chinese models and was actually operated largely by Ghincsr oHi-

ciais.

 

!a sharp contrast to the Aryans* the horse people seem never to

have developed a successful adjustment to conquest. Perhaps the values

of their nomadic culture fundamentally incompatible with the role

of rulers over settled communities. In any case, w'herc\^er they aban¬

doned theix nomadic life they were rapidly assimilated by the conquerud

groups, and became Chinese in China, Muslim and Persian in Middle

Asia, and in the case of the last significant westward movement of horse

people, that of the Turks, essentuilly Muslim and B)Tuintiiiep

 

Perhaps a last word should be said regarding the fate of the horse

people after tho Mongol mnquests. .“^s has already been said^ these con-

(quests swept tlie last remnants of tl»e original cattle people out of the

western steppes and estabiishetl Mongol and Turkisli groups throughout

their entire extent. One division of the Mongols, the Golden were

 

drafted by Ivan the Terrible and deprived of thcLr political power. They

remained in southern Russia, on sufferance, until the time of Cptherine

the Great Under the increasing pressure ol the tlussian government*

they finally made a fighting retreat eastward to their original home in

Mongolia, where they arrived greatly reduced in pumbers. The central

 

 

X/JT. and Turko-Tatars

 

 

Im

 

 

steppes, which were occupied by nomadic tribes of Turkish stock ^th

before and after the Mongol sweep, remained for centunea a^breeding

ground for tough Eghters and, even more, for able generals. Individually

or in small groups, these Turks infiltrated the higher cultmes to the

south and finally seized control of the Near East, but after the Mongol

conquests the steppe peoples launched no more major offensives.

 

Some writers liave seen the cause for this in the conversion of t^

Mongols to Buddhism, but most of the steppe people to tjie west rf

Mongol territorj’ were converted to Islam, hardly a pacifist relipon, ^ e

real answer probably lies tn the increasing mechan^ation of warfare that

came with the introduction of gunpowder and with the dcvelopmen^F

disciplined troops and skilled tacticians outside the steppe area. The

steppe people, with their atomistic settlement patterns and their rela¬

tively crude band industries, were incapable of producing the wea^ns

which the new situation required. The inUueuces which brought about

their downfall were beginning to esert themselves even m the tune of

Genghis Khan, whose armies were accompanied in their later i^pmgns

bv contingents of Chinese engineers whose appliances included flame

duowers and prohablv gunpowder bombs. As long as the stept^ ^ples

had superior discipline they could compensate somewhat for tbeu tech¬

nological deficiencies, but when other armies became as weU disapUned

as feir own, their fate was sealed. The last European appearance of the

 

mour.l«l bowmen who were ona. U„ -Sco».g« of Cod c^o dumg ^

 

Nnpoleoaie wan, when 0 Khirgia conBogont wa. inclmW to tho Jiia-

suTforces. The French soldiers were vastly amused and dubbed them

■‘eupids.'* Sic fnJiLrif gloria mundi-

 

 

Chapter XX

 

 

Semites

 

 

The Near East Bnd Northern Africa have been progressively drjring up

ever since the end of the lost glacial advance, perhaps 10,000 years ago.

All through tliese rcgioiis Paleolithic and Neolithic siUfs are found in

places where no one can hve today. Hie desiccation seems to be part of

a general diinatic trend which will presumably continue until the pres¬

ent inter glacial reaches its ma.diniJin. However, in the Near East the

prtwss has unquestionably been speeded up by human agency. Forests

which had one© been cut or burned over were unable to reconstitute

themselves in the face of dwindling rainfall, while the breaking of soil

for fields jmd the grazing of goats and sheep destroyed the ground cover

and spectlcd up run-ofF.

 

The first Ncohthic farmers were able to raise crops throughout most

of the Near East and established their villages cvery-where in the area.

By aooo b.c. much of southern and eastern Palestine and most of Arabia,

Iraq, southern Iran, Smai, and Baluchistan had become arid or seini-

arid, and the villagers were retreating to mountain slopes and upland

valleys where the rainfall was heavier, or to river valleys and oases. In

the face of the new conditions the sort of shifting agriculture which had

been practiced by the first Neolithic farmers was progressively aban¬

doned. Permanent villages were set up wherever rainfall was su£Bdeiil

to grow grain or where there was enough water for irrigation. Such set¬

tlements were made easier by the fact that soils in arid regions preserve

much more of their mineral content than do soils in wet areas. The same

once-arid fields will grow crops for many years when they are supplied

with water.

 

In most of Southwestern Asia the rains come in winter and spring.

The first summer warmth brings an outburst of vegetation which pro¬

vides rich but short-lived pasture. The Ntsilithic settlers took advantage

of this by moving tbeir Socks and herds to distant pastures at this sea*

 

 

XX. Semites

 

 

[^1

 

son^ bringing them back in the fall to graze on the stubble of the Seldis

surrounding the vilhige. Some of the younger and more active members

of the commiinih^ with, perhaps»a few of the poorer families who owaied

no laud, would go with the animals, w'Mle the rest of the village stayed

behind to attend to llie fields. The villagers thus developed a dual pat¬

tern of life, with adjustments both to nomadic herding and settled fann¬

ing. As the aridity' incteasedt the amount of land available fur cultiva¬

tion .shrank steadily and llie good pasture areas became and more

widely distributed. Eventually certain groups abandoned settled village

life altogether and became year-round nomads.

 

The people of the Southwestern Asiatic arid lands once more illus-

txate the thesis that, within a region having few natural barriers and a

uniform ecology^ languages and cultures will also tend toward uniform-

itjv Praeticall) ail the occupants of the Southwestern Asiatic arid lands

spoke Semitic languages and ndhered to the same patterns of symbiotic

interdependence betiveen villagers and nomads. The Southwestern Asi¬

atic ecology' continued across most of Northern Africa and so did die

linguistic and cultural sunilaritie^. Ailhough the iiistoric importance of

two of Its languages, Hebrew mid Arabic, has led Western scholars to

treat Semitic as a distinct linguistic stock, modem research has siiown

tliat it is actually only one division of a larger family of languages which

are s|H>ken throughout Africa north of the Sahara as well as in Southwest¬

ern Asia, I'here is probably no other example of such a do^e linkage be¬

tween u particular linguistic family and a particiilar environment- The

uide distribution of spetifically Semitic languages in Africa seems to be

a relatively recent phenommiOn linked in part to the rise of Islam, but

the other divirions of the African-Asian lingmsiic family have certainly

l>ecn established fn the African arid lands since very ancient times. We

know that one of them, Kushiti, used hy the ancient Egj'ptiLans, was al¬

ready present as far back ii-% 4000 b,C. There were numerous cultural sun-

ilLuihes between tlie now arid portions of Southwestern Asia and North¬

ern Africa even in Upper Fulenljthrc times, when both were gtosslands,

and it seems probable tliat both regions were occupied by Asiatic mi¬

grants w^ho shared a common hunting-culture and spoke related lan-

Kuages ancestral to the later Asimi-Aftican stock.

 

The shift of certain Semitic tribes to complete nomadism was no

doubt accelerated by die domestication of the Dromedary camel, an ani-

tnal which is adapted to hot desert conditions very much as its two-

luimped Bactrian relative is adapted to cold desert conditions. Camels

can live in territory' which cannot support even goats and, partiedoriy

in Arabia and later in Africa, their doniestication opened wide str^ftches

of real desert to human oreupation. The camers mouth and alimentaiy'

tract seem to be copper lined. He can chew up and digest camel thom.

 

 

Part Sii: Soimn^'Esr Asia and Evtiofe

 

 

282]

 

which is about as tender and succulent as barbed wire, and can grow fat

where a mule would starve to death. His hump provides him with a

niechoiusm for fat storage, so diet he can go for weeks on \'eTy scanty

rations, while his multiple stomachs provide a parallel arraugeraeot for

water storage. The cauiel is thus inv^uable to desert dwellers, but any¬

one who has made the acquaintance of the animal must marvel at its

ever having been domesdcaled. Even the finest modern breeds seem to a

European to be phenomenally bad-tempered, stubborn and malodorous.

It must be admitted that die Arab does not agree with the European on

this point He regards the came] as a paragon of virtue and an epitome

of loveliness. Pre-Islatnlc Arabian literature is full of poems extolling the

beauties of the beast.

 

The shrinicage of the agricultural area and die development of

camel nomadism produced a distinctive pattern of life which was almost

ideally suited to the local conditions, In it one can find the best example

of the much^dvertised but rarely encountered "unchanging East" Al¬

though the rise of Islam introduced certain modifications, the life of the

modem pontads is little different from that of the Hebrews before their

settlement in Palestine, as described in the Old Testamont, Tlie con¬

tinuity has extended oven to continuous occupation of the same teiritoiy

by the same tribes, thus, some of the .Arabian tribes mentioned by fie-

rtxlotvts are still living in the regions to which he assigned tliem.

 

Wherever agriculture was possible, people lived in settled villages

or even cities. The development of irrigation techniques was one of the

first accomplishments of the Near Elastem civilizations. It was in use by

3500 B.c, in both Egypt and Mesopotamia and must have been diffused

into the arid regions at a very early dale. Arroyos were dammed to fonn

reservoirs, and. where the run-off could not be trapped, the settlers re¬

sorted to weds. The word oftsij usually brings to die American mind a

picture of three palm trees and & well standing among sand dunes. Most

of the arid territory in the Near East is actually hard baited earth and

rock, not sand, and an oasis usually covers sev^al square miles sur¬

rounding springs or a brackish lake. Great ingenuity is shown in the con¬

servation and distribution of water, It is carried to the outermost fields

by tunnels to reduce the loss by evaporation and is then carefully dis¬

tributed over the crops. Many of the irrigation systems still in use go

back to prehistoric times, and die technique is certainly very old.

 

The towns, w-iih their associated agricultural areas, were the cen¬

ters of popubtion and also of manufacturing and trade. Many of diem

speciallxed in particular products for exporL The regions behveen the

towns were occupied by nomadic tribes who represeuted the pastoral

half of the original dual culture. While the patterns of toivn life were

typically Southwest Asiatic, the patterns of pastoral life were distinct

 

 

XX. Semites

 

 

[283

 

lively Semitic* Tlie main animak raised by the nomads were sheep,

goats^ and camels, M adapted to poor pasture. Very few cattle were

kept outside the agricultuni] areasp and even then their main value was

as draft animats. The only important baggage ariimnis were camels.

These were infrequently milked and still less frequently eaten.

 

The famous Arabian hor.ses were reser%'ed entirely for fighting and

parade. They w^ere never used for draft and were not even ridden when

the tribe w'os on the march. Since the pasture was usually inadequate^

horses were fed on grain purchased from the agricii]ti,iral areas. They

were frequeoLly stabled in the owner^s tent. Jin unusual feature of Aiub

usage was die preference for mares as fighting nnimak- The pure Arab

horse had only two gaits, a walk and a galtop. Although the nomads be^

taine esceUent horsemenp the)' never learned to use drilled cavalry' or

developed any great skill as mounted archers. Their horses were used

as transport on fast long-distance raids rather than for line of battle com¬

bat.

 

The compkle dependence of the nomads upon the townsmen be¬

comes obvious when one esamines their culture. Although their women

weave the coarsep black, goat-hair cloth which is used for tents and the

men know how to repair their saddlery and other gear^ the nomad tribes

have practically no manufacturies. The entire equipment of the modem

nomad dwelling is obtained by either trade or loot, and this seems to

have l)een the case since time immemorial Even the standard food is an

unleavened bread made from wheat grown in the agricultural settle^

ments. This bread is simply a thin batter of flour and water spread on

hot stones or sand* A sanitary version of it is familiar to many Americans

as the Passover mafsoA

 

The relations between nomads and town dwellers clearly reflect

their close original kinship. Both groups speak the same languages, and

not infrequently a single tribe will contain both townsmen and nomads*

Tribesmen ore usually willing to settle w'hen the opportunity presents it¬

self, but at the same time there is little of the unshakable attachment to

the land which characterizes die agricultural peasant elsewhere. Pastoral

life is ideaiked and the nomad considers himself superior to the villag¬

ers. Whenever taxes become too oppressive or crops fail for a few years^

the village population will abandon its fields and follow its flocks into

the wasteland. Readers who know their Bible may remember that in the

troublous days folbwing the death of King Solomon die new exactions

of the central autboritj^ were several times met with the cry, "To your

tents, O Israelr Confronted with the prospect of die loss of so many tax¬

payers, the king was always brought to Icrms.

 

The condition of widely spaced settlements with nomadic pasiorab

ists between was highly favorable for the development of trade. The

 

 

284] Port Six : Southw est Asia anu Europe

 

nomads, moving from pasture to pasturcr, came back to the same places

year after year. It was comparatively simple for them to pick up the spe¬

cial products of a town at one end of (heir circuit, transport them in lei¬

surely fashion to a town at the other end, and bring back to the first

town other products given in exchange. It was only a step from this in¬

formal carrier service to the organization of caravans. Camel nomads in

particular were ideally suited for this, since they knew the desert trails

and water boles, had the necessary pack animals, and knew how to han¬

dle them. Professional caravarieers and long-distance caravan routes

were well established by J 000 n CL

 

The Semitic people around the Persian Gulf and on the Red Sea

and Indian Ocean coasts of Arabia took to the sea at a very earlv date.

Mesopotamian inscripbotis from about 2500 b,c. on refer to a "Kingdom

of the Sea” situated toward the mouth of the Persian Gulf, and it is

highly probable that this date does not mark the beginnings of Semitic

voyagiog hut simply the time at which the Mesopotamians established

contact witli the Semitic seamen. Both the Red Sea and Persian Gulf are

reLntivcly placid oceans. The scarcity of food on these baJTcn coasts must

have tempted the local population to fishing, while die difiiculties of

travel overland were an added stimulus to seafaring. When, at a much

later time, the Fhoenictans reached die Mediterranean coast and

mested the control of that sea from the Cretans and other "People of

die Isles,” tbcii' were following a Semitic tradition which was already

old.

 

On land the caravan trade provided profit not only for the caravan-

eers but also for the s'arious nomad tnbes through whose territories die

caravan routes passed. These tribes operated a system which is, unfor¬

tunately, quite familiar to modern Americans. For a fee they would pro¬

vide the caravan with a "guard” of hungry and thievish tribesmen who

accompanied it across their territory and turned it over to another group

of racketeers at the border, Tliis sort of "protection" was based on the

certainty that a caravan u'hJch did not pay would be attacked. Costs

varied with the strength and proximity of die trading centers dependent

on the caravans. When the trading centers were strong and well organ¬

ized. there w'ero slim pickings for the nomads.

 

The relations of nomads with the civilized states on the borders of

their territories also followed a consistent pattern. The nomads were

quite willing to enlist in wars between these states and were regularly

used as scouts and light cavalry. However, they were loyal only to their

own interests. They came for loot, and when the tide of battle turned

would tum with it against the losers, Ulien the civilized states were

strong, the nomads kept the peace. When they were weak or disorgan¬

ized, the nomads would raid them and carry off what they could, it

 

 

XX. SemUes

 

 

[285

 

must be remembered that their military tactics were these of undriJIed

guerilla fighters and their mllitai^' equipment generally inferior to that

of the settled groups from which it was obtained. Until Islam united the

Arabian tribes and endowed them with a eommon and enduring pur¬

pose, they were more of a nuisance than a threat to their civUisEcd neigh¬

bors.

 

As regards the cidtnral equipment of the nomads, it hies already

been said that prachoally all of it was obtained from the settled people.

Their distinctive habitation wa^ the tenh a low structure of coarse blaek

goat-hair cloth supported by ntunerous short p€?sts. Its main function

was to provide shade, and it was actually more like a spread awning

ihiiD anything eUe, Other equipment included the usual metal cooking

pots, wooden howh and utensils, nigs, and so forth. Mt^ns costume

consisted of a long robe over which was w^orn, on dress occasions, an

almost equally long coat of richer material, which w^as left open in fiont.

A sasli about the waist supported at least a dagger. Sandals were worn

on the fech and the head and back of the ueck w^as covered with a

dotJi held in place by rings made of heavy bundles of cords. The wotii-

eifs dress consisted of two oblongs of cloth, front and back^ caught to¬

gether at the shoulders iind ugaiu at the w'aist and partly sewn up at the

sides. Women also wore a head cloth, one end of which could be drawn

ever the mouth, but women of the nomad tribes generally did not veil.

Clothing was usually made of coarse woolen cloth, which gave protee-

tion against both the chill of the desert nights iind die heat of llie desert

stin. Much feweliy^ was worn, and a girl would Irequently wc-ar her en¬

tire dowry on her person in the form of head band, necklace, and die

like, of gold coins.

 

The social and political organipation of the nomads was based upon

tribes, patrilineal endogamous groups occup)ing particular territories.

Larger political groupings were ephemeral, breaking down when the

dominant tribe lost control. All tribe members were related, and it was

until! nkablc that a family should try to chauge its tribal afiilJations. Con¬

trol of the tribe was vested in a sheik, whose post was normally henedL

taiy' in a particular family line. Preference was gi\ en to the eldest son by

the first wife, but there was no absolute rule, since under nomad condi^

tions the post was far from a sinecure and had to be fdled by the best

niiin avadabb. Tlie relaliou of the sheik to his tribesmen was modeled

on that of a Semitic father to his family. He directed tribal activities mid

administered justice. It is impossible to say how far forma) law codes

Were recognized by the nomads in pre-Islamic times, but in the adminis^

traticn of the law the sheik was expected to show wisdom in detcmiin-

ing who was the real offender and to make the pimishment fit the crime.

The judgments of Solomon as recorded in Near Eastern folklore are in

 

 

Part Slx^ SoLmrw'EST Asia a-vd

 

 

i86]

 

the best psittein of both nomads and settled people. Although in pntc-

ticc the sheik %vas influenced by the opinion of tribal members and did

his best to fuRction by persuasion rather than force^ his powers were au¬

tocratic aiyd» in dieory^ absolute. Needless to say, these^ patterns had

their effect on the development of Islamic patterns of government*

 

The nomad tribes were constantly at war among themselves^ but

since the main motives for these wars were loot or rev^engc for the mur¬

der of a tiibal number, the losses ordiaarity were not large. Even in the

bitterest war the side that had won the victory' contented itself witli kilb

tng all adult moles in the losing tribe and carrying off the tribe s domes*

tie animals. The women and children were left, and, if they were able to

survive, the children could be relied upon to rei:»ew the feud as soon as

they grew up. Defeated tribes who wished to avoid this fate often fled

to foreign parts.

 

In spite of the feuds, all the Arabian nomads recognised their ulb-

mate kinship and, long before the riise of Isbm, had established a month

of tnite during which pilgrimages to the shrines of various deities could

be undertaken and^ still more important fairs and literary contest's held.

These get-togethers helped to maintain a common culture and the uni¬

fied values out of which Islam was to emerge.

 

Slaves were fairly numerous among the immads but occupied what

was, from a European point of view, a peculiar position. The crigcncies

of nomadic life and of herding provided slaves with $o many opportuni¬

ties for escape that it wms necessary for their masters to win genuine

allegiance from them. Thej' were regarded more as retainer!! than as

cliatteLs* During tlie historic period the slaves were mainfy Somali and

Abyssinian, so that there was a racial difference between slave and mas¬

ter, Nomads took slave concubines^ but marriage with a slave re¬

garded much as it would have been in oiir owti Old South. The city'

dwellers kept white slaves, and attitudes there differed, especially after

the rise of Islam. Masters took pride in the appearance of their slaves,

and they were frequently flressed^ armed and mounted better than poor

free men. They fought beside their ma,'iters^ and Antar, the hero of the

greatest pre-Islamic Arabian epic, was the son of a slave woman* Today

slaves of Arab rulers are regarded as. In a very real sensCp ejcteusious of

the ruler s own person. Thus, at a feast, it is a special honor to a guest to

have one of the host's slaves dismember the foed which he is served and

feed it to him. It is socifdJy equivalent to having the host do so himself.

Also, when a niJcr .^nds his orders to a subordinate, if the message Is

sent by a free man, wen a close relative of the ruler, the recipient knmvs

that he has a certain amoimt of leeway- ff it is sent by one of the ruler's

slaves it is as though the ruler had como himself, and prompt obedienc*

is demanded. The various itistihitfofis which have made Islam the out-

 

 

XX. Semiles [2S7

 

sLinding .^lave culture of aJ] history have theii roots at least io pari tn

these attitudes.

 

Among free men within the tribe there were famiUps of greater or

less importfliice and genealogies were kept with Polynesian thorough¬

ness, Readers may remember the famous chapter of begais in the Old

Testament However, tlie very fact of trifaal inembership conferred upon

individuals dignity and prestige. In dealing svith both fellow tribesmen

and visitors^ courtesy and consideration were the rule, and any depar-

tme from these was likely to be rewarded by a knife thrust.

 

Tlje Arabian noma^ not only practii::ed tribal endogamy but also

approved of the maniage of certain close relatives. They were one of the

few groups in the world in which marriage with a father^s brother's

daughter was not only permitted but preferred. This pattern wa$ iiicor-

prated into Islam and stiU survives in many Islamic countries. Marriage

among the nomads seems to have been normally monogamous* but with

pplv^ny permitted for those w^hn could afford it- Certainly this wm the

rule of die early Hebrews. The situation in pre-Iskmic Arabia is difficult

to assess. It must be remembered that Moliammed was a townsman, not

a Bedouin p and tliat the forms of multiple marriage against which he in-

\'eighed were those which might svell arise in a toiivn population given

o%^er to trading and containing a fair proportion of transients. Thus it is

questionable whether the pre-lslamic nomads practiced fraternal poly¬

andry nr the sdll more interesting system by which a lady acquired dif¬

ferent husbands for die clifierent days of the week. Both of these are

mentioned in Arab tradition and were condemned by the Prophet

 

A striking aspect of all liie Semitic cultures seems to have been ex¬

treme insistence on virginity at marnage. The eihibitinn of tokens of

virginity is still a port of the regular wedding ceremony in most Islamic

conntries, and dm values w^hicb this reflects certainly go back to pre-

Islamic times. This insistence was only one aspect of u cultural preoccu¬

pation w ith se3£ and the sexual organs which found one expression in die

practice of circumcision. Tins was shared by practically all Semitic peo¬

ples. Conresponding mutilation of die female organs was also wide¬

spread* reaching its greatest development in parts of the Sudan, where

all the external female sexual parts were cut away and the vaginal own¬

ing so nearly closed w ith scar tissue as to make intercourse impossible.

The bridegroom was thus insured of a virgin bride,, but had to win her

consent to a furtlior operation before the marriage could he consum-

inale<k

 

Tile exigencies of nomndio life made die seclusion of wnmen impos¬

sible for all hut a few of the richest families, but death was inflicted

npon both the unchaste girl or the unfaithful wife and her lover. Since

unchastity in men was not disapproved, they made the most of their vis-

 

 

Fari Six: Soutkwe^ Asia and EtmopE

 

 

2SSI

 

its tu the town, where the sejciial vigor of the Bedotiin w'as foroous sis

dmt of sailors among ourselves, tn pagan times these masculine needs

were taJceu care of in part by a regular institution of temple prostitutes.

A further eoroUary of the situation was a high development of male

homosexuaiitj'* which even today is widespread in Islamic countries. It

is maialy carried on by unmarried men and boys and gives place to nor*

mal heterosexual relatious when these become possible.

 

The family control was rfgfdly patriarduiL The father bad complete

control over his wives and sons throughnot his life and even beyond. A

fathers blessing was an important asset, while a fathers curse could ruin

his son^s future. Note the stoiy of Jacob and Esau. Daughters were

under the fathers control until marriage but thereafter psissed to the

control of their husbands. The average Semitic father seems to have

taken more pride in his sternness than in his justice. Tlie son*s attitude to¬

ward him was one of fear and rospeci. Especially in polygynous families

the strongest emotional tie was between mother and son. Them svas real

affection in this relationship and very commonly the two formed an amb

able conspiracy to circumvent the father.

 

The whole situation was Such as might l>e expected to develop a

strong and censorioiis superego in the individual The Hebrew picture

of an alhpowerful deltj' who could only be placated by complete sub¬

mission and protestations of devotion, no matter how unjust his nets

might appear, was a ducet outgrovv'th of this general Semitic family sit¬

uation. Another product of the exaggerated superego to which it gave

rise was the e]ulx>rate system of tabccks relating to every aspect of be¬

havior* One sj\stcm of this sort hats been recorded and codiffed in the

Laws of Moses, but these laws were by no means an isolated phenome¬

non. AH Semitic tribes liad similar series of regnJations differing only in

contenL Such ctides provided those who kept dicm uilh a sense of secu-

rit)-j comparable to tliat of the good child who is able to remember ev-

erv'thing that his father ever told him not to do and carefully abstains

from doing it. The Hebrew loveh was a pfjrtmit of the Semitic father

with his patriarchal authoritarian quidities abstracted and e3taggt?rated.

Tlie combination of patriarchal suppression and sexual deprivation has

left its mark on the Semitic basic personality. From Moses to Freud*

Semites have been preoccupied with sin and sex.

 

The Semitic religion w^as a direct outgrowth of the patterns of

pemiituralism dweloped in dm Soudmestem Asiatic centCFi Where set¬

tled life possible the worship centered about local deities who were,

at the same time, manifestations of natura] forces. Among die tribes who

followed rtnmadic patterns these local deities were replaced hy tribal

deities and their attachmenl to the land was replaced by their attach¬

ment to the social unit. The prindpal difference between the two con-

 

 

XX. Semites

 

 

[2S9

 

c^pts was Unit the power of the ftotnad deities was no longer limited in

space. They could help or punish their people no matter where their

people happened to be, 'the settled people had sacred places, preferably

Dll hilltops, where offerings were made, and increasmgly represented

their deities by images. The nomadic groups, on the other hand, repre¬

sented their deities by portable symbols of various sorts, including im¬

ages. Such objects were carried with the tribe in its movements and

ivere Fret[uently taken into battle so that the full force of Uieir niiina

could be directed against the enemy. The Ark of the Cov'ennnt was such

a syinbul, and the disastrous results of the Hebrews having taken it into

battle against tlie Philistines is recorded in 1 Samuel, Chap. 4

 

The tribesmen did not deny the existence of deities other than their

own any more than they denied the existence of other tribes. They

merely were not interested in Ikrings who presumably were not inter¬

ested in them. The Ten Commandinents did not state that laveh was the

only God, simply that hr should be tlie only God worshipp’d by the

Heiirews. This attitude is clearly reflected in the earlier Ijooks of the Old

Tiistament where tlie backsliding of the Hebrews after llieir arrival ia

the Promised t.and was a constant w'orry of the Prophets. The Hebrews

were, in effect becoming .settled and civilised tluough their contacts

with the more advanced but also Semitic Canaanites, and, since they

were now in the territorj' of tlie Canaanitish localized deities, it seemed

logical to tliem that they should pay them their long-established dues.

Because of these attitudes, the earliest Semitic records show a great

number of gods but only vague organization of a pantheon. It was oidy

in the city civilizations of Mesopotamia that the multiple cosmic deities

were brought into something like logical order and their relations to

each other defiiied. Even there each city exalted its own deity at the ex¬

pense of the rest and attached to its god or goddess many of the same

myths which were attached to other gods elsewhere.

 

This focusing of interest on the tribal or locul god resulted in an

emotional attitude unknown in most other ancient religions. The Semites

did not develop elaborate theologies. Their relation with the deity was

felt rather than reasoned. In the Jong run this feeling was to produce the

intense monotheism of Judaism and of Islam with their ecstatic devo¬

tion to tile one all-powerful God. Christiatiity, stemming from the Judaic

monotheism, fell among the noa-Semilic Greek philosophers and nvjstol

and emerged with a complicated theology which seems inconsistent at

certain points with its avowed monotheism.

 

Primitive Semitic ideas regarding a future life were vague. In spite

of the interest in genealogy, there was no suggestion of ancestor wor¬

ship, Like practically ail iKoples. die Semites believed in some sort of

survival after death, but die underworld to winch ghosts were relegated

 

 

Fart Six; SoinimTST Asia and Exwope

 

 

290I

 

was gray and unmtmnesting. They seem to have had no concept of post¬

mortem rewards and punishments. These were administered either to

the mdividuaJ while alive or to his descendantSp the [atter no doubt re¬

flecting the stnrtig jdentjflciitfon of the Semite «ith his kin groop* The

lively and imaginative heavens and hells of the Muslims and Clu^ans

stemmed from nop-Seniitic sources, partly from tJie Eg)’ptian concepts

of the judgment of the dead and the destruction of wicked souls^ but

even more from the Zoroastrian Persians.

 

The Red Sea is a nairow^ sea and seems to have united <|uite as

much as it separated the peoples of Arabia and the adjoining African

coast. The environment is so similar on its tW’O shores that migrants

could pass from one to the other with no significunt changes in their way

of life, and any new pattern which had been integrated into Arabian cul¬

ture could easily be accepted on the African side. The lingufstic similari¬

ties have already been mentioned, but the cultural similarities arc

equally strong. The Abyssinian plateau, rising out of the northeast Afri¬

can desert, matches in many ways that section of far southeastern Ara¬

bia known to the andents as Arabia Felis. In both, altitude brings in¬

creased rainfall and temperate climate. Abyssinian archeologj' ts still

almost unknown, but if the Russian botanists are to be believed, there

was an independent center of plant domesticatioa here comparable In

the original Southwestern Asiatic center in the number of $pc^ies

brought under cultivation. Most of these species paralleled Southwest¬

ern Asiatic ones and the eomplex which emerged was ftmdamentaUy of

Southwestern Asiatic type. It produced village life of the familiar Se¬

mitic pattern and in due enurse of time gave rise to an Abyssinian state

which was A^slatic rather than African in its patterns of rule and organic

zaboii.

 

The interaction between Abyssinia and Arabia was close through

the whole period of recorded history and was by no means oue-sided-

Abyssinia has played an important role in Arabian polities -sinee ancient

times and at one period came very close to conquering the peiunsuhi.

The Abyssinian conversion to ChrfsHanits^ in tlie and centurj' A-n. did

little to change their Semitic ciilture patterns, wliile the added impor¬

tance given to Arabia by the rise of Islam made the Abyssinians eager to

emphasise their Semitic heritage. The claim of the Abyssinian \dng$ tliat

their line stems from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba incorporates a

cultural and racial truth no matter how far it may depart from historic

accuracy. The modem Abyssinian reveah his Semitic origin in his fine

features and light brown skin as well as in his culture and language^

 

The Somali, the prinicipal Semitjc-spcaklng people of the northeast

African deserts, are less advanced in ctdturc and darker in skin color

than either Abyssinians or Arabs, but both these deviations are under-

 

 

XX. Semlfes

 

 

1*91

 

jtiindablc in terms of their en’iironmcnt. There has been some diffusion

of both blood and culture from Negro Africa, although the influence of

both is surprisingly slight in view of the long contact involved. Physi¬

cally the Somali combine features of Semitic regularity with very dork

pigmentation and a peculiar hair texture oulite that of either Negroes

or Mediterranean whites. The hair is coarse iind closely crimped, result-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part Six: SouTFn%'ESrr Asia and Eubope

 

 

292)

 

ing in n stiff bush which may stand out fnm the head for a foot or more.

The heavy skiti color is easily understandahle in view of the local condi¬

tions. The desert on the African side of the Red Sea is om? of the driest

and hottest in the world, and heavy pigmentadoii has unquestionably

had a sur^ivaJ value.

 

The culture of the Somali seems to represent a desperate attempt to

retain primitive Semitic patterns in the face of an imconquerabLy hostile

environment. It differs strikingly from the cattle cultures of the Negro

peoples living farther lo die south and wc^t. The Somali economy is

based upon sheep, goats, and camels with a limited use of cattle. Actu¬

al! v most of the local pasture is loo poor to nrake cattle profitable.

Horses are also kept but are culturally imimportunt. The attitudes to¬

ward domestic animals are decidedly un-Afrieaii, Women do most of the

milking, an arrongAmetit unthinkable in the Negro cattle cultureSH In ac¬

cordance witli the ancient Semitic blood taboo, liring animals are never

bled for food, a common Negro practice. Like other nomadic Semites,

the Somali turn lo agriculture and settled life wherever this becomes

possible. There are numerous trading towns m their tenitoiy, and, wher¬

ever there is enough water for irrigation, groups settle down, usually

under the direction of a religious leader whose saneitity gives ihcm

some protection from raids. The people live in local groups made up of

men related in the male Ime» and their w£\es and children. The group

membeoi hold grazing land in common, but any fields which have been

brought under cultivation are private properly.

 

Each local group has its head man, the office nonnally passing from

father to eldest son. A number of related local groups form a tribe, also

with its hcreditarj' chief, who, however, has little real power. The So-

mali have been fanatical Muslim for many centuries and adhere to the

laws of the Prophet. In accordance with this^ a man must limit hluiself

to four wives, for each of whom a stiff bride price has to he paid- Most

of this price is usually passed on lo the wife by her falbeT, Trilies are in

general endogamous, IfK:3il groups cxogamniis.

 

The Somali have a well-earned reputation as fighters, and in some

tribes a man canziot marry until he has killed an enemy and brought

homo the deml man's genitals as a trophy, BarbEirous as some of die So¬

mali practices appear^ they are much like those of die Asiatic Semites a

few thousand years ago.

 

The position of the Asiatic Semites whs particularly favorable for

cultural advance. They were in close and continuous contact with the

worlds tivo oldest centers of civilkatiun, Mesopotamia and Egypt, and

by 2300 B.c. had conquered the Mesopotiimian center and assimilated its

culture- Their addiction to trade brought them into contact with a wide

range of peoples and made them keenly conscious of cultural differ^

 

 

)rX> Sevttfes

 

 

[293

 

dices. They were always ready to borrow new appliaiH^e^ or art styles

when this wras advantageous. At tlie some rime the Semitic cultures hn^'e

sho\%7i a fundamental continuit)^ perhaps uoeqmlcd by those of any

other group. Whatever they borrowed w'as reinterpreted in terms of

their o^vn values and interests, w'hich survived with little change.

 

The most important Semitic contributfons to d\ili2atiDn have been

in the fields of mathemadcs and ostranoniy on the one hand, and reli-

gion on the other^ It is a curious fact that w'e owe to them both the con¬

cept of a mechanistic universe and that of one eompletel)' subject to the

will of a single aH-powerful deity. The first was evolved from the Meso¬

potamian priests^ age-long observation of the wheeling heavens^ The

second grew out of an ecstatic devotion to the tribal deit)', a devotion so

intense that al] other Beings and forces ceased to exist for tlic woTsbip-

per. The Semitic quest was always for absolutes, and it has been the had

fortune of their cultural heirs that they should have found two of them

and that tlie two were polar. All Tnonotheistic faiths of which we have

records can be traced to Semitic souxees, and ail of them are confronted

by the same ^migma of an all-powerftil deity' in a universe governed by

law.

 

 

Chapter XXI

 

 

Mesopotamia

 

 

EvEHvnnNc iM>icATia5 that the pattcrti of village life developed in

Southwest Asia spread over the rest of Eurasia and into Northern Africa

with comiderabte rapidit}% The modifications which it underwent as ad-

Jtisbnents to various mvironmental conditions have been discussed in

pievious chapters^ The rise of the earliest dvilizations eau hardly be in¬

terpreted in similar terms. They were not necessary for CKistence in the

regions in which they orosep but conditions in these regions made them

possible. The results of the spread of South western .\siatic \ 11 lKge cul¬

ture over the temperate Old World were comparable in certain ways to

the results one gets when one draws a loop which has been dipped in a

bacterial solution across a gelatin pJate. In due course of time^ isolated

dense colonies of bacteria will appear at various spots. In the same way,

spots of dense population appeared at various points in the territory the

v^ge culture had reached. The civilizations sprang up at tho^e points

w'here a combination of dense population and certain cultural and cn^-

ronmentiil factors made dty life possible.

 

The significance of tlie city as a new and distinctive type of social

grouping has been discussed in Chapter X, along with the conditions

under which cities can exist. They require not only a dense settled popii-

laticjn but also the technological equipment ncede^l to transport food

and other bulky luw' materlaU to the dty site and to distribute the goods

produced by tlie city's skilled craftsmen. City living seems to have arisen

spontaneously in several localities in the Old and New Worlds where

these conditiotiii were metn In others the diffusion of patterns for citj’ life

which had been developed elsewhere created the necessary local condi¬

tions.

 

In the Old World the earliest centers of civilization, which may be

taken as synonymous with city Hfe, were all in the ^-alleys of great rivers.

Here the rich sod could support a numerous peasantry, while water

 

 

XXL Mes&pottmia [295

 

transport the supplying of cities easy. After urban organisation

 

had lieen established in these centers it was diffused outvvard from eatb

center over wider and wider arcasH Its spread was encouraged by the

need for raw materials and by application of irTtgatioii techniques de¬

veloped in the great river valleys to smaller local areas- It cannot be em¬

phasized too strongly that the first centers seem to have arisen inde¬

pendently, Their resemblances were doc to tlieir common denvotion

from the Southwest jVsiatic village culture and to ihc similar problems

which the new type of socibI grouping presented to all of them.

 

The first cities were built l>eside the Nile, the Tigris-Euphrates, the

Indus* and the Hwang Ho- City life came to Europe exceedingly late.

The early Greek atid Italian cities were really small towns, economically

self-sufficient. The first European culture complicated enough to be

classed as a civilizatinrip tliat of Crete, also was not a city culture. The

island popubtion, although rebLively dense, was distributed In many

saiall towns, thus minimizing tlie need for transport of goods in bulk.

The skilled craftsman who produced the goods which the Cretans ex

ported were concentrated at a few places on the coast, where ships

could bring the raw materials and cany^ away the finished product. True

cities did not appear in Greece until after the first Olympiad (776 &.C.)

or in Italy until the Creek (6lh-7th century B-cl) or posslhiy the Etrus¬

can (8th century u,c.) settlements. They w^ere even later in the rest of

Europe an<i did not appear in Scandinavia until almost the end caf the

Middle Ages.

 

Egypt imd Mesopotamia were probably the first centers of city life.

Its beginnings in these two regions seem to have been independent and

practically $iinultan^>CBi5 ( about 4000 b*c.)* Although tliere were ocea-

sinnal contacts between Egypt and M^opotamia as early as 3500 b.c.,

real interaction between the two civilizations did not begin until Eg)=pt

became a milihny power with Asiatic! commitments { 1500 B-C-). The be¬

ginnings of the Indii$ Valley civilization arc more difficult to determine,

since wo have no way of establishing n local chronology* Hovvever, this

center by so close to the origin point of the Sou ihwest .Viatic vilbge

culture that settled life must have been established there at a vmy early

lime. Trade objects prove contact with Mesopotamia by 3000 b.c,. and

the beginnings of ihe civilization arc undoubtedly older. The Hvx^ang Ho

Valley civilization in northern China was established much later than

the others. Even if one aceortls the status of a eivnlization to the Black

Pottery culture which preceded the Shang Dynasty in this region, the

earliest date for its development cannot be much brforc 2000 a.c.

 

Mesopotamia has juHueneed our own civilization more than have

any of the other earlier centers. We arc only begiuning to recognize

how heavy a debt Classical Greek culture owed tp this region. The debt

 

 

:2g6l Part Six: SoirnnvEST Asia anu Euiidpe

 

of the fIcUenistic cultures was 5till heavier, since the economic and po-

litical patterns which they incorporated came directly from this tf^gion

with the Assyrian imd Persian civilizations as intermediaries^ Through

the Hellenistic cultures* these patterns were transmitted to Imperial

Rome and became a part of the Western European tradition.

 

The Egyptian contribuHoiis to our civilizatioo have been next in

importance but are much less numerous. They have been mainly In the

fields of technology' and theology ond w^ere fillered through tlie Hellen¬

istic civillytjon before they reached the West. Egyptian culture fol-

loAved a divergent line of development based on values and mierests

which we find hard to appreciate. Its preoccupation with the future

life* and its enthusiustic peceptance of the Pharaoh as a God upon w^hose

well being that of the nation depended, are incOinprehensLble to Euro¬

peans.

 

The Indus civilization, in Interaction with the Southeast Asiatic

Neolithic culture which seems to have been contemponmeous with it in

eastern and sonthem India, produced a distinctive culture configuration-

Additional dements were introduced by tlie .Aryan in\’asion of northern

India, but it Is heeomiug increasingly evident that the Aryan contribu¬

tion was much less than has been supposed. lu India as In Europe the

.Ary^ans gave a language and borrowed a culture, tn spite of long contact

with the West, Indian civilization has contributed little to our own. The

so-called Arabic numerals arc really Indian. Certain Indian philasophi-

cal concepts may also have been transmitted through Hcllenisttc inter¬

mediaries, but Indian civilizatiun, like the ancient Egyptian one, Is pro¬

foundly different from our own in its values and interests.

 

The Hwang Ho center became ancestral to the great Chinese civili¬

zation wbich housed and revolutionized the earlier cultures of Korea

and Japan and left its mark in Indo-Cluna and Tibet. That this civili¬

zation has contributed so little to that of Europe seems to be mainly an

Occident of time and space. Certainly Chinese values and interests are

quite comprehensible to the mcKlem European, Ingenious Chinese tech¬

nicians have contributed, through Near Eastern iiitermedLaries* Such

iterms as paper* printing, gunpowder, silk and porcebiln.

 

In attemptltig to descrilie the aiLcient cultures wdilch have contrib¬

uted to die development of modem civilizations, one of tljc greatest dif¬

ficulties is that of deciding which time-level to lake. Our informaUon on

these cultures becomes increiismgly vague and fragmentary as we go

back in time. When each culture emerges into the full light of knowl¬

edge there are indications that most of its fundamental patterns have

already heen in existence for a long w'hile. Although at least two of the

civilizations had their beginnings In periods of exceedingly rapid change

w^hich must be considered genuine cultural mutations, all of them $eem

 

 

XXL Mesopotamia

 

 

[=97

 

 

 

to have becomo well integrated at an early period and to have earned cm

'mth. only slight modiGcationSp until their courses were altered by con¬

quest and the resulting dose contact with other cultures. Under the

circumstances it seems best to lake as our base level for descriptive

purposes the point in tlieir history at which the culture configuratioa

becomes dear, referring to earlier periods only incidentally. For Meso¬

potamia this base level would be roughly 2000 b^c.^ for Egypt approti-

niatdy the same tiTne, for China the period of the later Chon dynas^,

about 500-400 B.C., while for India the cultural record remains con¬

fused and confusing until after the IsLunic Invasions of the gtb cen¬

tury, A.D.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fart Six : Soutit^vest Asia a^vd Europe

 

 

29S]

 

Indi-aT Chma and Eg}pt will bo doalt with in due cotii^. We will

turn first to Mesopotamia as die earUost example of a ci^iliKation of the

sort which we know and can utidorstand+ Many of the tcoPOmic and so¬

cial patterns which sbU operate in modem Western sticictj' can be

traced to this region. It hm been said that if George Wjishingiou had

been transported back to the court of Hammurabi of Bafaylon, about

^067-00^5 he would have felt vastly more at home there than he

would in the modem capital citj- which liears his name. Apart from lan¬

guage difficulties, he would have cucoiinteTed ver)* few things in Ham¬

murabi's empire which were not familiar and understandable^ w^hile in

Washington he would have been baffled and confused by the tremen¬

dous technological changes of the past 200 years and the fumbling

cRorts which our society h making to bring the other aspects of its cul¬

ture into adjustment wdth these.

 

Mesopotamia is the region drained by the tivo great rivers, the Ti¬

gris and the Euplirates. At the time civilization arose there these rivers

emptied into the Persian Gulf by separate mouths. Ancient Mesopotamia

was about the size of the State of Massachusetts and much of it was

swampland. There w^as a fairly eittensive nc^ui>ation by Neolitliio peo-

ple^ with the sudden emergence, between 4500 and 3500 b.c,^ of city life

and Sumerian c^ilture. It has generally been assumed tliat tlie Sumerians

were immigrants^ but, in view of the rapidity %vitb which cultures can

advance under favorable circumslanecs^ it seems wisest to withhold

judgment until Sumerian culture can be linked with some still older cul*

ture ouhade the Mesopotamian area. We do know that the Sumerian

towns were built on patches of high ground which rose above the

marshes and that villages of the older Neolithic culture survived for a

time in the marshland.

 

About 3500 B.c, there was a great flood, probably the basis for the

Biblical myth of Noah and his ark. That the flood w^as of major prDjx^r-

tions is evidenced by a heavy deposit of sterile silt which occurs at the

same level in several of the sites excavaleti It wrs also important enough

to serve as a datum point in the Sumerian time system, and iheLr later

king-lists are divided into an antedduvian and a |>ustdjiuvlaD periodp

The flood overthrew ^ome of the Sumerian cities and was even more ca¬

tastrophic for the less advanced swamp dwellers^ most of whose village

must have been wiped ouL After the flood the Sumerians not only

rebuilt their towns but spread out and look over the whole of the

lower volley. They very early developed techniques for building com¬

bined irrigation and drainage canals. These transformed much of the

swampland into deep, rich soil which would provide two heavy crops a

year without fertilization. The population increased rapidly^ and, from

3000 »hC. until the Mongol conquerors of tlie 13th ooutury destroyed the

 

 

XXI. Mesopotamia [299

 

and let the lain:! rt-\'ert tD swamps Mesopotaniia rerntiiied Otie of

the fficst di>dselv populatcti and culturally adviiuced areas id the wdrld

The MesdpotajnittTis seerd to have been racially inked even la the

earliest times. The itiain t\‘pes represented were long-headed Mediterra-

nearts and the big-nosed* short-headed type known as Armenoids. The

latter seems to have been llie admired, aristocratic tj'pc, since it was the

ooe regularly represented in the oldest idealized statues and reliefs. It did

not appear with any high degree of frequency among the figures which

were intended ajs portraits. If eitlier of these tv'pes was the result of a

major invasion it was prett)* certainly the Armenoid type, which might

be thus equated with the hypothetical Sumeriad imgrutidfi*

 

The early Mesopotamian language situation k better known to us

than the physical type, thanks to the development of the cuneiform

script and the custom of v^Titing on cloy tablets which, when baked»

were practicoUv indestructible. Although Mesopotamia is in the middle

of a Semitic area, Sumerian itself is emphatically not a Semitic language.

\Vc tan read the Sumerian insedptdoas without difficultj', since the later

Mesopotamiaa scholars were already studying it as a dead language by

2000 e.a and have left us numeroiis dictionaries and plmisc books in

which it is equated with their own Semitic tongue^ Sumerian does not

seem to be closely rebted to any living language. Its grammatical stmg-

ture shows some resemblance to Turkish but ib vocabulary w^as entirely

different. A few Sumerian vv^ords occur us root words in the Indo-Euro¬

pean linguistic fiunilyp suggesting early contact between the Suznedans

and the people of the st<q>pes. Further evidence of this contact is pro¬

vided by the shape of certain metal and even stone battle axes of the

steppo people which are clearly derived from Sumerian odginab^

 

The Sumerian tcehnology was cssjeutially that of the Southwestern

Asiatic Neolithic center with a few additions and a marked increase in

technological skills. The Sumerians knew and w orked practically all the

metals except iron* which was found only in meteorologic form and was

therefore too rare for ortlinarv' use. They ca^ft by the lost wax method

(see Chap. IX, p. lohj, drew' wire, and were able to solder pieces to-

Kcthcr, Their jewelry show^s filigree and grain ^vork. During the early

Sumerian peri^ the difference in value between meiak was slight. Cop¬

per and bronze were so scarce that they were almurt as v^uable as gold

and silver. Spears, daggers* and battle axes^* actual weapons* nut iix^re-

mofiial objects^ were made from alloys of gold and copper or gold and

silver^ Tliese alloys were practiad working metals* hard and resistant to

corrosion. Potterj* was made on the wheel and was turned out in great

quantities fay potters who were obviously professionals. Their produut

vi^as standardiTcd and strictly utihtarian. Luxury utensils were made

boin metal, stone, or shell

 

 

Part Six: SouTtnvEST Asia akd Europe

 

 

300]

 

The most imp<jftant advance was the emergence of many sorts of

skilled cniftsmen who depended on their skills for a living. Among the

earliest doctimenls are contracts for teaching particular crafts. It seems

highly probable that by ^000 b.c, craft guilds were already in existence

in the cities.

 

The Sumeriatu were always threatened by the Seniibc-spcaking viU

lagers and nomads on their boKlers and finally succumbed to a Semi tie

conciuest in roughly 2000 hx. The invading Semites rapidly took Qvet

much of the Sumerian culture, and tlie relations of the two groups are

perhaps best iilustrated by the numerous carvings in which a Semitic

king with embroidered robe and tiara and long, formally curled hair and

beard is attended by a Sumerian scribe with shaven head, cloak, and

kilt. After a few generations the two groups fused. The Semitic language

triumphed but the Sumerian ctilture. already well stabilisted at the time

of the conquest^ was continued with little change. Not 0 single item of

the laier technology was introduced by the in^'ading Semites^

 

The Sumerian citj' was sitrrnunded by a tremendoiu* wall built of

mud brick, faced with a few layers of burned briek. Since cities were

often occupied for many centuries and the W'all w^as reinforced froni

time to time^ some of them grew to enormous sb_e. At the dme of He¬

rodotus the w-alls of Babylon WTjre So miles in ciretimfcrence, go feet

high, and so wide that two chariots could pass eacli other driving abng

the top. Such w^alls served not only as deferLSe against enemies but also

as levees, protecting Uie city agoin-st floods. Within the city there was

usually one broad avenue running from the main gLite to a centmJ

temple enclosure, Otherwisiv tlie streets were only narrow^ twisting

allevs laid out on no regular plan.

 

Houses were built of mud bricks reinforced with timl>er. They fre¬

quently collapsed^ jjartieuLirly in ihe rainy season. The timbers would

then be salvaged, the mud leveled olf, and a new house built on lop.

Since there were no sew'ers and all garbage was dumped into the streets,

the* stret^t level rose progressively until the water drained back into the

house in rime of rain. Al this point the house wmuld usually be recon¬

structed on a higher levcL VV^Ithin a few genemtinns each city stood on

a mound of its own creation. Mesopotamia today is dotteil with artificiiil

hills called fefa which have been produced in this w^ay. The archeologist

w‘ho digs in one of them discovers layer after layer of occupation and a

continuous series of buried towns going right down to the water level.

 

The houses of the middle closs^ and there was a considerable mid¬

dle class in Sumerian cities, were much like the modem Near Eastern or

Spanish American city houses. Outside there w'as a blank wall with a

single large door. The rooms were built around a central patio with

kitchens and storerooms on the ground level and the living rooms on the

 

 

XXL Mesopotamia [301

 

second Boor conncct«.l by a gallery overlooking the patio. The second

Hoot probably had windows on the street. Tliere was lisoalJy a bathroom

with a drain to carry off the bath water^ but no toilet. Hie people prob¬

ably used tlie street for their cxcreloiy futictJons^ iis in much of the Ori¬

ent today. The roofs sJnped iDW'ards so that min water ran down into the

piiHOf where it was drained off by a deeply bniied vertical pipe, Hie fur¬

nishings of the house were quite modem. There w'ere chairs and beds,

the latter with woven strips of raw hide in ben of springs, quite as com¬

fortable as a modern camp cot. There svere rugs on the Boor and hang¬

ings on tlie w^alls.

 

Wealthy Sumerian families apparently owned two or three homes

and, like the EKynbethan English, moved from one to another, leaving

tlie vacated house “to sweeten.” This w as made more desirable by their

practice of burjdng dead relatives ]ust under the Boor of the dwellings

When the departetl commenced to smell too high for comfort, the living

moved Out, leaving the ghosts in possession until their earthly miasmas

had passed off.

 

Each walled trlty was dominated by a temple enclosure, also waffed,

which covered several acres and included living quarters fur the entire

temple entourage, as well as storenxims and workrooms. In the center

uf the enclosure would be an artificial hill known as the ^fggiiret, on lop

of which stood the slirine of the city god, ITie shnnes of several minor

gods would ako be built inside the enclosure but at ground level

 

The sjlirincs themselves were small, windowless rooms lighted only

from the doorway. At the rear of the room in mysterious shadow^ stood

the image of the god, usually carved in stone but smaU enough so that it

could be taken from the shrine and paraded through the streets on fes-

It cannot be told from the inscriptiDns whether the image was re¬

garded as the actual God, as a body into which the Cod could enter

temporarily to estabbsh closer contact with his worsliippers. or nieiely

as d representation of the deity'. Probably the early Mesopotamians did

not w'orry dieir beads about such fine distinctions. In any case, tlie im¬

age of the god of an enemy city w^as an exceedingly important prize. It

was treated as an honored captiv e and it w&s hebeved on both sides that

as lung as the conquerors had it in their possession the conquered had

little chance for revolt.

 

The principal gotl of the dty w as usually provided w^ith living qtiar-

ters furnished like those of a nilcr but even more richly. He was also

provided with priestly servitors of various ranks and witli a harem mod¬

eled upon royal lines. At the head of the harein stood the etihi, who wa^

the god s head wife, Tliis woman %va5 supposed to be faithful to her di¬

vine husband and wa$ w'ell chaperonedn She also was* as a rulcp the sis¬

ter or daughter of the ruler of the city. In some cases she regularly slept

 

 

Part Six: 5otrnt\V£?r Asia and Euhofe

 

 

3 m]

 

in the living quarters of the god. She alwfl)'s slept there on the night be¬

fore some irnportatit political cledsion with the idea that her divine hus¬

band would ^^it her and give her the answer. The ruler might abo sleep

in the shrine when he was confronted by a difficult problem. The god

would come to him in a dream and tell him what to do. Since the

god's head wife was always a close relative of the ruler of the city, the

god's orders and tiie ruler^s wiU were rarely in conflict.

 

Below' the head wife in the scx^tal scale were ti^e god's other wives,

known as Sat-nie. Tlicse women sccni to have been regularly married to

the deity and to have brought with them a dow^ry', usually lived in

the temple grounds but could come and go freely and even keep a liouse

outside the precincts. They' could own property and engage in trade.

The only business which was out of bcunds for them was that of tavern

keeper. The conflict between religion and alcohol, still familLar to us,

apparently goes back to at least sujgq b.c., for the code of llammiijrabi

specifies tliiit u Saf-mc who keep a wine shop shall be burned. These

secoodarj" wives were under no pledge of chilstity^ Any children they

bore were consideretl the children of tlie god^ which accounted lor the

frequency with which the heroes of ancient legends were able to claim

divine paternity. A rather curious provision w^as that which allow^ed

Sal-me to many but not to have children by their human husbands.

This w'as regarded as on infringement of tiie rights of the god, and if a

married Sal-me had a clttld site wbs c^fecuted. Apparently Sul-nte W'lves

usually bought their husband a concubine to take over the child-bearing

function. One suspects that such marriages w'erc usually contracted by

older women who entered tliem for business purposes ur to gain con¬

genial companionship.

 

Below' tlie Sul-me came the ziktu and kadkhlit^ who were tlie eon-

cubines and serving w^omcri of the god. The existence of two terms indi-

cates that there was some difference in their status imd funcUotis^ but

the Inscriptions do not explain w'hat it was^ These women were prosti¬

tutes who had rooms in tlie temple precinct and whose etimings went to

the temple. They' were a regubr part of the divine establishment even

w'heii the deity w'orshipped was a goddess. Children Uini to them were

usually adopted by families outside the temple organi^^iatiDn. Their so¬

cial position w*as not unlike that of belter class prostitutes among our-

3 rt?lves, and young men w'ere frequently warned agsiiisi them and their

wiles. When tliey became loo old for tliis servicep they were put to w^ork

at menial tasks in the temple and w'cre also employed as iveavers. Tab¬

lets have been found with lists of the women employed in this way» the

□mount of food issued to each, and the amount of cloth they had pro¬

duced.

 

Several gods were w^orshipped in each city, hut main devotion was

 

 

XXI. Mesopotamia [303

 

nlways giver to one God. or less frequently. Goddess, who wsis the city's

special guardian and, indeed, owner. His priests formed the highest 01^

der in the priesthood, while other gods were worshipped in lesser estab-

lishmcnts and hy lesser priestly orders. With the rise to empire of first

one city and llien another, the power of the various city gods also rose

and fell- The god of an imperial city would dominate the entire pan-

then n. W'hen a city was defeated and destroyed, its god would drop to

the bottom of the divine hierarchy. There is a passage in a play by Lord

Dimsany in which a prophet, speaking to a king and foretelling the

doom of die city, says, “Already the gods in heaven shun % god, for

they know his doom. He sceth oblivion about liim as a mist* This was

e.«ielly die Sumerian attituile. The gods had no love for each other or

for men. They were completely unethical in their dealings with both and

were interested m hum&ns only for exploitfltive purposes.

 

The temple dominated the intellcchial and economic life of the cily

as the ziggumt dominated its buildings. It was a huge corporation

which, as time went on. drew more and more of the wealth of the com¬

munity into its hands. The city god svas osvner of all tlie land and ten

per cent of the produce was paid to him as ground rent. Peasants and

artisans paid their tithes in kind. The raw materials obtained in this way

Were worked up in the temple factories and the finished goods were ex¬

ported and sold through agents in other communities. This temple trade

required a great corps of clerks and accountants, all of whom were offi*

dally classed as priests of lower grades. The higher level priests formed

a self-perpetuating board of directors for the temple corporation, which

continued in oiMratiou for as long as a dynasty lasted. Money and goods

which once found their way into the temple coffers were never redis¬

tributed. while the temple’s custom of lending money at rates which we

would consider exorbitant hasten«l the concentration of wealth. This

tendency for wealth to accumulate in the hands of religious organiza¬

tions can be observed in many cultures. At the time of the Protestant

Reformation, the Church owmed about a third of the total area of Eu¬

rope and was rapidly creeping up on the rest. . . 1

 

The temples were the onlv educational centers and maintained

schools which were theoretically co*educational, although few girls at¬

tended. These schools trained students for the professions of scribe, doc¬

tor. and lawyer, as well as for the priesthood. All professional men were

rated as priests, although most of them were in independent practice

with only a formal connection with the establishment of one or another

god. There were rivo orders of priests; the ceremonial priests, who saw

that the rituals, including sacrifices, were performed properly, and the

diviners^ who answered qtiesttons apd made prophecies based on various

methods of divinatiap.

 

 

Part Six: SoimnvesT Asia a>T) Europe

 

 

304I

 

TJie diviners were considered of lower rank than the cereinoDjal

priests but are of particvikr interest to us^ since thej were the earliest

scientists. Even the methix] of di%'mation from the entrails of auimaLs

was carried on according to strict rules. Cky models of livers with the

meanings of various anoina]je$ written on them were used to instruct

young diviners, and there is even reason to believe that the results of

various predictions were noted dow n with a view' to improving the

method. The most important contribution of these Mesopotamian divin¬

ers to Liter civilization csirne from their study of the stars, .Although the

Egyptians also studied the hciiveiis, learned the true kiigtb tjf the year*

and discov'cred the cycle of more than a tiioiisand years intervening be¬

tween the time that the star Sirius rose at a eertain point on the hcirkun

and rehjnied to the same poinb the Mcsopcitajnzans daboraled the sd-

ence much further. It is to them that w'e ow'e the concept of tlie :£odjac

and the recognition of the difference Ijetween planets and fixed stars. It

is interesting to note that they included the earth and the moon among

the planets. Tlie Mesopotamian star watchers kept records over the cen¬

turies of planetary movements and of the eclipses of the sun and moon.

In due TOurse of time lliey learned to predict at least lunar eclipses with

great accuracy and were able to put this knowledge to good use in thdr

prophecies. Although their astronomical knowledge has come down to

us through the Greeks and the Arabs, they were unquestionably the? orig-

inaton^of the still fiourlshiog pseudo-science of astrology. Even more im¬

portant than their astronomical discoveries was the concept of a inecha-

nistic tmiverse resulting from these. A world in which planetary move¬

ments and eclipses can be accurately predicted centuries ahead is no

longer a world ruled by the casual whims of deities. Upon this recogni¬

tion is based tlie search for regularities and oatural laws w'hieh is the

Fundamental actixaty of tlie scientist.

 

The Sumerian citj* w'as a theocracy in the most complete meaning

of the term. The city w'as thought of as so completely under tJie divine

control that the earliest treaties between cities wxtc always phrased as

agreements between their gods. The names of the human rulers often

were not mentioned. Below the deity stood a governor who was tliought

of as a sort of steward of the divine estate who took Ids orders from die

deity. During the later Sumerian period a division between church and

state began to appear^ and, after the Semitic conquest, kings emerged as

distinct functionaries resptxtfuJ to the city god but not his direct repre-

sentativ'c. The throne was hereditaiy in a royal family, with the succes¬

sion normally going to the ablest^ not necessarily the oldest, son of the

bead wife. If none of her sous survived, the heir was chosen from among

those of the secondarj' wives or even concubines. The duties of the king

 

 

XX/. Mesopotamia l 3®5

 

we^re no sinecure ^ He expected to administer jii^ce, direct public

works, nnd lead the armies in w^artime. If these duties were not per¬

formed successfully, the dynast)^ fell, with the destruction and misEfy

for die common people inevitably associated with any revolution^

 

Especially after the small states began to coalesce into empires,

die duties of the king were more than any one man could perfonn, and

tlic w'ell known Near Eastern pattern of the emerged. The

w^os an administirator appointed by the king and exercising absolute

power, subject only to the king s veto, Since the veto was very likdy to

Ik? accoinpanicd by an order for the tixiziT s executionj the post was one

of both honor and peril. At no stage ui Mesopobimian bistoiy w-as there

development of anything like a representative leg^lative body. The

nearest approach to it seems to have been during the late Babylonian or

Assj'rian period^ when cities within empires had their councils*

 

The Sumerians seem to have been the first people to make slavery a

formal irutitutioii, and the patterns which diey origiimted have persisted

in the Near East until very recent times* Sla ves w ere duefiy prisoners of

war, with a few' criniinats and debt slaves. Earlier peoples had killed off

war prisoners, but the Sumerians, living in a settled comniinuty where

there was much rough work to be done, realized that even an enemy

was worth more iilive than dead. Slavery for crime and debt are often

misinterpreted. Enslavement of criminals was desired less as a puiiish-

nicnt as a means of insuring good behavior of troublesome individ-

uals. It was used mainly in tbe case of persistent petty offenders. The

master wlio Ixjught such a slave was responsible for any offense which

he coiumitted and could be counted on to watch him and to give him a

dimshing when he misbehaved.

 

Debt slavery was merely the emJ-prodnet of a system under which

a nion could borrow^ beyond the amount of his assets. He put himself up

for security', anti if he was unable to repay his borrowings witliin an

agreed length of time, became a slave of his creditor and by lus labor

reimbursed the creditor for the loss of the loan*

 

Sumerian slavery' was not particuliirly onerous. Since llie slaves

Were captured from nearby cities or bad been members of the. commu-

nitj% there was no difference in physical type bctw'een slave and free.

Tile slave could owTi property, could borrow' money if he could offer se¬

curity, and could buy his freedoiiii. Tlie slave tould also protest his ow-n

sale in court, lliat is, he could show' that the man who w'ished to buy him

had a grudge against him and was likely to mistreat him* Runaway

slaves Were severely punishetl, os were tliosc who aided them in their

flight. Slave women were automaticHUy concubines to their owners.

However, at the master^s death tlie concubine and her children w^ere

 

 

Part Six: Sotmu^'E^ anti Europe

 

 

306]

 

free. The trf a slave weis rccoinpensed Jf the shkve was injiiretl, just

 

as in cases cif other projjerty damage. Any damage done by a slave had

to he made good by the slave s owmet.

 

Next in rank aho%'e the slave was a social group which we would call

the free commoners. These were kno^vn as tntishkimi. They w'ere fann¬

ers, laborers^ artisaasp toolmakers, shopkeepers^ and merchants. Nfany of

the mush Ainu w'ere educated and often seem to have been wealthier

than some members of the upper class. Tlie imi^hkinu canricc! on most

of the peacetime activities oF the communily^ and in war provided light-

aimed stiimishers.

 

The highest class, known as omeJ'ij, included government officiakj,

priests, and soldiers. In Sumenau-Akkadian times the names of the

members of this group show them to have been an almost equal mixture

of Semites and Sumerians. It seems likely that the Semitic invaders

found the class system already in existence and allied themselves with

its highest division. The law code of Hammurabi distinguishes between

attielu and mushkinu at various points, hut not always to the advantage

of the former The legal stiihis of the two classes was the same with rc^

gard to all situations which did not involve physical injury. However^

damage to the person of an amctu was puDished much more sev'eroly

than a siniilaf injury^ to a uifiirhAhiii; conversely an ametu was fined more

heavily than a mushkinn for several offenses. TTie heavier fines may have

been based on an ossnmptiofi of greater capacity to pay, but a^ually

many of the ametu seem to have been small formers who lield their land

in return for personal military service. The regubtion which forbade

foreclosure on an ofuelu s prupertj' while he was away on a cumpaign

has a familiar ring.

 

ITie best explanation for die legal distinctions seems to be that pui

fomard by VVcioIcy that it was a reflection of the mihtary system vvhich

the Sumerion-Akkaclian empire had inherited from its Sumerian prede¬

cessors. The majority of the amelu group w ere trained soldiers. Bodily

injuiy' to tliem was therefore punished more heavily because it meant

loss to the slate of the investment which their Imining represented. Con¬

versely, since ametu ivere subject to military' discipline, their punish¬

ments were naturally heavier diati those of civilians, A similar distinc¬

tion between ordinary' and martial law has been retained even in our

own society.

 

Tlie Sumerians were the first piioplc in histoty to organize and drill

their armed forces. Tlie early w'ars were local affairs, quarrels betw'eeti

ci^ states over fields or water rights. Lrater, ns the city' states expanded,

long-range campaigns of conqiiesl were inaugurated. Bv 3000 B.c, we

find Stimerisin cities fighting for the control of trade rout^. The earliest

monuments show four-wheeled battle wagons drawn by teams of don-

 

 

XXL Mesopotamia [307

 

keys. Howevpr, It imist havi? been extrerndy difficult to tnajicuver with

these or even lo drive them into the thick of attacking force. Ekin-

keySt unlike horses, are inclined to use their own best judgment on these

occasions. By Akkatljan times horses present in Mesopotamia and

tljc superior twn-wheded churiol was known, but there arc no indica¬

tions of the use of effective chariot tactics.

 

The strength of the Sumerian army lay in its drilled infantry. The

Sumerians w&re the first people to develop the ptialnius, ascribed by

most historians to Epaminondos of Thebes some thousand years

later, [u this fonnatlon the front rank carried large square shields which

protected them from the neck to below the knees, and carried short

swords or battle axes fnr hand-to-hand fighting. They marched shoulder

to shoulder holding up their shields, while behind them came three

ranks of soldiers whose spears projected nut between the shields, form¬

ing a bristling front. Such phalanxes w^ere formidable war machioes, es¬

pecially on level ground, but their effectiveness depended upon drUJ of

iiltnost Prussian thoroughnesSn The men of the phalanx must have been

trained to march tu step nnd to whirl as a unit at the word of commarKl,

hidividual phalanxes seem to have been kept up for generations, like

□iir own regiments. They had names and special insignia, and there was

n tendency' for membership to be hcredJtajy. Members of a phalanx who

failed to report for duty or who tried to send a substitute were punished

by death. In return for their long training and frequent absences from

homo tliey were protected from foreclosure on tlieir property, held their

laiwls tax free, and were rated as members of the highest social class. A

poor amelu farmer ranked a much wealthier mtJ^hkinu merchant so-

cially.

 

Monuments of asoo to 3000 e,c:. show these phalanxes marching to

battle with the king gallantly striding in front wearing a gold helmet

and tarrying a scimitar or macen He must have skipped to the flank be^

fore the 'phalanxes met. The opposing phalanxes operated somewhat like

the flying wedge forma tiou familiar to night club waiters- The two pha¬

lanxes would advance at the double, gatliering speed ontU they crashed

front to front. There would follow a pushitig contest, aided by hand-to-

hand fighting between the shield bearers, until one side gave way. The

members of the broken phalanx usually fled in panic and most of the

slaughter took place during the pursuit Heads of vanquished enemies

were brought back and piled in the temple grounds as an exhibit, but

llierc was no genuine head hunting and these trophies were not kept.

 

The Semitic conquerors of Sumer found themselves confronted svith

the problems that Imve plagued conquerors ever since. They were them-^

Selves villagers and nomad tribesmeri^ and as soon as they had taken

over the civili^d Sumerians they discovered that running an empire

 

 

Part Six: Sounivi-Esr Aifw A^^) Eubofe

 

 

308]

 

WAS no sinecure. It is easy for nomads tu toot a country^ but when they

trj'' to move in to collect taxes and to keep up production and really

profit by their conquest. the\' are forced to turn to those who already

know something about government administration. Within a few years

after the .Akkadian conquest, the conquerors were using the okl Sume¬

rian bureaumaty to keep the system going. Witldn a few generations the

shaven headed Sumerian Scribes, who are shown humbly following the

gorgeous Akkadian kings^ had gotten most of the real power 1 >ack into

tlieir own hands. In the long run the pen is a deadlier weapon than the

sword.

 

Mesopotamia was the first dvib^tion to have business ns One of its

major interests. Trade was necessary to any sort of civilised life, since

the only raw materials which the valley provided in adequate quantity

were claVj. refids+ and grain> Even the l^ams needed in house construe^

lion and tlie stone from which the images of flic gods wore made had to

be importer]. As the Sumerians made increasing use of metal their trade

routes extended farther and farther. Trading posts staffed by Sumerian

merchants were established as far afield as Asia .Minor and Palestine.

They also seem to have carried on a fairly extensive sea trade by way of

the Persian Gulf, since we have one record of a trading expedition which

was gone for over three years and came back loaded, no doubt, with

"ivory, apesp and peacocks.” Goods from the upper river districts, which

were the principal sources of lumber and aniuial products, xvere brought

to tlie Sumerian cities by a metliod still in use. A bull boat, which was

simply a large circular bsisket woven of osiers and covered witJl hideSp

was loaded witii produce and floated dovtms-tream. Tlie hull boats were

large enough to carry two or three men and one or two donkeys io addi¬

tion to their payload. When the boat reached the citj' it was broken up

and sold together with the cargo. The crew stowed their personal pos¬

sessions and purchases on the donkeys and walked home.

 

All the appliances for effective business were established by 3000

B.C. fitandar<l weights and measures were developed. Those of the vari¬

ous cities probably differed at first as the)' did iu Medieval Europe, but

the spread of empire resulted in increasiiig staridardizatinn. The earliest

inedium of exchange was a fixed measure qf baricVt tlse measure being,

in many caseSp carved in stone and set up in the market place so tlmt if

LI farmer thought he was being short-changed he could ineusure out the

grain. By 3000 b.c. nielol currency was begirming to replace hartev cur-

renc)., and the government vvas beginning to worry' at^ut the shortage

of money. The code of Hammurabi attempted to stabilize tlie relative

value of barley and metal, with serious penalties for abuse of the stand¬

ard. A merchant, who refused to lake barley in payment for his wares

 

 

XXI. Mesopotamia l 3°9

 

foTffiited his life, as did anyone who refused to eschange mela] money

for barley at the current rale.

 

Metal was cut and weighctl at each exchange. The Sumerians did

not have coins. The difficulty was, of course, io assessing the purity of

the metal, and lu later times' private banking houses stamped metal in¬

gots with iheir seals os a guarantee against adulteration, Tliese stamped

shekels” were the ancestors of our owu coins. In the Sumerian-Akkadian

p^jritxJ the ratio of silv^ to gold was 12 to i -

 

We have ctiiiciform records of elaborate financial transaelionSp

loans vdlh Bxed rates of intcreiit mfiiiing up ns high as two or three him-

dred per cent fn cases in which the individual had no securit>% The low¬

est rate w^as 25 per cent per annum. There were priucjpab and agents

and also joint projects, oone^ponding to otir stock companies and cor¬

porations. ft is interesting that, in the laws governing principals and

agents* an agent who defrauded his employer was punished only half as

jicverelv as the cmplover who defrauded his agents. Apparently the

nancial forces were already operating to squeeze the little fellow, and

the law w^as attempting to protect him from the big nperatorSp partieu-

brly the temple corpora tiom.

 

" Because of the Sumerian habit of mating contracts for all important

transactions wc have im aniazinglv compietc picture of the life of these

people. Not only documents and contracts but a good deal of private

correspondcriice have heeu pmsen'cd. One tablet from before 2000 b.c.

contairis the f.imiliar lainciit of an old man about the degeneracy of the

younger generation. Another personal document which shows ^ high

continuih^ of pittem is a letter written to hb partmts by a boy at school

cornplaining about the food.

 

From the legal documents and private correspondence wc gain an

cxcellcol picture of Sumerian home life^ The Sumerian family was much

like our own. There wTre tm clans or extended kin groups. This was

probably a reHectinn of dty living, since it is vers- difficult to maintain

extended family patterns in a cit>- ppnlation which b c-onstautly shift¬

ing and being recruited from the oiitsitle. Any citj' population tends to

be made up of Isolated individuals* and consequently the small family

with only the purent-child tie b the strongest social unit.

 

Marriage was monogamous, except that a rich end important man

might have several concubines. Marriages were arranged by parents on

a strictly contractual basis^ There were no religious ceremonies or sane-

tions. The marriage was a written contract in which the rights and du*

ties of both parties were oudined precisely. Causes for divorce and even

the amount of ahinony to be paid wefe also specified. At the betrothal

the bridegroom made a gift of money to hb prospective father-in'lnw.

 

 

Part SiX! SotmiWEST Asia and Eunora

 

 

310]

 

which W 31 S forfeited if he broke llic engagement. If the girl withdrew^

the father had not ooly to return thiis jum but to pay an amount to

the jOted suitor as a fine, if the marriage was consuminatedp^ the payment

from tlie bridegroom and the contribution made by the brides father

became the girls dow^ry^ to which she held lualienable rights. It went to

her ehildrcn and her husband couldn't touch iL

 

Family capital was held azrd used jointly^ Women could run busi-

ncssesp lend money^ make legal contracts in tlic absence of their hus¬

bands, and, in short, held positions of economic cqualit)'. As a matter of

fact their legal position was much better than that of the English woman

prior to the MEirrietl VVomen's Property Act of igafi* A wife was not re^

Sponsible for debts that her husband had contracted before marriage^

and vice-versa; but, after marriage^ debts contracted by either party were

family debts and dtlniT party could be held for tbemH A husband could

sell his %vife under certain circumstances but ouly with her consent. If

she preferred beiug a coneubine in a rich man^s house to being a hard-

wasrking wife in a poor family, she could ask her hushand to seU her* A

husband could put his wife up as security for a !oan up to three years*

As in tlw? case with all other securities, the lender had the right to use

tlie pledge until it could be redeemed. Although tlie rights of womefi

were carefully guarded, the laws also provided some protection for hiuJ-

bands. One passage in the Ccxle of Hammurabi rends. “If a woman gads

about speaks disrespectfully of her husband, and neglects his house* she

shall be drowned.^

 

Tlie Sumerians liad a great desire for children, but inf ant mortalit)'

rates must have been very high. A family of more than three or four chfl-

dreii was exceedingly rare, at least among the class who left written

wills and testaments, if a wife were barren she cxmld be divorced. The

husband had to have the wifes consent to die divorce, however, and she

kept her dowry and received a money compensation as well. If she re-

fused her consent, the husband could legally take a second wife* but it

w'as specified in the contract that the first wife retained her status^ and

the second wife had to wash the feet of the first one and carry her stool

when they went to the temple. The more common arrangement was for

the barren wife to buy a concuhiue for her husband, a slave woman who

took over the wife's reproductive function* Any children born to such a

concubine were rated as the wife’s legal olfspring. A barren w'oman w'bo

was willing to buy a concubine for her spouse could not be divorced-

 

Sumer was the first place in history to have a fully developed cou-

cept of bw and ^vritten and published law codes. The Indonesian deveh

opment of adai law cannot be (bted, but must be ascribed to a later

time. The first complete Mesopotamian law code which has been pre-

serv'ed is the Code of Hammurabi* which was drawn up in 1940 a.c.

 

 

XXL McsopotanOa I311

 

However, fnigmeats of a Dumber of older codes have surx'ived* and their

camplbtion mnst be regarded as a sort of Code Napoleon* intended to

simplify and unify the preerfsting legal system of a whole senes of cit¬

ies. This was made necessary by the spread of the Sumerian- Akkadian

empire of which Hammurabi was ruler.

 

Hammurabi wm a Semite and, to judge from the fragnients of ear¬

lier codesp the Semitic conquest led to a comiderable stiffening of pen¬

alties and a worsening of the status of wou>en. iDddentally. according to

his own statement* the infant Hamnmrabi was found floating in a reed

basket in a drainage ditch and adopted by a gardener, thus antedating

Moses by some 500 years*

 

Hammurabi had his code inscribed on pillars which were set up in

the market places of the various cities in his empire. The laws were

stated with a brevitj' and conciseness which is rarely found In our own.

The king had important judicial powers and represented the court of

last appeal. This pttem has been continued by some Near Eastern rul¬

ers dowu to the present day and seems to he a chjmacteristic Semitic

pattern. It provided a metliod by which the king could make himself

accessible to his subjects and gaiu their favor. A Jong who made wise

judgments* was able to evaluatu conflicting evidence* and detect false

witnesses gained tremendously in prestige, Solomon^ who held court in

good SumeHaa fashion, was such a king, and bis judgments are still

fcaiuous*

 

The higher ofEciak whom the king had appointed to outlying dis¬

tricts performed his judicial functions there^ There were both ecclesias¬

tical and civil lower courts, but the jurisdiction of each type w^as not too

clearly dcGncdn Presumably the system had originally been weighted on

tl]e ttxlesiastical side like the rest of Sumerian culture, but the civd

courts had arrogated additional power to themselves. By the time of

Hammurabi the ecclesiastical courts could pronounce judgments in af¬

fairs pertaining to the temple* hut even tliese decisions were subject to

royal review. Ordinary civil suits were heard in dvil courts by judges

appointed by the king.

 

In the legal pri3cedtire the plaintiff first made application to a func¬

tionary called the uMJaliJl’fn, who acted as arbitrator and tried to settle

the Case out of court, if he failed in thiSp the case went to a court wbich

Was presided over by two to four pmfessioual judges- Tlie nurshkin, who

vvns already familiar with tlic facts of the esse, was associated with tlie

judges on the bench. The principals and witnesses gave lc.stimony under

Oath, documents were produced and ejeamiued by ^e court, and the de¬

cision was handed down on the basis of precedents. In important cases

the accused would be represented by counsel. A judge who reverse<i his

decision could be fined and disbarred. as it was assumed that he has

 

 

Part Sii; SourrrwtST Asia and Eottoi^

 

 

3 ia]

 

been bribed to do so. However^ a ease could be appealed to a higher

court if the judgment was unsatisfactory, or new evidence could be

brought in* Court ^enographers recorded all ca$^ on cuneifonn tablets,

which were put down m sand in large jais» There were heavy penalties

for perjuij' and contempt of court. In fact, the whole courtrooiii proce¬

dure wnutd be entirely familiar to a modem lawyer.

 

Some of the most interesting sections of the code are those dealing

with economic matters. Prices were rising steadily, and the poor land

owner was being progre&stvely squeif^ed out There was legisbtion di¬

rected at the redistribution of agricultural land which was not kept in

use. In these codes we can observe the first attempts to control wages,

rents, working hours, etc. In fact, there is a recently transkted tablet

from the Sumerian period in which them is a dispute over portal to por¬

tal pay. This controversy w'as brought to court and dedded in favor of

labor, a not infrequeut result in Sumerian courts. However, in spite of

the effort to fix prices and wages throughout Me^potamran history' we

can trace a steady rise in the cost of things, comparable to that which

has been going on ever since.

 

Sumer even had its New Deal and social reform instituted from the

top down, which was undertaken by Urukagina of Lngnsh in 2630 b.c

I n his inscriptions Urukagina is exceedingly vague as to his ancestry*

which suggests that he w^ss a commontT who had risen to power. One of

his first acts was to rexiuce taxes and to cut tlie excessive charges which

the priab were making for necessary services such os funerals and divi¬

nation. Ill fact he tried to introduce socialized divination, putting the

diviners on a straight govmumEMit saWj^ and forbidding them to receive

extra fees. He also tried to institute agrarian reforms, breaking down the

large estates and redistributing the Und to the peasants. This naturally

earned him the enmity of all the better people, who called upon the

ruler of a neighboring city for help. In the resulting rightist revolution

Urukagina was killed and everything returned to normalcy. One of the

most personal of ancient documents which has come down to us deals

with this event An unbaked clay tablet was found buried in a rubbish

heap outside the city w^aU of Lagash. Upon this tablet a Eiiinor priest,

who must have been a friend and partisan of Urukagina, had listed the

shrines destroyed and looted by the foreign allies of die conservative

faction and had eased his mind by calling down a comprehensive curse

upon the traitors.

 

 

Chapter' XXII

 

 

Near East and Mediterranean

 

 

The fivoghessive desidcatioj^ of the N&af East whjchi le<l to the d^vel-

opmisnt of the Semitic culture patterns aUo served to concentrate popu¬

lation in tlie river valleys and on the of the rnountain ranges^ The

most important of these ranges were the Zagros mountains which bor¬

dered Mesopotamia on the cast+ the Elbruz Imniediatcly to the soutli of

the Caspian Sea* and the Taurus mountains in southeastern Asia Minor.

Tn addition, the w'holc of Khurdistan and much of .Armenia and Asia

Minor were broken plaleaiis where small ranges alternated with fertile

\ alleys. Unfortunately, the archeolog)' of most of these mountain regions

b largely unknown^ but tlie presence of Neolithic and Bronze Ago

settlements is attested by the numerous telSf mounds of accumulated

debris. The few^ excavations which have been conducted outside Meso¬

potamia indicate e steady development of culture throughout the pre¬

historic period with tiuinerous diffusions both westward to the Aegean

Islands and Europe and easlw-ard through Ttirkestan^ The finding in

Kansu* China, of Neolithic painted pottery^ similar to that from early

levels from Susa In Persia shows how far the tMusion extended.

 

As our knowledge increases, Anatolia, at the svestem end of the

Squthw^cst Asiatic massif* is beginning to emerge as an important center

of culture grow^th. Most of the new dements which appear in central

Europe from tbe Neolithic on can be traced to tins region, and it seems

increasingly probable that it was a genuine origin point for new ideas

and techiiirjties rather tlian a mere transmitter from the more advanced

cultures of the south. Although Syria and Anatolia could not support the

dense population Or develop tlie thoroughly urbanized culture of Meso¬

potamia, its valleys and plateaus were fertile enough to support numer¬

ous villages and to provide considerable economic surplus. Fairly Inrge

towns grew' up in many places and tlie technology, especially in potterj'

and metal working, was little, if at all inferior to tliat of Mesopotamia*

 

313

 

 

3141

 

 

Part Stii SouTH^x^ Mia and Europe

 

 

In Anatolia at least the ethnic imd linguistic situation seems to

have been exceedingly complex. As in all mountainous country, the lo¬

cal conditions mnde for isolation^ with corresponding eultiiral and lln-

guistic diversity. Altliough few^ if any inscriptions are available for this

region before the rise of the Ilittite empire, about iSoo b^c.^ the first

written recxjrds reveal a situation not unlike that in the modem Cauca¬

sus. There were eartainly a great variety of languages anti cultures func¬

tioning within a comparatively small area. Tablets from the Ilittite ar¬

chives in Boghoz Keui are written in at least 17 different languages,

several of which cannot be related to any known linguistic stocks- Data

on physical types Is lacking, but since the tribal groups w'erc small and

normally endogamous^ each of them probably had its own distinctive

physical characteristics hosed on '"family resemblances." The Cfirliest

sculptures from Anatolia and Syria show the big-nosed, short-headed

Armcnoid type which is stiff strong in these regions. The fact that thh

type also seems to have been the artistic ideal of tlie Sumerians, al¬

though it is very poorly represented in Sumerian skeletal material, raises

some interesting questions. Since the early Sumerian representatfons are

at least 1000 years older than the Hit tile ones, whatever copving of

idea] ty^pes may have occurred was from south to nortL Perhaps a small

group of Armenoids invaded Mesopotamia from the norffi and hecanie

an aristocracy which survived long enough to leave their imprint on the

art stjle.

 

In spite of local variations, the later Neolithic and Bronze Age

cultures of Syria and Anatolia show certain basic similarities. Pottery

was elaborate, with Tiumerous shapes and fine polychrome decorations.

It was superior to anything mode in Mesopotamia during the Sumerian

or Akkadian periods. Mesopotamian traders had penetrated Syri^ by

3000 B.c and were using the region to the north as a source of metal.

There was a considerable exchange of metal objects, mid it is highly

probable that there were also foumeyrtien metal workers like those al¬

ready mentioned in central Europe. A variety of metallic ores were

available in Anatolia, giving an opportunity for experiment and im-

provements in technology^ The local smiths passed from copper to

bronze by way of the smelting of mixed ores, and perff?eted a number of

new implement forms in the latter. They then become the first ciafts-

men, as far as we know^ to smell and forge iron. The first evidence for

the use of smelted as distinct from meteoric iron Comes from the Ilittite

territory in northern Syria between 1500 and i 3 oo B.c, At this time all

the great civilizations were still using bronze, and iron must be con¬

sidered a geographicaffy marginal invention. Apparently tlie Hittites

tried to keep a monopoly of the new metal A suggestion of the Egj'ptian

king that he and the Hlttite king should exchange gold and iron was

 

 

XXII. Near East and Mediterranean [31S

 

met bv evasion and a royal gift of two daggers with gold hilts and tem¬

pered iron, not steel, blades. One of these, apparently preserved M an

heirloom, was found in the tomb of Tutankhamen.

 

Unfortunately, our informutiCFn on Asia Minor is woefully inade¬

quate The inscriptions from this region are not numeraus, and even

now iTfany of them cannot be read. Thus, although the Hittite language

is known to us from numerous ctmeiforai inscriptions, the Hittites own

system of writing still has not been deciphered, flowcver, it seems that

tile Ilittite empire, which came into being about iSoo a.c., was a con¬

federacy which brought together numerous tribes of divergent lan¬

guage and culture; The best record of its memlwrship has been left by

its Eg^'ptian enemies. The frontiers of the rtto empires met in northern

Palestine and they fought back and forth for centuries, In one of the

Egyptian temples there is a series of reliefs showing the s'arious con¬

tingents of the Hittite army, each contingenl with its proper arms and

equipment, .^mong them one finds the "Men of Troy, svho are shown

driving chariots, wearing crested helmets much hke those of tlie Classi¬

cal Greeks, and carrying the typical figure-eight shields used by both

sides in the Tro|an wars. Tlie physical types and equipment of the other

contingents are exceedingly varied and bear out the impression of

heterogeneity conveyed by the many languages present in the royal

archives.

 

Tlie Hittite lasiguage was certainly [ndo-Europeiin, as are somo of

the other languages presers'cd in the archives* while the names of most

of the tribal chiefs also seem to be Indo-European. The first invasion of

Cteece hy Indo-European speaking tribes seems to have taken pbee

 

 

 

 

SWOVID SCMBAilfl FROJfct HALL5TATT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fart Sfx; Sovthwest Asia and Etmore

 

 

3101

 

shortly after the founding dl the Hittite empire, and it seems probahle

that both were part of a single movement originating in Ask Xiinnr.

The early Hittite empire w^as probahly not so much an organized

fedemcy as it was a group of tribes hdd together by aristocracies of

common origin. The Creek principalities which con^bincd to make war

on Troy were united on a similar basis. That numerous tribal languages

wwe still in use within the llittite enclave w^ould not be surprising if

the Indo-European expansion had been a comparatively rectmt €weiit

 

We know little of the early organ izatioa uf tlie Hittites, The hiter

Hittjtc empire wras ob%iPii5ly mtxlelcd on tfie Mesopotamian ones* and

tlie inscriptions show a well-developed bureaucracy and, still more m-

teresting, a formal code of law's reminiscent in some ways of the Code

of Hammurabi and probably modeled upon it. It is interesting to note

that the penalties ia this code w^ere in general milder than those in the

Code of Hammurabi, and that sex offenses of various sorts were treated

with much greater leniency-

 

The llittite state, whether as confederacy or empire, was certainly

effective for both offense and defense. It survived 500 years with only

one brief interval of eclipse, establislied iU rule over S)Tbi and macli

of Asia Mitior, and pressed southward until its frontiers finally met tfiose

of the Egyptians in Palestine. For a short time it seemed that the Hfttites

might even dominate Egypt as had their predecessors, the Syrian

Hyksos.

 

The name of Tutankhamen is probably better kiio^vn to Americans

tlian any iilher pharaoh, but few have beard of his young queen, wtio

seems to have been the I>elter man. When the pharaoh died there w'cre

forty days of mourning, during which no political acbon could be taken.

The queen knew that the dynasty' was crumbling and the last of

Akhenaton''s reforms would be swept away with it. She wrote to the

Hittile king begging him to send his son to marry her so that the llittite

armies might help her hold the throne. There are two accounts of what

followed- .According to one, the Hittite king replied cautiously, "Let

us see first what the queens captains say.'^ According to another, a

Hittite prince w^os actually sent to Egypt but was ambushed and mur¬

dered by Egyptians eti route. In any ease, at the end of the forty days

of mourning, one of the queen s captains seized the throne and the little

queen disappeared from history*

 

In the early nth and late 13th centuries b.c, the Hittite power

came to an cod. Ilittites and Egyptians had fought each other to

a standstill and, after its defeat in a battle at Kadesh in the Orantes in

i»88 B.a, the Hittite empire fell to pieces. The disintegration was has¬

tened by the attacks of new barbarian tribes from tlie north. The Creeks

placed the Dorian invasion at only a slightly later periods and appor-

 

 

XX 1 L Near East and Mediterranean

 

 

[317

 

 

entlv iiflother wave of Indo-Euiopean speaking peoples, ^rhaps the

Irie cattle-keeping Aryans, were now pressing southward Md westw^

 

In order to escape them, various nonrIndo-European speaking tribra be-

cm to evacuate Asia Minor and the Aegean Islands. Although the

Egyptian records refer to these tribes coUcctively as "The Prople of the

Isles," the evidence seems to point to the mainland, spcciaUy the south

coast of Asin Minor, as their most probable point of origin. Some of

them no doubt came from the Aegean Islands, but it is hard to belike

that these smaJl and relatively barren islets could send forth such a

swarm of varied tribes. Also, it seems that some of tlie tribes cai^ south¬

ward overland with o* carts, something most unlikely for an island pfio-

 

These invading tribes had already been known for some centuries

to ibe Egymtians and Hittitt*s, who had employed them as mercenary

soldiers. Ttmy ran over tire Syrian and Palestinian coasts

a great but imsuccessful attack on Egypt. When they were beaten off,

two of the tribes seem to have migrated westward, cstabbshing them¬

selves in what were still barbarian lands. The peoples, whose name the

Etn-ptiflns wrote S r<fn, were pretty certainly the same as the later

Sardimans. Egyptian representations of this tribe agree m details of

their rather unusual costume and equipment with fi^mnes found m

the island of Sardinia. However, this could scarcely have been their

point af origin. Egyptian and llittilcs of the i6th «otii^ h.c. were not

kelv to hsv^ been recruiting mercenaries from an island between Italy

and Spain when even llie Cretan sea rovers had barely penetrat^ th, t

far west. It seems much more likely that the S rrfafter Ac fadure of

the attack on Egypt sailed westward, overimwer^ the older Sardiniim

population and settled there, giving die island Aeir own name. The^

‘pkple of the Isles" were already using iron as well as bronze tools

and die extensive deposits of iron ore in Sardinia may have provided

 

a stimulus to the settlement r ,1 -d 1 ,i,„

 

At least part of Ae TjTrheni, nnoAer tnbe of the of Ae

 

Isles" migrated to Italv and became the Etruscans, However, this move¬

ment seems to have been delayed for at least rivo eentur.^ and ^ a

matter of gradual infiltration ratlicr Aan BUKS invasion. The Etru^s

contributed heavily to Ae development of the Roman culture and will

 

be discussed later. , ,. , .,

 

A Aird group have a peculiar interest for us, although they pla>^

 

a very mioor role in history. These were the people knov^ as the Flu-

Ustines, who settled along the coast of what is now Palestine and gave

die region Aeir name. The Philistines csta^ed themselves Acre be-

lwee?approxlmately 13^0 and 1000 b.c. The Children of Israel who

arrived S nearly Ae same time but from Ac opposite direction, found

 

 

3^81 Port Sbr: SoimmesT Asia anb Etmope

 

the Phllisttnes already m possession of the coastal lands, 'flic older

Canaanitic population, who were settled Semites, were caught bctw'ccn

the two.

 

The Hebrews, at the tune of their arrival, were still in the Bronze

Age. while the Philistines were using iron. Bible readers may remember

that the charges which the Philistine smiths made for sharpening the

Hebrew's iron tools were regarded as exorbitauL The “sharpening" was

probably the reiorging or welding of worn-out tools, processes requiring

the skill of trained smiths. After a Inng-drawn struggle recorded in the

Book of Judges, the Hebrews conquered and evenhially absorbed both

Canaanites and Philistines. According to the Hebrew records, the Phi¬

listines came from Caphtor, usually equated with the isbnd of Crete.

However, none of the Minoan (early Cretan^ carwngs show the char¬

acteristic PfalLstine headdress, a feather war bonnet almost identical

with that worn by the Blackfoot Indians of our own Plains. Neither do

the Philistine archeological remains nor the few Biblical references to

their ethnology fit with what we knenv of the Minoans. It seems much

more probable that the Philistines followed the example of the Sar¬

dinians and the Tyrrheui and established colonies on Crete after the

Failure of the Egyptian attack. By 1300 b.q tlie brilliant Minoan civiliza¬

tion Iiad colbpsed. and a group of foreign invaders might well have

gained a foothold. It may be noted in thk connection tliat one of the

symbols on the Phnestos disc, a unique inscribed tablet found in Crete,

is the head of a man wearing what looks very much like a Philistine war

bonnet. The Egyptians were already familiar with the Minoan Cretans,

with whom they bad traded for centuries, and distinguished clearly be¬

tween them and the Philistines, w'hom they regarded as part of the'gen-

eral southward migration of the “People of the Isles."

 

In later times tlie native peoples and cultures of Asia Minor >vere

caught between the great Asiatic powers to the east, first Assyria, and

then Persia and the expanding Creek civilization. They have left little

mark on recorded history. Nevertheless, on the cultural side their con¬

tributions were by no means inconsiderable. As has already been said,

the region seems to have been one of the earliest centers of metal work¬

ing and may well be responsible for both the Invention of bronze and

smelting of iron. The Etruscans played an important role in the shaping

of the Roman civilbation and through this left their mark on later cul¬

tures of the west

 

Lastly, events in Asia Minor left an enduring monument in the

Homeric epics. As we have seen, Troy was part of tlie Hittite confed¬

eracy, So long B5 the Hittite power continued the mainland Greeks did

not dare to attack the city, although they probably had causes for irri¬

tation coiisiderably more important and less romantic than the dope-

 

 

XXJ/. Near East and Mediterranean

 

 

1319

 

 

mcnt of Helen. The city of Troy was a small affair. In the Homem

period the total space within its walls was roughly equivalent to that

covered by Grand Central Slaton in New York. However, it was ^a-

teocally situated at one of the few spots along the Aeg^n coast where

ships voyaging northward to the HeU«pont and Black Sea could oh*

tain wa 4 r and could be beached for the night. The Trojans would ^ve

been less than human if they had not taken advantage of then position

io trv to dominate the Black Sea trade. After the battle of l^desh and

the Hiltitc coUapse, the Greeks saw their opportunity to dispose ot a

IpTig-stndcling rival and did so.

 

 

 

PART SEVEN

 

 

Mediterranean Complex

 

 

 

 

Chapter XXIII

 

 

Crete

 

 

The dbcoi-’eby of the early eastern Meditcrrancim cultures is one of the

most romantic stories in archeology. The Iliad and the Odyssey cout^

frequent references to objects quite unlike anything known to the Clas¬

sical Creeks and implying a level of technological skill which even they

lacked. To give a single example, the shield of Diomede, on which a

picture of men picking grapes in a vineyard was worked emt in melals

of many different colors, would have been beyond the skill uot only of

the Classical Greeks but, until a century ago. of any people except the

Japanese. Although tlie Greeks themselves had taken the fiomeTic epics

as serious history witlr only the embroidery allowed by poetic license,

the European scholars of the 19th eentury relegated them to the reaJni

of fantasy and reduced the heroes and episodes to cosmic deities and

 

One man refused to be convinced. Heinrich Schlietnann, bom the

son of a poor pastor in iSa^p ® familiar German type, a romai^icist

with an idie /ixc. He has written a very interesting autobiography in

which he tells how his passion for the Greek classics began when he was

a small boy. In his native village there was a poverty -strickcii alcoholic

who, in his better days, had received a classical educabon. When this

man was drunk he would recite Homer in the original Greek, \oung

Scldiemann would save his pennies until he had enough money to pro¬

vide the necessary stimulus, then listen to tlie rolling lines of Homer,

no word of which he understood, with tears of emotion rolling dowm his

cheeks. He detcmiincd that when he gr«v up he would find and

cavate the city of Troy and promised to take a little girl who his

first love with'him. Although the girl dropped out of the picture, he re¬

tained this ambition during years of poverty and even when he was an

itinerant laborer. Eventudly, he made a fortune by smuggling tea into

Russia, an occupation which at tliat time compared in both its respccta

 

 

Port SflUtffl: MnuTEHHAJfEAN CoMfuat

 

 

324I

 

bilJty aDcl returns with btiotlegging in the United States of the late

1920s. In 1870^ when he was foitj'-eight years old+ he was finally able

to implement his ambibon.

 

In preparation for the rcsurreedon of Tro)v ScWiennann had taught

himself Greek and had studied Homer intensively^ He refused to accept

the place which was then supposed to be the site of Troy because it

lacked certain springs mentioned in the Iliad, Otlier reasons for reject¬

ing it were that it was too far from the coast and that it would have been

impossible for Achilles to pursue Heclor around the cWy walls unless

they both had indulged in some fairly stilE tock-dimbiog. Finoity lie

decided upon a mound on which t!^e village of Eiissarllk had stood as

the most probable site and began excavadons with v^t enthusiasm but

little professional competence. In the course of his work he unearthed,

and hopelessly scrambled* the remains of a whole series of superimposed

 

 

 

MZNOAN JAB

 

 

 

XXIIL Crpte f 3»5

 

towns which showed that the site had been occupied almost continu¬

ously from Neolithic to Ronmti timis. In One of the occupation levels,

which was later proved to be some centuries older than Homeric Troy,

he found a collection of gold objects which had cvjdentally been hidden

in haste and svhiph he gleefully dubbed “The Treasure of Ptiam.

 

Tlie rumors of treasure brought down upon Schiiemaun a horde of

hungry Turkish ufficiuls and he was forced to abmdon work at Hissorlik

before he had completed the destruction of the site. He moved to the

Creek mainland and began work at Mytene, which svas the reputed site

of the Atridae, the royal house to which King Agamemnon had be¬

longed. The Roman writer Pausanius, who had written a sort of Bae¬

deker of the Greece of his time, reported that u certain place at Mycene

was pointed out to tourists as the tomb of Agfunemnon. Digging in the

area indicated by Pausanius’ account, Schliemann uncovered a series of

roval tombs with unbclievablv rich furniture. In one he found the

Ion of a taU man with his face covered with a bearded gold mask and

with a magniBcent bronze rapier by his side. Other tombs yielded a

wealth of metal objects, the mcKt estraordinarj' of which were daggers

inlaid with scenes of men hunting lions, of a wildcat pursuing birds

aiTiong the reeds, and with rows of lilies, all worked out m many colored

metals. One of the most intriguing finds was n silver eup with bird

figures on the lumdles. With a ver\' slight stretch of tiie imaginabtm,

this could be regarded as the veritable cup of Nestor, descri^ m the

Stdiliemann wired to the German emperor: I have found the

(otnb of Agattiemnon,” and shortly thereafter died happily^

 

We know toduy that this cwild not have been the tomb of Agamem¬

non but came from n period at least Uiree or four centuries earlier, but

Schlieinunn’s labors had brought to light a chapter in Greek bstory

which had been completely lost. If he had lived only a few years longer

he would have completed his work by discovering the «nter of th,s

great Aegean culture, for at bis death he had already made plans to dig

in Crete, As it was. the Cretan work svos carried on by other archeolo¬

gists. especially Sir Arthur Evans, who devoted his life to the ^adual

uncovering of the great site at Knossos where the Cretan civih^tion

seems to have reached its cUmain Unfortunately Cretan culture has to

be reconstructed from artifacts, buildings and frescoes, plus some Creek

legends. To judge the authenticity of the latter, one must rememhe,

that the period scpaiabng the climax of the Cretan civilisation from the

climax of the Atheiican culture was roughly the same as that separating

the Norman conquest of England to the present day and tl^t these

legends bad been banded down by word of mouth. The had

 

developed a svstem of svriting, apparently a mixture of syllabary and

ideographic signs, but even if It could be decipher it wo g've us

 

 

Fart Stffjen; MEDncnRAXEAN Ck)MFi-EX

 

 

326 ]

 

little help, since they huve left m long jns4:T]ptloru;, This m itself may

be significantp fw it indicates that the Cretans did not acctird their rulers

the adulation given to Mesopotamian kings or Egyptian pharaohs. Most

of the exainples of Cretan writing which have come to light so hir are

on tags whicb apparently were for marking bales of merchandise.

 

The Cretan dvilizatioii was derived from the same Southwestern

Asiatic Neolithic center which w^as ancestral to the other ai^cient cub

hires fust discussed. However, it seems to have been more strongiy io-

fluenced by Egyptian civilization tlian by Asia. Crete lies about half¬

way between Egypt and the Creek mainland^ a position which proved

highly advantageousp^ since it made It possible for the Cretans to domi¬

nate tlic cjorrying trade between these two centera in bter times. The

first Cretan settlement seems to have been mode about 5000 prob¬

ably by migrants from the Creek mainland. Their cultnrc w'as a simple

Neolithic one^ but they could reach Crete by island-hopping without

having to cross more than 50 or 60 miles of open sea at any point. This

w^oiild be quite possible in diigont canoes in calm weatlicr. Racially*

the settlers were long-headed, dark-haired, slender Mediterraneans,

Even ill Classical times the back country Cretans did not speak Creek,

and from this and the Minoan (early Cretan) inscriptions* we feel sure

that the original language of the Island was not Indo-European.

 

Contact with Eg>'pt seems to have been estafalJshed before the end

of the pre-Dymastit period there, roughly 4000 So many Egyptian

elements appear in Crete during the next thousand years that some au¬

thorities believe there was an actual migration from Egypt. In the cLasri-

cal period the Cretans were Famous for two thingsi their archery and

their mendacity. They seem to have used the composite boWp even in

Minoan timeSj having presumably acquired it through trade contacts

with Asia Minor. The mendacity was presumably a local developtnent.

There was a Classical Cret^k phrase, "“to lie like a Cretan," which ae-

knowledged their supremacy in an art at which the Creeks themselves

were no novices.

 

Even in Neolithic times Crete must have been a relatively poor

region for agriculture. However, the island was well forested, providing

timber for ships, and the oUve tree well adapted to tlie stony slopes

which were left when the forests had been cut cif. The Cretans seem to

have been one of the first peoples to domesticate this tree. Olive groves

are profitable only for a thoroughly settled population, since it takes

them about 30 years to come into full bearing, after which they will

keep on beartog for about 100 years. Thraughoul Cretan history olive

oil one of tlie islands main exports. Their use of Hie fine pottery

which was produced locally for the fancy packaging of this product has

already been mentioned.

 

 

XXin. Crete ^ 3^7

 

The main Cictan domestic oaimBl seems (o have been the goat.

Horses reached the island before the Minoan culture was overt^own

but they wtmi of little importance. Cattle were abo kept and bulb had

very defiidte ecreinonlfll and religious cotiootatians. However* tbe Cre^

tans must have got most of their protein food frmn fok The poverty

of the Cretan soil and the prortmity of the sea let! them to seafaring

and commerce. They were the Brst people in history to develop a ci^*

ration of the modern commercial type. Throughout tlie period when

Cmte was a great power, the Cretans lived much as the English have

lived In recent centuries, by their control of the ocean-c^ing trade

and by tlie sale of manufactured products. Much of their fo^ must

have been imported. Crete was densely populated even m Homme

limes, when tlic civiliTation was in a state of relative collapse. The

Homerie poems constantly speak of the manypeopled Crete, an t e

Creeks of this period were greatly impressed by the number of towns

 

and the crowded streets of the island. , . , , r

 

Bv 3<w H-c. copper was being obtained in trade from the island of

Cvnnis. Our own word for copper, passed down through many lan-

gmiccs, reaUv means "metal of Cyprus." Bronre, silver, and gold were

in use by ^ b.c.. and since there were tio rich ore deposits on the

island, all of these must have been obtained through trade. Iron Ad not

reach Crete until after the collapse of the .Minoan ci^lizatioti. U may

well have been brought in by Aose Philistines whom we have already

discussed. The Cretan artists of the late Minoan period. i6c«^aoo o c^

developed a skdl in allovnng which has rarely been equaled. They tri^

out all sorts of metallic mixtures and finishes, until they were able to

literally paint in different colored metab. Relatively few examples of

this work have been found in Crete itself, and one wonders wheAer its

pmebicts were ink-iidecl primarily for the tion^Cretan mmnland prtnees

for whom the Cretan artists produced iuxuiy objects. Perhaps Ae metal

painting was too flamboyant tor Ae highly refined Cretan t^e.

 

Pottery was known from the first Cretan settlLinents. AlAough they

had frequent contacts wiA Egypt, where the technique of tn^mg

faience was well developed, most of their vessels were uuglaz ’ ,

ihelcss, the forms are excellent a«td the decoratiou not only beautiful but

painted with a freedom and skill which mark.s tlie pro essional. Not un¬

til the great age of the Creek vase painters do wc find pottery of equal

 

artistic qualite. , ^ , ui. u

 

Tire Minoans also must have been excellent woodworkers, although

no examples of their craft have survived. We know that Aey built

chariots and seagoing ships, both of which require careAl prclimmapr

design and expert joinery. It is interesting in this connection that the

few Minoan toob wliich have survived Adude a fragment o w at seems

 

 

Fart Seccn: Meditoihanzan Complex

 

 

328]

 

to be a brge bronze crosscut saw, pobably used in sawing out planks

for sbipwrights. Other Minoan tcxjis are much more like modem Euro¬

pean hand tools than arc those of ihe Mesopotamians or Egyptians. A

modem craftsman could use them with little change m his muscular

habits.

 

The ingenuity and technical skill of the Cretans was recognized by

the later Greeks in their legend of Daedalus, the master craftsman who

contrived numerous machines for the use of his royal master. At least

one of the devices with which he is credited, the hah arid socket joint

permitting universal motion, may well bo a Cretan invention. According

to the legend, when he fell from favor he escaped with his son Icanis by

means of artificial wingSH The fate of Icarus, who ventured too near

the sun, is still familiar as an example of dimstrous pride.

 

Minoan art represented an early flowering of that keen observation

of nature and attempt lo reproduce it, while maintaining balance and

harmony of design, which was so charaeteristic of the later Greeks. Like

 

 

 

MINOAN jah

 

 

XXin, Crete

 

the Creek art of tlie later Classical period, MLnoan art was mstinct with

life. Us artists did oot represent remote and awful deities or divine kings,

but proud and happy humans. Nfinoan pottery was decorated with

floral and marine forms of surprising naturalism, and similar forms, pa^

ticularly dolphins, were used as repeat designs in the frescoes with

 

whidi die Mi noon pid aces were decorated.

 

A striking feature nf Minoan art, as it has survived, is the small size

of laosl of the ohjects. We have figurines obviously intended for oere*

raonial purposes, but no life-siste statues. This is in sharp contrast to

the fresco art in the palace at Kiiossos, where life-size figures are ram*

moD. There is even one frieze of more than life-size male figures modeled

in stucco in relief. We have the tradition of the bronze man which

i^aedalus made to serve as a guartfiao for Minos, and there are a few

skillfully cast bronze figurines. One wonders whether there may not

have been lirger, perhaps life-size, metal statues which have disap

peared in the raursc of the numerous lootings to which the island was

evposed from 1400 a.c. on, Whetlier there were larger statues Or not

the miniature products of the Minoan art show estraordmary skill and

naturalism. The tiny face of one ivory figurine represetiHng a pnestes

is so live and so charming in its iiregulnrity of feature that it may wclJ

be a portrait. Another obiect which unfortunately has surtived only

in part is a group showing the favorite theme of the hull sport. In this a

delicately carved ivory athlete, caught in mid leap, seems to have been

supported on gold wires aho\'e the figure of (he bull.

 

Thanks to frescoes and figurines it is possible for us to reconstruct

various details of Cretan equipment The usual costume of young men

Was a scant}^ loin cloth und a brtu'fcd belt designed to pto uce a wasp

waist. Older men wore a long gown, and apparently cloaks were worn

for warmth or on solemn occasions. The womens costume gives a cun*

oils feeling of modernity. The upper garment was a short-sle^^ bolero

jacket worn with or without a blouse of thin white material. VVith this

WHS worn a flounced bell-lxitiomed skirt or wid.-bottomed lounging

pajamas gaily decorated with ruffles. Color was extensively u^. The

footgear for both men and women w'as completely modern. Men are

sometimes shown wearing sandals but more rammoffly wwnng a solid

shoe much like the army field shoe. Women wore high-heeled^ o^m*

strap sUppers almost identical svith those shosvn in the summer displays

of Fifth Avenue shops. Women also wore large, gaily decorated bate

which might ivell have come from the workroom of Uly Dachd. Both

sexes were addicted to elaborate ornaments of gold and gems, and the

variety' of costume details shown in paintings and figurines ™ggest that

the Minoan ladies, like our own, follow'ed the dictates of frequently

changing fashions.

 

 

Port Secen; NfEDiTEtiBANEAN Compjuex

 

 

330I

 

The Minoan wajriors are shmvn wearing crested bronze helTnets

but no body irnnon The basic defensive weapon was a large sbicM

shaped like a Bgnre-eight. Tlie indeiitatipns in the center were no duubt

designed to give tlie bearer roam for work with spear or rapier* but

they formed a weak spot in his defensen It may be remembered that in

the Hofnerie poems most of the heroes vi ere wounded in the side toward

the waist, the place where tbe Mlnopan shield gave the least pmteebon.

The main w^eapons were the spear and sword. I'he double-bitted axe,

w^hich must originally have been a real battle aiee. seems to have been

relegated to ceremonial use by Minoan times. Tlie .words were long,

straight, bronze rapiersp Inpering very gradually from a slender tip to a

widest point just in front of the grip. Hilts were made of gold, ivory, or

cuystab elaborately worked-^ These rapiers had been developed from

earlier daggers and were used exclusively for thrusting.

 

Unfortunately^ we have little information on the Cretan shipbuiJd-

ingT vvhich must have been one of the high points in their tcchnolog)'.

Tliey seem to have been the first people to clevelop large seaworthy

vessels. To judge fram engravings on gems and occasional representa¬

tions on pottery^ these ships were galleys v-'ith single batiks of oars. Tliey

seem to have been decked over for their entire length and to have had

one to three mast^ widi square sails* The bow and stem were high and

sharply iipcurvcd and, at the bow. the keel projected lor some distance

beyond the cutwater. This nirangement must have been designed for

ramming, and wc know that by the end of the Minoan perii>d fighting

ships had rams which were shod with bronze. They were thus the origi*

nators of what was to be the main naval tactic throughout the Classical

period. It may also be noted that the Minoans were the first people to

develop the type of anchor still ifi usCp complete with flukes and rig^

 

If they were able to ram successfully^ the Minoan galleys must have

been fast and maneuverable* They enabled the Minoans to establish the

first sea empire in history. In order to maintain this, they set up naval

bases around the eastern Mediterranean. Their bases to the Nile della

were leased from Eg>T^- civilized areas were probably

 

established by force. Such bases were the earliest examples of Uie de¬

liberate colonization brought to such a high point by the later Greek

cities* While these ba^es were mainly useful for trade, the Minoans also

no doubt indulged in piracy. It may be remembered that in the Ody^setj

King Nestor politely asks Odysseus^ son Tclemachiis whether he is ^

trader or a pirate. Both occupations were regarded as perfectly respect¬

able at this period and were obviously merely alternate ways of getting

what the voyager wanted.

 

The Cretan communities seem to have been more prosperous than

any of the early dty clvUizatiotis. Certainly the economic surplus was

 

 

XXIIL Crete

 

 

I331

 

 

more evenly distributctl. The Egyptmn cities consisted of a few great

Ifmples aod paJaccs ^rtminded by t!xtensive slums. There was a larger

middle class in Mesopotamia than in Egypt, but even there the propor¬

tion of middle-class families seems to have been much smaller tlian in

Crete. The Minoan towns suggest a predominantly bourgeois popula¬

tion. The settlement paHeru was that of open villages, each svith its

outdoor shrine as a center for coiranunity life. Houses seem to have been

Iniiit of timber and stucco and, except for flat roofs, lookerl very inucb

LLe Elizabethan English cottages. There were plenty of windows which,

to iudge from the pictures, were covered with some Iremvn ttanslucent

substance, probably oiled parchment- Nobles and kings had larger

houses, but only one really fiuge establishment has been discovered to

 

buildings which seem to be slave quarters have been found so

far. The rosvers on tbc Cretan galleys, like those of the Greek gaUeys

as late as the battle of Salsmis, may well have lieen free men imd mem¬

bers of the crew. There probably were some domestic slaves,Jhe only

satisfactory answer to the senant problem prior to tlie mHchinc age.

but they do not seem to have been numerous or cc-onomically important.

Althouch the island of Crete apparentiy was not pollheally un^ed nntd

about a ceohirv before tlie final coUapsp of the Mmoan culture, the

Cretan villages' were all open towns. The Minoan ^ntrol of ^e sea

made defense against foreign invasion unnecessary. T icre seem o aye

been no fortificSiens on the island, which suggests that tlie vanous dis¬

tricts must have had some sort of confederate organization. Appiyei.t y

the Cretans lived at peace with each other, aside from tlic usual famdy

feuds. This was Iti sharp contrast to lh6 mahdand se etnen s.

 

The largest establishment on Crete was the great budding a Knos-

SOS. usually referred to as the palace of tbc Mmm, Minos was

of the Cretan priest-kings, os Pharaoh was of the Egyptian divme king^

The pabce vras a vast complex which bad apparently grown over

several hundred years mitil it bad come to include over 1000 rooms.

None of the rooms was very large and the coustructi™ wa.s of a

sort easily acsmmplished without the use of mass labor. The bidding

contained a throne room and living quarters for what mus have ^cn a

ruling family, but most of the complex was taken up with storehouses

and workshops. It seems to have been more community cente

and factory tlian a pflbee. in the throne room there was a gypsum

throne with guardian griffins painted on the on eJ er si e, " ^

royal living quarteri were bathrooms and loi ets

than anything in most of the villages on the islan 0 e ay.

was a good sewage system, with drains arranged m sue aw y

when it rained the waier from the roof would flush the sewers and keep

 

 

Part S(?U£rn; NtEDrreiiPAN'EAN CoMn^

 

 

33^1

 

them clean. The sewers also had manholes so that workmen could go

down into them for cleaning ;ind repairs. The Cretans were the first sani¬

tary engineers in history.

 

A combiiiatiun ol palace and factor)' such us the great buikling at

Knossos was quite in line with the importance of trade and manufae-

turies in die Cretan ©conDiny. Tra<le bi'tvvt'cn Crete and Eg>pt Iwgnn

Bs early jis 4000 b.c., and by 20€x> a.c. the contact was close and continu¬

ous. Crcbin art objects were thoiiglit worthy of mclusion in the tombs

of the Egyptian pharaohs, and Egj'ptian frescoes show the arrival of

Cretan merchants with characteri.stic costumes and wares* Even the

Minos of Crete traded with the Egj'ptian pharaoh, akhough their busi¬

ness transactions w'ere phrased in the lofty terms of a gift exchange.

Thus, we have a copy of a letter from a pharaoh complaining to the

Minos that the last .shipment of olive oil had not beiim up to specifica¬

tions. There must have been many other tratlcrs, and the finding of

what oin only be describetl as couiiIt}' villas suggests a class of wealthy

merchant princes.

 

Cretan trade and manufacturing seems to have left the local popu¬

lation with plentj' of time for spectator sports. As part of the Knossos

complex there Avas an open-air thenter which, to judge fpoiu the frescoes,

was used mainly for bull baiting. Tlie bullE were the wild aurochs of

Europe. Tliesc locked much like Lhe ziiodcm Spanish fighting bulls hat

were considerably larger and more ferocious. Erom a slightly later

period we have some marvelous gold cups showing hniv AviJd bulls were

caught Avith nets. The frescoes show young men and women dressed

only in loin clotlis and shoes baiting tlie^e dangerous animals. Appiir-

ently the trick w^s to meet the charge of the bull betAveen his spreading

horns, catch them* SAving up and vault over the IjiiHs back when he

tossed his head. The trick must have demanded perfect timing and

acrobatic skill. Since the hull baiters were imoj-med, the bulls were un¬

hurt, but the actors must have suffered numerous casualties, App^ireutly

bulb were in some way associated with tlic Cthonic deities of the old

Mediterranean religion* and tlie sport, if one can call it such, probably

had religious connotations.

 

Unfortunately, avc have little information on Minoan religion. To

judge by the represeiitations, the most important deity was femalcp the

old Earth Mother. She is shoiAm in aIino:^t constant associahon Avith the

snake, an obvious phallio symbol. Other animals associated with her in

Minnan art are lions and doves, wliJlc nioiintain.s and forests also seem

to have been connected in some way AAdUi her wnrsliip. Perhaps she was

similar in her attributes to tlie Sjoiati Great Mother, who also had these

as her sjmiboIsH She was certainly serx'ed by priestesses rather than

priests. There aie Qo Indications of hunma or even extensive animal

 

 

XXIIL Crete

 

 

t 333

 

 

sacrtBces. Her favorite offerings seem to have beet, the fmiU “f Jhe

No nude deities can be identifiwl in the art, but ven-e^ly Greek tegends

have it that Zeus vtas bom in a cave on the island of Crete, and one may

suspect that, as in the case of the Syrian Great Mother, there was a male

deiteof secondary importance who was at the same time the ^ and

bvex of the goddess. There seem to have been no real temples, bi

fficre were village shrines and the Knossos complex contained a small

 

room which must have U-en a sort of ebapeh

 

We also have little information on the social or pohtical organiza-

tion of the Cretans. The finding of communal tombs m which buo^s

had bt-en made m-er several generations indicates the

sort of extended kin ^ups. At the same time, the snse of the dweUmgs

in the villages is proStiiat the family was a simple unit much hke our

own Probably there was some sort of clan organization with villages

 

or seclnsion for them. The frescoes show them crowding the

 

at the biiU sport and also taking part in the bull

 

women hull baiters may well have been captives. Apparentiy the nobl^

 

women even took part in war. As late as the Cr«k and j

 

half-Cretan queen of Halicamasus. Artemisia, led her own contingent

 

 

 

guix BAJTlKti

 

 

 

 

 

Part MEDiTERiiANEAN Complex

 

 

334]

 

ships at the battle of SaLutiis and 'was one of the valued military ad¬

visors of tlie Persian king. The Creeks were infuxiated at having a

woman take the Geld against tliem and made a desperate effort to re¬

capture her gallej*, but she escaped from them after a fierce fight.

 

All this makes it highly probable that the Minoan society was matrl-

tineal and matriarchal. Certainly this condition was widespread among

the pre-Aryan tribes of the eastern Mediterranean.

 

Our only guides to the reconslructinn of the Cretan governmental

system are a few doubtful Creek legends. According to tliese the nikr

was a priest-king who iwre the title of Minos. He was selected by the

will of Zeus, which probably meant that he was chosen by some sort

of lot He held the office for nine years. At the end of this time he bad

to enter the Diktaian cavOi where the god Zeus w'os reputed to have

been horn, and give sn account of his stewardship. If Zeus approved of

his administration, he retunied and served for another nine years. U

Zeus did not approve, he did not emerge from the cave. Apparently the

Minos was not a war leader but an sdniinistrator and judge- We know

nothing of Cretan law. but it seems probable that there was a well-

developed legal sj'stem, A trading culture of the Cretan sort could

scarcely have functioned without one. This must have impressed die

barbarous Greeks of the mainland, for in later time they made Minos

the all-wise and incorruptible judge in Hades.

 

Not only do the Greek legends throw light on ancient Crete but the

discoveries in Crete throw light on ancient Creek legends. One of the

most famous of these legends is that of Theseus and the Minotaur. Ac¬

cording to this story, when Theseus, sou of the king of Athens, returned

to claim his birthright, he found that Crete was exacting from Atliens a

tribute of seven youths and seven maidens who had to be sent to Crete

every ninth year to feed the Minutaur. This was a bull-beaded, human-

bodied monster sprung from iJje unnatural union of a Cretan princess

and a hull. The cunning craftsman Daedalus constructed the labyrinth,

a vast and complicated building in which it was penned. The passages

were so complicated that once the victims had been driven into the

building they could never find their way out. Theseus insisted on join¬

ing the tribute group and when he reached Crete, won the heart of

Ariadne, the daughter of Ntmos. On the night before the youths and

maidens were to be olfcrcd to the Minotaur, she gave him a sword and

a bail of tliread. By tying the thread to the door post of the lab)*ruitli

and unwinding it behind hint, he was able to find hts vvay back and

lead his comrades out of the labyrinth, after be bad met and slain the

Minotaur. They tlien seized a ship in the harbor and set sail For Athens,

bearing Ariadne with them. At the island of Naxos Theseus abandoned

her asleep on the shore and continued on his way to other adventures.

 

 

XXIIL Crete [;J 35

 

There can he little doubt that the Jabyritith was none other than

the palace of Minos, a buUtllng complex enough to completely bewilder

a mainland Crcelt of that period, who had probably never seen any

structure with more than two rooms, while the bloodthirsty Minotaur

can scarcely be other than the bu lls of the Cretan sport*

 

There U another and less-tinow-n Creek story which may have a

similar basis in fact According to Clidemus, as quoted by Plutarch in

his Life of Thesffwt, the mainhmd Creeks had agreed not to build any

boats carrying more than five men. After his return, Theseus secretly

raised a fleet, descended on Crete, burned the hnossos, slew the Minos,

and brought the Cretan thalassocracy to an end. We know that the end

of the Minoan period came with startling suddenness. There are no in¬

dications that any preparation for defense had been made before the

blow fell. A new section of the palace at Knossos was under construe-

tion, and the workmen’s tools and materials were found where they left

tbern, ready for the next day's work. The attack seems to have coincided

with an earthquake wliich shook down sections of the palace, but this

did not prevent the attackers from doing a singularly compile job of

tooting. They even stripped ofi the gold leaf with which various stone

objects had been covered. The neat oombination of carthquoke and at¬

tack suggests an internal enemy, possibly a slave revolt. However, it can

scarcely be doubted that it was the work of foreign invaders. The col¬

lapse of the Minoan culture was complete, and after this attack there

was a recognizable change in Cretan physical type, such as might have

resulted from invaders having killed the Cretan men and taken the Cre¬

tan women for themselves.

 

After the fall of Knossos, Crete rapidly sank into a cultural and po¬

litical insignificance. Howes’er. by this time its culture had taken root on

tlie mainbnd. At some time before the fall of Knossos, perhaps between

1700 and 1500 B.C., Indo-European-spcalting invaders reached the Greek

peninsula and established thenist?lvc5 as an arislcxiracy among tho tri es

already settled there. These tribes were of diverse culture and at various

levels of advancement but the later Creeks desi^ated them all by the

term Pelasgir Apparently they followed the familiar pattern of conquest,

each noble family among the invaders setting up a separate principality.

They concentrated in their hands the economic surplus of the conquer

communities and employed it first in the building of great fortifi^ holds

from which they dominated the surrounding countryside, much as the

Normans dominated the Irish from their castles. These bolds were built

of enormous uncut stones fitted together In mosaic pattern, the so-called

Cvdopian masonry (see Chap. XLI. p. fis-j). Thej- were usually built on

abrupt, rocky hills and were the origins of the later Greek city Acro^fi.

Inside the fortification was the palace, a comparatively small building

 

 

Fart Seven: ME:iiiTi:iinAN'EAiv Complex

 

 

336I

 

on th^? lines of the later Creek inegaron honse. There seem to have been

no temples at this period. Such buildings were not a part of either the

Minoan or Myeenean tradition.

 

The Greek peasantry at the time of this first Indo-European-spcak'

ing invasion were very muck on a par culhjrally with their conquerors.

Both were in full Bronze Age. The two groups inlcnimrried and, here

and there^ rulers of the older stock remained in coutroL The resulting

society was further modi Bed by cun tact with Crete and the result was

the Mycenean cultures^ the last phase of which was recorded in the Ho¬

meric poems. By this time the fait^haired Achaeans, descendunts of the

conquerors, were fighting side by side with and listen ing to the advice

of the dark and craflj^ Odysseus, personification of the older Pelasgian

element.

 

Some of the finest examples of Minoao metal work have come from

mainland tombs, and Minoan pottery and other luxury objects were also

imported. Mainland pakees were frescoed by Cretan artists, who, how¬

ever, represented scenes from the life of the Mycenean employers rather

than from Crete. Thus the women in the frescoes are shown wTariog

robes much like ihc}se of the Classical Greeks, while men wear the hmic.

Women are shown hunting, driving chariots, and otherwise engaged in

what are commotily considered masculine activities. Both these repre¬

sentations and the Homeric poems suggest a much greater degree of

freedom than was enjoyed by Greek women in later times. Although this

may be explained in part by the old Indo-European hcjiritagCi there is

also good reason to believe that many of the Pelasgian tribes were mahi-

lineal and matrilocal. Perhaps the attitudes engendered by this carried

on into the Mycenean culture. In any case, the repression of women in

Greece seems to have come fairly bte.

 

It has even been suggested that matrilinea] succession provided a

clue to the Importance uttachetl by the Greeks to the theft of Helen and

the way in which all the Achaean kings rallied to her husband s aid. The

Achaeans were Indo-European-spealdng invaders who had conquered

various tribes on the Greek peninsula and ruled over them in much the

way that the Normans ruled over the Saxons in England. In cases where

these tribes were matriarchal and matrilineaJ, the invaders may well

have re-enforced their claims to the territory they had seized my Tnorry-

ing women of the native royal line. They would then rule in the name of

their wives, but their children would be unqtiestionably heirs to the

kingdom. It has been suggested that Helen carried the hereditan^ righfe

to the kingdom and that Meaelaus ruled through her. Since her csaipe

held possibilities of a general revolt with Trojan assistance, aU the

Achaean kings felt that their own interests were involved and combined

to recapture her, Tliis is, of course, surmise, but it seems more in line

 

 

XXJU. Crete [337

 

with whflt we know of Achoenn values than the ramanticizecl version of

Hdeii*$ elopement told in Greek myth.

 

The Myceneans have left no mscriptloiis. The best picture of their

society and religion is probably to be derived from Homer. One finds

m arrangement of nobleSj commoners, and serfs^ with few chattel slaves.

There was no over-all control of the various principalities but a strong

ft^ebng of unity among the Achaean nobles and a capacitj' for combin¬

ing forces under a cbosen leader when the>^ became TOiiscions of a gen¬

eral threat. Women of the noble group took charge of the Family and

even the principality when thebr husbands were absent. There was nor¬

mally nnly one wife in the noble family, but captive women, and no

doubt others selected f rom the prince s subjects* were regularly kept as

concubines^ Warfare wiis a matter of struggles het%veeii champions,

while the common soldiers remained in the background ready to rush

forward or flee according to which champion won. No male prisoners

were taken, but women were carried off as part of the spoils of war^ To

judge from Hocner s accounts, the hereto were not particularly heroic

by our Standards and discipline was nonexistent.

 

In religion the Achaeans seem to have rect^iized the Olyrnipbu de¬

ities, but llicy perfnriTiLxl their sacrifices to them at altars set up in the

open air. A lew images were in use, but the Greeks $eem to have brought

nfine with them. The Trojan Palladium and Its theft both sound much

more Asiatic than Greek. Human sacrifice as well as that of anunals was

practiced. There were no teniple estahlishnieiits, but the pattern of ora¬

cles which teaebed $uch a liigh developmeut in later Greece was already

in eristence. it may be significant tlial the givers of oracles were almost

all priesteses rather than priests, and it seetns probable that the pattern

was Miried over from the Pclasgian level-

 

There is Only one significant point at which the archeological find¬

ings do not bear out Homer. This is in the matter of mortuary practices.

Mo cremated burials of the tvpe described in such detail by Homer

have so far been found in the Mycenean area. Nobles seem to have been

buried either individuallv in shaft graves with abundant offerings, or

placed in large beeMve shaped tombs which were used by the same

families for centuries. However, the rites described by Homer are much

like those performed In Central Europe during the early Iron Age (Hall-

statt period),

 

VVu do not know whether the Myceneans were responsible lor the

sack of Knostsos and the overthrow of Cretan sea control. However, it

may be significant Uiat Egyptian objects of a sort which might ba\e

been sent as royal gifts appear in Mycencan sites dated shortly beioro

the Cretan catastrophe. It socros quite possible that the

egging on the Myceneans and that the legend of Tbeseiis previous )

 

 

Part Seven: NfEDiTEiinANEAM Comfi,k]c

 

 

338I

 

mentionod is a folk memory of the Mycenean attoek. If so, they were

given little time to enjoy the fniits of theif victory, Abont 1100 n.c. a

new group of invaders, ancestors to the later Dorian Greeks, swept

do^vn into the peninsula. They were more completely pastoral than their

Achaean predecessors; in fact, legends suggest tliat they may have had

no agriculture at the time of their airivaL However, they had abundant

iron weapons^, which gave them a considerable advantugeH They seem to

have been exceedingly destructive and to have wiped out what was left

of the Mycenean cuJture on the mainland.

 

Their iuvasioii ushered in a Dark Age which ended with the first

Olympiad, 732 b,c During this Dark Age, traces of the Mycenean culture

survived among the Ionian Creeks on the Asiatic coasL Strong infiuente

of tlie Mycenean art forms can be traced in the Ionian pottery. In due

course of time this art was reintroduced into the mainland and seems to

have played a significant role in the development of Classical Greek art,

especially as this was represented by vase paintings.

 

One last contribution of Cretan culture may be suggested. It seems

highly probable that Crete gave us one of our own most fascinating

myths, that of the lost Atlantis. This myth, as related by Plato* may well

have been ebbornted for his own symbolic purposes, but it seems im¬

probable that he invented it out of whole cloth. According to the

legend, the Egyptians told Solon of Athens (6th century b.c. ) that there

had once been an isLindp Atkin tb, whose fleets controlled the Mcditer*

ronenn, held Athcm to tribute, and traded on ecjual terms with Egypt

A great earthquake had destroyed the island almost overnight. By the

time that the Creeks emerged from the Dark Ages, the Minoan

tion had been completely forgotten. When confronted by the necessity

for finding a site lor Atlantis they wore in much the situation that we

would be if we had no w'ritten records, but were told by the Abysslniaiw

that a lew centuries before there had been a great power which held the

vrhole of tlie East African coa^ to tribute, captured cities in India, con¬

quered the spice Inlands* and fought England on equal terms. It would

scarcely occur to the modem American to equate such a power with

present-day Portugal, and sinailarly^ it did not occur to the Greeks that

Atlantis might be Crete. Since they knew the Mediterranean geography

quite well by this time and notliing seemed to fit the story* they placed

the island beyond the pillars of Hercules tn the wastes of the unexplored

Atlantie. Actually the fe%v bits of infonuation which the legend gives us

about the habits of the Atlantians are not inconsistent with the Cretan

asciiption, w^hilc even the last catastrophe might be a folk memory of

the earthquake which seems to have overthrown the palace at Knossos.

 

 

Chapter XXIV

 

 

Greece

 

 

Wrni THE of Creek civiljz^tioii Eumpe pdisses from the pro-^

 

historic to iJic historic period- It is s&lutsiry for iiis Europe»iiWt to r®"

meaiher that Mesopotamia and Egypt had made this transition almost

two thousand years before. After the ytb century b.cl we have in'

CTcasingly complete written records covering wider and wider areas

within Europe until the whole continent is included-i Where these rec¬

ords are available it becomes possible to apply the historian: s techniques

for determining their authenticity and for fixing the dates of particular

ev'ents* 1 have no intention of trespassing upon this ivell-cultivated field-

t also feel considerable hesitation in approaching the Classical cnltures

from an anthropologies] viewpoint- The study of these cultures has

copied many of the best minds of Europe for centuries- There are in¬

numerable works dealing with the philosophies and value systems of the

Greeks and Romans and, more recently, with their economics and social

and political patterns. The most diat i will attempt is to give a brief de¬

scription of certain features of Classical culture which, it seems to mei

have not been sufficiently emph m the literature but which exerted

considerable influence on later cultural developments in Europe.

 

The first fact of which the at^regc reader needs to be reminded is

that the great periods of Greek and Roman civilization were by no

means contempraneous- The Age of Pericles was separated from the

Age of Augustus by an interval nearly as long as that from the discovery

of America to the present At the time of die Athenian ascenden^^

Rome was little more than n village, and the Rouiuns were vastly inferior

culturally to those Asiatics w'hom the Greeks were accustomed to call

barburians. By the time the Romans had completed the subjugation of

iheir Etruscan and Italic neighbors and w^ere making war on the Creek

cities in Sicily, Alexander had made his conquest of Persia, and the hy¬

brid Greoo-Asiatic culture which we call Hellenistic was rapidly taking

 

 

Pari Seven: MEDfTEnRAXKAN Complex

 

 

form. Wlien Rome suddenly and quite unpredict^bly became a world

power, tiiis ralture was well established throughout most of the civilized

world, and it was this culture which tlie Romans assumed in their own

transformation from barbarism to civilization. Classical Creek culture

bore about as much and as little similarity to Hellenistie culture as the

culture of our iSth eenturj^ ancestors bears to otir Own. It was in

the Hellenistic culture that Greeks and Romans were able to unite with

Asiatics and Egyptians in an which had become for the first

 

time something more than a geographic division.

 

The influence of the Hellenistic culture was 50 far-reaching that it

must be dealt with separately. Similarly, the Greeks and Romans of the

pre-Hcllenistic period dilfered in so many respects that any attempt to

deal uith them simultaneously can only result in confusion. Grecian cul¬

ture is the obvious starting point for any study of the dwelopment of

European civilizadon within the historic period. However^ the influence

of Classical Greece runs through that civilization as a bright colored

thread rather than a broad skein. Its hea^y strands were drawn from

Rome and, even more, from the nortfaem barhartui:is whose culture

stemmed, in turn, from Central Europe.

 

 

 

Cn£EE SHIP WITH FUrUJED SAIL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XXIV. Greece

 

 

l34i

 

 

always. Gieein ciilturf cannot be understood mthwit reference to

its background. We have already discussed thr Aegean peoples, the Cre¬

tans, and the Indo-European-spealdug invaders whose blood and cul¬

tures blended to produce the Creeks. Still another element contributed

to this mixture, although its importance is diEcnlt to evaluate. After the

destruction of the Minoau sea power a Semite people, the Phoenicians

wc have previously discussed, dominated the Medittirranean. Their car-

liest cities were on the Syrian coast but, like their Minoan prcdccesHirs,

they soon felt the need of naval bases and founded colonies at various

points in tlie west. One of these colonies, Carthage, was destined to play

a siKnifieant part in later history. In the eastern Mediterranean they

were alvmvs in competition with Greeks and Egyptians, but they made

the seas beyond Sicilv tlieir own and profited greatly from their exploita¬

tion of the mineral wealth in Spain, They also explored north and south

along the Atlantic coast and reached the British Isles. j * j

 

The Phoenicians were mainly interested in trade and profit, and

cared little about political afiBliations as long as commerce was not inter¬

fered with. They were quit© willing to become a part of the grrat

pires which emerged successively in Western Asia. They have left few

records, and tlic accounts of Carthaginian culture given by the Romans

can be largely discounted as war propaganda. Their main role in the de¬

velopment of tlic Creek and other Mediterranean cultures was as mter-

mediaries between .Asia and Europe. Ttieir most significant contribution

to Creek culture was the alphaliet, a Semitic invention. As good busi¬

nessmen thc\' hod been quick to appreciate the advantages of a system

of writing so simple that professional scribc-s became unnecessary. The

Minoan svstem of writing had completely died out in Gr^ce dunng

the Dark Ages following the hJl of Crete and, according to Greek tradi-

tion, it wiks Cadmtis, n Pho^pician, who reintroduced the art. This much

is certain: the Creek alphabet was taken from the Phocnidan one.

 

In Greece alphabetic writing encoimtered a particularly favorable

milieu. As traders the Greeks cmuld appreciate tlie immediate advan¬

tages of the sv'stem, but they combined with their business mter^s a

range and variety of other interests and lively curiosity which the Phoe-

nidans lacked. The Grenjks liked to find out new things and to tell as

many people as possible about them. Moreover, thcir religion was ample

and‘relatively unorganired, with no strong priestly class which might

have pre-empted the new skill In Greece, writing escaped at lart from

both the counting house and the temple and became a medium lor the

 

exchange and preservation of ideas, . j

 

Creek culture not only was of mixed origin but also demonstrated

»ha< the blologiste vmdd ciOl hybrid vigor. II gavo B and Wwod

from every cuHuie »1th which Ihe Creels came in crmlact All niltuies

 

 

Pari Seaen: SlEainrcimANEAN Coxiflex

 

 

34is]

 

owe much of their cotiteut to borrowings nnd it is no disgrace to the

Creeks tliat they took advantage of the unusMul opportunities offered by

the time and place. The rise of the Asiatic empires had broken down

the old patterns of bibaJ LsolatioD over wide areas and created an insati¬

able demand for mercenary soldiers. During their Dark Ages Greeks

wandered all over the Near East and served to the armies of Egypt* As¬

syria* and lesser states. By the Classical period tliey were traveltog sim¬

ply to satisfy their enriosityp like modem tourists^ while their philoso¬

phers* who were also their sdeotists, were eagerly contacting people

with similar interests in all the places they visit^ One can recognize in

these early Creek travelers an attitude much like that of the 19th

and early ^th century Japanese. While tbelr belief in their own

fundamentai superlorit)' was never losh they wore keenly conscious of

their inferiority in certain directions and bad an overvvhelming eager¬

ness to learn. Tliey horrow^ed shamelessly, and there were few items in

Classical Creek culture which could not be traced to outside origins. The

distinctive element in the Greek situation was the cstal)^c quality of

the Greek mind. Ideas brought togeth^ in its presence oombm^ to pro¬

duce new and une^epected results.

 

Each of the older civilizations contributed Its quota. The Egyptians

impressed the Greeks by the magnitude of their structures and, above

alL by their claims for the immemorial antiquity of their civilization.

They regarded the Greeks as amusing por^'enus and the Creeks* who

had forgotten their Mlnoao ancestry, shamefacedly cronctirred in this

opinion. At the same time the animal gods and essential confusion and

illoglc of Egyptian religion had little appeal for the highly logical

 

 

 

ranM EJiA of arezzo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XXIV. Greece l343

 

Creeks. They were not greatly impressed by the Egyptian priests’ cla^

that these things only concealed deep mysteries. The Egyptian political

system, with its god-king, was equally incompatible with Creek values.

.Vlthough they learned what they could Eroro Egyptian astronomers and

tnathematiciaiu, time showed that these were inferior to the Mesopota¬

mians, while the technological knowledge, in which the Egyptians ex¬

celled, was ignored as beneath the notice of gentlemen. On the other

hand, Egyptian art, with its vigorous if conventionalized use oi men

and animals and its success in depicting motion, struck a responsive

chord and strong Egyptian influence can be traced in the development

 

of Creek art, especially sculpture.

 

In Mesopotamia the Greeks found a science which they could ap¬

preciate and a mechanistic view' of the universe which was quite in line

with tlieir own skepticism regarding the extent and nature of disine in-

lerfcience in hiimau affairs. They brought back from their Mesopota¬

mian contacts a much improved knowledge of astronomy and a better

mathematics; both freed from the shackles of pirie.stly control, -niese led

to a great expansion of the Greek mental horizon. When wedded with

the keen Greek interest in natural phenomena and vital behavior, they

produced Greek philosophy, with its essentially agnostic approach to

the universe, and also the much-overrated Creek contribution to later

 

science. . , ■ >

 

The ascription of high scientific ability to the Greeks rests mainly

upon the fact that a study of the Greek philosophers reveals in one place

or another conjectures whidi foresliadow most of the discoveries o

modern science. However, it must be remembered that these were con¬

jectures. They were developed as parts of logical syst^ and were com¬

pletely unsupported by what we would regard as scientific evidence. If

one takes the collcctioii of ’■scientific" theories which tiic various philoso-

phers found it necessary' to iaclude in what each of them attempted to

make a comprehensive interpretation of the universe, one finds that le

Greek score was relatively low. For every suggestion which later science

has shown to lie correct, there were at least a dozen which were later

 

proved to be wrong. , . , .

 

A disconcerting by-product of these Creek philosophies was ten

felt by the early Christian fathers for a cosmology as well ^ a dicology

and an ethic. Without some explanation of the universe, the ^isb^

found themselves at a disadvantage in their competition with the philos¬

ophies which were their most dangerous rivals in their struggle to win

over the educated minority. Modern fundamentalism thus owes its ex¬

istence to a pattern based on pagan pseudo-science.

 

In Alexandria at the dose of the Cla.ssica] period the Creeks seem

to have made some feeble gestures in the direction of real science based

 

 

Part Sev^n: Meoitebrancan Complex

 

 

3 +»]

 

(jn etperiments and ob$en>-jiticn. However the entire Creek system of

thought suffered from one incurable defect. Tlie overage Creek always

preferred talking to working, and tlic Creek philosopher believ^

that ultimate truth in any situation could bo arrived at tJuough verbal

mampubdon. The Creeks never seem to have been able to appieciato

the ^tinedon, difBeult enough for ourselves, between the external

reality and its verbal symbol. The Creeks were the originators of

the analytic method, by which configurations of phenomena were

broken don't! so that pardcular items or sequences within the conffgura-^

dop could be conceptually isobted for jiidependent study. They never

w'ere able to realize the importaoce of configuradons /wr se or to under¬

stand that, in the presence of multiple factors, the logical extrapolaticm

of assumpdons based on a few of these may, in the long ruit, lead the

logician further and further from reality. The modem scientist accumu-

btes as much data as possible, develops his theones logically on the ba¬

sis of this data, and tlien checks them by the experimental method or

whatever technique it may be necessary for him to substitute for it. The

Creek philosopher began with little data, developed his theories by the

application of logic, and then stopped.

 

No doubt this arrangement was satisfactory to the Greek philoso¬

pher, since he conceived reality as eidsting on a different level from tliat

which we recognize. The concept expressed in Plato's f'nJuerso/s makes

the ultimate reality and the verbal symbol practically identical. Unfor¬

tunately, this concept of reality does not lend itself to the successful ma¬

nipulation of the material world, but the Creeks were little troubled by

this. The attitude of the Creek iiitelicctual toward technological advance

is beautifully illu^ated by the following pa.ssage from Plutarch: *

 

These machines he \Ardan\edes] had designed and contrioed, not

os nuitfers of any importance, hut as mere omusemcnis iti geometry; in

compliance with King iliera's desire and request, some titth lime be¬

fore, that he should reduce to practice some part of his admirable ipccu-

forion in science, end by accommodating the tficoretic tnith to sensation

and ordinary use, bring it more within the appreciation of the people in

generaf. Eudoxus and Archytas had been the first originators of this far-

famed and highly-prised art of tttechantes. tobich they empli)yed as an

elegartt illustration of geometrical truths, and as means of susiaitung ex¬

perimentally, to the Satisfaction of the senses, conclusions too intricate

for proof by words and diagranui. , . , But what with Plato's indigna¬

tion at it, and his Inoectices against it as the mere corritption ond onnf-

 

* Plutarch: The Lffe of Mareclliu," In Tfie Wwj of ihr fJobte CtreUms and

Homiaw. Translated l>y John Drydcn and revised by Arthur Unoh Ctoueh. New York:

HiB Modern Llbfiuy: p. 376.

 

 

XXrV. Greece

 

 

[34s

 

hitatim of the one good of geomeirfft ttw stmmefully turn^

 

ing its back upon the unenil^vdied objects of pure intelUgencc to recur

to imsatiorir and to ask help {no| to be obtained without base supervi¬

sions and depravation ) from matter; so it was that mechanics came (0 fcc

separated from geometry^ and repudiated and neglected

phers, took Us place as a foilitary art.

 

The influence of this attitude was n^flocted ia Creek techtioJogy.

Until well into the HeUeui^tic period It was charactered by an inexcas*

ing perfection of manual dexterity' and an aJmckst complete lack of new

basic Uivcntions, or even of boirowingsi which have fundamentally

altered the existing technical patterns. Thus the arch and dome, which

had been known for millennia in the Near East* were not adopted by the

Greeks in spite of their obvious practical advantages for many purposes.

The most revolutionary change which took pkee in their architecture,

from the late Mycenean on, was die substitiition of stone for wood in

their public buildings* and even here the forms dev'eloped in the older

tuaterial were almost slavishly preser^'ed. At the same time their skill

in rnontpulating the existing techniques reached an ama^pngly high

point. The essentiiiUy primitive architectural forms were reflued until

they showed perfectly balanced proportions and such subtleties as tliose

of the Parthenon columns, in which the sides are slightly bowed outward

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part Set>en: MEotTERRANMN Co^tplex

 

 

in order fo give the visual illusion of a contkiuotis striiight line from (op

to bottotn.

 

This lack of basic (echnologfcal changes has been ascribed to the

predominance of slave labor in the Ciossical Creek state, but the pcrfeo

lion achieved by the technology within its limits is not congruous with

such an assumption. The architects who designed the Creek buildings

certainly were not slaves, and at least as late as the time of Perides most

of the artisans were free men. if the master craftsmen who designed the

perfect proportions of Attic pottery and applied its spirited decoratrun

were slaves, at least they were slaves with a real pride of craft and with

an appreciative audienue. The truth was that the Creek interest lay in

other dircebans. For gentlemen, the predominant interests seem to have

been war and philosophy, while for all Creeks, irrespective of class,

politics amounted to an obsession.

 

The Creek polibcul systems should be of particular interest to us,

since the Greek city-states were confronted with certain problems not

unlike those of our own municipal governments today. In both cases a

culture, which had been developed under essentially rural and village

conditions, and which had inherited patterns of attaching extreme value

to personal independence and indiridual inlbativo, found itself con¬

fronted with the problems of dty living and of far-reaching changes in

the economic structure. True cities did not appear in Greece much be¬

fore the Cliissicol period. It has already been mentioned that the Classi¬

cal Creeks lived largely by exporting both manufactures aod their spe¬

cialized agricultural products of olive oil and wine. The replacement of

subststence forming by staple crops raised for export is always hard on

the small landowner, who finds himself at the [tM>rcy of the middleman.

Although the Classical Creeks did not develop great plantations worked

by slave labor, as the later Romans did, many peasants lost their hold¬

ings. There was an increasing concentration of population in the cities,

with the breakdown of the older extended groups, and a developing po-

tentialib- for Individual anonymity such as we have today.

 

The Greeks met this situation in part by their rigid rules of cltizeo-

ship, which limited the electorate to individuals either bom of citizen

parents or, more rarely, those upon whom citizenship bad been con¬

ferred. Every city contained a large number of aliejis w ho might be re¬

spected and affluent inembere of the community but who were not al¬

lowed to participate in government. While the number of individuals

was too large for the citizens to funebon as a face-to-face unit, even in

cities die size of Athens or Corinth, any candidate for office would be

personally known to a great many of die clcctonite, while the candi¬

dates record would be well-known to all. The limitation of the elector¬

ate made the problem of representative government simpler, but this

 

 

XXIV. Greece

 

 

[347

 

w^ls countorbfllaficed by the l(W level of edtication In niuch of the elec¬

torate and by tlie Greek basic personal it)*, which combined indiAidual-

km with high emotionalkm and intense jealousy.

 

The eiilture pattern estabbsbed political participation as not only a

privilege but a duty of citissenship. The Greek citizen seems to have

spent a large putt of hU time and energy in discussing politics and in the

intrigues whidi w^ere inseparable from it. Coupled mth this there was a

survivtJ into urban life of the loyalty and strong in-group sentiment

characteristic of the primitive tribe. It would have been quite no thinks

able for a Creek dramatist to open a new play in any city other thou his

own. Even artists and authors felt obligated to give their own cities the

first fruits of their geninST only moved on to greener fields when

their own cities had rejected the™ or vvhen their genius had been gener¬

ally recognized and added to ibeLr city s fame.

 

The development of most Greek d(y governments began with the

old Indo-European pattern of a king and a tribal eouncU dominated by

the heads of noble families, but with free discussion and eny trihcsmMi

allowed to speak bis mind. The king was primarily a war leader and ex¬

ecutive instrumenting the council decisions. He bad no hint of personal

divinity and even his priestly functions were unimportant. With the rise

 

 

 

COEEK WAJUUOB

 

 

 

 

34®] Seven; MEDm^HKANtJVN’ Complex

 

of the new commeTcia] urban cttlUire the power of the king and the

nobles evaporated, giving place to on oligarchy dominated by the neu-

twot* riche. The oligarchies were followed in tiuti by democracies, which

soon came to be doraiimted by demagogues. Finally a strong man would

seize power and rule like a king, but usually with careful avoidance of

royal symbols. The position of such a man would correspond roughly to

that of the boss of a wctl-cntrcnched political inachttic in one of our own

cities. Although the outward s\Tnbols of democracy W'OuJd usually tic

presers'cd, all power would be gathered into his hands. The Creeks ap¬

plied to such city bosses the term ttjrannoa (master), which was the ori¬

gin of our OW'D word ttjraal, although in its original uses it lacked most

of the connotations of cruelty and oppression which that w^ord Carries

for us. The first "h rant'* in any cit)' was often an able and benevolent

ruler, but in due course ol fime One of his successors would become

cruel and oppressive. The 'Tretter element" would then oust him and es¬

tablish an oligarchy. This in due course of time would give place to a

dunocracy and the deinocrac}’ to iuiother tyranny. The Creeks recog¬

nized this cycle and regarded it as a sort of natural phenomenon which

could be postponed but not averted.

 

With this as a starting point the Creeks developed various constitu¬

tions, none of which seem to have worked sncccssfiilly for very long.

The drawing up of a constitution was psiit of the arlvaiiced planning

which went into the founding of a new city, and these constitutions rep¬

resent the highest points reachotl by Greek political theory. Unfortu¬

nately, they very rarely remained in force for any length of time. None

of them provided for a successful civil service which might have had a

stabilizing effect, and, in politics as elsewhere, the Creeks were poor

losers. Oefeated candidates for office were likely to stir up revolt, and

this was the basis for the institution of ostracism, by which the losing

candidate was exiled from the city for a period of years.

 

tn one respect at least the Greek cities were more fortimnte than

the later Boman cities. They did not have an idle, pauperized proletariat

which would he at the heck and call of any politician who wanted to

create a disturbance. During the Classical period the exclusion of non-

citizeirs from political life and tiie relatively small size of the citizen

body prevented this. Tliere must hav'e been a fair number of impover¬

ished citizens, but there were not enough to require a regular and con¬

tinuous dole of the Roman sort. During the late pre-Classical and mudi

of the Classical period, the poor and the surplus population drawn city¬

ward from the surrounding countryside were taken care of bv tW found¬

ing of new cities. Most of them were in the western Mcditeirancan, es¬

pecially in southern Italy, which later came to be known as .’tfogrui

Graeceu, "Greater Greece."

 

 

XXIV. Greece

 

 

[349

 

The ability to establish plamied colonies at favwable locations was

□D mean cultural accomplishmenl Ui itself^ Apparently the Delphic om-

cle operated as a clearing house for news of available sites* A city aim-

ing to Found a new colony consulted the oracle^ and the priests, drawing

upon llie pooled know^Ictlge which they had acquired from other clients,

suggested the best pUce. The colnmsts w ere selected from among those

citizens who volunteered to go- They were provided with necessar)'

equipment and food to tide them over imtil they could plant and harvest

their own crops, and tlse mother citj' helped them until they could take

care of themselves. Although there \vas no contiriulng tie between the

daughter dty and the n^other city^ there was a strong emotioaal attach¬

ment and, as a symbol of the continuity, sacred fire was usually carried

from the mother citv and used to kindle the first fires in the new settle¬

ment Many of these new cities came to have greater wealth and larger

populations than their parents on the Greek mainland, but in artistic and

Intellectual matters they were regarded, and regarded thcmselveSp as

provincials. Any famous Creek who took a colonial toiir was as sure of

profit as an English literary light visiting the United Slates.

 

The developmefit of the Greek pattern of colonization is difficult to

trace. No doubt it was greatly stimulated by the presence of uncivilized

but not unfriendly tribes to the west who offered high profits to the

Greek traders. However, the rescttleiuent of several hundriKl people in*

volved in the founding of a new city is a very different matter from the

mere establishment of trading posts and requires careful planning, as

the failure of many of the American colonizing attempts shows. The

Phoenicians also were establishing colonial outposts in the period from

1000 to 700 3.C., flltliongh they seem to have been less systematic about

it than were the Greeks, and the Greeks may have used them as models.

Mure probably, both Greeks and Fhoenieians learned the nocessaiy

techniques from Uieir contact w'ith the Minoans, whose vvadespread

navni bases have already been mentioned, llie Assyrians also had been

carrying on eriensive rescltleinent programs for ii long period as part of

tlieir imperial [jofiev, and die Creeks may have borrowed some tech*

niqiies from them.

 

One other result of Creek urbanization should be mentioned, sinoe

it has exerted an important infliienoe on certain aspects of our own cul-

hire. Although each Greek citj- of the period had its temples to the

Olympian gods and biid selected some one of them as its guardian and

tlie recipient of its special devotions, the worship of these deities bi>

tame more and more an excuse for pageantry^ and ritual from which the

participants and observers derived aesthetic satisfaction rather than

spiritual refreshment. It has been said, probably truthfully, that after

Salamis the Olympian deities w^ere dead.

 

 

Pari Set^en^ MEDJTEHRAxVtAN Coxiplex

 

 

3Sol

 

The pre-IniiO’Eturepeiin religiam pnaeUees, aa the other hund, now

reitsserted themselves and aequb^ new meaning in the nrhafi context

What had been before local rites carried on wi& the orgiastic accom¬

paniments characteristic of many of the old Mediterranean cults were

now reorganized and extended beyond their onglnal local contexts to

become the mystery religions. The urban populations, especially the

many individuaJs who were living in dties of which they wnne not dti*

xens, felt a strong need fnr some system by which they could establish

ties with others in the same pnsiticin. Human boings seem to have a deep

seated need for social contacts and for membership in in-groups. Viewed

from this angle, the rise of the mystery reUgioiis can be seen as a result

of the same fnistiations which have led to the tremendous multipUeation

of organizations of all sorts in our own society. Wherever patterns of

spatial and social mobility break down kin and local groups, substitutes

will develop.

 

The rise of the mystery rehgions cannot be explained entirely on

these grounds. The lack of opportunity for unconscious identification

with a larger social group increased the tendency toward individuafism,

already strong among the Creeks. The unattached, anonymous individ¬

ual could no longer satisfy his desire for posthumous survival by con¬

templating the continuity of bis kin group or tribe. He began to yearn

 

 

 

qffoUhVgs to the oead with sfeufts uovsuno

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XXIV. Greece

 

 

[351

 

for ftssiJitwiccs of his own iinmortnlity, and with this came the natura]

desire for a pleasant and satisfj’ing future life. The Greek Hades miut

have appeared even duller to an urban slum dweller than it did to a vil¬

lager. LLtly, the informal social controls which enforced ethical behav¬

ior upon the villager were no longer operative in the city, and to those

who had been bom and reared in smaller communities, always the ma¬

jority of an adult urbo n population, this must have been felt as a tre¬

mendous loss. In the absence of personally applicahle public opinion

there w'as a need for some effective substitute. The old gods had been

essential amoral in iheir outlook. The new ones became a source of su¬

pernatural sanctions, rewarding good behavior and punishing evil, even

when these remaimxl unnoticed by the individual s contemporaries.

 

Out of this combination of factors there developed a series cf sects

which had certain fcatmes in common. Entry into all of them involved

some preliminary instruction and a ceremony (rf initiation, in which the

individual was prepared for his later psychological identification with

both the deity and the cult by repeating, in company with others, tser-

Uin experiences of the deitj'. All the cults promised tlicir initiates sur¬

vival and a Happy after-life, and all involved certain obligations of

clliical behavior, at least toward other members of the cult A mystery

religion was thus not only a religion but also a secret society with obliga¬

tions of mutual help among the members, and with ethical precept

which made it possible for ibcse members to feel secure in dealing with

 

otlier, ,

 

As tile Classical period in Greece passed into the HcUenistic pen^,

w'itb its much greater urban concentrations aod increased spatial inobu-

itv. these mvstciy religions increased in number and took on added sig¬

nificance. Lixal chapters included not only citizens and resident afiens

hut also slaves. In view of the common Greek pattern of selling whnle

city populations as part of the spoils of war. there were inevitably many

slaves who had been initiated into the mysteries before they were en¬

slaved and who therefore bad to be accepted as brothers if the secrecy

was to be maintained. The various cults emphasized their autonomous

existence by having their own status-systems based on different agrees

of initiation, and a man who was a slave outside the lodge might occupy

 

the hjchest position iiisid-e it. ..^4.1

 

The trend toward mystery' religions which began m Classical

Greece increased rapidly during the Hellenistic period, since all ‘he wn-

ditions to which lliese religions were a response were then mtensiiied.

Not only were pre-Indo-Europcan deities and rites revived, but foreign

gods were accepted and their worship internationalized and reorganized

on the mystery pattern. Thus, in later Hellenistic Umes. we have the

mvsteries of the Egyptian IsU and the Persian Mithras, and only sLgbUy

 

 

Part Screen.' ^felI^^£flHA^:EAN Comi’LEX

 

 

35*1

 

latesr the emergMc« of Chrktiamty whleh, beginning ms m minor Jewish

sect, wms opened to Ccndle converts through the ministry of Saint Patil,

and was then reorganized by these converb upon the familiar mystery

pattern.

 

The total Creek contribution to cmr own culture has been so exten¬

sive and is so well knowm that this brief summary of some of the less-

emphasized aspects of the contribution must suffice. The most important

thing to remember is that tfae Classical Creek culturcp like aU other cul¬

tures for which we have records;, borrowed widely. At the same Ume it

reintegrated and reinterpreted its borrowings to an unusual degree and

gave the resulting culture comptest a distinctive quality* One who digs

into the background of Greek culture fiikds its roots extending far into

the past and branching and rebranching to draw upon many different

sources, hut the keen curiostt)' and the analytical attitude which charac¬

terized the Greeks were their own contributton.

 

 

Chapter XXV

 

 

Barbarians

 

 

At TiiE FouKDA-nofJ of aJJ European history has lain the tfning nach

We^fen, the steady pressure of peoples forcing their way into the cond-

nent from the east. The steppes have been an inexhaustible breeding

ground for warriors, and barbarian tribes have flowed out of them in suc¬

cessive waves. We do not know what has been responsible for these

movGineuts. Some of them may have been due, as Elsworth Huntington

has suggested in The Fuluc of Asio, to an alteration of long periods of

abundant rainfidl and good pasture, causing population increase, wdth

drought periods which squeeaed out the surplus. Wc also knmv that

shortly before the beginning of the Christian era the development of su¬

perior military equipment and techniques among the peoples of Mon¬

golia resulted in the displacement westward of a whole scries of tribes

who were less effecti ve fighters. However, we need not seek for any sm-

gle cause. For a nomadic or seminomadic tribe, migratian is tfie sim¬

plest answer to pressure of any sort, including cupidity. Wlien the

steppe people discovered how much loot was to be obtained in the more

civilized areas beyond their borders, no local calamity was required to

set tK^n moving.

 

Throughout most of the prehistoric period the movements from the

east seem to have been carried out by small groups. They wm in the

nature of a gradual infiltration rather than a massive conquest The new¬

comers spread themselves over the pre-existing populations and became

assimilated in them. From the Bronze Age until the arrival of the Mon¬

golian Huns and Avars after the Roman collapse, the cultures of ^ me

barbarian invaders seem to have been of the general type already de¬

scribed for the early Aryans. The patterns by which a bunting, cattle-

keeping aristocracy dominated a mucb larger peasant impulation were

transmitted from one conquering group to another with little change.

The differences which existed among the conquerors were mainly a mat-

 

353

 

 

Part Seven:: Mediteeira^i'ean Co^iplex

 

 

354I

 

ter nf saphisticatii^n^ based on tbe arnount of tbeir contact with the more

civilized peoples of the south, plus* in the e4se of the Cerrnans^ a few

borrowings from their Circumpolar neighbors.

 

The introductiDn of bronze into Europe has already been discussed.

The far more revolutionary inboductiQn of iron does not seem to be

traceable to any one group of invaders. As we have seen (p. 109)^

iron working was certainly of Southwestern Asiatic origin. The

necessary techniques were knov^m to the fiittites as early as 1600-1 Soo

B,c. The dlOnsicn of these techniques into Europe following the collapse

of the flittite empire may ■w-ell have been due to journeymen smiths

comparable to those of the late Bronze Age. The so-called HaUstatt cul¬

ture ^see p. 255)+ which was the earliest Iron Age culture of Eu¬

rope, was actually made up of a great ntimber of local cultures whicf4

aside from iron workings had only a few elements in common. The best

explanation would seem to be that the Eastern European tribes who

were the first to obtain iron exploited the military advantage which it

gave them and progressively established control over their neighbors,

but that the change did not involve any fundamental alteration ia the

European patterns; in other words, that the tribal movements which

ushered in the Iron Age were on no greater scale and originated no far¬

ther afield than those of the Celts and Germans in the early historic

period.

 

Certain new features do appear in Western Europe at the beginning

of the Iron Age, roughly 1000 s,c The most important of these was the

use of a new weapn, a long, straight, double-edged sword with a broad

point, obviously intended for slashing rather than thrusting. This might

well have been used by men on horseback* and in the grave-finds of this

period single sets of horse*s equipment become increasingly comment

suggesting the use of single mounts rather than chariots. Another new

feature which appears at diis time h cremation and the burial of ashes

in urns. It is usually assumed that radical changes in burial practices in*

dicate the arrival of new populatlans^ but we have plenty of evidence

that this is not the case. Such practices seem to be highly dependent

upon fashion and can be changed with considerable speed.

 

The first Classical accounts of the barbarians reveal the presence

of two groups in Western Europe north of the Mediterranean basin^ the

Celts and the Germans. The Cauls, who figure so largely in Boman iit*

erahire, were a division of the Celtic group who had their center in what

is now France. The Gennans were mainly east and north of the BhJne at

that time and were the more barbarous, since they were the more dis¬

tant from the southern centers of civilization. The description of the

Germans given by Tacitus, a Roman contemporary, shows that they

were a cattle people, and he notes that, like tbe modem cattle tribes of

 

 

XXV. Barbarians

 

 

I355

 

Africa, they rated their wealth by the number of their animab, paying

little attention to their quality. They raised only grain and cultivated

new fields each year, facts which, since most of their country was heav*

ily forested, probably mean that they followed the cutting and burning

technique. TTieie were no large towns in their territory, and even in

their villages the families lived some distance apart. Their bouses were

of wood, crudely built but painted with colored clays. The men’s cos¬

tume consisted of a long cloak wcmti over skin-tight trousers, apparently

an early version of tlie long hose wo'm by most North European groups

in the Middle Ages. Thu b^y was bare, and the arrangement suggests a

 

 

 

VISICOTUS AFTER THE aATn.£

 

 

compromise between some ancient pattern of male nudity escept for 0

cloak and the eitigencies of the German winter climate. The women

wore the familiar straight dress made from two strips of cloth fastened

together at the shoulders and again at the waist. They wore cloaks in

cold weather, and crude, massive jewelry, which was sometimes mads

of iron.

 

The Germans attached little value to the utensils of gold and silver

sent to them as gifts by the Romans. They were indifferent metal work¬

ers and even iron was in poor supply. Their weapons were long swords

of the type already described, light spears with small heads, and shields.

A few men wore helmets, usually of leather, but body armor w*as infre¬

quent A young man was given right to cany arms at a solemn cere¬

mony which no doubt marked his assumption of full adult status. Such

an Investiture is reminiscent of the Medieval ceremonies by which a

squire was raised to knighthood and given for the first time the right to

carry a sword.

 

The family was monogamous, and Tacitus insisted on the high

moral standards of the Germans, whom he held up as a model for the

Aoroaus of his time. The husband paid a bride price, which was then re-

 

 

 

Part Sucoi: MEDnrjiiiAN'KAS Comp1-ex

 

 

356)

 

to tlie new faniily ais the brides dlowr)\ the wealth eschunged at

tiih time being in weapons, A mother s brother was considered as close

a relative as a father, an arrangement which may mdieatc earlier matri-

Uueal patterns but is more likely to have been a reflection of the failat*

eral reckoning of kinship chamcteristic of most of llie Cireumpolar pen-

 

Hospitality was universat and iiustinted+ During the winter season

groups would go from house to house, staying at each until the awner^s

supplies were exhausted^ This eustom is reminiscent of the Mediev^

pattern by which a king or noble was entitled to so many days of enter¬

tainment a year for himself and his entourage as part of Iris feudal

dues, lu a time and pboc where transportation was diflicult, this ar¬

rangement had die great advantage of bringing the mouths to die food

instead of vice-versa. Chiefs kept considerable state, and were sur¬

rounded by young tribesmen, not niscessarily relatives, who received

food and shelter but no pay. Tlie main duty of the diief was as a war

leader^ and he was expected to distinguish himself by his courage in the

field. His companioris were expected to e4|ual him in faravery, and it was

a deep disgrace for them to survive hiin if he felL Even common soldiers

had to bring back their shields, the first encumbrance which a fleeing

mail would discard, and if they failed to do this they were permiinently

disgiaced. Although there seems to have been no drilL the warriors used

a flying w'cdge formatiou in attack ami probably formed a shield wall m

defense. Tlie women and children accompanied the men on campaigns;,

acting as an Informal service of supply and medical corps^ and in case of

deft^nt took an active hand in the fighting, regarding death as preferable

to capture and enslavement.

 

The Germans were characteristicaJly great eaters, heavy drinkers,

and confirmed gamblers^ Tacitus says that a gambler who had lost all bis

properly would frequently wager his own person and, if he lost, become

a slave to the v^inner. Such a prize was ernbarrassing^ and tlie winner

would usually sell him or otherwise dispose of him as soon as possible.

When a campaign was to be planned^ the chief feasted his warriors and

encouraged all of them, w'hen they had drunk well, to state their opin¬

ions and air their resentments. This cleared the air, and all plans were

reviewed the next morning in the cold light of the inevitable hangover-

 

The German society w'as divided into chiefs, commoners^ and serfs.

Tlie Roman commentators seem to have been puzzled by the German

institution of serfdom and remarked on the fact that although such

^^slaves” could not be sold, their ow'ners could and frequently did kiU

them without incurring any penalties.

 

The one road to advancement was war^ just as, in the absence of

trade and manufacture, looting was the one road to wealth. A commoner

 

 

XX\\ Barhorians [357

 

who was a successful wanrfor was honored almost as highly as a man of

chiefiv family. At the same time great Importance was attached to high

descent, and anyone who aspired to chieftainship without it would be re¬

garded as a usurper. Tacihrs says that the Germans chose their chiefs by

 

inheritance and their generals by ability.

 

The men of the tribe met in council once a month at the time of ei¬

ther the new or full moon, the tribal priest presiding, Such councils com¬

bined die funetimis of a legislature and a court of justice. The chief

an executive carrying out the mandates of the council and was bound by

its decisions. 'Hiere were law codes which distinguished between of¬

fenses against the community and against individuals. The former were

treated as crimes, and the offender was punished in his person usually

bv death. The latter could be compensated by payment of damages.

Murder was regarded as an offense of tho_ second class and could be

atoned for by payment to the murdered man s kin group. ^ ^ .

 

There is very little' information on early Gennan religion, and it

dangerous to trv to reconstruct It from the later Norse beli^, since

these show considemble foreign and even Christian influence. The Ger¬

mans worshipped a pantheon of deities who were individi^y enough

like the Roman gods to be equated with them. Thus Tacitus says that

die main German deities were Mercury, to whom human sacrifices were

made, Hercules, and Mars. Tliere were numerous sacr^ groves, and

iher® were also images which were kept in the groves and carried by the

tribe when it went to war. Temples, when they existed, were small bi^d-

in® used as storage places for the images mid other «ligiom parapher-

tialia. All ceremonies were performed in the open Tribal ceremoriics

were held on fixed dales throughout the year. Each grove bad its pn^t

or priestess who oeSciated at the rites performed there, but it is

ablc that these formed an organised priesthood. In sacrifices on behalf

of kin groups, the head of the gnJnp officiated.

 

Tliere was heaw reliance on dirinatiou. which was performer! by

tlirowing a bundle of short sticks on a while mantle and obsenmg

way they fell. The behavior of birds and animals w^ns watched lor

omens. Women also acted as oracles, giving answers to questions i^ile

in a trance* state. Death practices follower! the old Iron Age ^adition.

Bodies were creinated with a minimum of offerings, and the ashes were

 

 

buried in an um under a small mound. / ,.1

 

The Gauls occupied the territoiy south and west of the Germans,

and closely related Celtic groups were in possession of Britain a«d Ire¬

land. The Cauls had been in contact svith the Mediterranean civilKa-

tions for centurios. alternately trading with and raiding them, and had

absorbed much of Mediterranean culture. Remains from the region un-

mediately west of the Alps show that, by tlie century bx:., the Gauls

 

 

Part Seven : Meditehranii^n Complex

 

 

358]

 

had achieved extracrdinai^ skil] in warking imrir bronze^ silver, and

gold. The metal objects were decorated with elaborate and beaudful

scroll designs embellLshed with colored enamels, com], and gems. Many

of the objects produced by this so-called Tone cniture were techni*

tally equal to any made in the Mediterranean basin at this time. It if

significant that even after the Reinan conquest of Caul native craftsmen

continued workiiig in their own style for the Bomati tmde.

 

The main southern infiuence on the culture of the Gaub came frorti

the Creeks. By 400 a-c* there was a Creek settlement at what is now

Marseilles, and Creek traders were penetrating the hinterland, in the

ard century &,c. a Greek geographer and explorer, Fj'thias, even sailed

northward along the Atlantic coast until he reached Scandinavia and

heard rumors of an island to the northwest, which may have been Icq-

land^ Among other things the Creeks Introduced the use of money, and

coins struck in Gaul by local chiefs show a fasdnating series of simplifi-

cations of original Creek patterns.

 

The CauU also came in contact with the Etroscans, who had estab¬

lished themselves at the bead of the Adriatic by Soo b.c. The light char¬

iot, extensively used by the early Cauls, may well have been de*

veloped from Etruscan prototypes. Its use had died out on the Euro*

pean mainland by Caesar's time, but he found the Celtic Britains still

using scythe-armed chariots. In Ireland chariots survived oven later.

 

The accounts of the Cauls which have been left by Class leal writers

have to do mainly with their fighting ability and the ravages which they

infiieted on their southmti neighbors. They invaded Italy repeatedly,

and when Caesar finally 'pacifi^'' Caul, the Bonuins rejoiced less at the

 

 

 

CAULS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XXV, Bt^rbarisns [359

 

uddidcm to their tcrritoiy than nt the remDval of what they had come to

regard as an ever-present threats The Cauls also raided into Greece and

Aiia Minor* ond the famous statue from Pergamum which we know as

the dying gladiator actually represented a dying Gaul, a monument to

the defeat of one of these expeditions.

 

The Roman conquest of Gaul resulted in the collapse of the local

culture and the Latinization of the survivors. The conquest of Britaiii

was later and less thorougbt hut here also the Boman overlay obscures

the features of the earlier culture. The best picture of early Celtic life is

prm'ided by Ireland. Here the Celts succeeded in maintaining their in¬

dependence through the Roman period and did not succumh completely

to foreign control until the time of Cromwell. Even Christianilyj which

the Irish accepted with enthusiasTn, was revised in Celtic terms.

 

The Irish economy was based primarily on domestic animals? cat¬

tle, horses, and pigs. Cattle were not only milked but also bled periodi¬

cally and the blood boiled and eaten. Horses w ere neither milked nor

eaten^ They vverc driven in chariots or* later, ridden. Cavalry played lit¬

tle part in "the Irish forces, perhaps because they never acquired the tree

saddle. In the 14 th century a,d. die English authorities passed a law fin¬

ing any Irish-born Englishman who rode without a saddle *^in the Irish

fashion,^ Pigs, then as later, were the mainstay of the small householder.

Ham and bacon seem to have been Celtic inventions, and even the Eo-

mojis Spoke with tidoiiratLon of the hams prepared by the Cauls.

 

Although there were seasonal movements of whole families and

their cattle in search of now pasture^ there was little adjustment to

nomadic life. On these expeditions, the Irish built brush shelters remi¬

niscent of those of our own Apache Indians, Great quantities of meat

Were consumed, but the main diet of the poorer classes consisted of

mush and milk eked out by game. The great emotional value attached

to domestic animals is shown by a curious arrangement under which

cattle and possibly horses, but not pigs* were considered the proper^

of kings or higher nobilitj' and were leased to their followers in return

for an annual payment. Nu such payment was assessed for land use.

Plowland was farnicd cooperatively by small groups of families, nor¬

mally related.

 

Stone construction was unknown in Ireland until comparatively late

times, and, when it did appear^ was due to Roman inBuencej The main-

land Gauls fortified their cities with dry stone walls, hut bodi cities and

Walls Were a very late development. The poorest Irish people lived in

round or square wattled huts, the more affluent ones in oblong wooden

houses. The size of a man*^s house and the number and size of outbuild¬

ings which he was permitted to build were stnctly fixed by his rank. Ev¬

ery householder controlled the land for a fixed distance on all sides of

 

 

P<irt ^l£^fTeRnA^fEAN Co^fPLEX

 

 

3 ft>l

 

his dwelling and couJd punish trespass and extend protection to any

stranger or guest who was in this territory.

 

Men's clothing normaHy consisted of a tunic much like that of the

Classical Creeks and HomanSp with a heaw cloak which was taken o0

indoors. In general tlie Irish did not w^ear trousers, altliough the main¬

land Cauls certainly did- Women wore a straight two-piece dress and

belt much like that aheady described for the Germans. The garments

w^ere made of clotli, and those of tJie better classes w'cre dyed in bright

colors and elaborately embroidered. Embroidcring-w'oincn are listed

among the indispensable craftsmen Ln early law codes. The commonest

clothing materials were linen and wtkjl, but silk was mentioned e^^eo ki

pre-Christiiin epics and was evidently highly prized. Elaborate jewelry

of gold, sUver. and enamel was wom by both sexes, and the skill of the

Irish goldsmiths rarely has been exceeded* The Irish designs can be

traced directly to the continental Celtic ait of the La Tene culture, but

the forms were refined and elaborated. After the Irish became Christian,

the same designs were used for illumination, rcsidtlng in books that are

still among the wonders of the world*

 

Irish armament differed from that of both the Cauls and Germans.

The fiivorite weapons were the spear and light axe. The long slashing

sword of the continent ivas replaced by a medium length stabbing

weapon, and the entire armament is suggestive of Brons^ .Age forms re-

proihicod in iron. Defensive armor was limited to a round shield and.

occasionally^ a helmet. ^

 

The Irish social organization throws much Dght upon that of the

mainland Celts, The basic unit was on extended kin group made up of

several related families who shared in the ownership of farmland but

leased cattle from tlieir noble patrons Ludepcndently. Most families were

monogamous* but a man W'os permitted to Itave concubines. In pagan

Ireland the concubine relationship was often entered into for a year at a

time, usimlly from May to May^ and terminated at the end of the year

unless renewed. A bride price was paid by the husband, but, especially

in the upper classes^ marriages seem to fia> c becu dLssolved easily and

frecjueutly great ladies enjoyed as much freedom iu the distribution of

their favors as did their lords. In spite of llris freedom, it may be noted

that the bride price to be paid for a woman dimintshed with each of her

successive marriages^

 

There were no villages, but a group of related fanullcs usually lived

in the same neighborhood and shared in the cultivation of plow land

held in common. Tlie politjcal unit was the tunth^ sometim es m is termed

a clai:». Although many of a tuatlis members might be related by blood,

the unit also Included serfs and craftsmen who might be of foreign orb

gin, and refugees who had been allow^ed to settle within the tuath's Um-

 

 

XX\^. Barbarians [ 3 ®*

 

iti. At the head of the tusith waji ^ king, the post being filled in each gen-

emtioR from a particular family line, all of wlio&e members ranked as

royal. This, coupled wth the fact that many of the Irish "kingdoms"

were Utile larger than a New England township, explains the frequency

with which the ''king of Irelands son" occurs not only in Irish but in

cnntineptal romances. Below^ tlie king came the nobles; then the "wor¬

thies," freemen with the right to keep cattle and share in plowland; and

lastly, die serfs. At the bottom of ihe scale were chattel slaves who were

bought and sold freely, slave women being ranked with cattle as units of

value. Nobles and “worthies" were further divided into munerous sub¬

groups based on vvcalth and deseent-

 

Side by side with the secular organization just described there vm

a hierarchy of learned men^ barcU> priests and those skilled in the law^

who gave Ireland cultural unitj% In spite of die apparent fragmentation

and the almost constant raiding between kingdom^ every individuul and

social unit had its place in a single^ all-embracing system and every per¬

son held the same rank cvery^where. For legal purposes tliis rank was in¬

dicated by his dire or honor price, wdiieh determiried the amount of

damages which he couJd collect in case of injury to his property or per¬

son and, conversely, the size of the fines wdiich could be assessed against

him. It is interesting to note tliat Irish law, like Medieval European law,

was phrased in terms of the privileges allow'cd to persons of different

rank rather than in those of things prohibited to them. Thus a worthy

of the lowest grade was one w^ho: ^

 

. , * held enough land io suppori the scocn cows and the bull which he

was enUtlcd to leiL^e from the Jtiirg for u rent of one of cows at the

e7id of each ijear dong with the seven sheep and a dding horse, lie was

competent to be a fmrtncf in u plougtdarid^ ou^uing his ox ami plough¬

share and goad and iiafttr, and his share in n fcrfn, 0 a hum* a cook¬

ing pot. He was allow ed a hmme of tUtwteen feet long made of wicker

work in the tintcl with two doorways, a door in one, a hurdle in f^ic

other; a bare fence of boards around U; an oaken plank beticeen every

turn beds. Three '^chattds^ of kine u;eTe Ais Ao?H7r price* iecousc the es~

tablishrtient of /its house tees not complete* and he could not guarantee

for the full honour price owing io the smatlr^ss of his means*

 

Under the honor price system, rank and w'ealth w'ere msepambly

linked, and a fainily rose or fell according to die establishment which it

could maintain. Thus a ^worthy'' family which acquired wealth equiva-

lent to that of a noble and retained it for three generations was ac¬

counted noble. Conversely, a family which could not maintain ^'nohle"

 

^ Green, Alice Stopford; tfUtorj^ 0 f the Iridi Sfafe to 1014. LondniiL Mdcmilkn

unil Co.. Ltd,i 1945, p, 194-

 

 

Part Sevm: MEorrEnRANEAN Complex

 

 

3^1

 

ecoDoiiLic status after three generatiaiis dropped to the worthy** class.

The three generation rule, when applied to Idngship, became one of the

most perfect systems o^er developed for maintaLning constant turtnoi].

A family line whose head bad not actually ruled ^vithin three genera¬

tions was demoted to noble level and lost the right to rule in the future.

Since all of a kings sons and grandsons were accounted royah but only

one of them could be king at any given lime and transmit royal rank to

his destendentSp there were always numerous pretenders to everj' throne

and fratricide was the commonest road to succession After the Irish be¬

came Christian the situation was mitigated somew^hat, the king being

allowed to nominate his successor and share rule with himp but assassi-

nation and invasion by claimants who had been ignored were still rife.

 

In spite of the constant turmoil the organization of the whole of

Ireland under the High King was more than a legal fiction. The High

King made tours froni time to time and, in fact* was required to do so in

order to validate his claim to office. On these tours he held assemblies

and beard cases appealed to him from the low^er courts. Regular assem¬

blies for the hearing of law cases were held in various places at fixed

times, and matters of policy were also debated on these occasions.

 

The gatherings for these council provided an opportunity for fairs

at which goods of all sorts were e^tchanged. There was an extensive sys¬

tem of roads^ and a special rank w^as accorded to those who had houses

of hcispitality. These were wealthy men^ the equipment necessary for

setting up such a house being elaborately specified in the law code.

They received travelers as guests but cKpeeted to be reimbursed by

gifts^ and tbe post carried both prestige and economic rewards.

 

The basic imifomiity of culture was maintained by the fairs and

eoimcils and, above allp by the professional bards, pn'Ests, and law-men.

All the Celts accorded tliese great respect. In Ireland the bard was eo^

titled to the seat on the kingT leftp while the law-mao sat across from

him on the queens right. Under the sumptuary law bards could wear

five colors and the king only seven. Famous bards wondereci from court

to court and through their control of publidty were able to operste rock¬

ets not unlike those of tlie modem columnisti Failure to entertain them

properly would be punished by a satire, which seems to have been

feared as a form of malevolent magic ov^ and above the resulting ridi¬

cule. Lesser bards were attached to the courts of various kingSp Both

Verso and versifiers were robusL Tbe royal bard was expected to take his

place beside the king in the line of battle so that he could contribute the

magical efficacy of his satires, as well as be able to observe the royal

deeds and celebrate them properly In his verse.

 

A^unts of the religion of pagan Ireland and, indeedp of that of the

Celts in general, are fragmentary. Students have had a tendency to os-

 

 

XXV, Barbarians

 

 

[363

 

sume \hc escbteDCe of a madi more organized theology than there is any

real evidence for^ There seems to liavc been the usual Indo-European

assortment of Tnale and female deities, enough like the Olympian gods

(or Classical writers to ec|uate the two. On both Ireland and the conti-

nent certain deities, for example a god with stag horns shown in numer'

ous earving^ from Caul, may belong to a stiU older cultural stratuni.

Ceremonies were held in the open, and where there were MegaUthic cir¬

cles and alignments these continued in u*e until almost the beginning of

the Christian era. The rites were presided over by priests, the much-

advertised dntkls who, in addition to directing sacrihees and other rites,

performed disination and w^nrked magic. These priests seem to have

been graded in some sort of hierarchy which was recognized across

tribal Tines, but it is impossible to say in how far they formed an organ¬

ized group. After the Roman conquest of Caul many of the native priests

and learned men Bed to Britain, and from there cootiDued to stir up re¬

sult until the Romans conquered that island also.

 

The Irish records all come from a time considerably after the period

when the mainland Celts were making themselves a terror to their Nfed-

iterranean neighbors, and it is probable that the Irish social system had

become considerably more elaborate than that of the Cauls of Caesar's

day. However, partly hereditary^ partly l<>cal groupings of the iHofh

t)pe; the organization of local chiefs under a paramount chief; the grad¬

ing of individnoU evon within the threefold division of chiefs, nobles,

and commoners; a system of vassalage by w^hich men received cattle

from the chief and paid him rental for these rather than for the use of

land; a well-dcvclopcd legal system with Law-men; an extensno litera¬

ture tnmsmitted verbally; and an exaggerated respect for learned men:

all these ^cem to have been present among the Cauls.

 

One is forced to conclude that, aside from the lack of writing and

the rarity of cities, the Gauls were little inferior culturally to the Romans

of the Republican period. How much of this culture was able to survive

the Roman conquest Is a problem deservirig further study* In the new

society which emerged in Western Europe after the faU of the Roman

empire, German and Latin dements were predominant, but the Celtic

social institutions must have survived in rural districts long after the Ro¬

man conquest and prepared the population for the feudal system.

 

 

Chapter XXVI

 

 

The Roman Peninsula

 

 

Roman coltube has been even more thorougbly studied and described

by scholars tlian Greek culture. The estent of the Roman contribution to

later European civilwation is evident to anyone who is familiar wilh the

languages spoken over nearly half of the European continent; the letters

of the alphabet, the solemn and massive architecture of our government

lal buildings, our devotion to the letter of the law and to legal proce¬

dure. and our crippling system of checks and balances in govermnient

are only a few of the things which we have inherited from them. In ad¬

dition there is the legend of Rome os the world state, the bringer of uni¬

versal peace. All this has served to overshadow the fact that until well

after Rome bad become a world power, the Romans were themselves

barbarians. Even Pj'rrhns, the Epirote, who encountered them almost a

hundred years after the time of Alexander the Great, regarded them as

such and noted with surprise that there was no thing barbarous in the

way they handled their troops. Their conquest of ihe Greek cities of

southern Italy, and the amazingly rapid expansion which established

their power over the eastern Mediterranean in the short space of fifty

years, must have been regarded by the civilized populations of the re¬

gions as very much on a par svith a Gaulish invasion.

 

Culturally, Italy lagged behind the Aegean countries throughout

most of its history. This was merely a reilectioti of the well-known fact

that it takes time for any culture pattern to spread from the point of its

origin and that, other things being equal, the greater the distance from

the origin point to a particular region, the longer the culture lag. The

first Neolithic settlers of Italy came from the east, cither by sea or fol-

loiving the coast, and were a part of the Mediterranean wing of the Neo-

litliic colonization of Europe. The culture of these first settlers was rela¬

tively simple and there were no significant new developments after they

reached Italy. The Neolithic period in Italy was also shorter than it was

 

IH

 

 

The Ramon Penifmda

 

 

[385

 

in Northern Europe, since Italy in particular contained cotvsiderable

mineral wealth which lured in foreign miners and merchants. Both trad¬

ers from the Aegean and Beaker Full; from Spain had readied Italy by

i£OD n.Q,, but seem to have had no great influence on tlie local cuttures.

 

About 1500 P.c, bronze-using invaders established themselvc^s in the

Po V'^dlcy. These people seem to have come from Central Europe, pos¬

sibly Hungary, and almost certainly spoke an Indo-European language.

They established fortiBed villages from which they dominated and fi¬

nally ahsorbe^i the older NtfoUthic population. Their villages were occu¬

pied for looger periods, and their sites are marked by mounds of gray,

greasy earth called iermmuro^ whidi the Italian peasants were acctis-

tome^l to dig out and spread on dicLr fields as fcrtiiLEer, In the course of

these diggings many objects came to Iighh and in the iSSos systematic

excavations were undertaken. Unfortunately, the science of archeology

was still in its infancy' when this work was done, and none of the sites

were dug with the csire or techniques which would have been employed

today. The bronze objects found are of Middle European tvpe. The pot¬

tery', on the other hand, is suggestive of the earlier Italian cultures. The

plan of the Terra mare villages was almost identical with that of the Ro¬

man legionary camp. Tlie village was defended by an earth embaiik*

ment, with a moat into which a running stream was diverted. The en¬

trance to the vilUige was by way of a single bridge over the moat and a

Eianow passage through the embankmenL From the entrance a single

broad road led across the viflagCp At the further end there was a mound

containing three sacrificial pits^ obviouiply marking the site of a sacred

area. The main road was intersected at right angles by another broad

way, and the houses were arranged in regular row^s betw^een. The houses

seem to have been built on piles, and the whole arrangement w'as sug¬

gestive of a Like-dwellers^ village reproduceci on dry^ land.

 

Such carefully planned, laboriously constructed villages would

seem congruous with the interests and attitudes of Roman culture in tlio

Republican period. Certain features of the plan would also explain puz¬

zling elements in the later Roman culture, particularly their preoccupa-

tiou willi bridges* Since tlie safety of the Teiramare village depended

upon the bridge, it would not be unnatural for the vIJlagers to call their

priests pout ifs, literally bridge niffkcrrs, a feature otherw ise hard to ex¬

plain. Moreover, the bridge and entrance were narrow enough to be held

by a single chiuiipioti against an army, and the stirring tale of floratiu.^

at the bridge may well have been a folk memory of Terramarc days.

 

From the Terramarc period on tliere were repeated incursions into

norllieru Italy, first by representatives of the Halktatt culture and later

by Celtic tribes. The Celtic invasions were of little significance, since,

after eoch inroad, most of the raiders retired behind the Alps with their

 

 

Fart Seven: Mediterhanean Complex

 

 

306]

 

looL The ftomaos themselves first emerge in history as a group of trad¬

ers and farmers who settled on a group of low hills cm the left bank of

the Tiber River about 0 teeu miles from its mouth. The settleineat be¬

came a thriving trading eonter^ and by 753 b.c- it was a Small city-state

governed by a king. The Roman feeling for republican rule was appar¬

ently inculcated early, for in 509 b.c, they deposed the king, who w'as an

Etrurian from across the Tiber, and wiped out the d)masly. They spent

the next hundred and fifty years waning with theh nelght^s^ subduing

them, and bringing them into the Roman orbiL In 390 BuCp Rome was in¬

vaded by the Cauls, who plundered and sacked the city before they

were driven off. However, by 338 b.c. Rome had made herself mlstr^sa

of all Latium. Bonian power grew rapidly after this. A series of success*

ful campaigns subdued the Samnites, the sturdy highland tribes of cen¬

tral Italy, Etruria was brought under Roman domination. wliicL gave

Rome access to Adriatie ports and increased trade. By 270 b.c. Rome

had succeeded in doing what no Greek city-state had ever done: she had

welded the whole southern peninsula into a single confederacy com¬

pletely under her dominatiou. The Cauls continued to harass Rome from

the north, however, until Caesar reversed the usual direction of move¬

ment by invading Caul and pacifying the GnuU.

 

There was one group of invaders who came to stay and left a deep

and enduring stamp on Roman culture. The Etruscans were the first

really civilized people to reach Italy. They left few inscriptinusi and

even these were niaiuly brief epitaphs wliieh throw little light upon their

culture or origins. The most that can be learned from these iusorptions

is chat they wrote with an alphabet obviously derived from a Semitic

rather than a Greek protolj'pe, and that the Etruscan language was nei¬

ther Indo-European nor Semitic. Schakn have stirrounded their origin

with mystery, but the Romans, who both conquered them and incorpo¬

rated much of Etruscan culture into their own, had no doubt as to where

they CEome from. They lielie^Td that the Tyrrhcnl. as tlie Etruscans

called themselves, came from Asia Minor, and until quite late in Roman

history the anniversary of one of the earliest Roman victories over the

 

 

 

rrnOSCAPJ PA4LV LttT.

 

 

XJCVi. The Roman Peninsula [367

 

Etruscans was cscicbrotcd by leading mummers dressed in Asiatic fash¬

ion through the strcscls, whiJo criers shouteth "Sardinians for sale!”

 

The Etruscans seem to have iXirived in Italy between 800 and goo

EkC, Their movement may have been a last act in the diffusion of tiie

“People of tlie Isles'" from Asia Minor^ Their sotlkments were made iu

northwestern Italy, suggesting that they may have followed in the foot-

steps of the Sliardana {see Chapi XXII, p, 317), Although by Soo b.c.

the use of iron was well establbhecl in the ^iear East, bronze still re-

[nained a precious metal much in demand for aU sorts of ornamental

objects and eagerly desired by the tribes beyond the Alps. The presence

of rich deposits of copper and tin in northern Italy may well have been

the origin^ reason for the Etruscan settlement.

 

Apparently the Etruscan movement w^as neither a mass migration

nor a planned coloukaiion. They seem to have eome a few shiploads at

a time, settling first along the coast and establishmg themselves as an

aristocratie class mUng over the native popnlutiod. Each Etruscan city

seems to have been founded by a different kin group, and the remains

show signifienni; cultural diSerences. The relations betw^een i:x)oquerors

and conquered followed much the same pattern as the Arjan conquests

elsewhere,, although the organization of the nobic group itself was quite

different.

 

The noble rulers of various cities carried on intricate feuds^ but all

of them W'Ould combiue to come to the rescue of an Etruscan overlord in

case of a revolt of bis subjects. This throws light on some episodes in

Homan history. The expulsion of tlie Tarquins, who were the early kings

of itome^ has been romanticaUy ascribed to the crime of Sextus, one of

the king^s sons, wlio raped a Roman matron and drove her to ^idde.

The Tarquins were in fact an Etruscan dynasty, ruling over what was at

that time one of the minor Etruscan principalities. Their family tomb

lias been found near the andent city of Caere, We do not know what the

real cause of the popular revolt may have been, but when the Tarquins

were thrown out they appealed to tlieir Etruscan kinsmen, who sent a

mked force under tlie command of Lars Porsena of Clusium, the leading

 

 

 

FIHUSCAK DAILY Um

 

 

ftfrf Seven: MEDm:«iiAXEAN CoMPUiLt

 

 

368]

 

dty of the loose Etruscnii league. Anyone who has read the Latjs vf An-

cient Rome has got a good Roman version of what followed.

 

The social organmiHon of the Eimscatis was an aristocratic one. At

the top were the lueumoneSt, the nobles of Etruscan blood; bfdow them,

the bourgeois middle class who were attached to them as clients, in the

Roman usage of die tenn, and who were probably of mbeed origm.

These included skilled craftsmen and merchants. At the bottom of the

scale were the peasants and ordinary artisans, who were largely of abch

rigina] stock.^ Class membership seems to Imve been strictly hereditairj'.

There was no way in which a bourgeois Or peasant could beconie a nch

ble. The nobles were bremenduusly proud of pure blood and kept e^clcn-

Sive genealogies. After the fall of the Etruscan power, many of die noble

families were incorporated into the Roman stale, and many of Llie Ro¬

man patrician families boasted of dicir Etruscan origin*

 

All wealth seems to have been concentrated in the hands of the pa¬

trician families, and their great rock-cut tombs and the wealth of objects

placed in them contrast sharply with the simple cremations of tlie low^er

classes and indicate how complete the eccnomic control of the nobles

must have been. These tombs Vh'erc veritable houses of the dead* fur¬

nished with all sorts of objects of both utilit}^ and luxury* They were

used generation after generation and indicate bodi a strong kin organi¬

zation and the presence of an ancestor cult.

 

In early times each Etrusenu city was ruled by a Jiirr, 4 priest-king

whose functions were as itiueJi religious as poHticaL It w^as his task not

only to administer justice but also to act as high priest and to interpret

omens* Later the Etruscan cities seem to have become aristocratic re¬

publics ruled by hereditary oligarchies much like that of Venice. The

organisation of repubhean Rome after the expulsion of the Tarquins,

with its rigid division of the population into patricians and plebeians and

its restriction of all offices lo tlie patricians, probably was in accord with

the Etruscan patterns* Throughout Etruscan history the nobles aJwaj^

retained control of religiorit and the priesthood was recruited exclu¬

sively from their ranks. Their presumed magical powers no doubt

helped to maintain their control over the commoners* The Roman pat-

tenit by which the priests of the higher orders were civil officials elected

for secular rather than religious reasons^ probably derived from the

Etnjscaos*

 

The Romans had two sets of deities. One consisted of the family

gods, lures and who were ancestral spirits and gjuardians of the

 

household. These were probably of Etruscan origin. They were small,

intimate beings who could be loved and dominated by their worship*

pers and, in so far as emotion entered into iloman religion at all, it found

its outlet in the familial cult The seccind group of gods were merely per-

 

 

XXVJ. The Roman Penirusula [369

 

sonifications of virtues or qu^ifitics. Thus there was Tenuinuj, the gdd of

boundaries represented by the boundary stone; Vesta, the goddess of

die hearth, represented by a sacred fire; and a whole series of similar

impersonal deities. The worship of these was a function of the state, and

the priests who presided over their rites were government offidals who

were letter-perfect in the rituals. The relation bet^veen the deities and

the state wa$ regarded as a contractual one m which, if the state per¬

formed its part, the deities w'ould perform theirs. If divine help was not

forthcoming, it w'as assumed that there had been some slip in the rituah

pnd it is on record that, in at least one case, the same ceremony w'as re¬

peated seven, times because a minor sUp had been detected in each of

the first six performances. Such deities and such attitudes toward them

might be CKpeeted from the Terrtimnre people, but certainly were ahen

to tbe Etruscan temperament.

 

Since the Etniscaiis have left 110 literature can only judge wbat

this temperament was from their art. Their tombs are filled wth pictures

of banquets and decorous revelries in which botli men and women par¬

ticipated. The Romans^ who were an cjsceedingly puritanical people, es¬

pecially in their earlier period, had a great deal to say about the general

profligacy and degeneracy of tlic Etruscans, but there h little real evi¬

dence for this. Roman men were not supposed to strip in each others

presence, while die Etruscans fallowed the Greet u^adition and used

nude figures; in their art. They evidently knew how to enjoy themselves

and how to live Insuriously* Tlius, Etjuscam gold wart was the best in

the ancient world, and the frescoes show them wearing mantles bor¬

dered with the purple which later became the mark of Roman senatorial

tank.

 

The tomb materials show extensive contacts, and it seems highly

probable that the Etmscau nobles, like the later Italian ones, themselves

engaged in trade. They certainly lacked tbe Creek contempt for tech-

nologj'i They w'erc good farmers wlio introdticed the grape and ohve

into Italy, and they probably were responsible for the use of the plow

and crop rotation. The later Roman interest in agriculture and its prac¬

tice by patricians probably stems from Etniscan originSi The Etruscans

were also the best bronze workers nf their times, their superiority being

acknowledged even by the Greeks.

 

In the 7th century b.c. bronze cauldrons of Etruscan workmauship

were detUcated at Olympia by Creek cities, not as curiosities or spoils

but because they represented the finest craftsmanship availabIcK

 

Etniscan art reveals a curious s ituation. In spi te of their technologi¬

cal excellence, they seem to have Ijecn uninventive as regards st}'!^ ^nd

sitbject matter. They copied the artistic farms of the various peoples with

whom they traded, Syrians^ Egjptians and Creeks, and produced euri-

 

 

Se^m: Medit^juunean Compi^

 

 

370]

 

om hybrid products which often appear dnmsy in concept if not in exe¬

cution. The only art in w^hich they excelled w-as that of portraiture* At n

time when e\'en the Creek atttempts at it were styli'zed^ they w^ere work¬

ing from models and producing faces which were strongly indJriduEil

Most of their portraits were east in bronze, but the Etmscatis were abo

famous for their colossal pottery figures. These were sometimes fifteeia

to eighteen feet high, decorated in polychrome. To construct and Ere

such immense earthenware objects required a mastery of technique

which has never been surpassed. The first Italian artist whose name Has

been preserv^ed Is one A'olca^ an Etruscan sculptor whom the Romans

employed to make earthenw^are statues for the temples on tlie Capitoltzic

HilL when these were rebuilt after the dty had been burned by the

Cauls.

 

1 he Romans finally succeeded in breaking the power of the Etrus¬

cans and incorporating their fingni^nts and tliose of various conquered

ItaUc tribes into a single state. It may be noted lint in this incorporation

they did not show their reputed genius for statecraft. The conquered

groups were given no share in government altliciugh they were ex¬

pected to fumisb levees for the Roman armies, they were so thoroughly

exploited both militarily and economically that mmt of ih^m were rrady

to side with any enemy of Romo. Having consobdated the north, the Ro¬

mans gradually ejEtended their power scjuthward tiiTOugh their progres¬

sive conquest of the Greek mii&s in southern Italy and Sicily. These Ital¬

ian Creeks were vastly more civilized Ilian the Romans, who regarded

them with enrious contempt. Ttie city fathers at this time made numet^

ous attempts to prevent the younger generation in Rome from accepting

Creek culture, hut its attracbon proved too strong for censorship and

repressive legislation.

 

The subjugatiDn of the Greek cities brought the Romans face to

face with the Carthaginians, a Pboenician group who at that time domi¬

nated the western Meditermnean from tlicir bases an North Africa, Sic*

iiy^ and Spain. The final destruction of Carthage after the Punic wars

created a vacancy in the Mediteminean power afignmentf and the Ro¬

mans were s^vept into this. In reading the records, one feels that the Bo-

man overseas empire originally cmnc into being more by chance than by

intention. Roman isolationists, not unlike our oivt4 protested every step

in the early growth of the empire, and, when Rome finally found herself

a world power deeply involved in world affairs^ she had no constructi^'fl

plan for meeting the situation. Within fifty years she had passed from an

insignificant barbarian state on the outer ^gc of civilization to control

of the whole Mediterranean basin, including its Asiatic coasts. The only

previous parallel for such an expansion had been tiie conque.sts of Ales-

 

 

XXVL The [371

 

ander the Creatp and* in these, power was already centralized in the

person of the conqueror.

 

The Roman republican s)»stein, with its paralj^ag elaboration of

checks and balances, proved quite inadequate to the new conditions^

The Roman virtues were llio parochial virtues of poor^ hard-working

peasants. Republican Romo fiad had no eduo^ted or leisure class^ and lb

poor patricians^ latxiring as cultivators on their own lands, could not af¬

ford most of the vices they condencuied. When wealth began to flow into

the city from the East, their virtues proved to have no solid basis. The

last days of the Republie were marked by a wild scramble for money,

the sort of ostentatious waste to be expected from parventies, and a cal-

bus indLfferenoc to oil human values. The commanders of the conquer^

fng oimles and the governors whom the Senate sent out in their Avake

devoted themselves to looting on an nnprecedeated scale. Determined

reiolts In the East, where the population had been abused beyond the

endurance of even Asiatic peasants, and the struggles for posver be¬

tween various generals, completed the collapse of most of the old Ro¬

man republican inslitutions*

 

The one instittition which was able to sunive and perform its origi¬

nal functions eifectively under these circumstances was the Roman mili¬

tary establishment. The old army tradition of loyalty to the state was m-

creflslngly repbeed by loyalty to the commander* but discipline re¬

mained firm and the Roman military' techniques were superior to those

of any of their antagonists except the Parthians, whoso mailed and

mounted archers W'ere more than a match for the legions. Except on the

Purthran front, the limits to Roman conquest were set only by tiie in¬

creasing povcitj' and cultural backwardness of tlie tribes whom they cn-

TOiintercd. Good businessmen as always, the Romans established their

frontiers at tlie point where the anticipated income from new territories

would not pay the cost of conquest and administra tion.

 

The evils of the period of conquest reached a climax in the wars of

Marius and Sylla, which paved the way for die creation of the Romnn

empire under Augustus. In tliis the Roman Senate and the old forms of

the Roman Republic w-ere maintained for their psychological effect hut

were carefully shorn of real powen The state which emerged was a Hel¬

lenistic monarchy of the type which had already been developed in the

Near East through centuries of trial and error. The worship of the em¬

peror, w^hich w'as an integral part of the Hellenistic system, w^os ae-

EtJpted reluctantly by the early emperors, who found it rather ridiculous.

Augustus himself carefully avoided any of the old rides w^hich bore con¬

notations offensive to Republican cars; neverthclesSp he was In complete

control. The empire was treated as the personal estate of the emperor,

 

 

Pttrt Sepcn: MEDJTEimANiiJts Co^fFLM

 

 

37^}

 

and no distinctinn mnde between the oationa) treasnn' end his pii-^

vute fortune. Since he wits also commiuider-iii-chief of the army* he wiss

able to attach to his person both such loyally to the state as had surv^ived

and the devotion of the soldier to his commander.

 

The Homan imperial organization called for llie creation of an hon¬

est and devoted professional civil ser%'ic€. The peculations of noman of¬

ficials in the provinces, w^hich under the Uepublic had been taken ns

much for granted as the grafting of Amenean poIiticianSp now became

embezzlement of ihe imperial property. It is interesting to note that the

secretaries of Augustus^ who would correspond to our own presidentia]

cabinetp were, w'ith few exceptions, Greeks, and severtU of them were

Creek freedmen who had been reared in the Near East un^l were thus

famihur with the Hellenistic patterns both for government and for llie

management of great estates. With their aid Augustus organized the em¬

pire on such a sound basis that it was able to carry on for centuries in

spite of vicious and incoinpetent emperors and even the w^ars of rival as-

ptranls to the purplcp After the initial |ieriad of conquest had come to an

end and during tlie long periods, when contests for the purple did not

reach the dJmension of civil waiSp die Eonmn empire conferred genuine

bencBts upon its members. It maintained peace among its subjects and

protected them from barbarian inroads. It efiablisbed new' trnde routes

and improved old ones. It gave the most civilir^d part of the ancient

western world a common system of laws and a common language, the

latter Increasingly Creek rather than Latin.

 

LastlVp the Romans were the first to make constant use of the device*

of awarding eitizeuship with all its accompanying rights and privileges

to a selected group of individuals among tlie subjects. Tliis arraitgeiiiefsi

not only gave the subjects tlie hope of final social equalitVp but per¬

formed the more immediate function of detacliiag many of thcir ablest

potential leaders and affiliating them with the dominant group.

 

In spite of tlie^se advantages^ the Jioinans never devclupi^ an adc^

quatc fiscal policyi and from the time of the establish merit of the empire

on there was a gradual decline iii the extent of Homan resonices. Even

under good etnperors it became increasingly dilGcnft to finance the de¬

fensive wars against barbarians. It should be pointed out that the Hel¬

lenistic patterns; of government which the Romans had made their ovm

had been developed in the Near Eastp in a territory in which n dense

rural and urban population bad been supported from bine imniemori]il

by irrigubofi, the practice of crop rotation^ and a high development of

trade and manufactures. EuropCp even Italy, was by contrast a back¬

ward region with a sparse and dwindling rural population whose lands

were becoaiing increasingly Impoverishedr and with few and insignifi¬

cant ribes. In the long view of hisloiy, one must think of the Roman em-

 

 

.YA’Vf. The Roman Peninsula

 

 

[373

 

 

pire iLS LI w

 

 

.'fstwdrd titensioii of ilic Hfik'iifstic civilization which had its

ofifiin and continuing center in the Near East. As with many other aJ-

vanees of culture into regions to which they were ecologically uii-

adapted the liellenistic civilization never realiy took roots m the \^est.

In due course of time the Celtic and Germanic cultures reasserted them¬

selves, and the (iellenistic cisilization retreated eastward, svhere it sur-

rived in B>-zantium, the so-called eastern Roman empire, untU the istii

centurv* a.d. Its retreat left the control of Europe to the harbanan tribes

whose culture had been enriched but certainly not trans oimc > con

tact wltli Hellenistic Rome. Tliese tribes had found many elements of

the Hellenistic culture incompatible with their own^™g Lsa ’ is e

insdtnHons, and. w'hile the great legend of Rome predisposed them to

accept the outward fonns of the Roman state, they reinterpreted these

in terms of their oum values.

 

In Western Europe the chaos, following the Rornan collate, crys-

hrllized into the feudal system, which, ns H, G. VV;elIs

not a ss'Stem but 'confusion roughly orgauized. With the breakdown

of authority the prevailing need of early medieval society was F^-

tection. Governmental control, which normally gu^ t ngi s o

citizens, was lacking, Ttic peasants and small bndowuers were easy

prey for any rosing bond of invaders who descended upon them. They

were therefore obliged to seek protection where they could End it ^d

pay whatever was demanded. Tiu.s the powerful audowncr with a

rcHnue of fighting men «mld force his weaker neighbors to become his

dopcTiclcnts in return for his protection. This resit t in a s>s em 0

nobles bolding the manors, ivith the peasants working for him as seris

 

and fi^htinii for him when necessary. n i j

 

The foundation of feudalism was the fief, which was usually land

 

but might be other privileges, such as the right to operate a col¬

lect revenues, or hold some other lucnitivo post. Each noble tried o

coUei^t as many fiefs os possible, luid in exchange ^ gave an ™

 

of fealte to the kud from whom he had obtained it meant sending

the required number of fighting men to the lord if he a war and

being loval tq his interests at all times. The nobles were a iiu ^arj ans

bocrpcy trained in the arts of war, the most important o w ic

abdite to fight in beav7 armors skill which takes considerable p^-

tice, as a suit of plate armor might weigh as mucli 150 pounts. ^ e

nobles lived on dieir manors, which were practicaUy seU-sustammg,

providing food and processed goods and services for the lord and his

 

retinue pnd also for the peasants on ihe estate-

 

Feudalism was essentially a rural societj-, with the nobles est J-

Ushed on the manors. In the towns were a small group 0 urg ere wv o

produced the few specialized things which could not be made by the

 

 

Part Sevent Mcditebranean Complex

 

 

374I

 

peasants. With the rise of the dtteS;, feudiUism col lapsed. In fact, in (he

region around the Meditemuiean, where city patterns survived the f all

of Home, feudalisni never became strong as it did in the north.

 

Fendalisni presented a rigidly strat^ed society in which, tlieoreti>

cally at least, no man could rise above the position into which he was

bom. However, os io most integrated social systems, a safety valve was

provided to draw off the energies of able and aggressive members of

the lower class who might othersvise have revolted. The one outlet for

social advancement w-as through the Church. The villeins were chained,

to the sot] and could tie sold along with a plat of land, but the son of

a serf, if he were able and ambitious, could go into the Church. In this

Drganir.atfon it was thcoretJcally possible for him to rise to the position

of Pope and to stand on a par with the emperor, who was the secular

head of the heirarchy. In this way the Church succeeded generation

after generation in drawing off tlie best brains of the society and also

in providing an outlet for the restless and aggrcitsivc ones who were

potential troublemakers in this rigid system.

 

The Church shrewdly prevented the priesthood from becoming an

hereditary aristocracy by passing two basic rcgulatioost first, the clergy

were forbidden to marry, and second, no illegitimate son could take

Orders in the Church. Consequently the road to advancement in the

Church was always open, ond new blood was constantly being drawn

from all levels in society.

 

The Church, which had modeled its organization on that of the

Empire and even taken over many of the Empire’s secular functions at

the time of the Roman collapse, had remained the last flellenistic strong*

hold in Western Europe. Its incompatihility' with the barbarian cultures

led to innumerable cLislics between Church and State which finally

cuhiiinated to the Protestant Reformah'on,

 

 

Chapter XXVII

 

 

Islam

 

 

When the Roman E^cpiee wont into ^ dcclino ifl lliG West* the castem

Empire carried on. Two great powers emerged from the Near East One

was caUed the Byzantine Empire, w^hich is a much better term for it

than the eastern Roman Empire, since its official language was Greek

and its cultural background was pretlominaiitly Greek and S}Ti4UL Tlic

other power, lying farther to the east, was the Persian Empire. The

Romans were never able to conquer the Partliians, the people living in

what is now Persia, but who at oue period extended their boundaries

fls far as the Tigris and Euphrates. Here, in the early centuries of the

Christiftn era, a strong and highly civilized power emerged.

 

The Sassauiau kingdom was the direct descendant of the Persian

Empire with which the Greeks had fought In the course of time, the

dynasties had changed, yet the general patterns had carried o\er. It

wa5 highly organized and dvilized. Zoroastrianism, the slate religion,

wa^ for a lime the great opponent of Christianity. The Persian reli¬

gion a fundamental dualism- It was based on the idea that the uni¬

verse was controlled by tw'o contesting forces, darkness and hght. or evil

and good. Ormuz was the God of Light; Orimon, the God of Darkness.

The struggle betw'ecn them was an equal one, so that the outcome was

constantly in doubt. Neither of them was all-powcrfuk die Christian

God is supposed to be. It was the duty^ of the good man to align himself

with Ormuz, and to take an active part in the struggle. Christiaoity

borrowed one very important thing from it; the idea of the Devil^ and

of the evenly balanced struggle between God and tlie Devd, which left

the outcome in dnabt.

 

To the west of the Persians the Byzantine Empire was developing,

becoming more and more rigid and formalized, but accompbshing one

thing which was exceedingly importauL It managed ^ incorpnrate

people of many different cultures into itself and to do it successfully,

 

37 S

 

 

37®! Si^vrn: M^tTEBiKASEAs Comt^lks

 

Its lists of offiduls, emperors, and generals unme men of the most di¬

verse origins. For instance, Belesiarius^ the great BjT:antine general, was

the son of a Slavic peasant from the Balkans, Several em|5erors were

Arabs; some of the others were Slav^p Greeks, and Syrians. Probably

none of them w^erc. of pure Boman ancestry^ Apparently B^isantiurn had

no partictilar consciousness of racial or national tUfJerences- Anyone

could come into the ^stem* and if a man possessed the necessary quali¬

ties, for tlie mo^t part qualities of w'hich we do not approve^ such as

ability for intrigue^ kiimvJedge about the suitable atlministration of

poison, and so on. he was able to rise to a high posttiom

 

In this connection it is □ verj^ interesting fact that after the rise of

Nazi domizmtion, before the war and Germany's collapse, some of the

more serious German scholars were making quite cjctenslve studies of

the Byzantine system. They knew that if Germany should conquer

Europe it would have to incorporate the vanquished peoples; they were

interested to see bow this had been accomplished by the Byzimtine Etn-

pire. These investlgatjons w^ere not carried far enough to disclose exactly

how' the Bj-zantmes did this so suecessfuUy.

 

Incidentally, during this period, there was a surprisingly dose con¬

nection between B)^utium and Scandinavia. Tlic Scandinavians came

dovm across the Russian fiats, choosing places where they could gel

their long-ships down with only short portages. Some were traders;

others W'ere assembled by the emperors of Constantiouple to fomi ftn

imperial guard, the Varangian Guards, patterned dter the old Prae'

torian Guard. It was the proper thing for Scandinavian princes, espe¬

cially for high-spirited young men wlio had killed an opponent in a

dud and wanted to got out of the country until the affair was forgot-

ten, to go to Constantinople, join the Varangian Guard for a few years,

and then to return homo wiili their earnings. More Byzoiitinc coins

have l>een found in Scandinavia than anywltere else in the world. Ap¬

parently^ the Scandinavians buried the loot they took north instead of

spending it. The earkest account that w'e have of the pagan Norsemen

is written in Arabic by an Arab who visite^l their cjncampments in Rus¬

sia* He has left us a very good and circumstnntial at.^ounl: of the Vlkiag

funeral, with its human sacrifices, which checks almost exactly with the

descriptions given in the sagos,

 

By^amtium w-as constantly being exhausted, on the one hand by its

iwars with the Sassanian Persians; on the other, by successive raids from

the north by Btilgars. Slavs, and the like. In the 7th century a.d. By-

zantium and Persia had just about fought each other to a standstill, and

had reduced the peasantry in the fought-over territory' to a condition

of complete despair and indifference. The rulers' technique for getting

taxes was to make the richest man of each district the lax collector. lfi

 

 

XX\^IL hftiju

 

 

[377

 

givfa a free Imnd as to methods^ he could Dot raise the required tnuces,

he had to supply tlie difference out of his own pocket. This hardly eo-

gendcred enthusiasm toward the central government.

 

It was upon thLs scene that the conquering Arabs of Mohammed's

immcdintc successors appeared. This hackgronnd has been described

because the usual and far more dramatic picture suggests that small

Arab armies came from the desert and overthrew the forces of the two

mightiest empires in the world. But great empires are not easily con¬

quered unless tliev have rotted from within. Here we find a situation

whk^h slightly parallels the invasions of the barbaric tribes. But the sig¬

nificant differeiieej which facilitated the Arab conquest, was the fact that

while the earlier barbarian invaders of the Roman Empire had a tribal

organi^tion, which mCimt a certain amount of resistance to outsiders

btconiing part of tlie tribe, the Arabs w'ere united by a common faith

which was a vigorous, proselytising religion, and were eager for con¬

verts. In the early days of their conquests, anyone who accepted their

religion bocamo a brother tn Islam* Many of these early Arab ln\'asions

undoubtedly bore many of the esutnarks of a social revolution, which

gave the proletarians a lielter chance than they had had under the

existing systems of the old empires.

 

Siohammedanism, or more properly, Islam, began with the teaci-

ings uf Mohammed. He was an historical figure whose life is amply

documented. He was bom in Mecca in 570 a,p. of a good family, but his

ftither died before his birth and his mother when he was six. His child¬

hood was insecure and difficult, for the orphan was handed around to

various foster-mothers and relatives* During his early adolescence he

ser\^ed as a shepherd, which gave him much time for contemplation. At

sev'enleen he went to Syria with an uncle and fought in a loc^ religious

war. When lie was twenty-four he became commercial representative

for a carawR owned by a wealtliy widow, A year later^ in 59 J, he mar¬

ried the w’idow, who was then forty, bad been married twice before,

and hud borne her former husbands two sotis and a daughter. She bore

Molnimmed two sons, w^ho died in childhood, and four daughters. From

595 to 610 Mohammed was a respected businessman in the dtj' of

Mecca* He w^as given the surname Ai Amin* The Just, because of the

wisdom of his decisions. At the oge of forty, however, he began to feel

dissatisfaction with his tranquil and prosperous existence and retired for

meditation to a cave outside the citj% Bevciations in the form of dreams

came to him, and he ^vas convincetl that he had been chosen by .Mlah

^ n vehicle of enlightenment.

 

As weU as being an important town, in the caravan trade, Mecca was

a center for religious pilgrimages^ for it was the shrine of an important

deity of the old Arabic religion. Because of this, tlie Meccans were highly

 

 

Part Sevent MEUJTEHftANEA^r Complex

 

 

378]

 

Attuned to religion; also their contact with traders had exposed them to

the Jewish and Christian ideas. i\fohammeds revelations attracted a

number of followers and he began to preach and make furtliter converts.

Like all Arab towTis, Mecca was split into various fatlions. A powerful

group who disliked Mohammed s elan, and saw in his new teaching a

threat to the old pilgrim trade^ made an unsuccessful attempt to assas-

sinate him. Mohammed and his small group of loyal disciples Bed to

Medina on July i6di, This is a very important date, for it is the

year of the Hejira^ or flight, from which all Mohammedans reckon, jtist

as Christians date their calendar from die time which is assumed to he

the birth of Christ.

 

The people of Medina, a town lying north of Mecca, welcomed

Mohammed, chiefly because they were old rivals of the Meccans. Towns

frequendy foUowTd the policy of taking in an exile and helping him to

become a disdnguished citi^n in order to make trouble for the town

from which he had fled.

 

There were numerous small battles bclw^een Mecca and Medina.

Finally, the Meccans mustered a huge army to try to take Medina. The

level of Arab culture at that time can be deduced ftom the fact that this

siege is known in Mohammedan sacred history' as the '"Battle of the

Ditch.* Under the direction of a Persian in Medina, who had been con¬

verted to ^lohammedanismT Medina was fortified by a moat. At this

time the desert Arabs bad so little experience in coping xvith any kind

of fortification dial this “ditch* coinplelely baffled diem. They camped

outside the town, withnut the shghtest idea of how to gain an entry.

After a certain amount of skirmishing the siege began tn look like a

stalemate. The attacking force was of heterogeneous origin, made up of

duns, most of which w'cre feuding with each other. Since there was no

actual battle to consolidate them, they began quarreling among thetn-

selves and finally dispersed. After this bloodless victory, Mohammed's

influence in southern Arabia was never questioned. In 630 be drove a

bargain with the Meccans: in re turn for his safe conduct to Mecca he

would agree to make this city the center of the new religiori, thus re¬

taining and augmenting its pilgrim trade.

 

Mohammed returned to Mecca in figo. He destroyed the idols of the

old religion and forbade any pilgrims except the Faithful of Islam to

enter the eity^ He ruled that the idol-worshippers must be either con¬

verted or slain, but the “People of the Book,'* meaning Christians, Zoro^

astrians, and Jew's, were allowed to worship In their own way^ although

they were assessed a special tax.

 

Two years after his return to MeccOt Mohammed died at the age of

 

a ripe age for a prophet. Most of the great religious leaders died

long before the religious ideologies which they inspired were formn-

 

 

XXVn. Islam l 379

 

lated. The doctrine of the Trinity, the nature of the Holy Ghost, and

other theological concepts which arose subsequent to the original doc¬

trine of Christianity', and which have been the concern of divines for

centuries, would probably also Iiave puzzled Jesus of Nazareth. But

Mohammed, as a religious leader in Medina and then in Mecca, coped

with immediate questions of doctrine. Following the traditioo of Arab

sheiks, he administered justice and bunded down decisions.

 

Mohammed died a successful and prosperous citizen, which is also

outside the pattern for prophets. He was a man of experience, having

been a herdsman, a w'arrior, and a trader. He had a thorough under¬

standing of Arab culture and his teachings were adapted to the needs

of die people and made no demanils which would disnipt their pat¬

terns of life. He worked for unit}' and a funneling of the old tribal loyal¬

ties into a new religious allegiance* Certainly Mohammed s teachings

were more direct and comprt'hcnsible than those of Zoroastrianism or

Christianity, the religions with which Islam had to compete at the time

of its origin.

 

ITie Arabs, who were familiar with Jew'ish and Christian ideas, had

felt themselves at a dlsads'sntage because they' had no scriptures nor any

written tradition. The desert Arabs were just beginning to learn to WTrite

at this time and had the awe and respect, characteristic of all illiterate

people, for written records and their apparently magical effects* Out of

the pronouncements of Mohammed came the Koran, which filled a long-

felt need in Arab life. Much of the Koran was dictated by Mohammed

while in a state of possession and is phrased in Arabic poetry, a mixture

of mystic prayers and exhortations to the faithful. Other sections are

proiiminceinents of all kinds. Although this book abounds in obscure il¬

lusions which are dull and confusing to the modem reader, these re¬

ferred at the time when it was written to contemporaneous events with

which the community was thoroughly famihar. Mohammed’s pronounce¬

ments were occasionally inspired by momentary irritations* For iostanw,

after a difficult session with a strong-willed, old lady litigant, he made

the statement that no old woman would be accepted m Heaven, sint*

Heaven was designed as a peaceful place. He later relented on tli^

dictum, but the question as to whether or not women have soub is stiU

a point of doctrinal disagreement among various seels of Islam,

 

Although hfohammcd did not live long enough to answer aU the

questions that arose, he laid the foundation of a creed and a legal sys¬

tem which were later supplemented by his foUowei^. The Koran con¬

tains innumerable laws governing all phases of behavior. Supplementing

the Koran proper, which contains the actnal words of Mohammed is

the Hadith, which contains the traditional sayings and decisions of Mo¬

hammed as these were recalled by his followers after his death. Some

 

 

Faff Seten: Mediterplanean Complex

 

 

380]

 

ri?ported by thcise who had known Xfohnjnmed. others were based

on hearsay evidence. After MohammedV death all the scribes of tslain

began a frantic colteetion of all the sayings and episodes which could

be recalled at Girt or second hand. This went on as long as there was

anyone alive who had been alive in MoliamTned s time. From these

sacred works developed the peeuUar pattern of Islamio sacred history

which is still the background of Islam.

 

The legal content of the Koran was derived, for the most part, from

the pre-Islainic customary law, with only minor vaiiationi by Mohorri'

med himself. These in every case were amelioradniis of oorljer Jaws^

for Mohammed w^as a social reformer. Thus, there is a statement in tlie

Koran to the effect that a master must be kind to tns slaves. Another

specification on w^hich Islamic peoples laid great stress was that all true

believ'ers were brothers and social equals. Coupled wjth this w'a$ an

extraordiiiar)' degree of verticul mobility. A man bom into any position

in societVi even that of slave, could rise to any heights^ This was logically

consistent for* since Allah controlled the universe, he could make a man

a beggar one day and a sultan the next if that were Ins ^vill. Islam has

represented throughout its history an unmualiy flc.xible social sj-stem.

 

Within about fifty years after Mohammed^s death, Islam split into

three main sects* which were later still further divided. -Although Mo¬

hammedanism began w^ith fairly simple teachings, elaborations of doc¬

trine served to carrj' various groups off in different directions. Because

of the collapse of the neighboring tribes, the Arabs at ttiis lime were in

possession of rich territory^ the contrtjl of which was a plum worth

fighting for. Therefore the question of die legitimate succession to the

Caliphate became very important Mohommed^s sons had died in in¬

fancy, and his two nephews were killed in an intercLin fight for the

Calipbale. He had designated as his suctessor Abu Beker, his father-in-

law and one of his first con\^rts* but he w^as already an old man and

died twT7 years after Mohaniined. It was on this point of succession that

Islam first split into three camps: the Sunni* the Khattfirtj^ and the

SAifte.t.

 

The Sunni believed that any member of Mohauimed"[^ clan could be

elected to the Caliphate, w'hich made the choice exceedingly wide^

They regarded the Caliph as the direct successor of Mohammed and as

such* eommander-in-chief of the army and head of the religion. The

K ha wary held that the Caliphate was open to any true believer, since

all were brothers ui Islam^ This group Is now extinct except for a few

small sects in North Africa* The third group* the Shiites, believed in

absolute succession from All, w^bo was Mohammed's nephew and

adopted son, and husband of his favorite daughter^ Fatima. All was re¬

garded by the Shiites as an incarnation of Mohanuned's power. Phi Jo-

 

 

XXVU. hlcm

 

 

[3S1

 

 

 

DBAWINO FRO.'it Aj; IRANIAN StASUSCHIPT, XV CENTUBV

 

sophicaUy this meant that the Caliph was an iiidi>idu8l to wbnm die

power and authority of Mohammed had been transmitted by Allah. He

was nut a reincarnation of Mohammed himself, but was semi-divme

because of the divine power vested in him.

 

Since die Kliawary have faded from the scene, the main divisions

in the Mohammedan world is between die Sunnis and the Shiites, each

group considering the other heretic. The Sunnis, who held Arabia and

Egypt, have remaiued closer to primitive Islam, Although they are a

c^servative group, their doctrines have been modified by the introdue-

tion of the concept of the Ifma. This is die belief that since the will o

Allah controls everything, auy custom which is workable and approved

bv the people must be in existence because .Mlah wills it so, even though

it may be in opposition to the code of the Koran and Hadith. Tins con-

cept has been extremely useful to the Sunnis in their missionary work,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3^^] Secern* MEorrEmuxEAN Complex

 

particularly in Africa. They have heen able to adapt the doctrines of

Islam to the local customs of the African Negro in a way in which the

Christian missionaries have faded to do, with the result, that unless

something unexpected happens, Negro Africa is likely to become Mo¬

hammedan rather than Christum.

 

The Shiites, who were essentially Persian, cornbined the pro^Istamic

philosophy and customs of tlie old empire with the teaching of Mohiun-

med and developed various mystic sects, £oth Shiites and Sunnis were

actually cultural extensions of the pre-islamic civilizatioa of the Near

East.

 

The desert Arabs were not a large group. Their armies, although

they were augmeated by converts to Islam, were still small Howes'er.

Islam has never been a peaceable religion, and its followeis have always

been good fighters. Amnj. the Arabum general, invaded Eg)'pt in 6^

with an army of only 3000 men, although the Eg> ptian population was

behveen three and four million at this time, and held the country for

three years until reinforcements arrived to complete the conquest Tlie

Arabs were a desert people of simple culture who were able to take

over tile teirito^ of more highly civilized groups through superior fight-

ing ability. As is usual in such cases, they took over the patterns of the

conquered groups. However, conquerors of lower culture than the con¬

quered always find themselves confronted by a multiplicity of adminis¬

trative problems. In the case of an old empire, such ns Egv pt was in the

7th century, the techniques for handling problems of goVcmmcnt had

already been worked out and it was easier for the conquerors to make

use of the old bureaucrncy than to attempt to train a nesv group, for the

handling of men in large masses requires very specific techniques. So

within a few generations the Arabs had absorbed the patterns of the di¬

vergent civilization of the areas which they had conquered.

 

They were eager to accept civilizatioit, which they recognized as

much more comfortablo than their old desert existence. The Fersian

Empire and that part of Byzantium w'htch they ov'erraii were exhausted

empires, rotten from within, but with much that was new and stiniuJat-

ing to offer to the invaders, A tremendous upsurge of intellectual vigor

resulted, which made the Islamic wnrld for a time a center of intcUec-

tiial activity'. Although die Arabs shed their old patterns, they imposed

the faith of Islam on the conquered peoples.

 

There is not space in this volume (o give the history of the Islamic

conquests, which absorbed the rotting empina on both sides of .Arabia

with amozmg speed. Except for the excursion into the monsoon territory

of Southeastern Asia, the spread of Islam has been closely connected

with a particular envirorunent and has never taken strong roots in any

other kind of country. The typical envirotunent is semi-arid country with

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part Seven; NtEorrEnRAKiUN Complex

 

 

3S4I

 

enmjgh well-water^ territory to make city life and agriculture possible,

A teiritorj^ of this sort lends itself readily to government after

 

a certain level of technology is attained, because the cities are at tlie

mcrc>' of any group which controls the trade routes between them. The

Islamic countries, with the exception of the Southeast Asiatic ones, were

essentially mercantile and ngrlculturaL It is characteristic of Islam that

the artisans, craftsmen, and merchants occupy high social positions,

which differentiates them sharply from the other cultures of Asia, The

result has been tlie development of a sjnuhiotfe pattern in which the cub

tures of the rity dwellers and the agricuEturalists and the nomads are

mutually dependent

 

The patterns of nomad life have remained practically unchanged

for thousands of years. The city people, on the other hand» are living

much as our own European ancestDrs lived In the 16th century. Most of

tiie city and towm dwellers are not .4rab5. properly spealdngp but are the

descendants of the older civilized population who were ovcmiii by Islam

but who have maint'iincd to a very large extent the old Hellenistic and

S)Tiun pattern of Civilization,

 

The smallest units in die pattern of .Arab life are die nomad camps

and the villages. The caravans of the nomads provide for the transpOTta-

tion of processed goods and Inxuries such as tea^ coff^ce, and sugar, while

the villages are the principal sources of foodstuffs. The exchange is made

in tlic market towns, where Iwth nomads and villagers bring their goods.

Towns, ia this semi-arid oountrjv are located near some stream which

can be used for water for the population and for irrigation of the outly¬

ing fields. Primitive metliods are stij] used for irrigation, such as a wuter*

wheel hung with jars and turned by the current of the stream or, in

Egypt, the ^iudut, a welJ-sweep witli a large jar attached which a slave

alternately lowers into the river and empties into an imgation ditch. The

distinction between the towTi and the village is not merelv one of size.

The village is agricultiiral and has only a few specialists, the carpenter,

bath keeper, etc.^ who cater only to the vilbgers. The town is a commu-

nit\" of farmers, traders^ and specialists who serve not only the town it¬

self but all the outlying villages and the nomad camps. The town usually

has a sehool, a hospital, and a court of justice.

 

Cities are govettunent centers which handle the great volume of

trade. They are located where there is some sort of natural w'atcr supply

which con meet the needs of a large ppiiktlon. The city of Fez^ for ex*

ample* is built upon a fold of Jlmestoue plateau which has an almost

limitless supply of water. Owing to a water drop of more than S50 feet

in die course of a mile, there Is water power here for hydrociectrie

power pkn^ and milk; the streets are flushed with water and the mar¬

kets sprinkled. There are public fountains in the streets^ and everj'

 

 

XXVIl. Istarn

 

 

[3S5

 

 

wealthy houstholder has a gushing fountain in his garden, Muslims d^

light in nmning water, and a c^urtjard

 

a%ol and stream is the ambition of even- family m the Middle East.

 

Cities aro a maze of narrow sbreeb. cut through hy a few wide

thoroughfiifcs. House walls are at street level and unbroken on ^

ground door escept for big doonvays wide ^ougb to dnve a e^

dirough. The ground Boor is usually used for cooking and storage, mg

quarters are on the second floor. In .vealthicr famflies Ae

1 the upper floors and oec-upy; themselves by watching the world go by

from ffiUied windows ovi?rlooking ihe street.

 

Mohammedan family life is rigidly secluded. On the

when visitors are invited to the home, none of the

Social life for the men centers in the mosqnes. die markets, the

shops, and baths. Tlie only place where the women can gatiier g“^P

areSe cemeteries, since a husband cannot refuse to -11-

to mourn her dead relatives. Young women «e “ "'if

but. after middle age. women go about fairly .

 

Even in this supposedly male-dominated society the

quently run by Sttong-willed old ladies, as it is m most places.

 

IsUmic Markets differ from tliose in European cibe^where ^e in¬

tention is to have a center where goods of all sorts can found ^thm

easy reach To Muslims, bargaining is more important than s;i«ng tune

or?hoe leather. In Islamic cities one Bnds the stiert of the leather work¬

ers the street of the brass workers, and so oil. Tlic piirchnser can go

dlTthe line comparing qualities and

 

fine art here and ciqoyed by aU

 

natil throughout these countries, in spite of the fact that “

machiim-made^g^.^

 

mLufaJtSS and sellers. In the little shops the work of the

and iSrmakcr is carried on in plain sight

esteem, and the people have n great respect for and

iiical sldU. Each city has a special craft

 

available in die redon. Manv craftsmai occupied m one specialtj slimu

available m uie ^ achienneot until this particular craft is raised

 

late one another to city achieves a world-wide

 

to a high point of tJi tvp^ of object. Handicrafts

 

flourish both in tmvn and city, but what disiingu.sh« the “ that

there are so many workers in each craft that some sort of or^niimtion

beyond the control of the provost of the m^ket

 

cm and traders are formed into guilj much 'll*-IrmarL

rope, with a head man in each guild who is responsible to the market

 

provost-

 

 

386]

 

 

Pari SecCH? MEDTTKKnANEAN COMPliE^

 

 

One important effect which the gui!<ls had on the developtnetit of

economics in these cminlbries h that their organization succeeded in

keeping slaves out of the manufacturing industries. In Classic^ cultures

slave labor was employed for cheap moss production* duplicating* to

some ejrtent* the effect of the modern machine. But in IsJamic countries*

slaves were almost never allowed to practice the crafts, even if they bad

 

 

 

LOSTRED Tltc. IfiGg* KASHAN

 

been expert craftsmen before their enslavement. They were used few

rough mass labor or for house servants.

 

SLivciy is still practiced in Islam, though it has dcelined decidedly-

However^ in the old days an upper-class Islamic family employed many

slaves. It was taken for granted that attractive female staves of suitable

age would become the concubines of the owmer. In this way they be^

came casually incorporated into the household. If a slave bore a child to

her master, both she and the child automatically became free. This cus-

toin led to some curious situations in high places. During the Turkish

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XXV/7. Islam [0^7

 

dynasty llie succession in the House of Ottoman always went to a suh

tan's soji by a slave concubine. Since the handsomest and brightest

young women were selected to serve in the palace, this proved an es-

^llent device for introducing new blood into the royal line. It also

meant that there was very little of the blood of Ottoman in the later

sililtans.

 

Female slaves in n royal establishment thus could become the

mother of a sultan^ but male slaves were abo in a position to take over

more and more power. This was due to dm fact tlwt the Islamic peoples

had never developerl pttems of elective or representative govenmient

of any sort. The sultans had absolute control which could be tempered

onlv by riots and palace revolutions. The sultan who made a decision

which was too unpopular with his subjects was apt to be attacked by a

city mob, its this was the only way that disapprobation could be ex¬

pressed. Under this absolute control the most dangerous threat to lire

throne was the potential heir. If the prince were given authority, he

would probably try to dispose of his father as soon as he had established

himself firmly enough in the good graces of the people so that he could

look forward to being accepted os successor. I hercfore the only men

whom the sultun could trust as administrators were netveomers of such

low background that they would have no claims on the throne, or, pref¬

erably, slaves. A slave in high position who had done away with his mas¬

ter would never be accepted as swtecssor by the populace, Cousequentiy

kings surrounded themselves and filled all high administrative offices

with slaves, for slaves who had been given positions of responsibilily and

power had the strongest possible motives for keeping their rulers aUve,

This system of slave administrators finally passed into a situation in

which the slaves became the actual rulers.

 

In what later became Persia and India, fl series of dynasties was

founded by slave kings. The Islamic conqueror of northern Indio, Mo¬

hammed of Gaxni, was originally a slave. Several of the most successful

kings were captives taken from the Turkish tiiljes In the steppes. These

men proved themselves good fighters and able administrators. A slave

who showed such quafities would be purchased by another ruler, trained

in the duties of his new position, and ihcn passed along. It is recorded

that one of these Turks who became a Mohammedan slave-king was

purchased by his predecessor for a quarter of a miUion dollars with the

deliberate intention of training him as heir to the throne, in this way in¬

suring an able and well instructed successor. u j

 

In other Islamic countries slave corporations were established, of

which the Mamelukes of Egypt were the outstanding example. The early

Islamic rulers of Egypt brought in Mamelukes, which literally means

"white slaves " as mercenaries, since the Egyptians were good craftsmeo

 

 

3'^1 MEDtTEnRAXEAN Complex

 

but poor iioldicrs. The Ntiimelukes were, for the most part, Slavs, Circas¬

sians, and Cr^ks. They were organised first as a bodyguard to tbe Sul¬

tan, then as a standiDg anny. They finally had complete military control

of Egypt und decided they could dispeiise with the sultan, which Uiey

did. They niled Egj-pt for several hundred years as a corporation, pur¬

chasing more slaves to keep up their military forces. They were organ¬

ised in a military hierarchy with what would correspond to captains,

colonels, and generals up to a commander-in-chief, who was actually the

ruler of Egvpt.

 

The JanLssortes, the slave soldiers of the Turkish Empire, provide

another c^tample of this type of slave organi^tion. They were recruited

by the Turks through a regular levy on their Christian sxibjecfe. Prorais-

ing boys betw^een eight and ten years of age were sold into shivery by

their parents. This was done without too mueh reluetanco, for tliese

boys were trained not only as soldiers hut as administmtors, and in time

came to hold the real power in Turkey, making and unmaking sultans as

they wished. The Turks owed much of their success in conquest during

the 15th and i6tb ceuturies to the Janissaries, who were the l^*st infantry

regiments In the world at tliis time.

 

The Mohammedan house of worship is the At certain in-

 

teivaLs, seven times during a twentv-foiir-hoiir period, the miiczisin

climbs to one of the tow^ers, called minarets, and chauts a eoU to prayer.

Bells and music are forbidden in tlie mosques for in Moluimmetr^ time

tliese were part of the Chrisbim religion. Images of any sort are not

permitted, for these recall the old pagan religion which Mohammed

drove out of Mecca- The only furniture in the mosque is the pulpit

Sometimes the floors arc carpeted, but usually the worshipers bring

their owm prayer mgs with them. The aesthetic interests of Islam find

expression in tlie wall decorations of the mosque, which are usually

complicated arrangements of colored tiles. A whole series of dt.'corativc

scripts have been perfected* whicli serve artistir; as well as semantic

purposes.

 

Ttierc is usually a courtyard in the mosque with □ colonnade where

men can talk and rest after prayers, and a tree or two for shade. A

fountain for ritual cleanliness is prescribed. No business is conducted in

the mosque, but it is a pleasant gathering plate.

 

In addition to attending the services in the mosque, every loyal

Nhislini must make the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once during his

lifetime. When this regulation was passii^ by Mohammed, tJje area of

Islam was small and the edict was presumably made to encourage the

Meccan pilgrim trade which had proved so profitable in tlie past. Since

Islam has e.iEpanded to all parts of the world, many sects have estals-

hshed shrines for local Islamic saints. In North Africa, for example.

 

 

XXVJ/. /s^am t 339

 

served pilgrimages to a. local slurinc may be «iuate(i with one pilgriinagc

to Mecca. The rihiuls perfonned by the pilgrims at Mecca are too com-

pHcatcd to be described fully here. However, the most important ritual

is that of running around the Kaaba, the small building in which 3^

idols destroyed by Mohammed were once stored, and in kissing the

Black Slone of the Kaaba, a meteorite which was nn ancient sacred ob¬

ject of the Arabs and has now' been set in the wall of the Kaaba at a suit¬

able height from the ground.

 

Although the intellectiial life of Islam is at present perhaps old-

fashioned, hfohammedanism is stjll a strong and alive reJi^on which

is a force in the lives of its followers. In Islamic countries t^ mosque

services and the reading of the Koran are always in Arabic. This means

that all educated people in the widespread Islamic countries have a

common language, much as all educated people in Middle m

Europe understood Latin, which was the language of the Chureh. Thus,

behind all the political divisions of Islam there is a solid core of common

learning and common understanding, Islam rises superior lo inlema

tional political Unes, nn important point to consider when attempting to

predict the reactions of the Islamic world in any world crisis.

 

 

 

PART EIGHT

 

 

Africa

 

 

 

Chapter XXVIII

 

 

Prehistory

 

 

Stltjexts of cultural history find the Dark Continent well named. iU-

though it was certainly one of the firsts if not the first, iiroutincnt to be

occupied by maUi its past is shrouded in obscurityi Outside the narrow

limits of Egv'pt, Abyssinia, and the northern littoral, tliere are no ^vritten

records earlier than ihcjse of the medieval Arah travelers. The great Ne¬

gro kingdoms winch are ranged across the continent south of the Sahara

have oral traditions w’hich cany the record two or three ceoltiries farther

back, and their king lists and tales of migration and conquest cer^inly

contain much truth. Hnwe^'cr,, &s historyi they am subject to the limita¬

tions imposed upon all records which are handed down by word of

mouth. For the regions still further south eveu these aids are lacking,

and tradition becomes folklore^

 

Remains of human occupation fl« to be found everywhere in Af¬

rica, yet vast areas ara still, for all practicaJ purposes, archeolngicat ttfro

incognita. Surface finds of Old Paleolithic implements have been made

in aU parts of the contiiient where seme inissionaiy or government offi¬

cial has troubled to look for them. In many areas they are so numerous

as to suggest either a relatively dense population or a very long occupa¬

tion. The latter seems more probable.

 

The dating of the early African remains presents serious problems.

The tremendous climatic (^cles which produced the European glacials

and intergladals produced little more than fluctuations in rainfall in Af¬

rica. Changes in animal life were so gradual that fossils are of little aid

in dating finds, and the evolution of culture, and very probably of man

himself, followed a slow and pbdd course all through the Pleistocene,

This was in marked contrast with conditions In Europe, where dimng

the successive ice advances, man could retain only a precious foothold

along tbe southernmost margitis of the cootineiit During these eato-

stropliic periods, Africa, like the Church in Toynbee s formulations, be-

 

 

3941

 

 

Fart Eight: Africa

 

^me a refuge for the culhiral gairw which hud been mndc lx?fore, and

it was from Africa that msn re-einergcd to occupy weiiteni iEurasia when¬

ever the livcathcr diere warmed up sufficiently. Since the African cli¬

matic conditions w^ere fairly constant and the occupation continuous* the

African Lower Paleolithic record locks the abrupt changes \i^hich distin¬

guish the Various Low^r Paleolithic periods in the European sequence.

The earliest African cultural remains so far found come from Northeast

Africa and show a crude flaJee and chopper culhire vaguely reminiscent

of Southeast Asia. Follow'ing this, for many millenrua^ Africa^, from the

Mediterranean to the Cape, was occupied by hand-axe cuIKires. In tliese

the tool forms gradually c\^oh ed thrnngh the types shown in the succes¬

sive European hand axe cultures.

 

Wn have lamentably little information on Africans Lower Paleolithic

population. Hccent South African finds suggest that man may actually

have originated on the continent. Certainly the erect terrestrial anthro¬

poids of the Aiistrajnpithicine group tame closer tn being "^missing links"

than any other fossils which have bceu found to date. The curious Rho¬

desian skull and a recently reported find of what may be a Neanderthal

from the Belgian Congo indicate the presence of laterp but stiii pre-

Sapiensp populations, but the evidence is still far too fragmentary for

definite conclusioiis.

 

After the Lnwer-PaleoHthic pericxJ it becomes even more difficult to

^PP^y convcntionai European orchcological sequences to Afrita. Al¬

though there are implements from sc vend parts of Africa which resem¬

ble the European Flake cultures onoe called Mousterian, their antece¬

dents and position in die African scries are loo unecriain for us to say

whether or not there is any real relationship. On the evidence now

available it seems more probablE? that tliese industries were developed

in Africa as a result of ermtact between surviving hand-axe users aud

invaders who brought an Upper Paleolithic blade^ndustr)' with them.

 

The earliest African blade-industries resemble those of Europe asil

the Near East in sn many respects that there can be iittle doubt that they

were introduced Into Africa in developed form, liowaver, they under¬

went numerous local modifications there and passed^ by a gradual meta¬

morphosis* stimulated perhaps by later Asiatic incremeuts* into indus¬

tries of Mesolithic type. Such industries have been reported from all

parts of the continent for which w’c have adequate archeological data,

and they w'ere certainly very widespread. They were also of relatively

long duration tliroughout most of the continent. The Bushmen of far

South Africa were still producing Mesolithic implements at the time Eu¬

ropeans arrived. Whether the Py^gmies of the western jungles ever did SO

IS an open question. Archeological evidence b; lacking* and their modem

technology provides no clues. Due to their long dependence upon their

 

 

XXVIII. Prehkiory [395

 

larger neighbors and the iron implements thus made available, they

have completely lost any stone-working skills they ever possessed.

 

The skulet^ material coming from Upper Paleolithic and Mesolitliie

sites is of special interest because of the light it throws on African racial

history. Although the remains are not numcraus, they indicate two

things: that a number of differeut human breeds and types were present

on the continent at llus time, aud that Negroid physical characteristics

were loss pronounced and less widely distributed at this period than

they became later, The North African population associated with Upper

Paleolithic industries was predominantly Caucasie and showed many of

the cliaracteristics of the modcni inhabitants of the same region. Scat¬

tered Ends made in (he African plateau from the eastern Sudan to South

Africa indicate that the Bushman-Hottentol tj'pe imce extended much

fnriJicr nortli tlian it has in the historic period, while Caucasie elements

extended farther south. Ljicking any clues as to pigmentation, hair form,

and so forth, some of the East African remains would probably be

dossed as Caucasie if found unywhere else.

 

Conditions in humid \Vest Africa are most unfavorable for the pres¬

ervation of skeletal material, and we have almost no data from this re¬

gion, hut by a process of elimination one must conclude that the center

for the development of the aggregate of physical characteristics which

we ascribe to the Negroid stock lay here. One must also conclude diat

these cliaracteristics have been progressiv-ely spreading from West Af¬

rica. One may even hazard a guess that this spread has been related to

the relatively high tolerance for raalignant malaria characteristic of

West African Negroes, Even today most members of this group are ma¬

laria carriers, and, whenever they have come into a region where there

was a vector (anopheles), they have introduced the disease, with cata¬

strophic results for tlie local populations. The resulting vacuum has been

filled by an increase of the Negroes and less susceptible mixed bloods.

 

The African Neohthic cultures present a series of problems which

can only be solved by much more excavation and particularly by sys¬

tematic research in two key regions; Abyssinia and the Sudan. Both of

these are still almost unknown archeologically. That the African Net^

lithic cultures stem from the Southwestern Asiatic center previously de-

scribed (see Chap. XVI) can hardly be doubted. Their technologies are

basically similar, and everywhere north of the Sahara the African Neo¬

lithic economy seems to have been based on Southwestern Asiatic plants

and animals. Although there may have been some mixture between these

imports and elosly related native species, there is no good evidence that

any ccotLOimcally important animal was domesticated oa the African

continent. It has been suggested as an origin point for the donkej' and

for one sort of sheep, but this has not been proven. The Egyptians did

 

 

396] EiV/jf; ArritCA

 

doincsticate the cut^ but this anijiiut has contributed tuorc to moil's psy¬

chological than to his physical satisfactions.

 

We have no diiect e^'idence as to the ctops grown hy Neolithie sck

cietics soadi of the Sahara, but we do know that^ eiy^ few of the Soutli-

west Asiatic grains could have been raised there. Most of the crops

grown in West Africa and the Sudan today are of either American or

Southeast Asiatic origin. The remainder seem to have been domesticated

for tlie most part in Abyssinia, If the Hnssian liotanlca] reports are to be

believed, a surprising munber of species were brought under cultivatioi].

there. Tliose, w^hieh seem mEjst likely to have been grown south of the

Sahara in Neolithic hm cs, are vtuious sorts of millet {sorghum, eleusinc,

and ^nnisetum) and ground nuLs (voand^ein). If these really svere do-

mesticated m Abyssinia, one more prablem is added to (he already com-

plicatfxl question of African Neolithic origins and movements.

 

The main migratioii route of Neolithic settlers coming into Africa

seems to have been by way of the Sinai Peninsula and across the Hed

Sen. It is a cunous fad thah in spite of the dose contact between Abys¬

sinia and Arabia all through historic timcji and the freciuent and fairly

large-scale movements of population hack and forth which hav'o oc¬

curred during the past two thousand years. Neolithic culture is poorlv

represented, if present at all, in the Horn region of Africa. Although

verj' little arcbeological work has been dune m this region, one would

expect Neolithic tools lo turn up in the hands of modem natives if such

tools were present. The ubiquitous stone celt ^hand-axe) is regarded

everywhere in the Old Vt orld as a magical object, associated with llght-

tiing, and is treasured accordingly. Since none have been reported from

this region, they must be exceedingly rare if present.

 

The best explanation for the absence of Neolithic remains in East

Africa would seem to be tliat, at the time of the Neolithic migrahons

from .Asia, much of die African coast of the Red Sea was already too dry

to support the mi.xed agricultural and domestic animal economy of tlic

ancient Southwest Asiatic villagers^ while the pastoral adaptation w^hlch

later made possible the occupation nf this region bad not yet been de-

vt'lop(!t]. Some of ihe early Egj'ptian Nmlithic cuJtiircs are believed to

have come into Upper Egy-pt from the Red Sea cosust. but if $o they have

left no known settiemerKs to mark their migration route. Climatic condi“

tions may also explain the rarity of Neolithic sites in much of the Sahara,

which had been progressively drying up siiice the close of the glacial pe¬

riod. When the techniques necessary for a pastoral economy had been

developed, there were numerous migrations from Arabia into the Horn

of Africa. These apparently went on all through the later prehi.storic pt-

riod. which in this region extended until after the beginning of tfie

Christian eiu. Still later, (be development of Islam w'as responsible for

 

 

XXVni. Prchistorij 1397

 

an extensive Trio\'C!mt'nt which farrietl Amhiun piistonil Iribcs over miieli

of 5cmi-sirid North Africa.

 

In this connection it sihmild l>e noted that the horse and camel were

Iwth comparativelv !atc arrivals in Africa. Tlie Erst appearance of horses

:in^"where on the continent seems to have been with tlie Hyks^os invasion

of Egypt in about 1500 b.c The Eg>ptians took over the animal from

their temporary conquerors^ but used it only for fighting. Horses were

driven in light oiie-mani chariots. The drivers main weapon was the

1)0 w, and in action lie freed his I lands by fastenirig the reins around bis

x%'’ojst. Egyptian ingenuity and interest in fine eniftsinanship made the

Egyptian cliiiiiots the lightest and strongest in the ancient world. At the

same ttme* Egyptian conservatism wus such that, once the technical

problems had been solved, chariots of the same tjpc continued in use

for frianv centuries^ The Eg)'ptians never dcvelopt^ native cavalry, and

used their chariot'^ for skiniiishiiig and In pursuit of routed foes, rather

than against liattle lines for shock eficct.

 

We have very little infonnation on the diffusion of the horse from

Eg>pt westward. Wc know that by Boman-Carthaginian times it was in

eoinmon use throughout North Africa as a fighting animal. Numidian

Kivalry was one of the most effective parts of Hannibal s army, and for

centuries thereafter it served with the Roman forces. There are sugges-

tlnns of tlie e.'^istence, in the drier parts ol Nnrtli Africa in Classical

times* of a pastoral economy centered on horses as the later Sahara

cultures were on camels. A careful study of Greek and Roman sources

would probably reveal many details of this culture which cannot lie

gleaned from the scanty archeological record. Horses were eventually

diffused over the whole of the Sahara.^ and their importance in the Sudan

in Instoric times w'as inuci) greater than is usually realized. The great

kingtloms w hich developed in the eastern and central Sudan were doiui-

nated by a rnoutsted arisiocrac)% and mailed cavalry' formed tlie nucleus

of their armies.

 

The camel was not used in Egypt until llie Ptolemaic period, al-

diuugh its existence seems to have been known long before that. ITrere

is at least one unmistakable carving of a camel which goes back to isariy

dynastic times. It was probably first imported from Arabia into tlic Horn

of Africa and adoptetl by the Hamito-Semitic tribes of thjit region. From

there it sceins to have spread rapidly tliroughout much of the Stihara. It

opened up additional areas to occupation, since after die brief rainy sea¬

son eameb can live ujxtn the fresh herbage without water. It also naide

possible the maintenance and extension of trans-Saharan caravan routes

whose existence die progressive desiccation of the area at this time was

rendering precariousH

 

In the light of our present very scanty information, it seems that

 

 

39® 1 Pttrt Eight: Afiuca

 

stone industries of Ncolitlije type survived throughout East Africa and

 

the pbiteau from iJic Siidsiii to the Cap4? until ihey were repLuced

 

by metah and that this repkcemetit occurred in campuratively recent

times. There was no Bronze Age in Africa, a fact often attributed to an

early and independent discovery of iron, It now scem^ more probable

that stone toeds continued in uscf in Africa until after iron liad replaced

bron/e in tlic adjoining parts of Eurasia, Techniques and tool and

weapon forms strongiy suggest that Negro Africa derived its imn-work-

ing from India or Indonesia rather tfian Europe or tlie Near East^

 

Remains of NealiUuc cultures of regular Southwestern Asiatic pat¬

tern ore found in Egypt and olong the Meditcrmnean littoral. They

reached their elluLax in Egypt and in far western North Africa, which

formed part of a disitinct Hispano-Mauritanian Neolithic center with a

hea\y popubtion and advanced culture (see p. There arc no

 

indicatiDns that the Egyptian Neolithic cultures penetrated to tlie East¬

ern Sudan. Throughout the entire stretch between Egypt and Morocco.

Neolithic sites bticoine less frequent as one goes soutliward from the

Nfediterranean Coast, and it seems certnin that much of the Sahara wa$

not occupied during this cultural stage. However. NeoUthic sites in¬

crease in numbers when one reaches the w^estem Sudan. In this region,

fine chipped-stone implements, celtSj and hand-molded pottery are fairly

plentifuh but because of an almost complete lack of systematic archeo¬

logical work it is impossible to say what connection there is betw'een

these cultures, the Hispano-Mauretoiiian center to the north, and tlie

bter Negro civilizations of West Africa,

 

Scanty as tlie records of African Stone Age culture ore, those of the

nest period are even scantier* Betv^een tlie end of the Neghthic and tlie

record left by Medieval Arab visitors, the cultural history of West Af¬

rica is a complete blank. We may be sure that there were occasional con¬

tacts with the Mediterranean littoral by way of the Sahara caravan

routes. Phoenician traders also may have reached the West African

coast, but the only evidence for this consists of a few possible Phoeni¬

cian elements in the art of the region, and certain ancient heads treas¬

ured by die present natives.

 

In the East African Horn region the Abyssinian civilization had

come into existence by tlie beginning of the Christian era. It seems to

have been strongly inllucnced by die znargmal Greco-Roman civilization

which developed in Nubia during Ptolemaic and Roman tinies^ and may

also have received some increments from India. The Periplus of the

Erythraean Sea men tic ns a settlement of Indian merchants in Somali¬

land in the first century' a.d. The Abyssinians were converted to Chri^*

tianity in die 3rd century a.d. and thus came under By'zantine infiuencci,

still manifest in their art and churdi rituals. While there is an extensive

 

 

XXyill. Prehistort/

 

 

[399

 

 

Abyssinian litetnhire, very htUc of this has been made available to West-

CTn scboteK, and one may doubt how much light it wiU throw on the

development of Abyssinian civiliitaticin even when it has been translated.

 

Somaliland was visited by at least one Egyptian expedition, that

sent out by Queen Hatshepsut in about 1500 n.t^, but we do not know

how long the conlact was continued^ The Ptolemaic Greeks have left us

^ brfef account of the East African ports in the just-mentioned Penplus*

Elowever, the earliest materials of value for cultural study are the narra-

tives left us by Arab and Portuguese travelers from the igth century on.

These indicate conditions much like those which existed in the same re-

 

cion up undl roughly 1900 A.n, .

 

Lastly, as one of the earliest and most distinctive of the world s erv-

ilizations, Egypt stands apart from the general course of African culture

and deserves separate treatment.

 

 

Chapter XXIX

 

 

Egypt

 

 

Ecvruxs msTORY and culture have been subjected to b'ghlj specialised

research for over a century. A number of excellent bocks dealing with

them are available in most libraries, and this discussion will he largely

limited to those aspects of Egyptian civilization whith Inive had signifi¬

cance for cultural developments in the world outside Egypt

 

Egypt's Asiatic neighbors and e\ en the Creeks borrowed from her

unashamedly^ but they took mainly what they could see without having

to understand. Although Egyptian ctilture had its foundatiotis in the

same Southwestciti Asiatic Neolithic w^hich fathered the civ ilizations of

Eurasia, it developed into something profoundly alien. A modem stn-

dent feck thiSp and the classical writers, who were able to observe Egyp¬

tians ill their daily life, had the same reactiom Herodotus wrote that the

Egyptians were the strangest of human beings and did everytbiog by

opposites. They cv^en retired indoors to perform iheir eJ(cretory function^

instead of using the street like dvilLzed people^ i.e., the Greeks,

 

Why there should have been such cli^^rgence is an interesting prob¬

lem in itself The developing Egyptian population and dviliration un¬

doubtedly absorbed many elements from pre-NeoIitbic inhabitants

of the legion, but this in itself can hardly account for most of tlie pecu¬

liarities. Some of these were certainly a result of the local geographic

conditions. The land of Egjpt was nothing more nor less than the valley

of the Nile, an elongated oasis extending for 675 miles from the FirsI

Cataract to the sea, and os far east and west as the Nile^s water spread

in flood. Outside this every thing was desolation, tlie realm of Set, the

enemy of the life giving god OsMs. For the first 500 miles the vaUej'

was a canyon, never more thsui twelve miles wide; for the last 175 mile5>

a spreading fan of swamps through which the river wandered sluggishly

in many branches. The Nile, unlike nearly nil other rivers of historic

 

450

 

 

XX/X. Egypt

 

significanM, flows from sooth to north, &nd Upper Egypt lies south of

Lower Egj'pt.

 

The flood water evaporated lapicUy, and although ewly Egyptian

records mention occasional rains in regions where no rains fall today,

agriculture could not be carried on without irrigation. Governments ca¬

pable of organbdng the mass labor necessary for the digging of canals

and building dams, and with power to settle the Inevitable disputes over

water rights, came into existence long before tlie dawn of history. It

seems probable that these took shape first in the delta region, where

drainage as well as irrigation was net^iiircd, hut the iuterdependcnce of

tlie various provinces, a11 of which drew their water from the same ri\ cr,

must have povided a strong incentive for unification into larger and

larger states.

 

Egypt is the ideal territory for the historic archeologist There are

endless inscriptions and even numerous manuscripts. The dry climate

has preserved delicate and perishable materials intact, and the Egyp¬

tian’s un<jucstionuig belief in a future life much like the present, and his

attempts to etjuip the dead tor it, have resulted in the presejHi'ation of an

almost complete inventory of objects of daily use. Unfortunately, the sit¬

uation for the prehistoric archeologist is much less satisfactory. Tlie an¬

nual deposition of Nile imid has resulted in the gradual building up of

the vallcv so tliat Upper Paleolithic and even Neolithic settlements on

the valley floor are now buried under many feet of accumulated silt.

Most of our information on the prehLstoric periods comes from sites

arounr! the edges of the valley, and especial)' from the cemeteries,

whore the dead were buried beyond the borders of the arable land and

out of reach of the Nile floods.

 

Although the earliest record b graduall)- cotning to light, there are

still many points that reniain unsettled. In the previous chapter African

prehistory was discussed in terms of tlie entire continent. In Egypt die

hand-axe culture was followed by a flake culture, the AttTwn, reminis¬

cent in certain ways of the Middle Paleolithic of Europe. This in turn

gave place to the Sefri/uiii, a Microlithic culture much like those which

survived until comparatively recent times throughout the African pla¬

teau.

 

In about 6000 b.c. Asiatic migrants brought in domestic plants and

animals and Neolithic technology. In the delta, the (i/erimdpflru culti¬

vated wheat and barley and kept cattle, sheep, and goats. They reaped

their grain with wooden sickles edged with inset flakes of flint and

stored it ill Iiiiit silos. They were a sedentary people, UviRg in stockaded

viltugcs of oviil woodendramed huts. They hud pottery of two types,

simple undecorated cooking pots and a fine red luid black ware. The)*

 

 

40*1 Part Afbica

 

were exccUcnt stone workers. Their products included stale palettes,

upon which paint for body dccomtiGii was ground and mited, polished

stone axes, and extraordinarily well-made knives and projectile points of

chipped flint. They also made fislihooks and piercers of bone. About

4500 a.c. th^ began to use some copper.

 

In Upper Egypt a different and less advanced type of Neolithic cul¬

ture ( TasUin) appeared slightly later. These Tasians seem to have been

semi-nomadfe, or at least they lived in oijcn crnnps and had shelters so

flimsy that they have left few traces. A.side from this, their technology

was much like that of the Mcriintleans. The most important difference

W’as in their pottery, which consisted of black tulip vases encrusted with

svhite patterns. While the unccstors of both these groups unquestionably

came from Southwest Asia, those of the klerimdeans probably crossed at

the Isthmus of Sinai, while thoTasians' ancestors seem to have reached

Upper Egypt from the direction of the Red Sea, coming overland rather

than up the Nile.

 

Lower Egypt was united under a single ruler by 4500 s.c. and con¬

quered Upper EgyT)t about 450 years later. The date can be set with

considerablo accuracy on the basis of the Egyptian calendar, which had

as one of its units tlie Sothic cycle of 1460 years. The first of these cycles,

based On observations made at Memphis and Heliopolis on the borders

of Upper Egypt, began at this time. The northern conquest was short¬

lived. and by 4000 b.c. the two regions wen? once more independent.

From this time until the beginning of the Dynastic period, 3300 b.c., lit¬

tle is known of Lower Egyptian culture, flowevcr, a rich culture, the

Badarian, was flourishing in Upper Egypt. This is the best known of all

the predynastic cultures. It was ligorous and dynamic and seems to

have been stimulated by repeated A.riatic contacts. One of its phases, the

Cerzean, apparently coincided with an actual invasion of Asiatics which

introduced a round-headed element into the previously long-headed

population. Tlie invaders seem to have come overland from the Red Sea

radier than up the Nile.

 

It was during this 700 years of independence that the fonudabons

of the later Egyptian civilization were laid. The people still lived in oval

huts like tlie Merimdean ones and Had not discovered how to build in

permanent materials, but they had learned how to weave linen, how to

smelt and east copper, and how to moke blue-green faience and enameb

of pounded rock cry'stul. These techniques were the precursors of gi ass-

making, a later Egyptian invention. They made a red pottery with black

edges, the two colors being produced by differential firing. Work in

bone and ivory was highly developed, and graves freqncTitly contained

small figurines of nude w'omen carved from these materials. The slate

palettes of the earlier period Ijecamc increasingly elaborate and showed

 

 

 

 

 

frf trirjc T- CA^V^ WOODEX PANIEL, TI1WU> DYNASTY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

404 1 Eight: AFftfCA

 

in thoir decoration tW unmistakable beginnings of the later Egj'pHan

artistic conventions. The dead were carrieti beyond dje area reached by

the Nile Doork and buried in o\ al pits witli elaborate grave furtiitiire.

The bodies were laid on their sides in a flexed position and covered with

Tljc warm and completely dry sand, \^1iich soon packwl itself

about the body, mummified it more successfully than any of the later and

more elaborate processes, and there can be little doubt that it was from

this that the taler Egjptiaiis got their ideas of body preservation.

 

By 3300 B.G, each of the two EgJ'pts had Its king and court, its roy^il

symbols^ and its national gods. Upper Egypt luid tlie wjkitc crown, w^as

under the guardianship of the vulture goddess^ Nckhcbci^ and had as its

emblem the sedge. Lower Egypt had the red crown, was under the pro-

teirtion of the cobra goddess, Etttn^ and had as its emblem the l)cc. The

differences between north and south survns'ed throughnut the whole pe¬

riod of Egj^ptian liLslorj' and w'cnt deeper than mere political orguniKa-

tlon. One can see certain pamlleli> in the case of the Scots and the Eng¬

lish. Tlie up-river Egvptions were hardy* quarrelsome, suspicious of

refinements, forthright and, from the Egj'ptian point of view^ puritani¬

cal, The delta Eg)qitians were gay, clever, pleasure-loving, and eager for

novelties, but preferred battles of wits to those of anus. Tliey regarded

tlie Upper Egyptians as barbarians anil poked fun at their harsh dialect

and crude ways.

 

Even w'hen tlie two kiiigiloms were united under Mrnes, itw? Upper

Egyptian conqueror, he found it politic not to try to consolidate their

governments completely. Instead he nded as king of Low^er Eg)pt and

again as king of Upper Egypt, rniich m In Europe die same individual

was emperor of Austria and king of Hungary. Pharaoh hail a palace and

on independent bureauerney in t-ower and in Upper Egypt* imd func-

tinned sometimes os king of one and sometimes as king of the other, hk

status at the moment being showm hy his wearing of cither the red or the

white crown.

 

The period immediately following the tmificabon of the two Eg)pts

was one of tremendously rapid cultural advance. From 3300 to b,c

E gvpt was the scene of one of those culture rnutatioiis whose causes are

one of the mam problems still to be solved by the investigators of cul¬

ture djTiamIcs. During the first 5™ years of this period Egy'ptian tech-

nology achieved its final form in everj^lhing btit architecture. Specialized

craftsmen supported hy the ruhug group were producing vases carved

from tlic hardest decorative stone, a wealth of brautifnlly wrought cop¬

per vesscisp and ornaments of gold^ lapLs lazuli, anil turquolser More

practically, the beginning of the dynastic era saw the introduction of the

plow\ We do not know whether tliis was a local invention or an x\siatic

borrowing, but in any case it lightened the labor of agriculture consider-

 

 

XXJX. Egtfpt [^5

 

ably and released for use on natitiuaJ projects manpower which liad

hilherlo been tied to the fields, Hieroglyphic writing was perfected (see

Chap. IX. p. iw) and so firmly mlegrated into religious and govern¬

mental practice that it underwent no significant changes after this dmc,

There secitis to have been an outburst of all sorts of intellectual activity'.

The first scientifically conceived treatises oo the diagnosis and tieatment

of disease and injuries date from this time. Religion was organized and

the elaborate rituals of temple and court were crystallized. Lastly, die

ruling group developed one of the most thoroughly orgonized and polit¬

ically centralized systems of government the world has seen.

 

Toward tlic dose of this period the great pyramids of Giza were

built. I low' extraordinary these stmetnres were can be appreciated if one

realizes that the first, largest, and best constructed was erected less than

two hundred vears alter the Egyptians first essayed to use stone in any

sort of construcHon. The pyramids were built with the simplest appli¬

ances; rajtips, roUers, EUid levers. Even the pullej' was iinfcnow'n. They

represent a trhiinph of sheer manpower and persistence. To organize

and supply the tremendous labor torce which worked on them year after

year was an administrative accomplishment of the first magnitude. It has

Ireen said llmt the common Egyptians were enthusiastic about the work,

since tliev believed tliat they were building the dw'dling of a god on

wliom the future well-being of the nation would depend. Nevertheless,

they hud little choice in the matter. The Egyptian peasants of this period

were serfs attached to the land and organized in army-^fike units under

overseers W'hosc positions were bke those of non-commi»iioiied officers.

They were subject to draft for public work, ejuarry' labor, and military'

campaigns, and apprently regarded aU three of these occupahons as

ver^' much on a psir.

 

' The last two dynasties of the Old Kingdom period became obsessed

with the desire to conquer Nubia and waged ooiutant war witli the Ne¬

groes there. Tliis. and llie unproductive labor expended in pyramid and

temple building, finally ovcrta.xcd the patience of the peasants and ex¬

hausted the lands resources. The Old Kingdom period ended, aboul

2300 e r, in political breakdown and confusion. When effective central

government once more emerged in 2065 the common people had

won tlieir freedom from serfdom, and, although they were still subject

to royal tax collectors, and more often than not tenants upon the royal or

temple lands, thev possessed and thereafter retiiined much greater free¬

dom. .\bove all. it was possible for individuals to rise in the world. Many

a high official boasted in his funeral inscriptions that he was a self-made

man. son of a middle-class or even peasant family. .-\d^ccment de¬

pended upon a combination of abilities. The ambitious offici a 0

able not only to perform his office successfully but also to ingratiate him-

 

 

Port Eight: Africa

 

self with superiors. All wealth and honors were distributed downward

and were the outpourings of Pharaoh’s splendor.

 

Egypt’s most significant contributions to the growth of world civili¬

sation were in the two fields of technology and religion. Its governmen¬

tal forms were too rigid and too permeated witli theocratic patterns to

be acceptable outside the Nile Valley. A peasantry which is accustomed

to defending itself against outside attacks cannot be expected to grovel

before innumerable priests and officials. The relative safety of Egj’pt,

fortified by it$ deserts, made possible a degree of absolutism which

could not be enforced elsewhere.

 

The Egyptians were by far the cleverest craftsmen of the pre-classi-

cal world. By 1500 a.c. tliey had learned to mix (heir copper with tin to

produce bronze. Tlie iutroduction of bellows at about die some time fa¬

cilitated the work of smelting. They were famihar 'vith most of the ordi¬

nary metals used today, iron was rare before about jooo n.c., and even

then was mainly obtained in trade. The Egyptian hieroglyph for it.

meaning star metal, shows tliat they realized the meteoric origin for

their early supplies. Gold was more plentiful in Egypt than in any other

ancient civilization. It was pounded out of veins of gold-bearing quartz

which threaded the local granite and was also sent from Nubia as trib¬

ute, A natural alloy of gold and silver, eicctrum, was mucdi prized, while

silver itself was eJtcecditigly rare, so much so that its value exceeded that

of gold. The work of the Egyptian jewelers can hardly be bettered to¬

day. They were familiar with all the modem techniques of gold working

with the exception of electroplating. Their enamel work was superb.

They bad discovered how' to make colored glass in many dUferent

shades, but used it mainly for beads and inlays. The techniques of

glass blowing seem to have been developed outside Egypt, probably in

Syria.

 

Wood had been rare in the Nile Valley since ancient times, and

even in the Old Kingdom it was being imported from Syria and the

Lebanon. The scarcity of the material and the need for utilizing even

scraps led to a surprising development of joinery and cabinetwork. All

the various joints used by modern cabinebnakers were known, and the

Egyptians also were experts at marquetry work and veneer. They were

the first to realize the aesthetic possibilities of ebony and to utilize this

hard and brittle wood; they also developed the art of ivory and pearl in¬

lay to a high point. 'They were the first people to bark-tan leather, in¬

venting the techniques still in use throughout most of the world. They

also seem to Lave been the first to tool their leather with designs, and

the modem saddlers’ knife is still made on an Egyptian model In tex¬

tiles they wove linen doth as fine as any which can be produced by mod¬

em looms. Wool Was known and used sparingly, but its non-Egyptian

 

 

 

I^'UAIUOK ISlYCEPtTNVS WITH CODPESS HATHOH ANB COPPESS OF THE

 

JACKAI. NOME

 

 

 

4o81 Fart Eight: Africa

 

origin vvjts jittested by die prohibition against bringing it into tt.>inp]es.

Cotton Sind siUi were tinlcnowTi-

 

One other aspect of Egj'ptian technology deserves mention. The

^Efpbans were as much devoted to artificia] beauty aids as modem

.-Vuiericuns. and physicians regarded the provision of these as a Jegiti-

inate part of tiicir aetjs'itics. .Medical papyri include recipes for remov¬

ing wrinkles and darkening gray hair. Kohl was used for lengthening tlie

eyebrows and lining the outer comers of the eyes. Eye shadow was of

two sorb: green, made from malachite^ and gray, made from lead ore

{galena}. Red ocher was used for rouge, but heavy rouging was not

fashionable. The nails, the palms of the bands, and the soles of tlie feet

were dyed with henna. ^Vigs made of human hair over which melted

beeswax had been poured were worn by both sexes, and members of the

upper classes kept a tnrmber of vugs suitable for different occasions.

Women wore the wig over their natural hair, but men slaived both hair

and beard. Both sexes removed all body hair. Ladies who wished to Ire

in the height of hishion gilded their breasts and painted their nipples

blue. The Egy ptians were apparently the originators of the process of

making oil perfumes, still practiced in the Nfiddle East, and both sexes

kept their skins soft by oil rubs. .At batic|iiets it ^vh,s eustoniary for the

host to place upon each guest s head a cone of scented unguent wbicli,

in the heat of tfie banquet hall, gradually' melted and ran riowii over the

guests face und body. Both sexes wore'many ornaments, the most im¬

portant bcitig heavy collars made from rows of beads of different colors,

ajid hugr eanrings.

 

Tlie Egyptian artificers c.vpended their best stili on lusnry objects,

and the great demand for these, created hj' the enstom of hinving them

widi the dead, had a curious by-product. TTie tombs of the Pharaohs and

their nobles svere filled witli treasures of gold and precious stones, and,

although tomb robbers returned much of tills to circulation, the supply

could not keep up with tlie demand. The dead are not hard to deceive,

and the Egyptian craftsmen soon began to produce imitation gold work-

in which the metal was simulated cither by gilding or by surface fim’shes

which made base metal look like gold. It was in these efforts to imitate

precioiLs materials and to find substitutes for them tlnit the science of al¬

chemy, ancestor of our own chemistiy, originated. Tlie earliest alchemic

texts, which come from Ptolemaic Egypt but probably embody much

older material, are, iv-ith few exceptions, recipes for making alloys or

giving surface finishes which will look like gold. It is significant that the

same texts include recipes for making a dye which would imitate the

costly Tyrian purple, .alchemy tbu.s began in a search for cheap substi¬

tutes, and became confused and transformed ititd a mystic search for tlie

 

 

XXIX. Egtfpt [409

 

philosopher's stone only after the Neo-PJatonjc philosophers had cap¬

tured it from the craftsmen.

 

To the modern VVcstemci, reared in the bttditiou of Creek logic and

of constant sequences of cause anti effect, Egyptian religion appears

quite incomprehensible. According to tiis personal predilections, he will

interpret its recorded content either as childish nonsense or as hints of

an esoteric knowledge revealed only to initiates. As a matter of fact, it

WBS neither. A wise Eskimo medicine man once summed up his people s

rekiHon to tJie supernatural by saying, "\Ve do not believe, we fear." The

Egyptian might have suriiined up his with, "We do not believe, w'e ma¬

nipulate." Tlie names of at least 2000 Egyptian gods arc known to us,

yet there were none of these whom tlieir worshippers regarded with real

iiffeclion or before whom they felt genuinely powerless. Every' deity

could be c ircumvented and controlled if one could only learn the words

of power. The Egyptian deities could not be categorized as good or bad.

Even Set, slayer of his brother Osiris and lord of the desert, was by no

means the equivalent of a Christian devil. He was the ancient patron of

ttirmcs (provinces) in both Upper and Lower Egypt, and as such was

assured of w'orship by' their inhabitaiits. He also held an honored place

among the warriors of Ra, the Sun God, and was himself worshipped as

a war god. The aid of deities could be invoked quite as well for unethi¬

cal as etlnca) purposes, and the elaborate rituals which were performed

in the temples were as much incantations as acts of worship. The Egyp¬

tian was interested in the methods by which his deities could be eon-

tiollcd and their powers used for his ow-n benefit Or for that of the com-

immity. He was essentially unintere.sted in prablems of deities' OrigiiLS

or their exact uahue- For this reason he never developed 0 coherent the¬

ology'. and evem the Egyptian mythology was totally illogical and incon¬

sistent. It W'ould seem that the Egyptians actuiilly preferred a half-dozen

myths explaining the same phenomenon to a single myth.

 

While this lack of logical consistency' reflected a pattern of thinking,

historic factors also contributed. In the whole of Egypt there were 42

oomes w'hich had originally been politically independent groups and

which always retained rninor cultural differences. In the beginning, each

nome luid had its own pantheon of deities, one or more of whom sers'Cit

as the nome's special guardian and received the bulk of its worship.

Even after the political consolidation of Egypt, these nomc gods re¬

tained the special des'otiem of noine members. Tlie various pantheoiw

Were aU mudolcd upon much the same lines, with scries of deities who

performed similar functions. This made easy the process of (heocresifl,

».e., fusion of several deities into one. However, in this process the Egyp¬

tians were unwilling to surrender any of the stories wbicli had adhered

 

 

^lo] Pari Eiglit: Africa

 

to the vanous local gods. As a result, a dozen ditFerent and frequently

conflicting stories miglit be told about the Same IJeing, In the aatne way*

itejm of local ritual would continue to be practiced locaUyi AU this led

to endless contradictions and inoojisistencies.

 

The importance of deities rose and fell with that of their cibes or

districts. Ifowever, there were certain centers whose gods retaiJied tlicLr

influence throughout £g\'ptian history. Thus the oldest of the great prin¬

cipal gods was Afnni, or Ra-Atum^ god of Helio|io]ls. He was a sun

god, a world creator ahvays depicted in human form. Below him in the

doctrine of Heliopolis were a series of eight other gods, including Orirfa

and Jsis. Their son^ fforus, headed another ninefold group of deities^

but in good Egyptian fashion bo was specifically identified with Ha-

Atum under the name of Harakhte and w^as known as the son of Ra.

More concretely, Horus was personiGed as the rising sun^ Ra as die mid¬

day sun, and Atum as the setting sun, represented as a tired old man.

 

At Hermopolis tlie principal deity was Tholh^ pictured as a man

with the head of an ibiSn He controlled the seasonsp the moon and the

starSj and had invented hieroglyphic writings mathematics, the keeping

of accounts, languages, magic, law^ and even the game of chess. He was

also prime minister and scribe of the gods. Like Rn-Atum, be had cre¬

ated the world, but by a different method. He and his associated deities

were central to the doctrine of Hermopolis.

 

During the early period both these doctrines found themselves in

eempetition with a third, the doctrine of Memphis, which had as its

principal figure Ptah^ the god of that city. According to this doctrine,

Ftah was more ancient than Atum himself, and had created Ra-Atum by

means of a profound effort of the mind. All gods and men were projec¬

tions of bis intellect. The falcon god, Horus, was h\$ heart, and Thoth,

tlie god of wbdom, his longue^ lie was the special patron of artists* arti¬

ficers, and men of letters, hut tlie doctrine in which his worship was

embodied was ttxj abstract to w^in general support from the concrete-

minded Egj'ptians.

 

In the contest between these doctrines that of HeUopolis was finally

victorious, largely because it cotdd be adapted most readily to the doc¬

trine of pharaonic divinity, in which the dead Phaiaohs were equated

with Osiris and the living one with Homs. The last of tlic great national

gods was Amon-Ra, the god of Thebes. Originally an insignificant gnd

of the Scepter nome and not even its principal guardian, he rose to

power under the Theban Phomohs, and^ after these had gained control

of Egjqit his cult grew steadily until his high priests became the real

mlers of the nation. It was against hi$ priesthood that Aklienaton, the

Heretic King, waged and lost his battle for religious reform.

 

The doctrine of Osiris diflered in sevend respects from the other

 

 

XXIX. Egypt [411

 

great doctrines. His legend falls into two parts which seem only inciden*

tally related. In the first, he ruled in Egypt together with his queco-sister

Isis. His brother Set desired her and, by a tricle, murdered Osiris and set

the body afloat in a chest which drifted to Byblus in Syria. Isis followed

and brought it back to Egypt, where the god Anubis miumnified it un¬

der her direcdoo. The soul of Osiris then descended to the underworld,

where he became ruler of the dead- Isis took the mummy to a hiding

place in the marshes of Lyower Egypt, where she contrived to get herself

impregriated by it. (The inconsistency might be resolved by the Ko be¬

lief [see p, 413I, hut the Egyptians them.selves probably were not trou¬

bled by it.) In due course of time she gave birth to a son, Horus. Set also

had been searching for his brothers body* He discovered it in Isis' ab¬

sence, carried it off, dismembered it, and scattered the pieces through¬

out the length of Egypt. Isis sought them out and reassembled them.

When Horus grew to manhood he set out to avenge his father's murder

on Set. An epic but inconclusive battle ensued. In the end the quarrel

was submitted to the arbitration of the earth god, Gsb, who first

awarded Lower Egypt to Horus and Upper Egypt to Set but later

pbced both kingdoms beneath the sway of Horus*

 

In the first hall of this legend Osiris appears as a typical Near East¬

ern vegetation god* .Many of the incidents resemble those told of Adonis

of Byblus and Tatntnus of Mesopotamia. Like them, Osiris was killed,

dismembered, buried and resurrected, a c^'de annually reenacted in the

reaping and threshing of the grain, and the planting and growth of the

new crop*

 

The second part of tlie legend is an allegory of Egyptian hi^oty

providing divine satietion for the rule of Pharaoh* Isis was the ideal

queen-sister and loyal wife, and Horus tlie perfect son who defended his

father and avenged his death upou his murderers. The initial division of

Egypt between Horus and Set is a folk memory* of iJie actual division

of Egypt in prehistoric times, while tlic final assignment of the whole of

Egypt to Honis commemorated the first unification of Egypt, which took

place under Lower Egyptian rule,

 

Osiris, os benevolent Pharaoh and a ruler in the land of the dead

who was willing to share his immortality with all bis subjects, became

the most popular deity in Egypt. Where the gpds of the other doctrioes

were worshipped mainly by the upper classes, the Osiiian trinity was

worshipped by all classes, from Pharaoh to the peasants. At his great

shrine at Abydos, tlie incidents of his life, death, and resurrection were

reenacted in a sort of passion piny which continued for many days* 'The

important roles w'ere assigned by the king to high officers of state, the

part of Horus, the ideal son, being regmded as a special honor, 'The loc

population and the thousands of pilgrims who came to the celebration

 

 

41^1 Part Eightt ArfiiCA

 

jQiiKfd m the prw?eedings aj extras^ The cenrmcjiiy eulminuted id an epic

battle between forces rcpreseiiting the armies of Homs and thme erf Set,

Osiris' murderer, during which no one ^stis killctl but many eyCis were

blaclcetl and heads were broken.

 

Last but by no means least among the Egyptian deities was Pha¬

raoh himself. At his coronation Pharaoh became the god Homs and at

his death was transformed into Osiris. EJis spiritual potency^ on which

the weli-heiiig of the land depended, hus increased by the purity of his

royal btocK), and for this reason the Pharaoh was married in childhood to

the most suitable erf his small sisters or half-sisters. UTien he became a

man he was permitted to Uike as many additiorml drives and mistresses

as he desired, but it was desirable for his heir to possess the strongest

possible strain of royal blcxid. To insure this^ Fhoraolis not infrequently

married their own daughters.

 

Pharaoh s palace was constructed fn the fonn of a temple and was

actually regarded as such. He himself was holh a high priest and an em¬

bodiment of the god. The daily liturgy which he perfonnctl rendered

efficaezous the liturgies celebrated everv^w here else in Eg)'pt. As Honis,

his acts and costumes were regulated throughout the day by loug-estab-

lished rules. H0 maintained l%vo complete estabbshments, one in Upper

and one in Lower Egypt, and w^as supposed to diride his time equally

l>ehs'cen them so that both bnds might participate in the supernatural

benefits of his presence. Even after his death the kjng*s influence con¬

tinued.. He became a national guardian, and his py^nimid city or mortu-

ary' chapel was staffed by hereditary^ priests who remained ui bis service

for many generations.

 

There were hundreds of oilier gods of which w^c know little more

than the names and the shapes in which they were represented. The

Egyptians had a penchant for showing their gods in part animah piirf

human form and. In later days, wwsbipped aniinak as dirine incama-

tionSi Many of the nomes also had as their symbols p^irticular animals

w'bich they were forbidden to kill or use. The whole arrangement is very

suggestive of totemismi There arc two tuiinns iu'^pects of these animal

gods and symbols. Altlioiigh (he pn^yuasiic Egyptians* culture was

l^gi^ly Asiatic in its origins;, tlie wild animals represented are all Afri¬

can^ at the same time, two mttsX impressive African animals, the elephant

and the rhinoceros, arc conspicuous by their absence.

 

The most important ritual assneiated with die worship of all gods

was that known as the "Rite of the House of the Momingr Pharaoh or

the high priest of any teinple, acting as his substitute, was first bathed

with water brought from a sacTcid pool, part of the ritual equipment of

every temple and palace. He was tiien anointed and invested with the

insignia of his office by two priests wenjing the masks of Thoth and

 

 

XXIX. Egypt [413

 

Ilonis. Tlie importance of ma^ks in Egyptian ritual is very rarely men¬

tioned in popular accounts of Egj'ptian religion, but they were used in

numerous rites, an interesting link between E^ptian and later African

cultures. Following this investiture the two priests trmk the officiant by

the hand and led him into the sanctuary, where there was an image of

the god in a closed shrine. The officiant broke the clay seal which held

the doors of the shrine together, threw them back, prostrated himself

before Uie deity, and woke the god by reciting the hymn of morning

worship. The priest then took out the image, purified it. went through

the motions of feeding it, robed it in colored cloths, ronged its face, and

adorned it with its appropriate emblems. He then replaced the image in

the sliritie and sealed the doors. He walked backwards os he left the

sanctuary and swept out his footprints with a palm branch. Any special

rcc^ucsts addressed to the Egyptian gods were aecompanied by offerings,

but they very rarely required hum an sacrifices, and even the sLaughter

of anv large number of animals seems to hjive been discouraged, in line

with the semi-magical attitudes of the Egyptians toivard their deities,

the exact performance of elaborate rituals was more important than tlie

making df offerings.

 

The Egyptian concepts of the spiritual element in man nnd its fate

after deutli were os disorganized and iron-logical as the rest of their re¬

ligious beliefs. De,scription. is made even more difficult by the transfor-

Tiiations w'hich some of these concepts underwent in the course of Egyp¬

tian history. The predjTiostic Egyptians certainly believed in individual

survival for all classes, for they provided all their dead witli tomb fiimi-

hire, Viirving in amount and quality with the resources of the family.

Tlie Old Kingdom centrabzatidn of po^ver deprived the common people

not only of freedom but even of the hope of immortality. For a time at

least the only individuals to enjoy life after death were the Fbnraoli and

the nobles to whom he communicated certain magical formulae, and

whom he allowed to be buried near hiiii, thus sharing a portion of his

divine life-force. We do not know whether the commoners concurred in

this opinion or not, but that tliey newer lost their desire for immortality

is proved by the rapid developnicnt of the cull of Osiris, Isis, and Hoius

after tlie Old Kingdom collapsed.

 

The Egyptians believed in the existence of at least two and possibly

more spiritual entities connected with the indlvidua]. The mns( clearly

defined of these was the Ku, the indivjduars double. There is some rea¬

son to believe that in the eBrliest times tlii^ was equated witli the pla¬

centa. The Ka was l>nm with the individual, maintained a separate exist¬

ence during his lifetime^ and was reunited with his body at the instant

of death. If the bn<ly was seriously damiaged nr destroyed, the Ka would

perisb., hence the practice of mummiflealion and the custom of placing

 

 

414I Eight: Africa

 

in the tomb an Image of the deceased which the Ka couJd occupy if the

body was destroyed. The Ka hVed m the tomb, feeding upon tii offer¬

ings, and the ebbarate tomb fnrnishiDgs and vvaU carvings were for its

benefit. Eveiy Egyptian attempted to assure hb Ka not only of shelter

but of a steadily renewed food supply. The worship of the dead by their

descendants was obhgatoiy, since the dead were able to control the des¬

tinies of the lining. The sacrifices in connection with the aueeslor cult

were much more oumorous than those given to the gods and included

animals and libations of blood, milk;, and wine. Certain passages in the

pyramid texts may indicate that human sacrifices were made before the

indj vidua Is death to assure him proper semce in the next world.

 

The relation between ancestor and descendant was a reciprocal one.

Wliilc the ancestor could bring bis descendant good or bad fortune, the

descendant, by withholding bis sacrifices^ could make tlie ancestor ex¬

ceedingly nncomlortable. There are frequent records of a disappointed

worshipper threatening a dead relative with suspension of his sacrifices

if a particular request Tvas not granted. The presence of ancestor wor¬

ship of even a truncated sort in a society without clans or lineages is

unique. Like certain other aspects of the culture, it stronglv suggests

that the earliest Egyptian pattern of social organization included local¬

ized enduring kin groups like those sim common in Negro Africa. The

elaborate provision which Individuals made for their own comfort in the

next world suggests tliat they realized the probability of their line be¬

coming Mtinct or its members indifferent, feattucs which do not have to

be anticipated where there is a functional clan organizalion.

 

Beliefs regarding other aspects of the personality were much less

precise. The individual wa$ believed to have a Be, which left die body

at the moment of death. In the hieroglyphics this is represented us a

stork or as a bird with a bearded human head and a lamp, the latter re¬

ferring tp a very ancient belief that the Ba became a star, f ioweverp it

could also return to earth as a ghost in the form of the dead man, or as¬

sume the body of a bird, an animal, or a fisit. Whether it was the Ba

wliich underwent the judgment of the dead and found happiness in the

underworld under the rule of Osiris, or whether it was stjll anotlicr en¬

tity, is not clear* The soul as it wondered through the Elysian fields was

often referred to as the Aidi, the effective spirit, and was supposed to be

a radiant counterpart of the body as it was when ahve. Lastly, the vital

essence (life force?) of the mdmdual was sometimes referred to as the

Sekfiemr

 

After the rise of the Oririan cult, Pharaoh still went to his heavco In

the sky, but the souk of all others inhabited an Underworld which ran

parallel to the Nile Valley and partly beneath it. This Undcrwwld w'os

separated from Egypt by a mountain range, with a narrow gorg^

 

 

XXIX, Egtjpt [415

 

through wtutb the suu anti the spirit!! of the dead could enter. The spirit

passed first throngh a dark and fearful region haunted by fiends and

monsters. It also bad to pass through a series of gates which opened to

it only when it gave the proper password. At the end of this journey die

soul anrived at the realm of Osiris but still had to undergo a last hazard:

the Judgment of the Dead. The trial was presided over by a company of

forlV'tw^o gods or demotis^ each of whom was associated with a particu¬

lar offense, and die deceased had to be able either to declare hi$ irrno-

cence of each delict or to repeat the magical formula which would re*

strain the particular being from speaking against him. As a fonn of

accident insiirancCp those who could afford it wore provided vsith a

scroll, the hook of the Dead, which contained directions for proper be¬

havior at each stage of the journey, and ako the words of power to be

used whenever the soul was guilty. It is an interesting commentary nn

Egyptian business morality tliat these scroUs not infrequently were In¬

complete. Only the first few feet of the scroll were inscribed, die seller

acting on the assumption that the buyer would not trouble to unroll

it all.

 

At the end of his negatix e confession, the dead man s heart was

weighed against a feather while he stood near it and begged it not to in-

fonu against him. A fierce monster with the head of a crocodile^ the

forepart of a lion, and the hindpart of a hippopotamus %vaited to devour

tlie soul if the judgment went against ih If it was declared worthy of im¬

mortality, the judgment was written down by Thoth^ and Horus took the

soul by the hand and conducted it into the presence of Osiris, It should

be noted that, although this Egyptian judgment of the dead has often

been considered the origin of the Christian belief in the last judgment,

the resemblances are rather superficial. In the Egyptian myth Osiris did

not act as judge and neitlier Osiris nor Homs acted as Savior. Moreo^-cr,

tile fort)-^vo “sins* had to do for the most part with Itdractions of la-

boos or offenses against property. Very few of them Involved what we

would consider ethical issues.

 

Tlie Osirian realm was also luudi moie like Egypt than it was like

the ChrisUan hcavea. It consisted of two fields comparable to Upper and

Lower Egypt, These were located in the western comer of the Under¬

world. In them the soul was reunited with its dead relatives and enjoyed

all the pleasures of the flesh, it was also subject to various humaa dis¬

abilities, one of the more onerous being forced labor. A number of little

figures were placed in the tomb to substitute for the dead man, \Vlicn he

w'as Ordered to do something one of the figures w'Ould promptly call out,

“I’m dO'ing this," and hasten to obey the command.

 

Before leaving the subject of Egyptian religion, it is only fust to

make some mention of the Heretic King, Akhenaton, whose defection

 

 

Fart Eight: Africa

 

from tile oflicia] religion ha$ been so frequently applauded by niodcni

MTiters. He has often been referred to as the first individual in histor)',

and has been praistxl as a sort of John the Baptist of monotheisiriH Actu¬

ally, eontemporiin' evidence would seem to place him in a less etailed

role. Aklienatun's faSher, .Amenophis til, was one of the roost powerful

and autocratic rulers of t!ie iSth Dj-nasty, the royal house whose kiogs

made Egvpt a world mlJitar)^ power for the first time m its history. He

fell in love v^Mh a w^ornan who wiks "impossible" from the point of view

of the Eg\'ptiaii nobility, since she w'as both a Semite and a incnibcr of a

middle-class family> and be ha<l the arrogance to make her his chief wife

and fjueen* The reaction of the priests of Amon w^os not unlike that of

the British derg)' under somew^hat similar circumstances, and even the

usually obseii^uious courtiers seem to have snubbed lier. The king coun¬

tered by compelling them to w^ear huge scarabs Lnscribed with tiic

queens name and titles as reminders of her position.

 

The son of tliis union, origins Ity named Amenoptus after liis father,

was not a legitimate heir by priestly reckoning and had vvety reason to

hate the established religion. Atou^ the sun disc, was n Semitic deity who

had bwn known in Egypt for some time, but who w™ worshipped

mainly hy commoners of Semitic origin. It k highly probable that the

young Pharaoh's mother was one of his dwotces. The Pharaoh ch-inged

his ow'h name to Akhenaton, thus honoring Aton, and set up Aton s wor¬

ship as the state religion. In this he followed a pattern already Fiimjljfl.r

in Egj'ph m which the founder of a new dynasty would usually tnake

the god of his home district the center of die national worship. While

Akhenatnn insisted on the preemiDence of Aton, it is highly improbable

that ho was a monotheist in the sense of denying the existence or even

the power of other deities. At least he continued to go through the rit¬

uals w^hich, as Pharaoh, he w^as obligated to porfonn for the good of the

land.

 

In his attempt to break the power of the priests of Amon, Akhena-

ton built a new' capitol and tried to usher in a new era in art and ritual-

Egjptian art had bt^me highly eonvcnticmalis^cd, and the statues and

pictures, in spite of high aesthetic quabty^ luid come to represent o(Ec:es

rather than real persons. However, side by side wdth this convenbnmd

art there Iiad emerged a livelier style of carving and painting which

bore much tlie same relation to it that our own coinitc strips bear to our

fine arts. Artists, decorating tombs with the endless friezes of food,

furniture, and sen^aiits at work depicted there for the boiiefit of the Ka,

amused themselves by making humorously realistic details which tliey

tucked aw-ay in odd comers. The same sort of free, uneonventioiial

drawing appears in various papyri made w'ilh humorous or porno¬

graphic intent. Akhenaton turned to this free style and attempted to

 

 

XXIX. Egypt I417

 

develop it in opposition to the priestly stj'le. He himself was physi¬

cally defonned, and he insisted that bis deformity be shown in his por¬

traits. lie also had life masks made of himself, his wife, and his cour¬

tiers, so that his artists could have cmcI models from whidi to work.

Forlunalelv, his sister-wife. N'efcrtiti. was a w'orthy subject, and her

head, cars 4 d by some emancipated sculptor of the period, is one of the

world^s great pieces of portrait art.

 

Aton was a god of “peace on earth and good will to nien+” Ath^ina-

ton took these doctrine seriously, and, in an attempt to implement them,

be sent out letters to the kings of neighboring states indicating his ea¬

gerness to make peace with all of them. Unfortunately, he did not wait

for proof of their good intentions before reducing his military forces. As

a result, the Egyptian empire, which bad extended to the Euphrates and

far into Asia Minor in the days of his fullicr, was completely wiped out.

 

The last king of the tottering dynasty was Tutankhamen, whose

very unimportance may have helped to save his tomb for the modern

worid. lie was forgotten so ijuickly that a slightly later Pharaoh built

living (Quarters for his workmen over the entrance passage, thus effec¬

tively concealing Tutankhamen's resting place from robbers. Allbough

most of the splentlid funviturc of Tutankhamen S tomb was of tile sort

placerl wnth anv Pharaoh, there were some iiiiusiiiil features. Tutankh¬

amen died nf tiibercnlosis when he was only sixteen. Even during his

brief reign tlie prie-rts of Amon had recovered their power and were vig¬

orously trying to re-establish the old order. They even forced him to

change his name from the original Tutankhaton to Tutankhamen. Ap¬

parently the royal family realized tluit the dynasty was coining tu an

end, and placed in the tomb foreign gifts w'hich bad been made to Phar¬

aohs of the dynasty in the time of its greatness, along with numerous

articles which were family heirlooms or were closely associated with

the Aton cult. Since die tombs of Pharaob’s were sacred, this was the

best methnd for keeping such objects from falling into die bands of the

priests of Amon.

 

Tile soda! and pohtical organization of EgjTit is less well known

than One might anticipate. Personal dnciinicnts and court records which

might illustrate social relations are coinparatively rare, and die Egyp¬

tians took their own institutions too much for granted to think of de¬

scribing them in inscriptions. The basic social unit seems to have been

a simple nuclear family miich like our osvii. No lineages or clans were

present during historic times. No bride price was paid, and it appears

that the first marriages, at least, were usually love matches. There seems

to have been a considerable ottinber of women who elected not to

marry, and diese were allowed to administer llieLr own property and

to distribute their favors os they wished. The position of women w'os

 

 

4i81 Eight: ArfucA

 

high, nionicd wamen contitslling their own fortunes nnd taking charge

of tlieir husband's businesses in their absence. However^ polygyny was

tlie preferred fom of marriage. There was always a head wife, die other

women being secondary wives or concubines. The more women in a

Tnan ^s establishment the higher his social prestige.

 

The royal marriages of brother and sister have already been meu'

tioned, and, after the fall of the Old Kingdom^ this practice, like other

royal privileges^ was extended to the nobles. We do not know whether

it was taken up by the artisans and peasantry. In funeral inscriptions

men of all ranks, if rich enough to afford such memorials, frequently

referred to their head wife as ^sister.*'' However, we know diat this was

a term of endearment as w^ell as ^ relabonshJp tenn^ so the question of

how widely the practice spread must rcmaiti unansw^ered for the present*

 

Various classical writers stale that the Egyptians traced descent

through the mother, but there are few indications of this in tlieir in¬

scriptions. It seeins more probable that descent was actually bilateral

as among ourselves, property and office being mherited through cither

parent. Such a sj^stem would have appeared extraordinary to the highly

patrilineal Greeks and Romims. Jt may be added that llie Classical ex¬

planation for Egyptian matrilineai descent was that the Egyptian

womeo W'ero so much addicted to adultery that the paternity of their

children was always doubtful.

 

The next organized social unit atiove the family w^as the nomc or

province. In historic times the nomes functioned mainly as administrative

units. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of a nome united in the worship

of a nome deity, had tbair coses tried in ihe courts of a hereditaiy^

nomarch who aUo supervised local public works, and felt consideroble

local pride and hostility toward persons from other iiomcs. It seems

probable that during the oldest period, when the forly-two nome^ were

politically independent, tliey were endogamous localized kin groups of

the sort still widespread in Negro agricultural Africa.

 

In historic times Egyptian society wus dass-organized. but witli

considerable opportunity for vertical nobilitj'. In the Old Kingdom there

were actually only two classes, royalty and commoners, all important

offices in both the governmental bureaucracy and the priesthood being

filled by royal relatives. Tlie large harems maintained by men of the

royal group insured an extensive supply of these* As time went on, the

society was differentiated into a peasantry, a middle-class of craftsmea

and professional soldiers, and an aristocratic group of nobles, adminis'

trators, and priests. Above them all towered the Pharaoh, whose divinity

set him beyond classificatiDn as a meTe human.

 

It may bo noted that slaves are not mentioned in the list just given,

since they were never important in the Egyptian economy. Crimmafc

 

 

XXIX. Egypt [419

 

and prisoners of war were either drafted into the aimy or sent to the

quarries, wlicre their life eipectation was short, A few slaves, particu¬

larly slave women, were employed in domestic service, but these were

regarded more as family retainers than as property. As always, in conn-

trira where a huge supply of free labor existed on the lev-el of bare sub¬

sistence, it was uneconomical to employ slaves for ordioaiy work. It was

cheaper to hire men when they w'ere needed than to incur the lasting

ubUgations wont with ownerjsbjp.

 

Tilt? virluu^l enslave ment of tho peasajitK in the Old Kingdom time 5

has already been mentioned, as has the collapse of tlie system at the end

of llic 6 lh dynasty. In later times the Egyptian peasant was no longer

a serf. He was assigned land, sometimes in freehold, sometimes on one

of the royal or temple estates, In cither case the holding was inalienable

and descended to his children. He was under obligation to pay taxes on

hi$ produce, as well as rent to the owner, aod long custom decreed what

crops should bo raised in particular districts. Although the peasant was

no longer tied to his holding by law, he was tied to it by economic necos*

sitv, since all land had long since been allocated, and if he left his hold¬

ing his only recourse would be to become an unskilled laborer.

 

Craftsmen were concentrated in the cities, where all the workers iu

one craft commonly lived together in a particular quarter. Each estab-

Ushment was a combined workshop and store, and the craftsmen were

organized into guUds much like those of medieval Europe. We hove no

way of estimating the income of the skilled craftsmen, but their lot was

 

certainly better than that of the peasants. . . ,

 

There were few professional soldiers in the Old Kingdom days, but

as time passed the military establishment became more and more im¬

portant and permanent. Tlie men of Upper Egypt were much better

soldiers than those of Lower Egjpt. but even they had no great love for

war, and the Egyptians very early began to use foreigners in their forees,

Tltese were drawn at first from Nubia and Syria, while the Shardann.

the "Men of tlie Isles,'' had a high reputation for courage autl were f^

quently used for Pharaoh's personal bodyguard. Although some of the

foreigners were volunteers, many of them were actuaUy slaves. We

know that, during the iSth dynasty, campaigns in Nubia were often pre¬

ceded by raids into Syria to get soldiers, and vice-versa. Needless to say,

such forces could uot be used successfully against their own trihes^n,

but in distant campaigns slave soldiers had definite advantages,

were, so to speak, on life enlistment and had no civil rights which had

to be regarded. They could be subjected to the strictest discipline, and,

since tlieir civilian ties had been broken at the time of their capture.

boTnesickness would never lead to mutiny. From the slaves point o

view, war, with its excitement and opportumties to loot, was v y

 

 

42o] Pari Eight a Africa

 

preftTab]e to bbor m a quaity or on pubife works^ Tlier pattern of skve

jspldiers thus established simivcd m Islamic countri4f$ until eTeeedmgly

bte times. Outstanding examples aie tlie previously mentioned Janis-

series in Turkey and the Mamelukes of bier Egypt

 

Begitming in theSth eenturj' &.C. the Egiptiaiis employed more and

more Creeks, who proved tliemselves superior mercenaries. From the

19th d^Tiflsty On soldiers played an increasingly important role in poli^

tics. Tlic pi^asanby were powerless and politically indifferent, and rival

claimants to the throne or founders of new dynasties relied upon die

Libyan, Nubbn, or Greek nyerccnanes for support, while mJers in power

had to placate them with gilts. By the time of Herodotu$ tliere were

nearly one and a half million professional soUliers in the delta donCp all

cither holding grants of land or receiving generous rations of grain,

beefp and wine^ One of the curious incidents of the later period was die

mutiny of 4,000 Cauls in the army of Ptolemy Phibdelphos. Th&y

planned to seize the government and did succeed in iuoting the treasury*

When their coup failed, they retreated to an island In the Sebenoytic

arm of the Nile, where thej^ all committed ritual suicide^ a Gaulish pat¬

tern comparable to Japanese hara-kiri.

 

It may have been noticed that b the enumerations of middlc-ckss

groups no merchants were mentioned* Egyptian internal trade was

nearly all carried on locally in the city markets and by a system of bar¬

ter. Although standard weights and measures were in early use, tliere

was no fixed standard of value until the 12th century, BhC, Prior to that

time there were ebljorate tables in which the value of one commodity

was established in terms of half a dozen other commodities. Aitet the

12th century^ ring-money of gold, silver, and copper came into tjse but

had to be w^eighed at each transaction. Coins were Introduced at the

time of the Persian conquest. Since taxes, rents, and tithes were collected

in kindp both the temples and government were deeply Involved in busi¬

ness. Such foreign trades as existed seems to have been largely in their

hands. In the case of the Pharaoh, trading was phrased in terms of

tribute or royal gift exchanges. As a result of this there was no oppor¬

tunity' for the development of wealthy merebauts or bankers comparable

to those of Mesopotamia.

 

On the borderline between the middle and upper classes stood tlic

scribes. The old saying that knowledge is pow'er was nowhere truer than

in Egypt. It required years of assiduous study to master die intricacies of

the hieroglyphic writing, but the scribe's training by 00 means ended

there. He was expected to know the ancient literature and also to have

mastered enough mathematics and engineering to be able to cast ac¬

counts, design buildings, and supervise pubUc works. HLs royal master

might even call upon him to lead a military expeditiop* The biographies

 

 

XXIX. Eglfpt

 

which somt successful scribes have left in their funeral iuscriptions sug¬

gest a versatility like that of Leonardo da Vind,

 

Since an aspirant's family had to be able to support him during

se^^ral years of study, there were economic prerequisites which de¬

barred the sons of most peasants and craftsmen. However, once the

skills had been acquired, any scribe niigbt hope to attain any post in

the government, even that of vider. It may be noted in tiiis councetion

that the stronger the central power, the greater die tendenej' for Phar¬

aoh to make administrative positions appointive rather than hereditary'

and to fill them with commoners whose loyalty could be connled on

because of tlicir dipcndence on his favor. Since appointments were

given by favor. Advancement depended as much upon absolute obedi¬

ence to the royal will and ingenious flattery as upon ability. Not only

royal gifts, but also donations from individuiils Seeking various sorts of

favors, made it possible for the holders of administrative positions to

acquire wealth, intemiany' with the hereditary nobility, and have their

descendants acquire full noble status.

 

The Egyptian upper class consisted of government ofBcials, heredi¬

tary nobili^', and the priesthoocl. ,\s jiist noted, oDlciaLs might be of

eillier commou or noble origin, but the higher pwiitions in the priest¬

hood were uortnally held by nobles. The situation W'as not unlike that

of the medieval church in kurope. Tlic officials were divided into the

administrators and the court group, who were particularly concerned

with the care of the Pharaoh s person and estabbshment.

 

At the head of the administrative hierarchy stood the Vizier, who

took over all the routine secular duties pertaining to Pbaraoh’s office.

These duties w'cre heavy. Tlie Vizier acted as a supreine court and had

to hear all coses referred to liim from lower courts. Great stress was laid

on his expeditious handling of cases. He superintended public works

and, three times a year, received rejsorts on conditions in the various

Homes. Tax authorities st-nt their accounts to him and he issued receipts

from the royal storehouses. He also recruited the Pharaohs bodyguard

iind took care of all the arrangements when he traveled. Every morning

llie Vizier went to the palace, met the Pharaoh, inquired after his

health, and then reported to him on the state of the nation.

 

Closely associated xvith the V izier was a second great minister

known as the Director of the Seal. He was in charge of the Gnantial af¬

fairs of the kingdom, It was he who assessed taxes and saw to their col¬

lection. Since the taxes were paid in kind, not cash, he was further re¬

sponsible for the distribution of the goods tiirntd in and, in later times,

for their conversion into money. He also managed die incredibly compli¬

cated affairs of the futienuy' foundation and temple estates. Liisdy, he

had to fix wage scales for labor on the royal and temple estates, which

 

 

422] Part Eight: Africa

 

thus set a general standard for the kingdom. During most of Egyptian

histar^'^ there were a single V’^iitier and a single Director of the Seal^ but,

by the New Kingdom, ndmioistration had become too complex to be

handled in tliis way, and there were separate Viziers and Keepers of

die Seal for Upper and Lower Egypt^

 

The office of \'ice'roy of Nubia was created in the 18th dynasty.

Elecause of tlie distance of his province and the necessity for quick ac¬

tion In case of attfick. the \'iec“roy had praeKcally royal pow’ers and

headetl his own sepanite court and administration dos^ely modeled on

those of the Pharaoh, All these officials w^ere surrounded by a numerous

corps of scribes. Below^ this lev^el administraiion was hajidled inde¬

pendently in the various nomes, the nomarch being held responsible for

the belinvior of his subjects, with duties which repeated on a smaller

scale those of the Vizier.

 

The palace officials were ciocedingly numerous. Closest to the

king's person were a group of intimate advisors known as the Honored

Ones. This group automatically included members of the royal family

hilt was primarily made up of men who had proved their worth by many

years of administrative service. The Honored Ones were maintained at

court at the king's expense, but their most prized privil^es were the

provision which the king niade for their splendid burials and his per¬

mission to be laid out to rest near his own person. IndividuaJ Honored

Ones w^ere also assigned posts connected with the operation of the court

and the care of FLiraoh^s person. These posts carried honorary titles

such 05 Lordship of the Secret of the Royal House,” i.e,, custodian of

the crown jewels. Court protocol was exccerU’ngly elaborate^ The king's

person w^as attended by a Director of the King's Dress, under whom

were a \^alet of the Hands, a Director of the Oils and Unguents^ a

Keeper of the King's Wigs, aud many otliersp The queen and ladies of

the royal harem had even more elaborate personal staffs. Even the staff

of the royal kitchen was organised In a rising order of precodence. The

three roy'ol meat cJUrvcrs preceded the cate maker, who in turn pre¬

ceded the souiOe maker, who in turn preceded the Jam maker.

 

The most important group In the hereditary' nobility was composed

of the nomnrehs and their relatives. These were the descendants of the

kings who had ruled over the various nomes before the unification of

Egypt Although CTery strong dynasty tried to limit their pow'cr and

minimize their importance, thej' retained the devotion of the nome mem¬

bers and, w’henevcT the central power weakened, functioned os pett)'

kings. The nomarch was really a sort of Vlce-roy in his province, com¬

bining administrative duties with reUgious functions as high priest of

the nome god. The hereditary nobility were in general supported by

 

 

XXIX. Egypt [4^3

 

estates which had been granted to the family in the past by Pharaoh,

Although many of the noble families boasted long descent, able com¬

moners might be promoted through Pharaoh's favor and become the

founders of noble houses. It is interesting to note that the Egj'ptian no¬

bility was not primarily a warrior caste. Although a few of the great

families produced able generals through several generations, many oth¬

ers concerned themselves mainly with religious or administrative ae>

tivities or were simply courtiers.

 

The priesthood was one of the most important elements in Egyptian

society'. In addition to tlie observance of the daily rites and the annual

festival of the god, which often lasted for weeks, the priests gave oracles

and presented individual retjufisls to the god iu return for suitable fees.

Unfortunately, our know'tedgc of the staffing of the temples is limited to

the names of the various officials. The priests as a whole were divided

into two classes, consisting of prophets and ordinary Priests. No matter

what the duKes of thejse two groups may have been in historic times, this

division is highly suggestive of the well-nigh universal one between the

inspirational priest, who goes into a trance state and permits the deity

to speak through his mouth, and the ritual priest, who takes charge of

the proper performance of the formal rites. Every temple was staffed

with a Chief Prophet, Deputy Prophet, Priest, Deputy Priest, and so

forth. Priestesses were ranged in a hierarchy of their own, but were

much less significant in religious escrcises than the priests. Their prin¬

cipal duties consisted in providing music and dancbig on religions occa¬

sions. Sacred concubines and sacred prostitutes were attached to the

temples of most gods, A separate group of priests supervised the wor¬

ship and offerings in the royal mortuary temples.

 

Lastly, most of the schools in which ad^'anced cduc;itioii was given

were associated with temples, aud it was customary for Egyptian pro¬

fessional men, doctors, and lawyers to take orders and to be nominally

connected with some temple establishment. A similar arrangement was

eommnn in Europe during the Middle Ages.

 

The study of Egyptian culture leaves one with the feeling that the

Egyptians were a clever and ingenious people whose progress w.as stulti¬

fied by the development of one of the most rigid and highly centralized

goverimiental systems which the svorld has seen. There was a complete

union of church and state, with a correspondingly complete control of

the subjects' bodies and minds. Such systems can function succ*^fuHy

only through a rigid maintenance of the status ^uo. The Egyptian in¬

ventions which eventually became incorporated into the general stream

of developing Eiirasiatic civilization were almost all made during the

first 500 years of Egyptian history. It is even doubtful whether the Egyp-

 

 

Fart Eight: Africa

 

tian contributions outside the field of technology iK^ere not a result of

the classical mEsinterpretatton of Egj^ptian beliefs and rituab rather than

an autlientic diffusiou of Egyptmn elements.

 

With respect to the African cultures^ particularly the African civili¬

zations^ the situation is quite different. While Et is erceedingty difficult

to find exact parallels between Egyptian civilization and those of the

great Central and West African kingdoms, nevertheless one feels a basic

similarity. This will become evident in subsequent chapters^

 

 

Chapter XXX

 

 

Historic African Peoples

 

 

Tiirougkoltt the entire historic period Africa hw been divided racially

and culhirally by die Sahara desert. North of this tremendous waste the

African population has been predominantly CaucasiCk and the African

cultures essentially Eurasiatic^ North Africa has been a part* first of the

classic Ecumctie and, from the Sth century^ to die present, of tlie far-

flung Islamic civilization^ South of the Saliara die population has been

predominantly Negroid and its cultures, in spite of occasional accretinns

from outside sources, have remained distinctive. It will not l>e necessary

to record the cultures of the North African peasants and city dwellers.

Apparently the local papulations have conformed readily enough to the

patterns set by their successive rulers, Phoeuicians, Greeks, Humans,

Byzantines, and Arabs. In the Atlas and at those points in the Sahara

where a scanty^ rainfall permitted pastoral occupatioii, elements of the

older culture survived through all these vicissitudes, but the information

which vve have on these from either archeolcgic^ or classical sources is

negligible.

 

With die Islamic conquest most of the distinctive North African

culture survivals were elirn mated. The North African environment was

so similar to that of the Arabian regions in which Islam bad its source

that the Islamic culture patterns could be introduced almost iVi tato. In

addition, whole tribes of pastoral Arabs moved into the Nortii African

interior and, backed by the prestige of Islom^ w^ere able to establish a

cultural asceudaocy over tlie local popublion.

 

In historic times only one group in the Sahara had kept a distinc¬

tive culture derived from the pre-Islamic period* These were the Tuareg,

a Berber people who occupied tins Western Sahara. Although nomintdly

Muslim, they had many practices w'hich w'ere highly unorthodna:. The

position of women was estraordinardy high. Descent was traced in the

Female line and women were the guardians of the intellectual and artistic

 

435

 

 

426] Port Eight: Africa

 

activities of the tribe. Tfiey were ufsuaUy litcmtu, vi hik- llie Jiwn rarely

were, and there were women p«l$ and musicians wbo \^^ere natiooaUy

famous. Women were never secluded. Girls and young men were al-

low^cd to indolge in petting parties reminiscent of American college

undergraduates, while friendship between married women and men

were taken as a matter of course^ The tncii spent their time in camel

breeding and raiding. During the time between engagement and mar^

riage a prospective bridegroom was expeted to steal from enemy group

the camels needed for the bride price, and, since the larger the bride

price, the greater die honor to both parties, marriages were often dc-

layed until middle age^ Women did nai veil but all men svore veils of

heaw cloth which were never removed, even when eating or sleeping.

Women frequently ernbroidered their fiances' or men friends" veils with

appropriate mottoes. The Tuareg themselves explained male veiling as

simply a defense against flics and sun. Since the nobles were of almost

pure Caucasoid stock and were frequently Ught-skirmed and grey-eyed,

this was probably correct.

 

Political organization was a loose confederacy in which a few aristo*

cratie clans dominated a more numerous servile population, VVhilc the

noble elans were Caucasoid, the senile oiiifs had a heavy admixture of

Negro blood. They were the descendants of slaves and small aborigiiial

Negro groups who had assumed Tuareg culture and had finally been

admitted to Tuareg trilial membership. Since it was customary for men

of noble clans to take mistresses from the servile clans during the long

period before marrbgOi there was a constant infiltration of Caueasold

genes Into the servile clans, with little penetration of Negro genes into

the upper classes.

 

The Tuareg were primarily cumel breeders, although they also

kept sheep and goats and the servile ckns adso practiced agriculture

where possible. Much of their regular iucome was derived from policing

the caravan routes and robbing caravans which had not paid ”prolce-

tiou.” They were ferocious warriors who extended their conquests as far

os Timbuctu on the Niger River,

 

Northeast Africa east and south of Egypt forms a distinct province

both racially and culturally. Tlie local population, generally referred to

as the People of the Horn, have physical characterisrics which place

them in an intermediate position between the Negroid and Caucasoid

stocks. They combine exceedingly dark pigmentation with Caucasic fea¬

tures. Their hair is quite different from that of typical Negroes, being

coarse and closely crimped, so that wben allowed to grow long it stands

out from the head in a bush. The origins of this are uncertain. *Al-

though it is generally regarded as the result of an micieut mixture be¬

tween Negroes and Caucasics, the mixtiire has become so thoroughly

 

 

XXX. Historic African Peoples [4*7

 

stabilized, if this is the ease, that It must be regarded as a sub-race.

Since the region is one of intense beat and violent sun, bea^y pigmen¬

tation is advantageous and might have become fixed as a resiJt of natu¬

ral selection.

 

Tluee distinct cultures were represented in the region, two In the

lowlands and one in the Abyssinian bgblands. Both of the lowland cub

tyrfti were based on animal economies. One, tliat of the Somali, fol¬

lowed in most respects the familiar Semitic pastoral pattern. Its eco-

iicnuic emphasis was on camels, sheep, and goats, with cattle few and

incidental. The other domestic animal culture, charactemtic of the

Galla, was a daimng culture of distinctively African type with cattle as

the most import^t animals. The Abyssinian culture was based on a

mixed agricultural and domestic animal economy but with agriculture

parumnuiit. Since the Abyssinians had been Christianized in the 3^d

century' and had maintained contact with other Christian and bter

Muslim societies all through the historic period, this civilization w,ts less

.•Vfrfcau than Near Eastern. It showed strong Byzantine and ,\njb In-

lluence, and the governmental institutions were essentially of Semitic

type.

 

Negro Africa extended from the southern borders of the Sahara and

Eastern Sudan to far South Africa, where one encountered the some-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part Eight: Afii^ca

 

what divergent KhoLsan, i,e,^ Bmihinjin-JIcitteTitot phyxlcnl

tures. In spUe of numerous local variations^ certain features were present

throughout this entire regioiip making it appear probable that the various

cultures shared a remote coctunou origin. The diversit)' wai most marked

in the fields of technolog)’ and economic organimhon, aspects of culture

which are most readily affected by differences in natural environment

and by foreign contacts. There were also marked differences in the siae

and patterns of organiiation of political groups.

 

Certain sodaJ patterns were present every^where in Negro Africa.

Polygjmy wus universal and was correlati^d w-itb on equally nniversiil

surplus of w^ometL due partly to the more dangerous activities of men

anil partly to a strong tendenej’ for females to exceed males in Ijoth birth

and survival ratios. Payment of a bride price was practically universal

This payment was construed primarily as reimbursement to the woman^s

family for tlie loss of her services and those of her potential chi!then. It

did not make the woman one of her husbands chattels, and it did not

prevent her from dissolving the union under sufficient provocation.

 

Although both matrilincal and patrilineal descent were present,

marriages were nearly everywhere patrilocuL The normal family estab¬

lishment wnss a compound in which each of the multiple wives and her

children bad a separate dw^clling* Tlicre \vas a strong tendency for a

man’.s sons and grandsons to form a joint family, i.e,, to crintinue lisTUg

in H single compound, bolding property as a corporation and cooperating

under die direction of a hereditarj^ male head. Men who could afford

the necessary' outlay preferred to break awaj% establish tlieir own cotii-

pounds, and thus become the founders of nevv joint Families. Several

romilies which had been formed in this \vi 3 ,y and still recognized their

kinship constituted a sub-clan, and several sub-clans a clan, fffitside the

region of brge kingdoms, clans were usually locali?.cd territorial units-

Sub-clans were, almost without exception, exogainous. Clans were usu¬

ally exogamous w'hen they formed part of larger pslitical units, endoga-

tnoiis when tiny' were politically indep nilenl.

 

Each kin grouping had its head or chief who derived much of his

power from his role in ancestor worship. Clans and even sub-clans often

distinguished their members by special duLiib of costume, scarification,

and so forth. Totems, i.e., animals, plants, or objects which MoocI to ^

SIK^cia! relation la a human group, were verj^ common at the clan level

Clan members were commonly forbidden to kill or use their ow-u totem

but Imd no objection to members of other clans doing so. 1'hcre was

usually a myth explaining the relationship, but belief in actual descent

from the totem was lacking in most cases.

 

Societies were class^or^nlzcd, with a threefold division of chiefs-

 

 

A^VX. Historic African Peoples [429

 

free commoners, and staves. The relatzoos of inferiors to superior's were

strongly autocralie. This began in tlie family, where children were ei-

pccletl to show exaggerated respect to their parents and young people

to their elders. SimilEir attitudes were rellected in the behavior of sub¬

clan and ekti members toward die heads of diese units and of all lower

orders toward kings and officials. Patterns of popular elect!on and repre¬

sentative go^ ermnent were completely lacking. All pobtieal offices were

either hereditary or appointive. Democracy existed only at the vilbge

level where, as in villages everywhere in the world, policies were de-

elded through informal discussion among the nat\ira1 leaders of tlie

community. Chiefs had counselors, but they selected them themselves

and allowed ihem only advisoiy activities.

 

In spite of these auiocradc institutions, concepts of law strikingly

similar to the European one w&tc present in all the agricultural and most

of ihv dairying societies. The chief was alIo\v€?d to exerdse his autocratic

powers only within clearly understood limits. Law codes were no less

valid because they were transmitted verbally. One of the main fmictians

of cliiefs w^as to act as magistrate. Cases w’ere pleaded before him* evi¬

dence taken, frequently on oath, and precedents were cited. The chief

was CKpected to show his wisdom and fitness for office by the skill with

which he disentangled canflicting evidence and matle the puinshment

fit the crime. W'hen tliere was a hierarchy of officiatsK cases could he ap*

pealed from lower to liigher courts until they reached a priirte tnuiLster

or even the kmg himself. Triai by ordeal was universally alkiwcd, but

was resorted to only when tlie evidence was so inconclusive that no de¬

cision could be reached.

 

Puberty' rites were universal. Groups of boy.s and girb were initi¬

ated separately, frequently in camps established at some distance from

tljo regular settlement Here they were kept under the watchful aire of

adults* never their own parents, who hazed them in VTtrious ways and

finally gave them sex instruction and, frequently, esoteric religions

kuovvledge. Mutilations of various sorb: were often inflicted at this time.

Boys were circumcised, girls Imd tlie clitoris removed and. in regions

whore scarification was practicecl botli received their dan or tribal

marks.

 

The basic, universal religion of Negro Africa was ancestor worship.

This was directed primarily toward founders of kin groups and heroes

whose exploits were remembered. It was firmly believed that the dead

ttxjk u lively iotcrest in the doings of their descendants* that they were

able to help or harm them, and that they could be influenced by prayers

and, especially. saCTilieeSi. Upon these basic assitimptions numerous local

beliefs and practices had b^n developed. In addition to the ancestral

 

 

Part Eight: Africa

 

spirits there were non^buRiAa deitieSp but their number and impoirtauce

varied greatly in different parts of the area. Outside a few of the great

kingdoms, god cults were less important than the ancestor cults.

 

There was a lively belief in magic of oil sorts, and the medicine

men, jts practitioners, held an honored position. Professional priests

lA'ere in cJiargc of the shrines of various gods and directed their worship*

Supervision of ancestor w'orship was normally a function of the head of

die kin group. There were abo professional diviners who praebced no

atlier type of mngicj medicine men s activities were directed mainly to¬

ward the healing of disease.

 

The medicine man w^as usually an individual with hysteric tend¬

encies, and, since the post was socially important and financially re-

w^arding, such tendencies w^ere watched for in children and encoumgedp

ihcir expressions being shaped to the culturally approved forms. Con*

trarv' to popular belief, the medicine man waj$ rarely if ever a genuine

psychotic. To be a successful practitinner required a firm grasp of reality

and superior intelligence. At the same time, the average medicine man

 

not a charlatan. He believed in his own powers and frequently

possessed abilities iu what is now called erira-sdnsory perception. He

was also, in most cases, an c^s^eHent psydiotlierapbt, and possessed a

knowledge of genuine and quite uon-magical remedies for common aU-

ments. There can be no doubt that a study of African m^ferta medko

and healing practices would contribute significantly to our own medical

knowledge.

 

The medicine man knew magic of all sorts and could kill as well as

heal. He was ready to provide evil charms and directions for their use

quite as a modem pharmacist carries poisons. However, this was a very

minor feature of his activities. The medicine man must not be confused

with the malevolent sorcerers, also found everywhere in Negro Africa.

The sorcerer was a constant practitioner of malevolent magic, an all¬

round virulent enemy of the community devoted to e^'il for its own sake.

Sorcerer's attacks were directed not only against individuals but against

humanity in general, and tlicy were killed withaut mercy whenever dis¬

covered. It was believed that the condition of being a sorcerer was fre¬

quently Involuntary and. indeed^ unconscious* It was thought to be due

to the presence in the body of a *witch substance^ described as a white

gelatinous material somewhat like phlegm. This substance might be

acquired in various ways or might even be inherited. It was quite pos¬

sible for an individual to be a malevolent sorcerer without knowing it

Since ail members of the community shared in these beliefs, persons

who were detected and accused nf sorcery by the medicine men would

usually confess and submit to execution without protest. While medicine

iticu operated individually, except for obsersance of professinnol eb-

 

 

Historic African Peoples [431

 

quctte, sorcerers were often believed to be organiy/d in groups whieh

met secretly rind pbnnod campaigns.

 

One of the most important activities of the medicine man was llie

making of fetishes. It k difGcult to convey to Europeans the exact nature

of these objects. They were not inliabited by spirits and were known

to have been manufactured^ yet they were regarded as sentient Beings.

They were strengthened by offerings^ could hear and respond to prayers^

and were able to bring good or evil fortune. iTiey owed their power to

having been compounded in certain ways of certain materials. Most of

these maluriahi were taken from plants or animals, but many of the more

powerful fetishes included human blood, bonesp or organs. The enneept

was, after alb not unlike Our own attitude toward such a material as

gunpowder. Sulfur, charcoaL and saltpeter, each of which is innocuous

in itself, have astonishing potentialiUes when combined in certain pro¬

portions and In a certain way.

 

The cattle brought to Africa by Neolithic settlers could Hourish in

regions wliere the crops which they had brougiit could be grown with

difficulty, if at all- The result w^as the development of an African dairy-

ing culture similar in snme respects to the Eurasian one slready de¬

scribed in Chapter XIX. In historic times, at least, the bearers of the

African dairying cultures were almost exclusively NegroeSt although

frequently Negroes who show^ed a considerable Caucasic admixture.

The center for the development of the dairying complex seems to ba%e

been in the Eastern Sudan, and it was here that in later times it showed

its most distinctive characteristics. Although it was presumably devel¬

oped out of the domestic animal half of the original Neolithic economy,

there can be little question that it was sometimes: taken over directly

by groups of hunters and food-gatherers who had never known agricul¬

ture, It seems impossible to explain the Hottentot situation on any other

basis, and wt know that similar shifts from 3 hunting to a domestic ani¬

mal economy were made rapidly and easily by tribes in otlier parts of

the world.

 

All the African dairying cultures centered their economy around

cattle^ Other animals, especially sheeps were usually kept In small num-

berSj but their cultural significance was slight. In hisio-ric times most of

the dairying societies other than the Hottentots practiced a little agri¬

culture w'here climatic conditions made this possible. Their origin aJ crops

were probably the African ones previously mentioned, but from the

ijth century' on these were supplemented and then largely replaced by

food crops of American originp particularly maize, peanuts, manioc, and

pumpkins. The introduction of these plants, which w^erc well suited to

the African plateau environment, may have recited in a heavier reli¬

ance by the dairying peoples upon agriculture.

 

 

Fart Eight: Afujca

 

Cattle vr*ere the emotiomd and center of native life. All

 

wort with them was pre-empted by llie rneUp and all ctilhire^

this economy were strongly patriarclml and patrilmcal. The bride price

w'as always paid m cattle^ and to some tribes sex rcLirions between hvo

persons whose molhcrs had been bought by cattle from tlie same herd

were considered tocestuous4 In others, a wife who had been purchased

with eattle which a man had acquired for himself, instead of Wving re¬

ceived from his kindred, became a *liiir and the founder of a new

genealogical line. Wealth was reckoned in tenns of the size of a man's

herd, exclusive of quality^ ^ attitude which hi modem times lias re¬

sulted ill both inferior stock and bad overgrazing of native reserves. A

mau'$ Im'c for his animais was proverbial. Even owners of several hun¬

dred head knew e^’ery animal belonging to them. Cattle were penned

at night and grazed during the day with boys as herders. They were

mitkf^ morning and night and also bled, the bleeding being done with

a mmiature bow and arrow w'hich was driven suddenly into one of the

neck veins, A quart or two of btqod was drawn off and the wound dosecL

To judge from the aiiimars behavior^ the operation caused httk pain.

This technique does not seem to have been prauliced by die Egv'ptians,

and, in view of the negative attitudes of all Semitic peoples toward the

use of blood to any form, it is a strong argument for die Negro origin

of the African cattle complex. It also suggests the preseuce of a hunting

component among the originators of the complex, since all people who

 

 

 

NIIjOTS and FllIEND

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XXX. Historic Africnn Pi^opies [433

 

live by bunting regard biootl an important artieJc of di ct^ and the

arrow i$ primarily a hunters weapon.

 

Although most of the hLstoric dairj'jng societies conducted mass

hunts to destroy Hons and other prctlators, thev rarely hunted for meat

Since game was abundant eveiy^'here in ilie plateau, this neglect of a

significant natural resource seems curious. Iti sevenif cases the dairying

tribes shared their tenitoiy witli hunting bribes uf inferior social status^,

from whom they obtained the skins of antelopes and other wild animab

which they used for clothing. Technology' was rather poorly developed

in all the dairj'ing cultures. Iron was in universal use for look, weapons,

and even ornaments. The metal seems to have been most plentiful and

most skillfully worked in the northern part of the plateau. Smiths every¬

where formed a distinct caste of low sodal status. This may indicate

that tlie iron-working technique svas introduced by foreign craftsmen.

Mats were woven but the true loom was unknow'n.

 

Costume was fragmentary, many of the northern dairying people

going completely nude ejscept for ornaments. Farther south both sexes

\vore small aprons. Btankets, made from skins ui antelope or other wild

animals, were a constant item of clothing tlnoughout the entire area.

Most utensils were of wood or gourd shell, although simple clay cook¬

ing p<its were made by many tribes. Art was rutUmentary, being limited

to simple geometric designs frequently burned on utensils. In sharp

contrast with West Africa, there was an almost complete absence of

sculptured figures^ masks, and other ceremonial eqiiipmetit. This was

no doubt rebted to the simple and relatively unorganized character of

religion in the area.

 

Economic organization was simple. Aside from smiths, there were

no speciali:(ed craftsmen. Markets, important elsevvhere in Kegro Africa,

were not characteristic of the dairying cultures, and, where they oc¬

curred^ could usually be traced to foreign influence.

 

In the dairy'iug tribes religious beliefs and practices were esceed-

ingly simple. There were no doctrines regarding the nature of the soul,

and beliefs concerning conditions in the nest world were vague. Atti¬

tudes toward individual survival were rather neutral even in the most

warlike groups, vvhere the individuals life expectation was low. Some

of the northern dairying tribes agreed with Goethe tliat a soul was not

a gift hut an accomplishiiient, and tiniited survival to cluefs, medicine

men, and heroes. Most of the dairying tribes recognized a supreme Be¬

ing and a few other deities, but the elaborate and higlily^ organized

pantlieons found among some of the agricultural people were notably

lacking. Ill general, neither gods nor ancestors receh ed worship except

in times of emergency, and ritiurk were simple. Anirnal sacrifices w'cre

offered on occasion, but human sacrifice was very rare.

 

 

4341 Eight: Africa

 

Dallying itself imposes certain patterns of settlcnient (sec Chap.

XIX. p. 25S!. The African group who shored this economy normally

lived in small, widely distributed troa/a, each occupied by a joint fmn-

iJy. Tlje houses of the various uisiei;, sons and their wives, and so forth,

were usually arranged around a central cattle pen. Since the cattle were

a constant tempCation to raids, most of the African dairying group were

exceedingly warlike, a characteristic which stood them in good stead

in their contacts with their less aggressive agricultural neighbors and

led eventually to the establishment, along the margins of the cattle area,

of numerous states in which a cattle-keeping aristocracy ruled over pre-

dominnntly agricultural commoners. A curious feature of these states

was that many of those along the southern edge of the Sudan were of

quite recent origin, having been set up as a result of an eastward move¬

ment of the FtiUah. This group, who are difficult to place ethnically,

since they show a stabilized mixture of Negroid and Caucasic traits,

seem to have originated in Senegal, and, after their conversion to Islam,

began a rapid eastward expansion. Wherever they went they success*

fully dominated the Negroes and even today, and in regions where they

do not hold formal rule, they succeed in controlling the agricultural

Negro populations.

 

Outside the areas where ih^ ruled as conquerors, the political or¬

ganization of the Sudanese and East African cattle poplc was nidi-

mentary. The usual pttem was a federation of clans and sub-dans or¬

ganized ill a prestige hierarchy. Slavery was economically unimportant

and frequently lacking. Such political control as existed was usually

vested in clan chiefs or hereditary medicine men whose main functinii

was that of making roin. Legal patterns were less developed than in

agricultural Africa. The most distinctive social feature was the great

emphasis upon male age-groupings. All the males of a particular age

group were initinted into manho^ at the same time and drenmeised

with the same knife, thus establisliing a bond of blood brotherhood.

Such a group served as a unit in the army, and its members had strong

reciproi^ rights and duties, extending in some cases to wife-lending.

 

Most of tliD plateau from Kenya south was occupied by Bantu-

sp'aking tribes who w-ere comparatively recent arrivals in the region-

.Although cattle dominated their cetmmny at the time they were first

encountered by Europeans, they depended much more heavily on agi"**

culture than did the Sudanic and East African dairying tribes. This

tendency may have been increased by the fact that they were already in

possession of American crops at the lime W'heti Europeans first visited

this region. There can he little doubt that before their entrance into the

plateau the culture of these Bantu invaders was much like tliat of the

West African agricultural villagers. They seem to have brought with

 

 

XXX. Historic African Peoples [435

 

thein more advanced pattern!^ for political orgamzation, and during the

i8th and early 19th cefituries a number of ephemeral empires were de¬

veloped in tills region, each one centering about some great leader and

military otgatuzer. None of these empires developed the professional

admiiiislmtors who gave the agricaltnrd kingdoms their continuity. Tlie

most famous of these empires woi that of the Zulu^ created by Tschako.

 

In. far South Africa a highly aberrant version of the dairying culture

WAS carried on by the Hottentots, closely related to the Bushmen in

both physical type and language. There can be littlii doubt that they

originally had a culture of Bushman type (see Chap. Xll, p. 157} which

was modified by contact with some dairying group. Before the invasion

of the plateau by Bantu-speaking people, the Hottentot range extended

much farther north, perhaps even tq the l>orders of Kenya, Their prin¬

ciple domestic animals were cattle and fat-tailed sheep* both of which

were milked. Milking was done by women, ancl cattle were nsed as pack

animals, practices which the other African dairying peoples regarded as

little short of sacnlegioits. Instead of occupying more or less permanent

kraals, the flottentots lived in temporary camps and moved frequently.

There was a heavy dependence on hunting* carried on by men. The

basis of social organization was tbe localized* exogamous* patrilineal

group* but there were numerous traces of a matrilineal, or at least bi¬

lateral, reckoning of descent. Characteristic social features were the

extreme resj^eetp amounting to avoidai^ce, which brothers were expected

to pay to sisters* and the strong ties between n man and his maternal

uncle* Political Organization w^as negligible. Although each band had a

head man, such leaders exercised no real autliority. Religion wsis an un¬

formalized ancestor worship, "J'ho moon figured prominently in the

mythology* hut only three other supernatural beings were regarded as

more important tlian the ordinaiy ghosts of iJie dead, and even tliey

were believed to be of human origin* The most in^portaut religious cere¬

mony w^as an antiual rain-making ritual held in November or December^

when die summer rains were due.

 

In Africa the tine between farming cultures and dairying cultures

was closely related to rainfall. From tlie borders of the S^ara rainfall

gradually increased southward through the Western and Central Sudan

untd one reached die hitmJd tropics of the coastal lowlands and the

Congo basin. The transition w^as gradual enough so that farming and

dairying cultures were able to co-exist over a fairly wide strip of terri¬

tory running east and west, Aithotigh some tribes practiced both herd¬

ing and agriculturCp tlie dominant pattern was a symbiotic rektJonship^

dairymen and fajiriers operating side by side and exchanging their prod¬

ucts* How^ever* political dominance of the dairying people over the

farmers w'as the usual pattern. Along the western edge of the great Afri-

 

 

436] Eight: Africa

 

can plateau, on the other hand, the elijRatio transitiDn was abrupt, and

the frontier be^Aven the dairying and farming econoniies closely fob

towed the line of fortj^-inch rainfalL Where the precipitation w"as more

than this, the presence of the tsetse which carried a disease deadly

to cattle^ made darning unprofitable.

 

The farming ecDoomy provided a basis for the development of great

and relatively permanent tdngdoms which^ by all tests except that of

literacy* fully merit die title of civilizations. These kingdoms, which

will be discussed in the next chapter, vvcrc most numerous and most

highly developed in regions immediately south of the Sudan. Although

tlie utiperial patterns also penetrated into the Congo, most of the slates

set up diere Lacked the elaborate organization of the more tiorlherly

ones and certainly represented a less advanced stage of development.

Still further south, political centralization disuppearod, leaving autono¬

mous communities or small groups of villages recognizing only local

chiefs. The patterns of peasant life were so simiiur throughout the whole

area in which the main economic de|M^ndence was on agriculture that

one is forced to conclude tliat there was an uldor cultural sub-stratum,

upon which centraliziiig political institutions had been superimposed in

various rcginns without greatly altering die daily life of the common

people.

 

In the regians of heaviest rainfall the only domestic ammals were

goats, chickens^ and dogs^ with rare and sjxiradic pig culture. Toward

die margins of the larming area e few cattle were kept, but there was a

strong tendenc)' toward specialization in this as in other economic ac-

tivitiKs. Gatde-kcepiiig tribes interlocked with farming tribes, and ths?

two exchanged tiieir products. The principal crops of the heavj- riiinfall

area weiu banana, yam, and taro, the last usually referred to in the Dtcra-

ture as hu/l tjatn. Bnnana and taro were of Southeast Asiatic origin and

must liflve been introduced into Africa from across the indiau Ocean.

At least one of the yam species grown was also Soudieast Asiatic. Tlic

main agents in the introduction of these crops were presumably die

same NfalayoH-Folynesian voyagers who settled Madagascar. Since, ex¬

cept for yarns,, none of the economically significant crops raised in the

humid African tropics were of African origin^ it is probable that these

regions were left to primitive hunting and collecting tribes until a com¬

paratively late date. In the regions of less heavy rainfull, maize, manioc,

various millets, sorghum, peanutSp and ground nuts were raised, but it

should be noted that here ako inost of the historic staple crops w^ere not

of African origin. It seems safe to assume that anjthing like intensive

agriculture, making pissible dense and non-migratory popnktions^ w!is

a relatively late developiiient in Negro Africa, Since strong centralized

 

 

XXX, Historic African Peoples [437

 

states cannot exist without such populations^ the Negro

must also be of relatively recent origin.

 

Most of tlie tenitor}' now occupied by the Farming cultures wus

originally forestedp while such areas as the lower Congo basin, and

coastal lowlands of West Africa were covered with heavy jungle. There

was thus an abundance of hardwood and other forest products, mating

possible tlie development of an elaborate and well-balanced technology,

although one whose coutent was largely perishable. It follows that die

archeologist w^orking in this region finds hiniscll confronted with a situa¬

tion somewhat like tliat in Southeast Asia, After the introduction of

metul, stone-working of any sort seems to have been abandoned, while

wooden objects, which must have been numerous at all periods, have

succumbed to the ravages of termites and tropical cbmate^ In recent

years the value attached to antiquity per sc has led Europeans to ascribe

considerable age to many West African art objects, flow'cver, none of

the w™dcri sculpture now extant can be more than two, or at the most,

three hundred years old, w'hile it is rarely safe to ascribe even a hundred

years to any object which is not koowm to have been taken out of Africa

before 1900.

 

Basketi}' and mat weaving w^ere well developed throughout the en-

tire agricirltural regiorc The wea^^Lng of cloth, on the other hand, wa$

most highly developed in die northw^csteni part of the area, suggesting

that it may have been introduced as part of the Neolithic complex

which seems to have reached this region from the Mediterranean. In

tlie eastern and sou diem parts of the farming area, woven cloth was

largely replaced by bark doth. This, like the Southeast Asiatic bark

cloth, was made frotn trees of the ficus family, but certain details of

munufacturc suggest an independent origin^ Pottery was made duough-

out the entire area, but the rarity of onLamental pottery or painted

w'ares suggests that it was primarily a cooking appliance. Eating utensils

w'ere uniformly made of w^ood or gourd shells. Houses were made of

wood and thatch, appropriate to the ciimatc^ but the construction was

usually excellent and to^vn houses were often largo and elaborate

structures*

 

Iron-working, including the smcltiog of Iwal ores, w^as present

tbroughout the region. In addition, casting brass and gold by the lost

wax (sec p. 106) process svas a highly developed art These metals w'cre

employed for omaments and cercmoruol objects. Bronze was unkiiow^i.

The Negro metalworkers did not know how to produce alloys. Gold was

worked as it came from alluvial mines and brass was obtaJned by trade*

Tlie use of the wheel in any form was unknown, a curious lack in view

of the long trans-Sahoran contact

 

 

43^1

 

 

Fart Eight: Africa

 

In contrast to the dairying culhires, most of the farming cultures

produced wood can^ngs of considerable aesthetic merit. Practically all

the objects to be seen in modem eihibits of African art were made by

tribes having this economy. Artistic prodtiction reached its high point m

the great kingdoms of West Africa and in the Camoroons, Cabim, and

the Congo Basin. Jn the great kingdoms the concentrated economic sur*

plus of subject popubtions made it possible for the ruling class to sup

port professional artists, while the demand for lu^mries provided a

steady market. 11 must be emphasiited that, even in the regions where

there was no Such concentration of wealdi, the artists were, >vith very

few exceptiDtis, professitmah. The term “primitive'* is emphatically a

misnomer when applied to African sCuJphire and any attempt to com*

pare it to the work of children or the insane is nothing short of ridicu¬

lous. The dLffcrent emphases embodied in African abstraction, and the

peculiiiiitics of posentation to be seen in African art, are the direct re¬

sult of long-established traditions. Although some of tlie African work

may appear naive in terms of a Europan value system, it was no more

primitive than any other highly stylized art such as the Byzantine-

 

One of the most outstanding features of Africim art was the high de¬

velopment of masks. These were intended^ not only to disguise the

wearer, but also to temporarily confer upon him the rjuaiities of the

Being which the mask represented. In many cases masks w^erc in them¬

selves fetishes, and as such had to receive periodic sacrifices in order

to maintain their power and reiaiu their good will.

 

Ivory was used mainly for ornaments and charms, and was carved

with great skill, the small masks and grotesque figures of the Warega

tribe arul the huge carved tusks which formed part of the Benin altar

arrangements representing the high points in this craft. Ornamental

metal work was also highly developed in West Africa. Although some

tribes did elaborate iron forging, the principal medium was brass, an

imported material which was cast by the iost w^x method (see

Chap. IX, p. 106), Tlie finest examples of the cmfl are the portrait heads

of 11th century kings of Ife, which, in both concephon and technical

perfection, compare favorably with the finest Egyptian portraiture, llie

Ashanti are $till famous for their small brass figures, sometimes ar¬

ranged in intricate groups illustrating proverbs, and for their cost gold

work. The artistie excellence of the life-size, conventionalized bronze

heads and intricately cast plaques from Benin have received universal

recognlrion.

 

In the division of labor men habitually worked in wood and mct?d.

They also made bark cloth p a sharp departure from the Southeast Asiatic

practice, and worked as potters and weavers in most areas where these

crafts were highly developed. In agriculture they cleared the land but

 

 

 

WETj'f AhHIClASr Jh'EAtALE

 

 

 

 

 

XXX. Historic African Peoples [^39

 

usually left the planting and cultivation of crops to wotneo. There were

some exceptions to tliis in the West African civilizations, but farm work

for mim was generally considered degrading and was left to staves wlicn

possible. Wherever tlierfc was a mixed agriculluial’domcstic animal

economy, men cared for the aninials. Whatever time svomea had left

over from farm work, Uausekeeping, and baby tending was devoted to

making xttHity pottery and baskets or. in the more advanced cultures,

was spent In trade. The small business of die markets was almost entirety

in their hands. Every woman tried to produce some food surplus, and

the profit from tliis became her property.

 

There was a strong tendency toward professionalism in all the agri¬

cultural tribes* This reached its highest development in the rivilimtions,

where most crafts were carried on by hereditary groups. Local speeiali^

zaLiou based on availability of particular materials or knowledge of par¬

ticular skills was also common. Long-distance trading expeditions were

carried on in many regions, wbib markets were almost universally pres¬

ent These reached their highest development in the civilizations, where

sales taxes and duties formed an important part of the royal revenue*

 

Trade was facilitated by the use of numerous local currencies in

wtiidi blocks of salt, copper ingots, standiiTdi2ed iron tools and weapons,

and so forth, served ns media of exchange. Over most of agricultural

Africa the standard unit of value was a cowrie shell which came origi¬

nally from the Maidive Iskuids, off tlic coasf of India, ^^^llions pf these

sheik were in circulation even in West Africa svhen the first Euroi^eans

arrived. They must have been traded clear across die cuntioent, and

their prc-sence indicates the extent of African trade connections even

under aboriginal eondltiOns^

 

Farming mctliods were relatively primitive. Plows were unkno^m,

the favorite ngrictiltural irnpiccrienl being a short-handled hoe whose

user had to bend almost double. Fertilizers and crop rotation were rarely

used. Tlie staple crops of various regions had a strong inllueiice on

settlement patterns. Land clearing was most laborious in the rain forest

axeas^ but die crops habitually raised^ yimi, taro^ and banana, depleted

tile soil slowly and made possible !ong-coiitinded occupation of the same

sites. In drier territory' land cemid only be used for two or three years

after clearing, and then had to be allowed tn lie fallow for ton to twenty

years* ThU cy'de seems to have been due less to soil exhaustion than to

tlie growth of weeds on the cleared Landr Native farmers could not cope

with this, and found it easier to abandon the field until the return of

larger growth had smothered out tlie weeds. Under this system villages

had to move every twenty or thirty years, and land ownership, except on

a broad tcrritoiial bask, became correspondingly less important* The

larger the local unit, the sooner it would have to move* and there was a

 

 

4^0 ] Pctrt Eight: Afbsca

 

tendency for villages to break up into scattered compounds wherever

the esistcnce of a strong central authority made this safe. Since the cloar-

ing of new land could be done most efBdentJy by tlie combined labor

of many men, coopenitive labor organisations were a frequent feature of

the agricultural societies.

 

In spite of the limitations imposed by tlie pattern of shifting agri*

culture^ many regions in West Africa contained cities of considerable

size. These cities served as royal residences, religious centers, and trad¬

ing centers, much like tlie early cities of the Near East* Tliey were made

possible by the high developtnent of trade which insured their supply of

food and raw materials. ^

 

Polyg)my was tlioroughly approved by both sexes. Women pre¬

ferred it Isccause it reduced their labor, while men liad otlier reasons.

In many tribes sex relations with a wife svpre prohibited during die time

tluit she was nursing an infant, andp since nursing w^os normally exjn-

tinued until the second or even Uiird year, the husband of onJy one wife

was seriously deprived.

 

Because of their economic importance, the status of women %vas ex¬

ceedingly high. The rights of plural wives were guarded by obborate

regulations. Tlie first wife, or the one of the highest social rank, func¬

tioned as head of the women s half of the family, directiug the women's

joint activities. The husband was espected to divide his time equally

among hb wives, usually a specified number of days witli each in fixed

succession. During this period the ^*ife had exclusive rights to the hus¬

band and frequently was entitled to a share of arty profits he might

make. The armngemeut was actually not unlike irionogamy in install¬

ments. In general, the selection of a new wife was subject to review by

all the previous wives, and it was not uncommon for a man *3 wives to

urge him to marry ft particubj woman whom diey found congenial and

would like as a working partner.

 

In a well^rganized family, each wife would devote her period with

the husband to intensive domesticitv% cooking and child-tendiug for the

group and thus releasirig the oilier wives for work in the field or for

other economic activities, such as selling In the markets. Strange as such

a system seems to European values, one must admit that it provided one

of the best solutions so far discovered for the feminine problem of how

to combine domesticity with a career. The husband was theoretically in

control of the fomilyt but only an exceedingly courageous man would

defy his wives when they presented a united front. The tie between

mother and sou was exceedingly close throughout life, Tlie relation be-

tween father and son was distant and little love was lost between broth¬

ers, especially those by different wives.

 

Matrilineal and patrilineal descent were both present among the

 

 

XXX ^ Histork African Peoples [441

 

agricultural peoples. Even in many of tiie stroDgly patrilineal societies,

there were various institutions which suggested an earlier rnatriliiiea]

condition. Tlic inconsistency between matrilineal descent and patriliiica]

residence was resolved in matrilincaJ tribes by sending sons back t& their

mothers sub-clan shortly after they were weaned- There dicy would be

reared by one of her real or cbsslficatory brolliers, and in due course

of time would marry and function as members of his joint familyi An-

other interesting development frequently found in tliese cultures was

the presence of simultaneous matrilineal and patrihnoal descent groups,

each of wbieh had Its own prcscribecl social or religious functions. Every

individual belonged to two such groups, and liis marriage with mem¬

bers of eitlier was usually prohibited" The descent regulations of the

fimning societies H taken as a whole* strongly suggest dial the original

descent pattern in the region was matrilmeol. An aJtemativc explanation

might be an early pattern uf localized endogamous kin groups like those

of Oceania. Witliin such groups the tracing of descent tends to be bibt-

crab and, with a shift to exogamy, cither patrilineal or matrilinea] institu¬

tions may develop.

 

Society was clBSS'OrganLzedj with three levels^ chiefss who nvcre

normally hereditary; commoners; and slaves. Althcugli die iustituLion of

slavery was greatly stimulated by Euro|>can contact from the 17th to the

early igth centuries, there can be no doubt that it was old* In general*

two tj'pcs of slaves were recognized: recently captured cncjuies, who

were considered on a par w^ith any other domestic animals; and slaves

who were members of long-established slave families or were fellow

tribesmen enslaved for debt or minor offenses. Slave families were often

associated witli die same free family for generations, and the sale of sueh

a hereditary slave was regarded as equ^y disgraecfnl to the slave and

tn his owner* since it indicated that botli had failed in a legitimate social

relationship. Debt slaves and petty criminals could be sold within the

tribe* but their sale outside was forbidden or at least strongly disap¬

proved. The relatiPiis of slave and master were covered by long-estalj-

lished patterns which guaranteed all but tlie enemy captives a consider¬

able degree of justice and freedom of action. Owners were responsible

for dieir slaves, and the hereditary slave of a cluefly family actually en¬

joyed a better position in many respects than a poor freeman.

 

Within the stratified society* die clan and sub-clan chiefs occupied

an important p05iiLion. Tlie office was normally hereditary in a particular

family* the one which was regarded as standing closest to the direct line

of descent from the common ancestor of the kin group. The chi^d was

chosen from among the sons in this family* usually on the basis of ability

rather than birth order- He was regarded as an embodiment of the spir¬

itual force or genius of the idn group, and as such played au important

 

 

Part Eight: Africa

 

role in all rituals uitcDdtfd to promote its well being. At the secular levd

he acted as director of the group's activities and fuxictioned as a judge.

 

All the societies wlm shared the farming ecemomy Imd vvolUdevel^

oped law codes and formal sy stents of legal procedure^ Liiws were pre¬

cisely stated and legal precedence carried heavy weight Witnesses w'ere

called to testify under oath^ professional pleaders were emploj^ by

both sides, and the whole procedure was strikingly like the European

one. Also^ as in mecIievaJ Europe, trial by ordeal was resorted to in those

cases where the evidence was so conflicting tliat tliE^ judge could not

arrive at a dedsion, or in trials for malevolent magic where the actual

practice was usually impossible to prove. Poison ordeab were common

and for from uniformly fatal to the accused^

 

Religion in general w^as much more important among the farming

than among the dairying societies. The ancestors were regarded as ever-

presentp and not only aided their descendants but also disciplined them

for any moral slips. The male ancestors in particular were regarded with

much more fear than affection, and it may be noted that iti many cases

con^ersioti to Christianity,^ with the consequent relegation to Umbo of

 

 

 

MUD HOUSE, NTCEIUA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XXX> ffistoric African Peoples [443

 

the$i> invisible guardians of iho status has resulted in a distinct

brcak<io^^ii in nulive mores. In addition to the Etncesiors, tbere *were often

regular pantheons of deities, usually organbijed on the model of the hu¬

man kin groups. These deiUes were, for the most part, associated witJi

forces of nature, but the greater oues were often provided with suj>er-

natural messengers and servants who operated as intermedianes in the

deity's dealings i^ith humans. The good will of these was often sought

more eftmestly than that of their divine superiors. As might be anticb

pated, die god cults reached their highest development in the great

kingdoms. For the average villager the gods were little more than liter-

ar)' deities, Beings who were the subject of fsiscinating myths, but with

whom one had little dcnling.

 

.\side from the ever-present ancestrid spiiits, interest centered in the

village fetish. This was prepared by a medicine man at the time die

village was founded^ and was carded to the new site whenever the vil¬

lage mo^'cd. it was usually kept in a house either m or just outside the

vilinge, and it assured the health and good fortune of the comiouiiity. It

had to he propitiated with saerlHces and was treated like a deity, hi

addition to the village fetish, there w^erc usually other community fe¬

tishes designed to glw aid in specialized activities such as hunting, fish¬

ing, and agriculture. Each of these had to be strengthened by periodic

ceremonies and sacrifices. Lastly, each indlvidua] possessed personal fe¬

tishes, some of which wxre worn, others kept in his house. Some of these

were for general good fortune, others for aid in specific activities such as

hui:iting or money-getting.

 

Lastly, mention should be made of the men's secret societies^ vvhich

were widespread among the farming tribes; Curiously enough, they

seem never to have been adopted by the dairying peoples^ The origin of

these societies is obscure. It has been suggested that they were devel¬

oped in Imitation of the Marabout orders of tlie North African Muslim.

They may also have been developed out of tJie puberty initiations uni¬

versally present. In any ca^e, they were one of the most striking features

of the African agricultural cultures. The? societies were in part cult

groups, but were also organizations for mutual aid, for social controh

and not mfrequently. For blackmail. Each society had its masks and char¬

acteristic costumes and gave occasional public performances at wdrich

these were displayed. Women, childreiij and any men w^ho were not

members were supposed to believe that the masked dancers were siiper-

nariiral Beings, and anyone who discovered their real identity was killed-

The societies had regular recognition signs and passwords, and inem-

hers were pledged to mutojil aid much as In Freemasonry,

 

The societies thus provided a unifying factor in regions where large

political imlts were lacking, and enabled their members to travel out-

 

 

444] Eight: Africa

 

sii 3 e their home territory with reasonable safely. Mlicre poll tied control

was strong, they were often quite understandably regarded with dis¬

favor by authorities, and in Dahomey they were forbidden on pain of

death. Their activities varied with the region, but one of their main func-

^ tions seems to have besen the enforcement of local mores. Uppity" wives

and other non^nformists were likely to be severely beaten or even

killed by masked members. The resemblance bet%veen the tCu Klux Klaa

and these West African societies is striking* and may well be more than

coincidental. In addition to these socially approved secret organizations,

there were others whose activities were unquatiGedly anti-sodaL The

witch^ocleties, previously mentioned, may not have existed in fact, but

there was a Leoporc! Sciciety, whose members regularly practiced mur¬

der and cannibalism* apparently as accompaniments to black magic.

 

 

Chapter XXXI

 

 

African Civilizations

 

 

Few Americans realize how rich and complex the cultures of many Afri¬

can societies were at the time of the first European contact. In the re¬

gions from which most of the American Negroes' ancestors were drawn,

there were a scries of strong and enduring kingdoms which deserved

the name of civilizations on every count except that of Ittcracy. Jn their

arts and crafts these societies were little, if at all, inferior to medieval

Europeans, while, in the thoroughness of their political organization and

the skill with which social institutions were utilized to lend stahility to

tlie political structure, (hey far exceeded anything in Europe prior to tlie

i6th century. It is not too much to say that in their home territory the

African Negroes have shown a genius for state-building unsurpassed by

any other people, except possibly the Incas of Peru.

 

Every civilization has drawn into itself elements from many sources,

and those of Negro Africa are no exception. Contacts between them and

the civilizations of Egypt and tlie Mediterranean littoral have existed

since ancient times. Egypt is known to have traded and fought with the

Negro trills of the Upper Nile since at least 3000 b.c. During the 18th

dy-nasly (1580^1320 B.c.) Nubia was conquered and occupied by the

Egyptians and a vice-roy established there. The Nubians seem to have

b^n overawed by Egyptian civilization and accepted it enthusiastically.

They became devout worshippers of the Egyptian Amon-Ra, and dose

ties grew up between his holy city of Thebes and the Nubian capital at

Napata. When Shashank and his Libyans conquered Egy'pt. many of the

Tliehan priests fled to Napala and continued the work of acculturation.

In 730 B.C, the Nubians conquered Egypt itself, but by this time they

had become more Egyptian than the Egyptians. During the brief

period of their power they attempted to restore rites which had already

become moribund even in this uncliimging land, and during the later

 

445

 

 

44®J Farf Eigh^.* Africa

 

years of Assyrian and Persian dontinaticin they welcomed Eg)'pCian

refugees.

 

Nwbia retained its independence under the Ptolemies and Romans,

and during the first six centuries after Christ deveipped au independent

dvilizatioo in which Egs'ptian, Creek, and Roman elements were com¬

bined with considerable originality. In the 6th century die Nubians

were cooverted to Christianit}' and were able to beat off successive

Muslim attacks until ihe middle of the i4tli centiuy, when tlic Christian

kingdom of Dongala fell to the Funj, Arabized Negroes from the Blue

Nile. From that time oa Nubia participated in fshunic civilization.

 

It can be seen that there was abundaut opportunity for EgyptiaUp

Near Eastern^ Greek, and Roman influences to reacli Negro Africa by

\\*ay of the Eastern Sudan^ How much these contributed to the founda¬

tion of the Negro civilumtions lying to the south and west it is difficult to

say. One might expect to find the oldest borrowed elements, i,e^ those

of Egy^jdan origin, surviving a round the margins of the area to which

they had been diffused, and there actually are a number of items in

some of ihe more ads^oeed Negro cutrurcs which are strongly reminis¬

cent of Egypt. The widespread idea of a sacred king upon whose vigor

the national welfare depends would be a case in point Still more sug¬

gestive is ihe institution of tlie queen-sister* found in many central Afri¬

can kingdoms. In this the queen, with duties, privileges, and an estab¬

lishment closely paralleling those of Che king is always his sister. It may

be remembered that fn Egypt she was both sister and wife* and even

this practice was followed by the Baiiima, a Uganda tribe. Yoruba and

Ashanti religions, with their ekborate priesthoods, niimeroiis gods as

objects of individual cults, and sacrctl animals, arc also suggestive of

Lastl}', the .Ashanti believed in a spiritual double which visited

the tomb after death, and it was for this that offerings were providcd+

quite as the Egyptians furnished their tombs for the comfort of the feet.

To complete the picture, tlie Ashanti double was called a kra.

 

Tliese and other features suggestive of Egypt show such an irregu¬

lar distribution that it is hard to e.tplaiji them on the basis of Egyptian

diffusion. It seems more probable that their presence in both Egjpt

and Negro Africa was a result of independent development from a com¬

mon basis in on ancient Hamitic culbjro. We know that flamitic tribes

not only settled the Nile Valley* but also extended their occupation, over

most of the Sahara at a time when the climate there w^as more benevo¬

lent than it is at present. Every thing indicates that the Caucasic Hamites

began infiltrating the Negro peoples to the south in Neolithic rimes if

not before. The Berbers, who were the hLstoric descendants of the Sa^

haran Hamites^ continued this process. Their conversion to Islam, which

gave this southw^ard penetration the sanctions of a crusade* merely ac-

 

 

XXXL African Cwilisations [447

 

i

 

celsratcd what was already a long-established pattern. By the yth cen¬

tury' A.D-, Berbers, with some slight Arab admixture, were already estab¬

lishing a chain of kingdoms throughout the Western Sudan. The most

important of these were Songbai and Ghana, in the region of ihe Niger.

In the t4t]i century the Mandingo kingdom of Melle eoiiqucfcd the en¬

tire Western Sudan.

 

Berbers and Negroes mJngletl their blood freely, and even the nillng

d^masties of these Sudanese kingdoins were predominantly Negro. How¬

ever, they w'ere self-constriously Islamic in culture, and their politica]

organization followed regular Islamic lines. It has generally been as¬

sumed that the pagan Negro kingdoms which arose still farther south

derived from those of the Sudan. However, tlio structure of the pagan

kingdoms didered so much from the Islamic patterns that only some sort

of stimulus diffusioti seems psssible. The pagans far exceeded the Is¬

lamic peoples Ln the eomplexitj uf tlieir political organization and in

the skill with which they utdizetl existing institutions to Etrengthen royal

[Kjwer.

 

As examples of these pagan kingdoms we may take Uganda {the

civilization of the Bogan da peoples) and Dahomey. Tlie former lay

at the easlom end of the whole line of pagan kingdoms and had re¬

ceived minimal Islamic influence. Dahomey, toward the western end of

the line, was a niuch more recent creation. There had been numerous

earlier kingdoms in the same region and these, in lum, had had ox-

tensive contaers with the Islamic kingdoms about the Niger. The West

African coastal region had liad still other eiviiize<l contacts. Altliough

tlie expedition of Hano, the Cmtliaginian, is the only one of which a

record has sundved, there can be little doubt that other and less official

voyages occurred both before and after his attempt at phinned colonlza^

tion. llie gold and ivory of the West coast, which have given their names

Id two of the regions' modern political divisions, must have been a

strong lure, and the Cordmginians were noted for their skill and coiimge

in pursuit of profit. Dahomey also wns in the region which received

tile first impact of modem European penetration. Although it is impossi¬

ble to say liDW far this enntact modified die native institutions, it un¬

questionably changed the native economy, shifting the emphasis from

ordinary agricultural production to the slave trade and to wars for

profit

 

The kingdom of Uganda lies northw'cst of Lake Victoria. It includes

a considerable stretch of shore line protected by outlying islands* so that

coastwise traffic was easy. Although the Baganda never developed sails

or any craft more elabosrate than large plank canoes^ the high level of

their technological development was reflected in the excellence of tlicse.

Canoes were used in war cxpeditiotis against neighboring tribes* and the

 

 

44SI P^rt Eight:

 

admiral of die canw fleet W2s an miportant officer. More pro^icallyp

fishing was e main source of protein food. Fish were dried and dis¬

tributed tliroughout the whole kingdoin in trade.

 

According to the native traditioa^ the organizufion of the Baganda

kingdom was begun by li ami tic doin^g people who invaded the region

about 500 years ago and founded the dynasty which still rules. By the

time of European contact these invaders had been completely absorbed

both physically and cultttrally. Duo to constant Intcrmairiager royalty

and commoners were of the same Negroid type. The mam economic de¬

pendence of all classes of the population was on agncultureK Some cat¬

tle were kept but they had become essentially Imctny objects. The com¬

monest domestic animal was the goat, and o commoner wdio was so

fortunate as to Own cattle normally kept them with the herd of his chief.

Herding was done by a hereditary group^ the lllma^ who did not occupy

a parti tularly high social position-

 

WliiJe a variety of crops w^ere raised, the main sources of food were

bananas and plantains. These were rarely eaten raWp being by prefer¬

ence steamed and mashed to a pulp. Banana mash was the bulk staple of

the native diet comparable to rice in the Orient, and although other

Foods were eaten with it, they were regarded as incidental and desirable

mainly because of the flavor and variety they gave the meal. It may be

noted that milk of either cattle or goats was very' little used. In addition

to various food crops^ a species of fig w'os planted to provide bark for the

hark cloth of which the native costume was originally made.

 

Eaganda agriculture had signiHcant effects on their patterns of

production, settlement, and social organization. Tlie banana plants, once

established^ would continue to send up new shcx>ts and produce fruit for

twenty-five or thirty years. This made possible rcL'atively permanent

settlements. Moreover, the yield was so heavy that a dense popuhition

could be maintained, even though women did all the agriculture. It is

sold that one woman could care for enough banana trees to feed four

men. At the same tirne losses in mates through war and through die huge

human sacrifices rei^uired on various OCK^sioos were so heavy that die

population contained three women for every man. The result was a so¬

ciety in which there was a very considerable surplus of time and energy,

with possibilities for the development of correspondingly excellent man-

ufacturics and complicnted rituals.

 

The technology was essentially the same as that already described

in the gQoerali2ed account of agricukura] tribes. However, tlie Baganda

differed from most African peoples in tlieir Insisteiice on complete cloth¬

ing. Although before puberty' boys went naked and girls wore only a

girdle with a fringe of shredded banana leaf, after puberty women

dressed tn a wraparound garment reaeliing from the armpits to the feet.

 

 

XXXL African Civilizations [449

 

Men were even more heavily dressed p Witt a loin clodip a kilt, and a

toga. .All garments were originally made of bark clothp and the tnaniifac-

ture of this cloth was one of the mon^s main industries.

 

The pCTSiintry lived in widely spaced compounds rather than in

villages. The compound was surroiindeil by its banana plantationSp and

both compound and plantation were fenced. Houses were circular con-

ical stTuctwres completely covered wdth thatcih. The doorway was pro¬

tected I>v a sTTiall inset porch or vestibule. The establishments of chiefs

and even of tlie Idiig himself followed essentially the same patteirDp ex¬

cept for their much greater sbee and the larger number of their occu¬

pants. Thus the royal compoundp which stood on a hill near Lake Vic¬

toria, was a mile and a half long and half a mile wide. Betw®?Ti the king's

house and tlie main entrance lay the establishments of hundreds of

officials and guards as well as slaves^ while on the roads outside the en¬

closure were clustered the compounds of tlie great chiefs.

 

An tinusual feature of the Baganda kingdom, and one which no

doubt contributed to the successful functioning of its centralized gov¬

ernment, was an estraordinarily good network of roads. These were

fre^juently as much as twelve feet widc^ hard surfaced, and with cause¬

ways ninning across swumpy ground. The chief of each district liad as

One of his dtitjes the maintenance of a road between the kings estab¬

lishment and his eompoirndj while each of the nobles in a district had to

maintain a road bchveeii his enrnpound and that of the paramount chief.

Tlie road svstem made possible rapid troop movenaents and an extensive

exdiange of mauulacturcd goods. There were numerotis morkots to

which both professional craftsmen and local peasantry^ brought their

products. Ntorkets within easy walkuig distance of each other were usu¬

ally held on different days* forming a cyclcp so that itinerant merchants^

at the close of one marketp could pack up their wares and move on to

the next. Each market was in charge of an officinal w'ho w^as responsible

for maintalaing order and punishing unfair dealing. The government

imposed a ten per cent sales tax^

 

The social and political organization of the Baganda bore out their

traditions of the origins of the state. There were only three hereditary

classes: slaveSi comnionersT and members of the rojul faiuily. Since po^

lygjmy was the rule and the kings were expected to exceed iheh sul^

jects in the number of wives* as in all other symbols of prestige, the royal

group was fairly numerous. Howcveip as a preventative of civil war, it

was customary to kill most of a reigning kings brothers xvhco he came

to the thronCp and to kill any of his daughters who married or bore a

child. As a result the royal group was largely reconstituted in each gen¬

eration.

 

Below the members of the royal family, who were debarred from

 

 

45o| P^rt Eight: Afuica

 

bolding admiTiLstrative offices, there were numerous olSciuLs who func¬

tioned as adinffiistrators. This group bore a superficial resemblance to

the Enrapean feudal nobility. However, all of them were appointed fay

the king and owed allegiance directly to him. Since every appointment

automatically terminated at the kings death and any free man was

eligible for office, these administrators never developed into a distinct

hereditary class.

 

Slaves were, for the most part, prisoners of war or their descend¬

ants, although there were also Baganda slaves, children who had been

pledged as security for debt and ^vhose labor provided the creditor with

interest On his loan. Slaves were in general well treated* Women bccaiiie

concubines and were freed as soon os they bore a child to dieu masters.

The main disadvantage of slavery for men wa$ their immediate cligifail-

\ty for the numerous human sacrifices required by Bnganda ritual.

 

Commoners were origitially grouped in thirty-six patriUncal exoga-

moiis clans, but by the time of the first European contact six of these had

almost lost their identity through fusion with other clans. Each clan liad

its chief, selected by a council of the clan elders. Upon his accession* the

dan chief took the name of the cLui founder anti w'as regarded as in

some degree bis rejneamation. Each dan had two totems, usually ani¬

mals, and t{K>k its name from the more important of these. Clan mem¬

bers were forbidden to kill or utilize their totems, but had no objection

to members of other dans doing so. A elan divided into a series of sub-

clans. The central feature of a sub-clan s territory was a graveyard for

its members. . 4 fter it had Uien in use for tliree generations tliis grave-

yard, with the plantations about it, became the inalienable property of

the sub-dan, not subject to royal seizure. Each sub-clan had its chief

and usually a temple in W'hich its founder or some clan deity w'as wor¬

shipped.

 

The organization of clans and localized sub-clans was certainly

older than die Baganda state. The Hamiiic invaders superimposed the

administrative framework of the state upon it and were careful to keep

the two severdy separated. Clan and sub-clan chiefs were in general

debarred from participation in the national government, and officials

were rarely appointed to mk over their own clansmen. At tlie same

time, through die ascription to the various clans of numerous more or

less honorary offices, the clan loyally was used to bind the subjects to

the central govemtnenC. To cite only a few examples of these, the post

of custodian of the royal tombs was hereditary in the Monkey Clan, tliic

kings guard was drawn from the Rat Clan^ the men who carried the

king on their shoulders whenever he went outside the royal compound

were recniited from the Buffalo Clan, the roya! gatekeepers came from

the Mushroom Clan, and the royal drumiuers from the Ilippopotomous

 

 

XXXL African Cioilizations [451

 

Clan. A wife from the Otter Cbn made the rovnl bed. Every ebii sent

 

¥ ■■

 

wives, and from lime to time levies of hoys and girls were cirawm from

the various clans for service in the royal compounds and tlic liDuseholds

of the highest olficers.

 

The whole stmeture of the state centered 011 the king, whose func¬

tions were as much religious as politJcaL Immediately below him were

two oIBciab, the KufiJtJro, or prime minister, and the /Cimhftgteet keeper

of tile king s umbilical cord. The fonner took charge of the admifiistra-

tiou of the kingdom, while the other had charge of the national shrines.

Their oifices thus corresponded to the tu^o major inspects of the royal

oflicc. The entire kingdom was dixfided into ten districts, over each of

w'hich ruled a great official Basa^, or earl. VX^ithin his district the princi¬

pal duties of tlie Basaza were to administer justice^ mamtain order, tmd

supervise public works. He also had to provide a contingent of troops in

time of war, keep certain buildings in tlie royal compound in repair

and provision tlje king*s huu^hold for one month in every^ ten- The earl

of each district had special duties. The Sasaza of Kayadondo, tlie dis¬

trict in which tlie royal establishment was situated, substituted for the

king on the various oceasioDs when the monarch was in seclusion. Be¬

cause of tile sacred nature of the royal office^ these were fairly frequent

The Basaza of Busugu occupied a position of great importance, since he

bud charge of all the royal offspring, who u'ere forced to reside in bis

district, and played a major role iu the selection of a new king. The

Basaza of the district of Bustro was custcxlian of the royal tumbs, and

his post w'os the only one which w'as heredituTy in a particiibr cbn. AH

other Bosaza appointments were terminated with the deatli of the king,

although a Basaza might be reappointed and, in any case, would usually

be succeeded by another member of the same clan. Every Bosaza kept

one establishment in tlie capital and another in the district which he

ruled. Each establishment was supervised by a steward who acted for

the earl in hk absence.

 

Below the Basoza tlicre were six grades of minor nobles rubng over

sub-districLs. These nobles were appointed by the king with the advice

of the earl but were responsible to the king alone^ Like the Busaza^ they

maintained establishments in the capital, and idl officials w'cre expected

to spend much of their time therOi The whole order of nobility together

formed tlie great council of the kingdom, which \vas in almost constant

se$sion.

 

One of the main duties of all officials other than palace functionaries

was the administration of justice. Personal revenge was rigidly for¬

bidden except during the hiwlessuess of an inlerregnum. There was an

elaborate law code which was amended from time to time by royal

decree. Nobler of each grade acted as magistrates in their own dis-

 

 

Fart Eight i ArniCA

 

tricts. but appeni u-as possible horn lower to higtier courts until the case

reudied the king himself. In lillgatioD both the plaintiff and the de¬

fendant were reejuLred to post a bond In the $ame amountp and this was

Forfeited by the loser, a n$eful mechanism lo discourage unnecessary

btigation- Ordeals were resorted to when the evidence was inconclusive^

and torture was used to extort cDiifcssions. Suspects might be kept jn die

stocks while waiting trial, bnt there were no facilities for prison scia-

tcnces and the commonest punishment for minor crimes was miitilatioiip

ranging from csir Or nose clipping to castration or amputation of liniban

Those guilty of capital crimes were often reserved for human sacrifices.

 

Tases were collected irregularly and levied whenev^cr the royal

treasury^ became depleted, but the methods of eoUeetion were well

organised. Si.x tax collectors Avere flppoinled for each chstrict, one each

b>' the kingp the queen-sister queen-mother, the prime minister, the

keeper of the national fetisheSp and the carl of the districtp Tlic collectors

visited each noble and fixed the tax to be paid by bis territory on the

basis of the mimber of compounds it contained^ Tiixes were paid in

kind, and tw^o months were allowed between the levying of the tax and

its cxjllection to give the peasants time to get together the necessary

goods^ The king received half of the total- The rest was divided beween

the queen-mother, the queen-sister, and the two g^eat ministers, w^hlle

each and baron received a share of the tax collected froin his

 

districL Peasants were drafted os soldiers and also for Libor on public

works. There was a curious arrangement by whidt a man who liad been

drafted for labor had lo pay a substantial stim to the overseer before be

began work, although he received no compensation for his work.

 

Royalty was sharply differentiated from commoners and adminis¬

trators. The central figures were the king, the quccn-molher, and queen-

sister, AU of thesep but the king in particular, partook oF a personal di¬

vinity' reminiscent of ancient Egy^pt. lie was hedged about by elaborate

ritual, and everyone who a;pproached had to prostrate himself. Altliough

the king never submitted to marriage, he had Innumerablo svives who

had been presented to him as gifts or briln^, whom he had inlieriled

from his father s haremp or w^ho had simply caught his eye. Among these,

the wife who had been acquired for him by his royal father w^as preenu-

neat All wives lived in the royal compound and were subject to strict

chaperonage to insure the legitimacy' of any children bom to them. All

kept their motliers' totems in rccognitinii of their kinship with her clan.

In addition they respected the lion and leopard totems.

 

Each prince, xis soou as he was w^eaned, was turned over to die carl

of Busugu, who appointed a guardian for him nud assigned him a small

estate. The eldest son, who was debaircd from inheriting tlie kingship,

shared with the earl the supervision of his royal brothers^ while the

 

 

XXXL African Civilizatiom [453

 

eldest ciiiughter of th^? king was iLmilarly res:pozi$ib]e for hor sisters. Few

of the royal sons survived the death of the father for any great length

of time. Mlien tJie heir had been selected, he and his motlier gathered

up all brothers who might have any claim to popular support and sent

tliem to a particular place where thej^ were put in a stockade under

strict guard and allowed to perish of thirst and hunger. The royal daugh¬

ters were iTeated with great respect. They were forbidden to niarry or

to have offspring but were not required to be chaste. Some of thein

became priestesses, wliile others, as free women supported by small

estates, lived in promiscuity.

 

At tile death of the king there was a hurried conference of the great

ministers, the KiTbguardiauSj, and the kings eldest son. When they had

decided who the next Idng was to be^ the royal death wa$ announced by

extinguishing the sacred fire which burned before the entrance of the

king's house, strangling its keeper, and sounding a special drum used at

no other time. The drum telegraph carried the news to all parts of the

kingdom, and the country immediately fell into anairchy. Earls and bar¬

ons fought with each other, and the strong looted tlieir weaker neigh¬

bors, All the princes were summoned to the capitol, and the earbguurd-

ians announced who would be the next king. After this, the prime minis¬

ter challenged any disappointed candidates and their supporters to a

test of arms. The mother of the new king assumed the ofRcc of queen-

mother, and one nf his sisters or half-sisters was selected to be the

queen-sister* Some f>f the most important officials were also appointed at

this time. The king went through a complicated ceremony knowm as

“eating up the countrj"'' in order to legalize his claim to tile throne, but

the coronation was postponed for six months, during whicli time the

new king was in motimlug for his father.

 

The carl-guardian of the royal tombs took the dead king to his dis¬

trict, where the body was mummified. When mummification was com¬

pleted, the body was carried to the building which served as its tomb.

Subjects brought offerings of bark doth, which were piled inside until

the house %vas filled to the roof, after which the door was sealed* Four

of the king^s personal attendants, four of his wives^ and hundreds of

slaves and captives were clubbed to death and their bodies left lying

around the building. Six months later the house ^vas opened and tlie

head of the mummy removed and cleaned. One man drank beer and

milk from the .skull and thereafler became the medium through whom

the ghost of the dead king spoke to the people. The skull was replaced

in the tomb, but the jawbone, together with the umbilical cord, wbs de¬

posited in ii temple in tlie dead kings compound. Each kings establish¬

ment ^v^s kept up in perpetuity*. The dead monarch's minlsteis, pdaec

officials, and numerous wives continued to serve his spirit, andH as each

 

 

j Par# Eight: AnaiCA

 

ofiidBj died* a rtew man wa5 appointed as substihite- The reigoliig ting

wa5 expected to visit his fathers temple once during his reign. At tiie

conclusion of this visit he gave a signalp and hundreds of the onlookers

who attended every royol progress were sebied and sacrificed to his

father's ghost

 

The coronation came at the end of the ting's mourning period. He

and the queen-aister took the oath of office and were invested with the

royal robes. Two men captured on the highway were blindfolded and

brtoight before the king. One of these he wounded with an anrowv and

this unfortunate taken by a raiding party to the borders of a nei gh-

boring klpgdoni with which the Baganda were habitually at war^,

maimed, and left to die. The second man was taken to a place of sacri¬

fice, where eight other men were slaughtered one after the other and

their intestines draped around his tieck. Thereafter he received a special

title and was placed in charge of the king's wives. Lastly, the earls built

new compounds for the king and for the queen-molher and queen-sister.

Each of these ladies liud her own courts ministersp and court officials

paralleling those of the king in title and function.

 

Baganda supematuralism was strongly tinged with rnagic. Here, os

evciywhere in Africa^ there were medicine men whoso activities in¬

cluded the making of fetisheSp working of magic^ and healing of diftease*

Medicine men were sharply differentiated from priests, wbo were at¬

tached to the service of particubr dcitieSp but there was some dupkcB'

hon of function between the two groups. Thus divination, w^hicb was

one of the medicine men's important activities, was also canied on by

the priests. While tile rnedidne men divined by observing the fall of

cowrie shells, studying the entrails of fowlp and other ob|ectivc tech¬

niques, the temples maintained orncles.

 

Bagaudii reUglon centered about the worship of the dead. Ordinary

souls were believed to become reincarualeri a few' years after death in

cbitdrezi of the same clan* The child was given die dead person’^s name,

and worship of the soul ceased. I>11 ring the inter^^al between death and

reincarnation^ sacrifices had to be made to the ghost. AI though generally

friendly to rclativeSp ghosts were quick to revenge neglect anel to pun¬

ish improper behavior, and their anger was frequently considered a

cause of disease.

 

Even the greatest gods of the Baganda w'ere really ghosts, since all

of them were believed to have once lived on earth as men. Each clan

worshipped as its principal dei^ the spirit of its first ancestor. This an¬

cestor w^as also incamated in the clan chief, w*ho assumed the ancestor s

name w-hen he took office. As a spirit, the ancestor was provided with a

temple, priests, and all the appurtenances of divinity. The logical in¬

consistency involved tn such muldpte beliefs troubled the Baganda no

 

 

XXXI. Africnn CitAlizations [455

 

more than It did the ancient Egyptians. All dead kings were regarded as

national deities and were frequently consulted by the reigning tnonarch.

 

Cods, as distinct from ancestral spirits, were equated with various

natural phenomena. The most important of the Baganda gods was

Mukasa, a deitj" associated with Lake Victoria* He pro\ided fish, con¬

trolled storms, and was also a god of fertility* Every god had one or

more temples^ each with its corps of priests, its estates, and slaves to

work them, llie more important deities usually had one main temple

for the use of the king and high officials and ^veral small ones» scattered

throughout the country, for the use of the common people. In each

temple there was a medium who acted as mtcrmediaiy between the wor¬

shipper and die god. He bransmitted the worshipper's question or re¬

quests to the god and then, in a state of possi^ion, gave an Incolieient

answer which was interpreted by the priest. All prayers were accom¬

panied by offerings, which differed with the importance of the request

and the standing of the w^orshipper. The darkest aspect of Baganda re-^

ligion was the prevalence of human sacrifices. These were required as

part of the worship of all the more important deities, and when a general

calamity was feared several huiidred persons might be sacrificed at one

time* There were thirteen places In the kingdom where such mass sacri¬

fices might be held. Tlie metliod of sacrifice differed with the place. At

one site the \'ictinis were dubbed to death and their bodies loft lo be

eaten by hyenas and \iiltures. At another the victims' arms and legs were

broken and tlie)' were left on the beach for the crocodiles to devour

ahve.

 

The fate of Uganda has been happier tliLui tJiat of most otht^r Negro

states. Diificukies of transportation ond tlie absence of oil or other natu¬

ral resources of outstanding value have protected it from foreign cs-

ploitation^ while the climate has discouraged European settlement* The

founding of a British Protestant mission in 1S77 and a French Catholic

mission in 1879 soon put an end to the more sanguinary aspects of the

natii'c religion. After die death of King Mutesa in 1SS4, the eountr)? was

laid waste lay wars between Protestant, Catholic, and Muslim candidates

for the dirone, and in 1894 Uganda became a British protectorate. The

Baganda have showai themselves eager for education and there can be

litde doubt that they will play an important part in the development of

a niotiernized Mr lean civilization*

 

Dahomey, on the slave coast of West Africa, had longer and closer

contact with Europeans than any other Negro kingdom. Visited flRt by

the Portuguese in the middle of the 15th century,, it b&eame of great im¬

portance in the slave trade* In the first half of die 19th ceulury it was

better known to and more frequendy visited by Europeans dian any

other Negro state, even * 4 shautL The West Africans were abeady accus-

 

 

456 ] Eight: Africa

 

tomed to triiiie and commercial production wben the first Europeans

arrived* Most cr.ifts were carried on by hereditary specialists, whose kin

ties made it easy for them to form guilds, and the traders in various com¬

modities frequently organised to nmlfitaiu prices and iimire fair com-

petibou. Thus the mercautUe activities resulting from European coiitiict

were novel mainly in their scale, Tlio integration of foreign merciuiudtse

into the culture, the necessity for distributing the imported goods

throughout the kingdom, and^ above aU^ the volume of vulue iuvolvcd in

tlie slave trade made it possible for commoners^ including womctip to

amass considerable fortuoes. Even the king himself was a trader and de¬

rived much revenue from this in addition to his income from taxes and

custom duties.

 

The European contact may have played a similar stimulating role in

the development of Dahomean technolog).% AH the peoples of this port

of Africa were expert metal workers. The disco very of a series of mag-

ntficent portrait heads of the mth century kings of ife proves that this

skill wiis well developed before Europeans arrived. Nevertheless, tliere

was a tradition in the neighboring kingdom of Benin that the art was in¬

troduced in the islh century by a Portuguese craftsman from whom a

clan of hcrcditaiy' brass-casters traced their descent. While Europeans

certainly did not introduce tliis tccluiiquo into Africa, they may well

have contributed to its perfection in Benin. After die istb cetitury the

art of tlie regirni also shows European influence in its subject matter, al¬

though not in its conventions. Muskets are represented as frequently as

any aboriginal weapons, and individual Europeans are depicted with

more deveniess than sjTnpathy,

 

Dahomean society was strongly class-organized. At the bottom of the

social scale stood the slaves, who in this case were foreign captives or

criminals. Tliere were no hcreditarj' slaves in Dahomey because of a

long-established law that any person bom on Dahomean soil w+as free.

However^ this did nnt prevent the enslavement of Dahomean subjects

for numerous offenses* a tendency winch was stimulated by the ready

market provided by die European slave traders* Not unly criminals, but

even members of the royal family whom the king suspected of political

ambitions, might be enslaved and shipped overseas. The African anccs-

trj' of the Negro slaves sent to America was as socially diverse as that of

the occupants of Nazi concentration camps^

 

Between slaves and freemen there was a class of serfs, children of

royal slaves, who worked on the royal estates. These could not be sold

but could not leave tlae land. Commoners, who formed the bulk of the

population, were organized into forty notidocolized clans. Each of these

had its hereditarv chief who, in addition to settling disputes between

 

 

XXXL African Civilizations [457

 

clan members, sup^msed their marriages. Smee alj bride prices passed

through his hands^ the fK)st was a lucrative one. lie also had the usufruct

of all clan corporate propert}* aad the right to call on clan members for

laboc J lis ilTlpo^^a^ce derived from his role as liigh priest in the worship

of the clan ancestors, and he owed his power to his inthnacy with the

ancestral spirits. The oldest woiiicn of the clan also escercised great

power^ since they were soon to become ancestral spirits.

 

The ebn members were scattered throughout the kingdom, and

solidarity was maintained by yearly assemblies at svhich all deceased

clan members, incliiditig these who had been enslaved and deported,

were worshipped. Within the ebn the printipal social unit was the joint

family. I’he joint family bead administered its property and was treated

witli die utmost respect while alive and deiSed after death- It was ever}'

mans ambition to found a joint family of his own and liave it grow' into

a sub-clan. A curious by-product of this system w'as that^ since women

could engage in business and accumulate wealtli like men, teclmic|ues

had been developed by which they could become founders of joint

families. A woman w'ho had accumubted sufficient \vealth would buy

land, butld a compound, and purcha-se mves whom she would loan to

selected young men for breeding purposes. The '“wives' wcudd address

her as "husband," while their children, w'ho formed tlie new lineage,

would address her as "father” and show her the formal patterns of re¬

spect due a real father. In the nest generation the sons in such a lineage

purchased waves and brought tliem into the Imcage establishment in

normal fashion. The diuighters> on the other hand, did not leave the

establishment but brought thetr husbands into it. Matrilocal marriages

were also resorted to by lineages which lacked sons, but this vvas a tem¬

porary arrangement. Only woman-founded lineages continued genera¬

tion after generation. As a result, these lineages grew rapidly and were

usually more than ordinarily numerous and prosperous.

 

For meritorious service the king conferred estates upon commoners.

Tlie estates w'ere inherited by primogeniture and rcsultetl in the creation

of a semi-nobility known to Europeans as the These w^ero

 

subject to military service, like olJ free Dabomeans, and formed the

nucleus of the national cavalrj'K AH the descendants of Dahomcan kings

enjoyed princely rank. By the 19th eentury these princes had become so

numerous that they constituted about ten per cent of the total popub-

tion. The women of this ^oiip i.vere not prohibited from marriage* but,

since dieir marriages %vere usually contracted with commoners, they

were dominant in the household and were famous for the casualness of

tlieir sex behavior. The king wais allowed to marry priuccsscs when the

actual blood tie was distant, but bis son.s by princesses were debarred

 

 

Fart Eight: Africa

 

from the succcs^on, since it was thought that their legitimacy would al¬

ways he in question. The princes and princesses were not supposetl to

occupy themselves with trade or with any sort of manual labor. Tlwy

were also, in general, prevented from holding any sort of administratiii’e

office. Their support came from hereditary estates and royal gifts.

 

Kin ties w'ere exceedingly strong in Dahomey and the individujd's

□bllgation to innumerable relatives hampered his movements at ei^-ery

turn. It may have been in response to this situation that the distinctive

Dahomeati institution of Best Friend was developed. Every Dahomean

man or woman had an individual of the same sex, never a relative, in

whom complete trust could be reposed. The relationship was recognized

in Dohomean custom and law, and even tiie king had his own Best

Friend, a commoner. The Best Friend acted as confidante during Ae

individual's life and was expected to assist him in all of his activities,

legitimate or otherwise. If a man committed a crime and escaj^, his

Best Friend would be seized and tortured, since the real criminal, on

hearing of this, would be sure to give liimsclf up out of loyalty. A Best

Friend might also assist a man by providing funds for the purchase of a

wife. In such cases It was understood that when the first daughter tif the

union came of age the Best Friend would get her as wife without paying

bride price. This arrangement was supported by some of the most vigor¬

ous sanctions in Dahomean law. If the girl eloped or was seduced, all

women of the Best Friend s clou who were married to men of the se¬

ducers elflfi were immediately and automatically divorced. The of¬

fended gentleman was then given bis choice of all marriageable girls in

the of the defaulting fi^cie without payment and without refer¬

ence to any marriage commitments wlijch might have been previously

made for them. When a man died, his Best Friend irvas expected to con¬

duct his funeral and also to execute his will, which was usually con¬

fided to him rather than to any member of the family. The relationship

was so important that most Dahomcans had second and third Best

Friends who could be advanced to take the place of the first Best

Friend if the latter died.

 

The royal establishment in Abomey included about S,ooo persons,

nearly all of whom were women. The king had 40 “leopard wives,'* who

attended his person, and several thousand other wives, the majority of

whom never had any contact svilh their royal husband. Thus, the 2.500

Amazons who constituted the corps tfdlBc of the Daliomcan standtag

army were classed as royal wives, although most of them were virgins

and sex relations were forbidden to all of them under pain of death.

Other “wives” were utilized as living archives, in whose memories the

complicated affairs of the kingdom were preserved. Every official, from

 

 

XXXL African Civilizations [459

 

piime tninister to lociil magijtratep had ascribed to him ooe of the royal

wives as ^'mother.*' Tlds womao was supposed to be present ou all occa¬

sions when he acted in an ofGcial capacity, in order to remember wbat

took place and to be able (o report to the kmg^

 

The king bad great ministers, both of whom were seJected from

among the ci^mm oners. One of dicse, the Mingan, was originally the

royal executioner* Later his duties were amplified until he became actu¬

ally a prime minister handling the administratiDn of the kingdom. He

always married the king's eldest daughter and stood at the right side of

the throne at formal functions. The other great rrunistur, the Meku^ was

charged with the administration of the royal palace and with the super¬

vision of all memben of the princely group. He married the king s sec¬

ond daughter and stood on the left side of the throne. There were nu¬

merous other officials involved in the administration of the kingdom. Al¬

though these were nil commoners^ there was a tendency for their offices

to become hereditary. Each of the more important officials had a prince

assigned tti him as lieutenant. These lieutenants enjoyed some of the

benefits of the office but had no power. The king's heir was chosen by

him during his lifetime. He was normally the eldest son of the first wife

given to the king by his fatherg but fitness was also considered. The heir

apparent was given estates and numerons wives and was associated

with his father in rule even before the king's death.

 

The kingdom was divided for administrative purposes Into twelve

distriets, each under a hereditary district chief. Within each district

there were several villages, also with hereditary chiefs. Each chief had

his Insignia of office: a carved stall and stool, which varied in design ac-

cording to the particular office and had a height proportional to its im-

pjitance, a pipe, and an umbrella carried over him on state occasions.

The main duties of the chiefs were judiciaL State finances were on u

sound and regular basis, with sales taxes the most importaut source of

income. Inheritance taxes were also levied, and the king received the

confiscated estates of criminnls. A commoner who made umlue display

of Ills wealth was very IikeSy to be condemned on some trumped-up

charge. Tliere were numerous minor officials, and the whole bureaucracy

was watched by an extensive, w^ell-orgaiiiKed secret service.

 

Census biking was a distinctive feature of ihe Dahomean state

activities. Everj* yCiir there was a careful enumairatjoii of the Dahomean

population* including reports on bWhs and deaths. Eadi individual was

represented by a pebble* Special officials were charged with enumer¬

ating slaves, w'oj captives, and deatlis lu battle. The pebble record was

divided into fifteen units, one each for adult males, adult females^ and

children qf each age group up to thirteen. The bags of pebbles were

 

 

^0Qj Pari Eight: Afiuca

 

stored lu II specifll bouse iit tlie capitiil iind constituted ii lusting archive

from which it was possible to see whether the population was increas¬

ing or diminishing and to goveni policy accordingly.

 

Another distinctive feature of the Dahoniean state ivas the exislenci?

of a standing army. AU able-bodied free men were expected to respond

to the annual levy, which took place at the beginning of the dry se;t!«)o,

when there was a break in the fami routine. The general k-vjv being uii-

trained and poorly armed, was of little military value. The strength of

the state lay in its regular army. This was made up of tsalace guards,

court attendants, sons of chiefs, certain classes of criminals, and the

Ainaron corps. The whole force was organized into regiments, each with

its ofBccrs and distioctive uniform. Men formed the wings of the force,

the Amazons the center. Tlierc were about 1500 Anmzons divided into

five groups? the musketeers, who were most numerous and formed the

main hotly; the blunderbuss corps, older women who were veterans;

the elephant hiintresses, the most daring of all, who also accompanied

the king on his hunts; and the raaor women, a small group armed with

straight razors with cighteen-ineb blades which were especially de¬

signed for decapitating enemy chiefs. Lastly, tlierc was a group of young

girl archers who participated in parades but did little fighting. The

Amazons went constantly armed ond were kept in top training through

frequent maneuvers. Tliey proved their mettle during the French wars

of conquest, and were probably the best native troops in .Africa,

 

The king of Dahomey regularly made war every year against one w

another of his neighbors. The motives wore almost exclusively economic,

the loot and especially slaves resulting from such e.spcditions forming

an important addition to the royal income. Many features of the war

pattern were reminiscent of the techniques used by Eurnpeun totalitiu-

jan states. The territory to be attacked was investigated by spies dis¬

guised os traders, and foreign officials were suborned whenever possible.

A careful campaign was carried on to arouse the wor spirit at home.

Covemmeut agents were sent to the markcLs to spread rumors about

atrocities committed by the state selected for attack, and everything was

done to make it appear that the enemy was the aggressor and that Da¬

homey had gone to war against its will.

 

Dahomean religion was thoroughly organized about two groups of

supernatural beings, the aucestral spirits and the national gods. Hie

Dahomean concept of man's spiritual nature was much more complex

than die Emopean one. Every Dahomean had associated with him a

supcniatural being, the spirit of an auccstor. This being provided the

material from which the individual's body was fashioned and afterward

served as his guardian and helper. Each individual also bad his private

destiny, revealed to him by a diviueir. Although this was uot dearly

 

 

XXXL Africun Civilizaiions [461

 

personifi{?tl* it Iiatl to be propitiated by sacrifices at least three times a

year. In addition to these extemaJ entities there were three mtcrnal ones.

The individuals personal soul was believed to have fashioned the liody

from tlie materid given by llie guardian spirit. It resided in the head

and goxenied the thinking processes, (t left die body temporarily In

sleep, and dreams were its experiences- A persona] “serpent,” eic]uaied

with the umbUical cord^ was tlie individual's vital principle. If this were

well treated and propitiated, it would bring its owner wealth taken from

other men who had neglected tlieir "serpents.*^ Lastly, every individual

had a divine spark, a bit of the goddess Mawu, which gave him his

intuitive powers.

 

On dentil the various entities dispersed. The guardian spirit found

other prot^g^ until it had relumed to earth sixteen timesn The Itfe

principle, if it had been properly worshipped vv^hile the ludividmd w^eis

alive, would join and strengthen that of the clan. Otlierw'ise it drifted

a\vay to the mountains and might cause trouble. The divine spark re¬

turned to the goddess \iawu. The personal soul became a ghost, tarry ing

on earth miti] it had received a proper funeral. This had to be held

w'ithin tlirce years. If there was no funcraL it became a permanent ghost,

very hostile to its neglectful relatives. .After die funeral the soul w^ent to

the goddess Mawu to render an account of its life^ being a(^compani€^d

by tlie divine spark, w^hich bore witness if it testified honestly»It finully

reached the land of the dead, where it lived much as on earth.. How¬

ever. it retained a lively interest in the doings of its living relatives. It

usually became the guardian of one of them, as already described. It

was to this part of the individuaFs spiritual nature that the ancestral

rites w'ete primarily directed *

 

Each clan worshipped its own ancestors nt a great annual cere¬

mony, and once a year Lhc king worshipped the royal ancestors on be¬

half cf tile cntirG nation. At this national ceremony, known as the “cus¬

toms," .‘icvcral days of feasting and wealth display culminated in a spec¬

tacular ceremony heki in tlie great plaz^i before the roya] palace. The

royal executioner, and representatives of all his predecessors In oIBce,

stood beneath a high platform from which animab were thrown down to

be beheaded by them. As the culmination of this rite bventj^ or diirty

men w^er^ thrown dovv^n and similarly beheaded, after which their bodies

were exhibited hung from scaffolds about die square. .At the great “cus-

toirm" following the deadi of a king and the Inauguration of his suc¬

cessor, many of dm dead kin^s guards. wives, and palace officials, sev¬

eral hundred victims in ail, were killed to provide him with a suitable

entourage in the next world* Human saerifiees would abo he made

whenever it was desired to comnaunicatc important matters to the an¬

cestral spirits. The victim would be given a message to be deUverad to

 

 

462.1 Port Eigftf; Afhica

 

them iind then execuled. In spite of these practices, human sacrifice was

much ]ess important and extensive in Dahomey than U ^vas iii Uganda.

One suspects that die \^uc of human beings of any sort for diie slave

trade may have been |xardy responsible for this.

 

Side by side with the ancestor cult there flourished the worship of

gods who had never been human. These formed throe pantheons: the

Sky, the Earth, and the Thunder deities. At die head of the Sky pan¬

theon slexjd die Moon goddess Mawu^ she was reputedly the mother of

all other gods, although she was not regarded as a supreme Being or

even a creator. Her consort was Lisa, die Sun god, Tlie gods of the

Earth pantheon were, with one exception, maleSp At their head stood a

pair of twins, the first bom of Mnwu and Lisa. The other gods of this

pantheon were their ofi^spririg. The Thunder pantheon was headed hy

the second son of Maw^u, who had been given control of thunder^ rain,

fire, and the sea. Each of the three pantheons had its own cuJt. whose

followers formed a sect. These seels oonesponded in many respects to

the secret societies present in other parts of West Africa but rigidly pro¬

hibited in Dahomey^

 

Every god had one or more temples, circular thatched houses con¬

taining his image set on a day platform. The temple establishment con¬

sisted of a chief prieist, a tiumhcr of assistants drawn from the older cult

members, a body of fully initiated lay members^ and a number of nov¬

ices undergoing Luitiation. The last lived in a special building on the

temple grounds. Each sect had slightly different lituals, but they all con-

formed to the same general pattern, one of the most important aspects

of w'hicb was possession of the priest by the god. Ritual dancing by the

worshippers* leading to possession, was a common feature of the

ceremonies. Sacrifices were required as accompaniments to all reqnestSr

Individuals might join the cult eidier by inheritance or in fulfiUmeot of

vow$. When a cult member died, his place was filled by another indi¬

vidual from his clan. Children were frequently vow^ed to a cult and were

put through a long course of ceremonial huhation. In the course of this

the iKjvicje was supposed to be killed by the god and resiiscitaledt sub¬

jected to variDus Ordeals, possessed by the god, and finally ransomed by

hts family with a large sum of money. Members of tlie various cults Itud

their hair cut in characteristic ways or wore distinctive ornaments^ These

Dahomean cults ore of considerable interest to Americans,^ since they

formed the Basis of the much misunderstood American Negro voodoo

practices. Both they and their voodoo derivatives were essentially be¬

nevolent In purpose and should not be confused with the practice of

malevolent magic, to which the cult members were strongly opposed.

 

After the suppre$sicm of the slave trade the importance of Dahomey

wanodk and in the late iglh century European scramble for colonies it

 

 

XXXL African CivHizatiom [463

 

fell to the share of the French^ who captured the eapitol of Abomcy and

sent the last king into exile m 189s. Although tlie Dahomeans suc¬

cumbed to the force of French armSp they had never given up hope of

regaining their independence and restoring the monarchy. It is said that

there is still a designated incumbent for every^ office in die kingdom and

thatp if the Europeans withdrew, the old patterns of govemmedt could

be reinstated overnight.

 

In suminary'p the social and political organization of aU the Negro

kingdoms had nuineroiis feahires in common* It would seem that their

basic lusHtutfpns all represented various elaborations of much the same

tliemes. In all of them the peasantry* was organized Into more or Ic&s ex-

tended kin groups, with chiefs who functioned both in adjusting dfs-

piitcs between members and as priests of on ancestor colt This kin or¬

ganization was kept rigidly separate from the buteatieratic organiza¬

tion upon which the funetjouiug of the state depended. Even when posts

in this bureaucracy were hereditary', the kin group leaders were de¬

barred from them. All the Negro kingdoms were highly autocratic, witli

powTr of life or death vested in the king. He also represented the court

of last appeal in legal eases^ nnd one of his important functions

dispensing justice. While benevolence in a king was appreciated, he was

likely to be regarded as a wealdmg if be never utilized his powers arbi¬

trarily, The person of the kiog was always sacredL A^d his physical con¬

dition was thought loi affect die welHieing of tlie state. In con[iinctioTi

with this there \vere often formal previsions for the k i lling of infirm or

senile njlers*

 

Tlie royaJ ancestors were everywhere the subject of a national cult

and functioned as guardians of the kingdom. Tlie royal establishment

was alw'ays elaborate and absorbed much of the national revenue. It

included guards, an elaborate cadre of court officials, and hundreds of

wives- Although rarely rigidly secluded, tlie kiug*^$ wives were usually

guarded to prevent adultery'. None of the Negro kingdoms had legisla¬

tive bodies or anv other device for popular represeutation in govern-

merit. Although the king usually had a eounci], the members were ap

pointed by him and their duties w'erc purely advisory'. Like the kin

group leaders, the king's o^vn kincked were normally excluded from

office. Women of the royal group evcryw'here enjoyed a high degree of

freedom in sexual behaviur* yet they w^ere either prohibited from bear¬

ing children or thetr children w'ere excluded from the sn^^iccession.

 

It seems unlikely that, in the resurgence of African culture which

may be expected to take place within the next century, these Ipng-estab-

lished patterns will be ignored- In particular^ it is highly improbable that

any attempt to impose the reality^ as well as the outward forms of demo¬

cratic government upon the HA^ean cmlization will be successful

 

 

 

PART NINE

 

 

The Orient

 

 

 

i

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter XXXII

 

 

Prehistoric India

 

 

Eufiort: its continental status to Greet parochialism; India has

 

been deprived of such status hy the same sort of limited perspective.

The great penuisiJa is as large as tlie continent of Europe e?(clusive of

Russia, and its inhabitants comprise one-fifth of the worlds population.

Its climates present every gfadation from glacial peaks to lush tropical

jungles, and to deserts as forbidding as the Sahara. Tlirougliout the his¬

toric period there has been no other region of equal size occupied by us

great a variety of raceSi languages, and cultures, and this situation con¬

tinues even today. Tribes of genuinely primitive hunters and food-

gatherers are to be found within two or three hundred miles of great

modem cities, and the largest steel miUs in the world match their as¬

sembly lines against village artisan^ carrj'big on hereditary occupations

by techniques which were old when Alexander of Macedon made his

raid into tlie Punjab. No adequate description of such a country can be

given in a single volume, let alone within the scope of a few chapters.

The present discussion will, of necessity, he confined to those aspects of

Indian life which scr\'e to indicate the place of Indian civilization in the

world picture and the role which it has played as both a receiver and

donor of culture elements.

 

India is geographically more isolated than any other part of Eur¬

asia. On the north it is cut off from the rest of the continent by the

enontious barrier of the Himalayas, a sort of Maginot line against in¬

vasion. The western end of this rampart rests upon the deserts and

mountains of Baluchistan, while its eastern end is buttressed by the

equally formidable jungles and swamps of Assam* Like every static de¬

fense, this Himalayan bulwark was breached repeatedly, but behind it

India presented a more formidable defense in depth. A Mongol gen¬

eral who had raided into the Indus VaUcy wrote back, ""This is an evd

Uod. The water is bad and the son kilk men.*" Tlie successive waves of

 

467

 

 

Part Nine: Thk Orieis-t

 

 

4631

 

northern invaders f&und themselves m a crowded iind a long-liv^ed-in

land where, no matter what their skdl in arms or the rapiditj' of their

initial conquest, th^ were confronted thcieofter with an unending w^ar

against climate and disease. In the slow, continuous struggle for sur¬

vival which followed every new eonquest and occupation, the older

population always came off best. The invaders could suniive only by

mingling their blood with that of the conquered and accepting much of

the Indian way of lifcn Their descendants became an integral part of

India, finding places In the elaborate yet flexible stnjchire of Indian

society and religion. In India the mo$alt pattern, already mentioned in

connection with the Near East, reached its climax. There the problem of

mtegration was sohed by creating a sort of jig-saw puzzle in which

iimumcrable sub-societies of diverse origin were fitted together to form

a coherent picture, a w^urking whole in which each unit has its place,

protected hv specialized activities and religions sanctions. Thanks to

this system, Indian civilization has been able to maintain itself for at

least three thousand years as a distinct, easily recognizable tultural

entit)^ It has borrowed extensively, like all civ^hzatlons, but it has bor-

row^ed selectively jmd shaped Its borrowings to its own patterns.

 

The diversities of India stem in part from natural environ mental

factors. The peninsula falls into four geographic zones. Along its north¬

ernmost edge the heavily forested slopes of the Himalayas support a

sparse population. Between tlic Himalayas and die Vitidhya Mountains

to the south lies a region of fertile river valleys and plains w^htch the

Indians themselves regard as the heart of their homeland, Tlus was the

region in which Indian civilization assumed its historic form. Even this

"Land of the Five Rivers" has a far from uniform climate. At the Avestem

end lies the Indus ^ alley* anee a forested region and scat of a great

civilization* now deforestedt niid with a precarious raiofaU which makes

agriculture Impossible in many places and dependent on Irrigation in

the rest. To the cost lies the Ganges V‘alley, with its superabundimt min

and hot!louse climate, wliile between is a region of little rainfall, with

seasonal altematiniis of tropical heat and cool temperate weather. South

of the Vindhya Mountains the central part of the penin^uk is occupied

by a moderately high plateau, the Deccan, bordered on the east and the

west by abrupt hiUs, the Ghats, which run pirallet to the coasts and

converge in the extreme south to form the Nilgiri Hills. The elevation

of thi$ plateau brings a temperate climate into what otherwise would

be a tropical region, while the Ghats cut off the full effects of the moP'

soofi. resulting in a moderate rainfall. Most of this region seems to have

been covered originally with deciduous^ not very dense forest. Between

tlie Chats and the sea, on both sides of the peninsula^ lies a rather nar¬

row plain with mony lagoons. This is a region of intense heat and heavy

 

 

XXXII. Prehistoric Imlia

 

 

[469

 

rainfi:ill, ecologically related to the Malay Peninsula and Indonesia. The

seawaitl slope of tfic Cluit^ arc covered with dense tropical jungle, and

some of the most culturally backward peoples in India and, uidecdp In

the world, have succeedetl in holding out here. On die coastal plains

and in the Deccan live civilized groups whose physical type and lan¬

guage attest their aboriginal ancestry.

 

Tlie most important foature of Indian climate, and the one which

affects tlic entire continent, is the monsoons. There are only three sea¬

sons in India; a cemb dry' period from October to Febnioiy; an intensely

hot, dry period from March In Juncj and a rainy season estending from

June to September. Practically aU the rain on which agriculture de¬

pends evervwhere in India falls in tliese four months^ Moistur e-la den

winds originating far out over die ocean between India and .^rtca reach

the Malabar coast in Southw'est India about the end of May. From there

they move diagonally across the peninsula until diey reach the Bay of

BengaK w'herc they gather up more moisture and deposit the heaviest

rain over Burma and tire Northeastern [ndian provinces of Bengal and

Assam,

 

The Himalayas defleet the winds back in a northwesterly direction

and tliey puss slowly across the whole of Northern India, depositing less

and less rain as they go wcstw'ard. The southwest monsoon usually

reaches this region three weeks after it has appeared in the south. About

the beginning of September it dies out, and the northeast monsoon be¬

gins to bbsv. Coming from the interior of Eurasia and passing over

lands which Ore already arid* this wind brings cold air but little or no

min. It usher$ in the pleasant climate of the Indian winter. Only far

Soutliem India receives any appreciable amount of winter rain. Be¬

cause of the long dry^ season, irrigation has been in use in much of India

since prehistoric times, flowevor^ crops and people are heavily depend¬

ent upon the monsoon. Experience has shown that the riuiifall in most

parts of India is uisufBcient approximately one year in five, while one

year la ten the failure is complete enough to threaten famine. These

recurrent famines have provided a cruel but effective solution to the

Indian problem of overpopulation, a problem to which no gentler answer

has been found to data.

 

From the point of v iew of the social anthropologist India has no

race problems. Physical type is only incidentally an iudication of social

status. Although Verm, meaning color, is the Sanskrit term for tlie four

great divisions in the system by which castes are classified, and the

classical explanation for caste is that it came into esislcncc to protect the

dominant Aiyan group from miscegenatiOTi, today the black South In¬

dian Brahman is no less aristocratic for that reason, nor is the white-

skinned, grey-eved uritonchable of some nortliem Indian regions any

 

 

Fart Nine: Tiie Orient

 

 

470]

 

more elevated because ai his pale complexion. FatniesSj howcv«2T;, is a

ezitenon of beauty much as it is among American Negroes.

 

For the study of race as a physical phenomenon India presents a

fascinating series of problems. Recent developments in the study of

raeog which are substituting d)TiamiG for the long-established static eon<

cept$, have increased rather than diminished the complexities. It was

difficult enough to occount for the Indian racuxl diversity in the days

when races were regarded as fixed entities. Modem recognition that the

phenotype can be altered by a whole series of very little uoderstood

environmeotal Influences, and that new human breeds may come into

existence through the fixation of hybrid cliaracterbtics, opens an endless

field for study, Indian social conditicins were ideally suited to the pro¬

duction of a trejnendous variety of human breeds, A nearly constant

feature of the Indian caste system was its bisisteuce upon endogamy. At

the same time, any new social group which came into existence in India

was presently transformed into a caste.

 

Invaders who entered India in complete ignorance of the caste

system and took to themselves concubines from the local population

were, within a few generations, converted to caste practices and began

carrying on a quite unconscinus experirnent in the fixation of hybrid

characteristics. Gangs of bandit adventurers who gained control of terri¬

tories in times of confusion soon daimed caste status for themselves, in

bland indifference to their heterogeneous origm. Lastly^ practically

every religious reformer who has arisen in India has begun by denying

caste and welcoming converts from all regions and levels of society, only

to have his sect transformed into a caste within a few' generations. Fur¬

thermore, since each caste has its own dietary niles and its own costume

and socml conventions, induding nJes of marriage, the possible permu-

totions and combinations of genetic and environmental influences are

almost astronomically numerous. What one actually finds at present* if

one studies Indian caries as the functional local groups on wlticb the

system k based, is diat the members of any caste, even One only a few^

centuries old, tend to show a sort of faniQy resemblatice.

 

India would tbus offer the world s best field for studying die dy¬

namics of human evolution If we only knew exactly what racial dements

bad gone into the malting of the present popuktion. Unforttaiatdy* any

attempts to reeonshuct Indian racial history must be largely conjectural

and are likely to remain so. The practice of crematiDn is certainly an¬

cient throughout most of India, and* while it has both aesthetic and

sanitary advantages, it writes ^^finis" to the anthropologists' attempts to

trace racial history on the spot. We can only reconstruct India's racial

post on the basis of cultural hints and resemblances between current

Indian physical types and those found in other areas.

 

 

XXXJL Prehistoric India

 

 

[471

 

Paleoiitoiogacal work as iriteiisive as that which has been carried on

in Europe may well bring to light the most ancient Indian. There can

be no doubt that the pera’nsula hiis been inhabited eontinnonsly since a

rime when its population had not yet acquired the practice of creination

Ofp indeed, of any ritual h'pe of disposal of the dead. As far back as the

M iocene, India was lj:ie home of a surprisiug variety of anthropoids^ in-

eluding the large and prestimably ground-living Dryopithiclne group

who, until the recent African dtscDvcries, appeared the best candidates

for the honor of a position in the direct line of sub-human ancc.stry. Cer¬

tain geological episodes, such as the elevation of the Himalaya Moun¬

tains, must have disturbed tiie peaceful existence of these ancient an¬

thropoids and quite possibly affected theft ovolurioDj but there is no in¬

dication that any environmental changes within the peninsula were

extensive enough to destroy its primate population.

 

If India wa$ not within the area in which our own species evolvedp

it was certainly one of the first regions to be occupied by our peripatetic

ancestors. Even today there are groups in tlie south of India whose

physical type differs in only minor respects from that of the Wadjak man

of java, the oldest recogttb:;ed representative of our species. Various

breeds of proto-Austratoids, as thi^ archaic generalized type is usunlty

termed, still occupy most of Southern India. It is interesring to note that

their physical “prirnitjvity" is in no way related to cultural backward¬

ness. In fact, they produced and perpetuateti civiHzations which com¬

pare favorably with aiij-ihuig developed by the much advertised Cau-

casic Aryan of the north of India.

 

Since ancient skeletal material is almost completely lacking in India,

one must turn to current disbibutions os a basis for reconstructing racial

history. In the south of India the population is predominantly of tire

proto-Australoid type just mentioned. The main racial component in

Northwestern India seems to be a Mediterranean-type Caucasian, differ¬

ing from the Western representative of the tjpe mainly in somew'hat

taller stature and markedly darker pigmentation. These differences can

readily be accounted for as results tjf long residence in a tropical or

semi-tropical environment with strong sun. In the same region and ex¬

tending for some distance down the west coast of India, tliere is a factor

of round-headedness which does not seem to he consistently linked witli

other racial criteria. Its presence may be due to an invasion from be¬

yond the northwest frontier, a region where round beads ate still com¬

mon.

 

In the Himalayan foothills there is a fairly strong Moagotoid ele*

ment, easily explainable as the result of infiltration from across the

mountain bamer and eoshvard from Assam. In Northeastern India ooe

finds a rather distinctive physical type characterized by a combination

 

 

part iVinc: The Ohient

 

 

47^1

 

of round headedness, dark pigmcntatiop, and a somewhat Mongoloid

cast pf coimteiinnce* Thb type can most readily be explained as a result

of mix hire between proto-Australoids and Mongoloids.

 

These various hpes have mixed to produce an jufirute variety ol

local breeds. In general, the proto-Australoid elements are strongest in

the south of India and from there northward along the east coast. The

Mongoloid elements are strongest in the Northeast and do not penetrate

Southern India in strength. The Mediterranean-Caueasic clement is

strongest in the Indus Valley nnd seems to have diffused from there

eastward and southward. There can bn little doubt that the proto- Aus^

tralokls formed the aboriginal populatioii of the entire peninsula. The

first invaders were probably the Mediterranean Caucasians. From fijids

of skeletal remains we know iliiit this tjpe was associated with the Indus

Valle)^ cixalization, which in turn show^ed many resemblances to the

civilisations of Mesopotamia and other regions to the west.

 

The Mongoloid element was probably tlie last one to enter India

in force, but it established itself by a proce^ of gradual infiltration

rather than by large-scaJo invasion. In addition lo these main Ldements,

there have been innumerable minnr accretions of foreign blood Greeks,

&c)tiiians, Mongols. Zoroastrian Persians, Muslim Persians, Arabs, Syri¬

ans, Malays and Oiinese have all entered India and contributed their

genes to the present rich and diverse mLcture. Curiously enough^ the

racial element introduced by the invading Arj^ans cannot be identified-

It has usually been assmned that they were blond Nordics, but one looks

in vain for any surviving enclaves of this Indian beat and sun

 

provide an environment unfsTOruble to blonds; if tliis racial group ever

invaded India in force, it has disappeared without a trace.

 

The linguistic situation in India is almost as complicated as the ra¬

cial one, but as in the latter the infinite local variety can be reduced to

a few^ main stocks. Tlie smallest but in some vvays the most intercstuig

of these is the Austrie stock. Languages of this stock are found through¬

out Southeast Asia and die Pacific. In India their speakers ore^ almost

without exceptionp groups of simple culture living in refuge mens, sug¬

gesting that this stock is very old in the peninsula. Languages of the

Dravldinn family are spoken throughout the whole of India south of the

Godavari River, with an isJolaled example, Brahui, in the far northw'est-

The presence of various Dravidian words and phonemes in the Indo-

European languages of Northern India suggests that Dravidian lan¬

guages w^ere once spoken throughout most of the peninsula. Lastly^ the

Indo-European, i.e.^ Aryan, languages are spoken throughout the whole

of Northern India.

 

The Dravidian distribuUou in particular raises some exceedingly

 

 

XXXI1. Prehistoric India

 

 

[473

 

jnCcreskting problems, and emphasizes once more that physical type and

language are by no means dccessaxily linked* 11 Dmvidian languages

were originally linked AVitb the proto-Aiistralold type» as cunent distri¬

butions would suggest^ it seems highly probable that the Mediterranean

Caucasia population of Northwestern India had been converted to thalr

use during the interval between its own arrival in India and that of the

Aryan conquerors of approximately 1500 B.C, If, on the other hand, the

Dtavidian languages were brought into India by these same Mediter-

 

 

 

COUtM&SS, INDUS VALU^t, OOOO B.<L

 

 

 

474 ] Part Nine: Tiie Ohjevt

 

rancan invaders, one is confronted with the more difficult problem of

how the whole south of India, where the Mediterranean racial element

is certainly insignifleont, could have been converted to their use.

 

Our knowledge of Indian prehistor}' is still extremely sketchy and

based largely on surface finds rather than systematic exca%'adons. How¬

ever, these indicate that India, since the most ancient times, has been

the meeting ground for two fundamentally distinct culture complexes.

In the Old Paleolithic, Northwestern India was tlie scat of a hand-axe

Culture belonging to tlie genera] African-Westem Eurasian co-tradition.

Eastern an<l Southern India, on lire oLlter hand, had cliopper- and flake-

using Cultures of the Southeast Astatic co-tradition. Tlie border between

these two cannot be accurately traced at present. It is highly probable

that it fluctuated vvitli climatic changes during the many thousand years

tliat the two ccHtraditioDS shared the peninsula. One may anheipate that

the distribution of each will be found linked to particular ecological con¬

ditions, the hand-ose cultures occupying regions where the natural en¬

vironment was like that of Southwestem Asia, the chopper- and flake¬

using cultures regions where the ecology was of Southeast Asiatic or

Indonesian Upe.

 

Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic remains have been found in sev¬

eral places in Indio, but too little work has been done to make it possible

to give distributions or suggest outside connections.

 

Neolithic remoios show a conUnuation of the Southeast-Southwest

Asiatic dichotomy. The Southern and Eastern Indian Neolithic inven¬

tory is characterized by a multiplicity.’ of adze and axe fonns and a

relative scarcity of chipped stone implements. Most of the adze forms,

some of which are highly spcdaluKKl, can be duplicated in Southeast

Asia. The Northwestern Indiaa Neolithic, with its stone celts and em¬

phasis on numerous pottery types, has unquestionable Western affilia¬

tion. A recent find of a Neolithic tool factory in the province of Madras

in Southern India suggests an extension of the western NeoL'thic com¬

plex toward the Sou^cast. In addition to adzes, axes, and chisels, the

Madras inventory includes a considerable variety of small chipped im¬

plements, knives, scrapers, arrowheads, and so forth. These are out of

place in the Southeast Asiatic co-tradition, witli its heavy dependence

upon bamboo for projectile points and cutting tools.

 

The outstanding feature of South Indian technology during the

whole period from the Neolithic to the dawn of history was the high

dmclopmcnt of MegaL'thic construction, Megalithic sites arc exceed¬

ingly numerous in this region. It is said that there arc about a million

of them in the Dccc&n alone. They include circles, menhirs, dolmens,

and rock-cut tombs and were constructed from both uncut and dressed

Stones.

 

 

XXXII. Prehisioric Indkt

 

 

[475

 

The tombs contain skeletons, an indication that the practice of cre¬

mation had not yet begun. The physical type was pioto-Austraiolcl, Jike

that of the present inhabitants of the region. With the burials were

placed coarse pottery' vessels, apparently as containers for food offerings,

and a variety' of stone ornaments and weapons. In the later part of the

MegaUthic period metal objects were placed in the tombs in consider¬

able numbers, but copper, bronze, iron, and gold are intermingled in the

same deposits from the beginning. In this respect the South Indian

MegaUthic culture resembled the Dong Son complex of Southeast Asia,

which was also associated with Megalithic construction. Unfortunately,

neither can be dated with any accuracy. It seems probable that met^-

working was introduced into Southern India and Southeast Asia in fully

developed form. but. if so. the South Indians seem to have improved

upon their instructors at least in iron-working. As far as we know. South

Indio was the first place in tlic world where steel was made delib^ately,

and the simple but eSectivc methods used in producing this alloy of

iron and carbon are still used here.

 

Tile number of Megalithic sites and the size of the stones trans¬

ported and erected suggest a dense ancient population in Southern

India, Agriculture seems to have been practiced from wry ancient times.

Rice has been identified in the food offerings placed in Megalithic tombs

and was presumably a staple crop. In view of the Southeast Asiatic

affiliations of their culture, it seems highly probable that the MegaUthic

builders also grew the root and fruit crops, hard to identify archeologl-

cally, of the Southeast Asiatic center and practiced irrigation. We have

no evidence as to whether they knew tlse plow or hod as yet domesti¬

cated the water buffalo, without which the plow would have been of

only moderate value for work in irrigated fields.

 

The only clue to social or political organization is the presence of

group burials, with indications that the same tombs were sometimes

used over a considerable period- Both this and Megolithic construetion,

with its requirements of organized manpower, suggest the presence of

extended kin groups. Since nothing resembling royal tombs has been

discovered, it seems probable that there were no centralized states with

autocratic governments at this period.

 

In contrast to the confused archeological situation in Southern In¬

dia, the northsvestern part of the peninsula provides a coherent picture

whose outlines are becoming increasingly clear. Since the existence of

the Indus Valley civilization has only been recognized for about thirty

years, there arc still numerous gaps in the record, but excavations under

way or projected should fill most of these. By 3300 B.C. at the latest, the

Indus Valley was Occupied by a great civilization which had been de¬

veloped out of the Southwestern Asiatic Neolithic base, Thera is UtiJe

 

 

Part Sine: Tiie Ojuent

 

 

47 ^]

 

direct evidence for the origin of the Indm civili^-atioiis 'm the Indits

leir^ itself, since the lowest levels in most of the sites excav'sted arc under

but tiumerous finds in adjoining EaJuchistan and Seistan indicate

that there were Neolithic ciilhues there ver>' similar to those in Meso¬

potamia in pre-urhan times.

 

Even if its c^eact origin and line of dcvelopmetit ane never discov¬

ered, the Indus %'alley ci’vilization itself provides abundant evidence of

Southwest Asiatic alEIjations. It foliowc<l the Southwest Asiatic tradi¬

tion in passing through successive stages of copper and bronze utiliza¬

tion. It had come to an end before the introductiou of iron. The staple

foods were w^hent and barley. No rice has been found so far^ Numerous

representations of catUc> induding some showing thoLr use as draft ani¬

mals, suggest that the economic base of tlic culture was a mixture of

farming and dairying. The vvheel and Idom seem to have been known

from the first it is impossible to say wiiether the plow was used, since

no examples or representations of it have come to light This is in sharp

contrast with the numerous miniature carts, modeled in day or cast ia

bronze, which seem to have fjeen favorite Joys of the Indus Vality diil-

dren. Grain was apparently hulled in mortars, and one of the sites shows

brick’floored circles polished by generations of bare feet, in the center of

which the wooden mortars were sr^t.

 

Cotton probably was cultivated, since cotton doth has beeo found.

Flint copper* and then bronze were cast in a variety of forins. Tools in¬

cluded adzes* axes* and saws with offset teeth. One of the most interest¬

ing finds is a piece of a bronze nder with divisions accurately marked,

showing that the Indus Vallty people w^cre already eonseious of small

exact measurements. There were also bronze weights arranged in a com^

plicated scale. Pottery was abundant* and wen that from die lowest

level so for excavated w'as W'heel-made and svcll-fircd. Much of the pot¬

tery was coarse cooking-ware, but the better jars were paioted black on

0 red ground and burnished to a laequer-likc finish. The designs were

mainly Boral and showed little vigor or originality. Tliere were innu-

merahle little^ clay figures which are presumed to hav'c been toys. So

many of these have come from one site that it must have been a center

in which they w-'cre manufactured for export.

 

Crude female figures, nude except for elaborate orniunents* are

exceedingly numerous and probably represent a mother goddess con¬

nected with domestic fertility cults. A curious feature of the culture is

the almost complete lack nf sculpture. ThLs is the more striking since

the examples which have been found show extraordinary skill and a

dev^elopcd slyde. A red sandstone male torso is better executed and more

naturalistic than even Egyptian work of the same period. Tlic head wa.s

separate, and the neck socket suggests that the piece may have had

 

 

XXXIh Prehistorit: India [477

 

multiple headi rcminUcetit of die many-headed, many-nrmcc] deities of

later India. It seems probable tliat most large sculpture of this period

was done in w'ood fuid consequently has not sun ived.

 

Tfie most interesting artistic products w'hich haw sunived arc flat

rccton^lar seals usually cut from soft, white limestone. They are carved

with figures of animal's and supernatural beings executed with great

skill and vitality. .Ml the animals represented arc Indian, but not all of

them are now found in the Indus Valley. A figure of an elephant wearing

a blanket is of special interest since, aside from a mention of a blanket-

wearing elephant in the Gilgamesh epic. It is the eyliest indication that

this animal was tamed. Numerous figures of trees with animal figures be¬

low indicate tree worship, while a three-faced human figure seated in

one of tlie Indian ascetic attitudes of meditation may be a prototy’pe uf

the historic deity Siva. Many of the seals bear brief ioscriptions in a

character unlike anything known elsewhere. The precision with which

the characters are drawn and their number, too great for an alpha¬

bet but too few for ideographs, indicate that the Indus civilization

used a syllabary. No other instriplions have been found, and it is safe

to conclude that recortls were kept on perishable materials. The recent

findings at Mohenjo DoiO of a jar with an inscription in early Sumerian

characters raises hopes that a bilingual inscription may sometimu be

found. Failing this, we have no clues to the spoken language,

 

The cities of the Indus cisiiiaition reflect on even higher level of

culture tlian the arts. They w-crc carefully laid nut on a gridiron plan,

w'ith a main thoroughfare or thoroughfares conoeeted by narrow ways.

There can be no question that they were deliberately planned and then

constructed, a practice which has eontinued all through Indian history.

A striking future of all the sites so far excavated is the absence of any¬

thing which could be ennstrued as a temple or palace. At Mohejijo Daro

there are the remains of an extensive roofed area svith numerous pillars

but no interior walls, probably' a bazaar, a large building with numerous

rooms which may have been an administrative center, and a large and

extraordinarily well-built swimming poo! surrounded by cubicles which

look like dressing rooms. It seems likely that the last was used for some

sort of ceremonial purification comparable to that practiced by modem

 

Hindus. , , , , »

 

It is hard to believe that such a rich culture lacked temples. Fer-

liaps the later Indian reverence for hermits and forest retreats was al¬

ready present, and worship was carried on at shrines out.side the urban

area. Only one burial ground has been discovered to date. This con¬

tains um burials of ashes and bone fragments, indicBting that cremation

was already in-iwe. The lack of palaces in the sites is also surprising. It

seems best e*plain«l on the theory that only provincial dties liave

 

 

Fart Nine; The Orient

 

 

478]

 

b^n excavated to date md that the capital of wliat had been a veritable

empire still awaits discos ery.

 

Dwellings were two stories high and were built of hard-fired biick.

Walls were plastered or lime washed but show a complete lack of dec¬

oration. Probably the inside walls were covered with bangings* Fumi-

tiirc consisted of chairs and probably tables and bedsteads*

 

The first cit)’ of this culture to be cxca^^ted, Mohenjo DafO, was tin-

fortified and there was a striking lack of weapons among the finds. This

led early writers to picture an idylUcally peaceful society* Subsequent

excavations have shosvn that some of the cities were wailed, while at

least one had a heavily fortified acropolis. Even at Mohenjo Daro there

were signs that the city had been attacked and its inhabitants slaugh¬

tered.

 

The Indus civilization was by no means limited to die Indus Valley.

Sites have been found in Baluehi^an, SeistaOp and as far south os Kathia¬

war. Objects of Indus Valley origin have also come to light in die Ganges

Valley hut no occupation sites of the Indus culture have so far been

found thcrCj suggesting that even at this time the immemorial dichotomy

behveen the Southeastern and Southwestern Asiatic co-traditions was

still being rnointaincd*

 

The lowest levels in most of the Indus \^aUey eitics arc now below

w^ater level and cannot he investigated. However^ the civilization cer-

binly goes back lo 3300 B.c.p as established by cross-ilatiiig with Meso-

potamian ^ites. The culture showed great stability and seems to have

already reached its highest development by the earliest period now ac¬

cessible* After this there was a gradual deterioration in culhire and

diminution in popvilation* with die occupation of most of the cities com¬

ing to an end about ^500 S-C. There is good reason to believe timt there

were significant climatic changes between the initial development of the

civillzatiDn and its fall I'he hard-fired brick from which even ordinary

dwellings were made required ahimdant ftiek while the constmcticFn of

the bouses and the brgc street drains suggest that carrying ofi heavy

ruin was a problem. The ancient dUnate was probably wetter than it is

at present, and the forests were certainly much more extensive. Defor-

ostEtion, soil exhaustion, the souring of tlie soil under irrigation without

underdralning, and the climatic change may all have contributed to

make the region inhospitable. The signs of loot and murder at Mohenjo

Daro may indicate that the emp de grace was administered by bar¬

barian invaders, but If so there is a significant difierence in time behveen

this hypothetical invasion and the igoo n.c; usually givf?n as tlie approxi¬

mate date of the Aryan mvasiuu.

 

The Aryans have been the most adveriised of all the groups w^hicb

have invaded India, and numerous beliefs regarding them have become

 

 

XXXn. Prehistoric India [479

 

practically religious dogmas. According to the classical fomaulatkiii, they

entered India about ts^ Jdi^cd or reduced to slavery the aborigin^

populiition, established the institution ol caste in order to maintain the

purity of their blood, and then turned from warfare to mysticism and

developed the pantheistic and spiritual evolutionaiy concepts upon

wliich all later systems of Indian philosophy were based* They became

the ancestors of the three highest groups in the caste classification and

gave their language to most of India.

 

These beliefs were developed on the basis of a devout and far from

critical study of tlie Sanskrit literature. The Aryans did give their lan¬

guage to the whole of Northern and Central India, but beyond this the

dogmas need to be subjected to a sort of higher criticism. The literature

itself contains numerous inconsistencies, smd it is possible at the present

time to check the picture which it gives against a greatly increased

knowledge of both pre-Aryan India and the probable culture of the

Aiyans at the time of their Eirrival.

 

The Aryan invasion of India was, after all, only one of a scries of

rmnements which carried liido-Eunopean speaking people from the

eastern steppes into the more civUized regions. The invaders everywhere

created and preserved a considerable literature, verbally transmitted,

and the accounts which all tliese literatures give of their life have so

many features in common that their original culture can be recon-

stmeted with considerable accuracy. The picture it gives is of semi-

nomadic tribes of cattk-Ufting, chariot-racing raiders, equally addicted

to gambling and hard liquor, and interested in the supernatural only in

time of need. Even then they seem to have felt considerable doubts as

to the efficacy of their worship and to have tended toward the serai-

mcchanlstic fatalism embodied in Beowulf’s often repeated comment,

“Weird goeth ever as she must." It is conceivable that such a people

might settle down and become contented cultivators, as the Aryan litera¬

ture pictures them doing in India, but it is much more difficult to iinag-

ine them turning to deep phUosophical discussions or developing pat¬

terns of asceticism and reverencing sages who retired to forest hermit¬

ages for meditation.

 

The material on which reconstruction of Aryan life must be based

is the direct anUtbesis of that available for that of the Indus Valley

civilization. The latter has left a wealth of remains and no written rec¬

ords. The .Aryans in India have left practically no remains, hut a wealth

of literature. It is a case of circumstantial evidence versus testimony. .A

few stone posts which may have been used in the sacrificial rites de¬

scribed in the Vedas have been found, but no Aryan oecupation site or

graveyard has ever been identified. The literature on which reconstmo-

tions of early Aryan life are based is included in four ooUections known

 

 

Port The Ohi£\^

 

 

-jSoJ

 

the Ve^iis* The Rig Veda whichp on the evidence of its languagie.

must be tlie oldest, consists of hjTnns partl)^ stiog, pwtly recited at sacri-

ficesp The Aihart-a Veda is the twst prirnitive of all in cootnfit 11 not in

its language. It is a book of magic ccasisting mainly of spells, incanta¬

tions^ and liiedical prescriptions. The Samuj VciJn is a collection of the

songs used at sacrifices. It includes verses from many oi tlie Hig Vedo

compositioDSp togedier with others of bter origin. The Yafug Veda cou-

slsts of Afentimp he,* prayers and mystic formulae.

 

Whether the sysleni of exiting used by the Indus Vailey culture was

completely lost or whether it contributed to the development of later

Indian alphabets Is still an unsettled qiiestioDp but in any case there

seems to have been a long period of dlitcmcy in uorthero Indim Unring

this time the \*edic literature was handed down hy w^ord of mouth. In

bter times there was strong insistent^ on the exact rendition of this

literature, and it was believed that mistakes or interpoktions w'ould re-

suit in the death of tlje offender from s\ipernatura] causes. However^ we

cannot be sure that such regulations existed during the early period,

while the miuiiual time of one thousand years intervening between the

composition of the earlier hyarms in the Rig Veda and their commitn^eut

to writing would have given abundant opportunity for ebauges^ Even

the hymns of the Rig Veda must liave l>een composed over a consider¬

able stretch of time, since they indicate two distinct economies. One set

of hymns reflects a semi^iinmadic dairying culture do^ly similar to that

of the people of the eastern steppesp while the ctiier assumes a pre¬

dominantly agricLilturaJ and settled village culture functipning in n

forest environnient in which the economic import^mce of cattle was sec-

ondarjv The best explanation would seem to be that dyriog the period

that tlie hyenm of the jRig Veda were being composed the Aryan in¬

vaders were adjusting themselves to Indhm lifu and that different hj'nms

reflect the needs and attitudes related to various stages in this adjust¬

ment.

 

As the Aryan invaders settled down they could scarcely have failed

to take on many elements of blood and cuiturc from tbe older popula¬

tion. They seem to have been unusually reluctant to admit this. One of

the most puzzling features of the Vedas k die referencfs to the aborigi¬

nal populationp the Dasyau, as black-skinned and fiat-nosed. While these

adjectives might be applied to some of tbe proto-Aostraloid people of

Southern India, they certainly were not applicable tg the predominantly

Mediterranean population of Northwestern liidlo, the people with whom

the Aryans must have had their first and presumably hostile cnnlacL

The Dasyus are also described as i^vagns in some hymns^ while in otliers

the gods are appealed to for aid in overthrow'ing their cities and stone¬

walled forts.

 

 

XXXn, Prehistoric Imlia

 

 

[481

 

There can be no doubt that the Zndns cuitun? contributed verv

heavily to the development of later indlan civilization. In fact, one can

recognize many more resemblances beriveen it and the historic civiliza¬

tions nf India than behveen the latter and the semi-nomadic cattle-keep¬

ing culture of the stoppe region from which the invading Aryans came.

One is tempted to believe that during tbe interval betw^eon the arrival

of the Aryans and the compleboD of the Vedas a fusion took plac? be-

rivecn the invaders sind the siimvors of die Indus ci\ihzat1qa. In the

growth of a hybrid folklore it would t>e quite possible for men'iories of

the struggle which the ancestors of the fiidijs Valley people had had

urith proto-Australoid aborigines m Northwestern India to become con¬

fused with the battles between the Aryans and the weakened and cul¬

turally decadent survivors of the older civilizatron. Even the terms

Hilackr "fiat-nosed^ and so forth may have become more or less con¬

ventional epithets applied to enemies, like oiir own use of for the

 

Germans in World War L

 

This suggestion may seem far-fetclicd+ but a close partiJIal con be

found in the British Isles, where the Piets became the subject of an ev-

tensive folklore. We know from contemporaTy sources that the Piets

u'cre actually Goidels, Celts who originally shared the Hallstatt culture,

who came into Scotland from Ireland in the period of confusEon at the

close of the Boman doiuinatioii of Britain and tvho survived as a politi¬

cally and culturally independent group until the gth or 6th century

A,i>, In physical tjpe they app^r to have been much like die tall, red-

haired, freckled Scottish lowlanders. Nevertheless, they figure m folk¬

lore as a smalh dart, uncanny people living underground, practicing

obscene rites and brewing a mysterious but tremendously potent bev¬

erage, heather ale. Iliere can be little doubt that these details represent

a folk memory of the Neolithic aborigines of Scotland^ conquered many

centuries before by rnctal-aTmed Celts,

 

The life of the early .Aryans has already been described (see Chap.

XLX)»That of the Aryans in India at the close of the Vedic period seems

to have been essentially like that of the mra] North Indian villages of

historic Hines, Northwestern India had regressed until it supported only

a sparse and backward population. Even die Indus Valley was regarded

as a provincial orea^ the center of popubtion end cultural activity being

in the upper Canges Valley* Wheat and barley were the staple crops.

Cattle were kept and milkf^ but seem to have ow^ed much of their im¬

portance to their use as dralt animals. The plow and the wheel were

in long-established use, and all the more familiar metals were known

and worked. Horses had become lujniry animals used only in fighting.

They were driven in two-horse, two-man chariots but do not seem to

have been ridden. Warfare was carried on briskly between the various

 

 

Part Nine; The

 

 

^82]

 

Aryan groups, but was beginning to b« a specialized occupation and

was regulated by various chivalrous practices.

 

The later Vedas give an Idealized picture of what n village should

be. It should be huiJt in a forest clearing and should be rectangular, with

a stockade and a gate and s^'alchtower in the center of each side. The

gates should be connected by two broad sfraightways which Intersect

in the middle of the town. At the intersection a pktforni shaded hy a

thatched roof or a large tree sensed as the meeting place of the village

governing body, a council of fi^*e elders kniwn as the ptinehnyaL hisido

the stockade there was a brood pathway running arouncl the entire \il“

luge. This served for proccssions^ Houses were built of wattle and daub

or bamboo, with thatched roofs. Cultivated fields radiated from the

bge in narrow strips, each of which was assigned lo a different family.

Crazing ground was held and used in contmon. This rectangular to^^^

plan was preser\''ed with religious care by later Hindus and may still

be seen in some of the great Indian temple cities.

 

The main difference between the later Vcdic and the historic peri'

ods was in connection with social structure and religion. The insritutJoti

of caste had not yet come Into existence. There was a division of the

population into wmiiors, farmers and craftsmen, and priest$H An ar¬

rangement similar even to co^ate terms for the various groups was also

present among the earhest Persians, to whom the early Indian Aryans

were closely related. It is significant that in neither sy^em was there a

category comparable to the later Untouchables. Even priests vverc not

yet a clearly differentiated group. Every bead nf a family functioned as

a priest in the frequent sacrifices which the Vedic religion requiredi The

Brahmans of the period were a small group of experts who served as

chaplains to orislocrahc warrior families, and whose services were

sought on occasions w^hen diflicult rites had to be performed correctly.

They were still depemdent on the warrior aristocracy and clearly sul>

sendeut to them.

 

Ascetics were already present by the end of the Vcdic period. They

were indi^'iduals who fiad witlidraw'n from ordinary social contacts iind

activities and had retired to a hermitage m the forest. Tfiere tliey gave

lostruetion to tho^fe who sought to penetrate into tlic nature of the uni¬

verse and of man. Even at this date the emphasis w^^s on nuxn. The later

Hindu concept of the material world as illusion was already present at

least In embryo form. Ascetics were supported by voluntary contribu¬

tions from the local villagers, who were glad to provide the food and

minimal comforts required Ln the Indian climate in return for the magi¬

cal benefits conferred upon the community by the ascetIcV presence-

Even the toudi of his hand when receiving a gift oonfened a part of his

spiritual power on the dcnDr.

 

 

XXX7/. PrehistoHc Ituiia

 

 

The Indipn village of this period consisted of a number of families

related in the male Ime* Altljoiigli the ejrtended family pattern was be¬

ginning to emerge, such units seem to hove been of smal] size and rela¬

tively short duration. The typical V^edic family was monogamous, al¬

though polyg)'ny was permitted and was practiced by those who could

aEord ic. Ctuld marriage was unknown and tlie remarriage of widows

was permitted. Tlicre w'as 00 bride price, and the wife brought a sub¬

stantial dowry into the new femily. Villages were normally exogamous,

as in modem India.

 

Several villages were united in a elan while several dans formed a

tribe. According to Vedic tradition there were five original Aryan tribes,

but after their arrival in India the number increased rapidly. The vari¬

ous dans forming a tribe w'ere organised in a prestige series^ with OEie or

more noble dons enjoying the highest status. Village govemmeat was

thoroughly democratic, both legislative and administrative functions

being vested in a council of family beads. If the original j}anchmjat of

five, mentioned in tlie Rig Ver/ff, ever existed, it $oon gave place to a

larger group, and, since meetings were public and informal, there was

abundant opportunides for vUbgers to express their opinions on all mat¬

ters of interest. This democratic tradition was strong even at tlse tribal

level.

 

At the head of the tribe stood the Idng, whose duties were those of

a war leader and an executive. The post was ususiUy hereditEiry in a par¬

ticular clan, but the meumbent was elected by the tribesmen from

among its members. Dernocmtic tendencies were still strong. Id a few

tribes the king wo."! elected at regular intervals, whQe confederacies of

tribes with governing assemblies survived until the 4 th or 5 th cen¬

tury B.C, Ln return for his services the king was allowed to collect a tax^

never mere than onc-sixth of the harvest, but he very definitely held his

oifice Oil sufferance and could be deposed for misconduct. Although

Later times witnessed a progressive increase in royal povver, the old

democratic patterns survived in a number of localities, and it is interest¬

ing to note that the kingdoms from which came both Cautama Buddha

and Vardhamana, the founder of the Jains^ were sEdl following the dem¬

ocratic pattern.

 

Since the Vedas deal mainly with religious matters, our knowledge

of this aspect of early Aryan culture b particularly extensive. The pai^-

tlieon of deities followed the genoml Indo-European pattern. Tlie most

important gods were Agni, the god of fire, w'ho acted as messenger be¬

tween men and gods, and Indra, god of the middle Heavens and storm

clouds, who was aUo a war god, leading the Aryans in their struggles

with the Dasyus. ludra seems to have been the ideal Aiy^an warrior of tlie

earliest Vedic period. He dashod into battle ioyousiy^ wore golden ax*

 

 

Part Nine: Tile Ofiient

 

 

^4l

 

inorp and was able to consume the Be^b of tlirec hundred buBoloes and

drink three takes uf soma at one time. The sun was worshipped in many

aspects and under at least five names. Vishnu^ who became one of the

chief gods of later Jilndulsinp was a son god but occupied a very mmor

place in die Yedic pantheon. The wide $ky was worshipped under the

name of Dayous-pitar (cf* Jupiler), and was a benevolent deity. The

storm god Hudra was more feared than lovod. Later he became identi¬

fied with Siva of die Hindu trinity.

 

Lastly, ^''arunat miotber Ay god person ifying all emhnicitig space,

was the most powerful of tbe Vedic gods, tie was unique among dicm in

his interest in human belm\ior, &nd prayers to him implored him to for-

gi^e tbe supplicants sins. The heavenly bodies were his eyes* ihrough

which he watched the doings ol men on earth, und nothing that hap¬

pened there cscap^^d his uotico. Tlie gods demanded bnnit offerings of

animals and libations of soma. Although $omu figures largely in the

rituals and was appreciated as much by men as by godsp all dint

we know concerning it is that it was an mtoricuting drink brewed from

the juice of some still-unidentified plant. The worshippers believed that

the gods t'onsumed the sacrifices and were nourished by them in quite

material fashion. Agnk as the messenger of the gods* l^re the essence

of tile offerings upward to them in the smoke of the sacrificial fire.

 

Up to this point there was nothing in Wedic religious croncepts or

practices which iti any way inconsiistent with the culture of any of

the Indo-European speaking peoples w^ho emerged from the eastern

steppes into the light of histor) ! However, a new element appears even

in the fttg Veda. In the Tenth Book diere are numerous abstract and

philostipliical hyTiins which are in a different vein. Here one finds the

concept of PtjruriMi^ a tunversal being* '^enveloping tbe universe on

cvery^ sidc^ lie erists.^ transcending it. All this is He—wbsit has been and

what shall be. The whole scries of universes expresses his glory

power. All beings of tlie universe form, as it were, a fraction of his be¬

ing.** These panihcrstie concepts lay at the foundation of aU bter Indian

religion and phiiosophy* but it is hard to believe that they sprang from

the minds of the same naive, unreflectivc tribesmen who* in aiiother

hymn of the Veda, declared dial: *"IndTa lows like a bull for his

soma!"

 

How rnudt bter Hindu religion owed to the Aryans is still an open

question, but dicir contribution wm certainly less than that ascribed to

tlicm by Bralunanic writers. Of all the V'edic gods, only Vishnu survived

to become an active deity of devdopcfd Hinduism, and even his attri¬

butes bad been changed beyond recogoitiom The doctrine of roJucanoa-

tion, basic in bter Hinduism, seems not to hove been held by the early

Aryaus. The patterns of asceticism, and of a hereditary priesdy group

 

 

XXXII. Prehistoric India

 

 

[48s

 

dominiiting scxHcty by its Jcaming and skill in dealidg with the iuper-

iiaturfil. were both highly rticongrootis with ancient Arj^an values as

these appear in related cultures outside India. If one turns directly to

the ariginot evidence, ignoring the wealth of rationalizations and inter-

pretatinns developed by later writers, one is forced to conclude that the

Aryan invasion of India foUowed very much the course of most subse¬

quent invasions. In these the early political and military dominance of

Ac invaders was followed by their absorption, and a resurgence of the

older culture^ In the long run the Aryan invasion may prove lo have

been little more than an episode in the long evolution of a distmetive

Indian civilization.

 

The main argument which can be advanced against this view Is the

acceptance of Aryan languages throughout most of India. However, this

problem is not exclusively an Indian one, lu nearly aU the regions in¬

vaded by Indo-European-speaking peoples they succeeded in establish¬

ing their languages, even though their culture and even physical type

seem disappeared, fn fact the only region in which this did not occur

seems to have been to the general Mesopotamian area, where the Indo-

European languages came into competition with equally vigorous and

equally foreign ^mitic tongues. VVhy certain linkages survive in ac¬

culturation sittiadons and others do not is one of the most interesting

problems of culture dynamics, and one for which we have as yet no

solution.

 

 

Chapter XXXIII

 

 

Early Historic India

 

 

Any discussion of Indlao histoiy' is complicated hy the singular lack of

inCerost in history which the Indians thcmsolves have displayed, A

Wellaiiscttmtung which regarded the univcTSe as an illusion and events

^ occiirring in repetitive cycles was understandahly utunterested in

exact details of time and place, Tlje Brahmans, who eofoyed a monopoly

ori education, fised their attention on philosophy and religion rather thim

on the losing show. Moreover, since they always claimed to find an¬

cient sanction for their current practices, they were less than interested

in tracing cultural developments. As a re^ult^ Indian cultural historj^

must be reconstructed mainly from the incidental background materiab

in romantic and religious literature, from archeological monuments, and

from the accounts of foreign visitors.

 

Even Indian political history is vague at many points. It does not

begin to met-t Western standards of precision until after the first Muslim

invasion. To one who is not a specialist in the field, the names of the

innumerable Indian dynasties and kings who have functioned during the

last 1500 years are largely meaningless, and their rise and fall matters

of indifference. For that reason the only political events mentioned wall

be those which seem to have had lasting cultiirnJ significance.

 

On the basis of the source materials available for the earliest his¬

toric pericxlp it is possible to divide the whole of India into three regions-

Northwestern In^a was brought into contact with Western civilization

by the fith century BhC, when Darius the First annejted the Punjab and

Sind to the Achaemenian Persian Empire, This was followed by the

conquest^ actually little more tlian a raid, of ,Alexander the Great and

the establishment of successive dynasties of invaders from the North¬

western mountains and stcp|5es, all of w'hom rapidly assumed die more

obvious elements of Hellenistic culture, European descriptions of the

region began with on accotint by Skylajc, a Greek, whom Darius sent to

 

4S6

 

 

XXX///- Early Hi^oric India [^87

 

explore the Indirs in approxiin4iteIy 500 kc. (This is known only from

estrflcts from later writers*) They continued until the final extinction of

the liellcnistie kingdoms in the 3rd and 4th centuries a,d. By far the

most valuable of these records is tluit left by MegastheneSp an anibassa*

dor of the Near Eastern Seleudd Empire, who arrived in India in 302

E.CL and spent many years at the court of the auryan emperor^ Chan-

dragupta*

 

For Northeastern India we have no early foreign sources and almost

no local historic writings. Howeverp there arc abundant references to the

conteinpomneons culture in early Buddhist literature and legend* This

material goes back to the gth century the time of the Persian domi¬

nation in Northwestern India. By die and century a-d.^ Buddhist or!

depicts the Enlightened One as carrj'ing on his nussjon against a back¬

ground of scenes from everyday life, thus providing additional informa¬

tion.

 

In Southern India the record begins somewhat later. The oldest

mitings do not go back much before the beginning of die Christian era*

However, this region was in frequent contact wdth other ancient civihza-

tionSp and there are numerous refereuces to it in Creek literature from

the first century on. There are also various Chinese references^ less

readily available to the Western scholar. Protected by sea. Southern

India was not Invaded in force until after the Muslim conquest of North

India in the gtb century a.d. Howev^er, from at least the ylh or 8th cen¬

tury B.c. traders had come to the Southern Indian ports from the west.

By the 2nd or 3rd century fl.c. the trade with both East and West was

flourishingp and Southern Indian ships were sailing to Arabia^ the Eas^t

African coasts Indoncsiap and Southern China, Western contacts reached

a peak around the beginning of the Christian era. The Bomans had an

insatiable appetite lor indlan gems and Spices, particularly pepperp and^

since they bad few products which the Indians would take in exchange,

these imports were paid for iu gold. Roman gold coins were regularly

used as currency in mudi of Southern India; Roman and Creek soldiers

served Southern Indian kings as mercenaries; and two Roman colonies

were actually established in Southem India, with a temple to Augustus

at one of them. Other foreigners to settle in Soutliem India included

Jews and Syrian Christians who arrived in tlie ust century a.d., Persian

Christians who came in the 4th^ and Arabs, whose descendants 5till form

an important element in the population of Malabar. There was also a

considerable trade with China, which was still going on briskly in the

time of Marco Polo,

 

By the dawn of their respective histories the three Indian regions

had numerous cultural features in common, but there were also w*eli-

marked local differences. Northern and Southern India were sharply

 

 

Part Nine: TitE Oment

 

 

488]

 

divided by language. The Indo-Europ&jm-speiikiiJg peoples of the North

had mberited more of the Aryan tr^jdition- The Dravidliin spealdng peo-

pics of the South had retained Dumerous practices which were certainly

mn-Ary^an. There were also well-marked differences within Northern

India between the East and West The West was open to raids. It

formed the gateway by which new tribes had in£ltmtcd the peninsub

since before the dawn of history. Northeastern India^ tlie Canges Valley

region^ was much less accessible to invasloUp and its clijiiate and natural

resources enforced a greater degree of cultural continuity. Invaders who

entered its lus!i tropical environment from the North or West found it

necessary to adopt Incat ways of life in order to survive. Snuthem India

was In a position to receive and transmit culttural ckfiients without out¬

side pressure. It seems to have been much more important as a donor

than os a borrower^ sending out mJssionariii^s and adventurers who car¬

ried Indian civilization into Indonesia and the a<l|oini]ig mainland.

UTial it borrowed from foreign sources it took selectively and shaped to

its o^n patterns.

 

There Is little direct evidence for the cylturut effects of the Achae-

mcnid idvosIoii of North western India. Darius organized the Punjab and

Sind into the 20th Satrapy of what was then the world^s greatest empire*

Uerodotijs records Indian troops in the huge heterogeneous armies

which the Persians led against the Creeks. More important, the Indian

Satrapy paid an aimuaJ tribute of ten tons of gold dust, about one-third

of die total revenue of the Persian Empire. It is safe to assume tliat the

Persians, who were master organizers and the first world conquerors to

realize that subjects could be better controlled by bureaucracies than

by armies, took palm with the admlnistratJon of such a valuable prop

erty. It seems highly probable that thej^ gave to Indian culture new pat¬

terns of political organization and even, perhaps, the concept of empire.

At least it is significant that by tlie end of the Perrian t>ccupation one

finds great conquest stated in Centrai India os opposed to tlie semi-tribal

kingdoms into which the contemporary East and South were dividetl

The structure of the Maury an Empire, as revealed in die records of

Megiutlienes oud in the native Arthsastra of KauUlya, shows strong

Persian similarities. There was also a Persian itifiucnce on Northern In¬

dian art, clearly shown on such monuments us the columns erected by

King Asoka, but this soon vanished under the impact of Hellenistic art

forms.

 

The conquest of Alexander the Great was little more than a raid,

and tile Creek garrisons which he hud left tn India were wiped out

within fifty years of his departure. The Maury an Empire^ whicli followed

and became the Erst of the extensive Indian empires, was strongly na-

domdktic- The Classic Influences m Indian culture date myth less from

 

 

XXXriL Early Histadc India [489

 

Alt'3tiindf?r than fram the barbarian kings, Scythians and especially

KiJshanSp who established dynasties in Northwestern India ardund ihe

beginning df tlie Christian era. These barbarians felt the prestige of

llcUenistic culture and hastened to copy its outward forms. Although

the contact with the Helleuia^d West contiTiued for generations^ few

elements of Creek origin were incorporated into Indian culture. The

homeland Creeks were always weak in the fields of government and

social organization, and in Hellenistic limes usually adopted the patterns

of the states they had conquered. Cret^k technolagy, in spite of its

superb artistic pro<hictions, was in messt respects only equal, if not in¬

ferior, to that of India^ while Creek philosophy and leanung were alien

in their spirit to those of Buddhism and evolving Hinduism. In the single

area of representadqnal art the Greek influence had a lasting effect.

The conversion of the Kiishon kings to Buddhism, and their use of Creek

proxincial artists in creating tlie iunumemblo images which soon became

a feature of the religion, left a lasting mark upon the style of Buddhist

art throughout die East.

 

By the sth century 0,0. Northern India had developed many of the

cultural characteristics which have survived there to the present lime.

Tlie life of the ordinary villagers seems to have changed little bchveen

that period and the revolution which is now being initiated with the ar¬

rival of radios and easy transportation, llie modern time-traveler who

returned to this horizon would be impressed by the extent of the forests

and the universal use of wood for construction. en such gt'eat cities as

the Mauryan capita! of Pataliputm, with Its palace and temples, was

built entirely of wood and protected by a stockade and a moat. In much

of the same region today the peasants are hard put to it to find sufficient

timber for rafters and do their cooking with cakes of dried cow dung.

He would also have been impressed by the comparative scantiness of the

clothing worn in the eastern part of the region. The ordinaiy^ costume of

men was limited to a loincloth made from a single narrow strip of cot¬

ton, while women wore only a short kilt. The rich compensated fm the

inexpensive character of such dress by the Gneness of the fabrics used

and by jcvvclry so abundant that women must have found it a genuine

burden.

 

The same differences in economic status which impress the modern

traveler in India today seem to have been present even in this period.

Although the villager's economic status was probably better than it is

today, he paid one-sixth of his harvest in direct tax and was further

exploited by a state salt monopoly, a sales tax^ and various other csac-

tions. However, it seems that even at this date differences in income

Were reflected more in display than in standards of living. The pillEurs of

Chandragupta's palace were sheathed In gold, but he slept on a mat and

 

 

P^rt Nine: The Orient

 

 

490]

 

ate much the same simple, if highly spiced^ food as the Average pcasauh

When, in his old age, he retired to a forest hermitage, be had to sur¬

render few creature comforts.

 

The same crops^ wheat and barley to the west and Hce to the east,

were being cultiv^ated in the same manner as today. Cattle were djiven

in to be mlLked at the “lionr of cow dust” but they had not yet acquireci

the sanctity wliich they have for the modem Hindu. Animals w^ere still

sacriSced to the gods in ritnak of Increasing expense and comploKity.

In social organization, the joint family and the village w^ere already long-

established unlts^ and it is probable that villages were strictly exogamous

as they are today. In each village the hulk of the inhabitants were cullj-

vatorSp with a few^ families of craftsmen^ perhaps a smith, a carpenter^ a

potter, ancl a priest serving their unmediate needs. The four great caste

divisions, Bruhman, Kshatriya, Vaisja, and Siidra, were already in exist¬

ence in Nortliem India, but there lue no indications of the mnumerable

subdivisions of these which charActerize the modem caste system or of

the elaborate ceremonial regulations w^hicb govern the interrelatipns of

individuals of different castes today. It is impossible to say whether Un¬

touchables existicd at this time-^ Megasthenes does nert mention theni^

and, if they had been present in Northwestem India in the 3rd century^

B.C., it seems unbkely that they would have escaped die nodco of such a

keen and interested obser\^er.

 

By the time of Buddha, in the 6th century a.c.^ there were veritable

universities to which young men of good fannibes went to receive in-

stniction in the sacred WTitings as part of the education suitable to their

station. One of these universities vm$ jn Taxila in Western India, the

capital of the ancient Persian Satrapy. All men of the three upper caste

divisions received instruction in the sacred lore and rites. This was con¬

gruous with the older Aryan patterns, according to which the head of a

family sacriBccd for his kindred, and the ruler might sacriGee for his

sub}ects. However, tliere are numerous indications that, by tlie 6th cen¬

tury' B.C., the Brahmans were arrogating to themselves more and more

power and control* This movement was less significant in Northwesteru

India where the frequent tneursions of non-Hindu peoples tended to

maintain power in the hands of the Kshatriyas, the fighting ruling group,

who seem to have been willing to incorporate foreign conquerors. In

Northeastern India the struggle for power bertveen Brahmans aud

Kshatriyas had not yet been resolved at this period. The Brahmans had

not resigned themselves to the role of advisors to kings or reabzed the

numerous advantages of power without responsibility, nor liad the

Kshatriya given over all claims to learning or to direct access to the su¬

pernatural. It is interesting to note that the activities of the Kshatriya

 

 

XXXIIL Earlfj Hi^oric India

 

wiire much more in keeping with the chaimcter of the earijef Aiyan io^

vaders them were those of tlie Brahmans.

 

There Is always a strong tie between the gods of a conguf^cd peo*

pie and the land they have watched over. They are Hkely to be hostile

to newcomers^ and again and again one finds conquerors acknowledgitig

the magical powers nf the conquered and calling upon their priests and

medicine njcu to intercede for them with the ancient proprietors of the

soiL It has already been mentioned that the gods of later Hlnduten were

not the gofls of the Vedlv Aryans, and that, even in the case of those

whose names survived, such as Vishnu, the correlation of their earlier

Vedic with their later-Brabjnanic character represented a philosophical

four de force. Tlie incTeasing imporbince of the Brahmans at this time

may well have been a reversion to pre-Aryan patterns.

 

By the heginning nf the historic periods religious beliefs arid prac¬

tices in Northern India had taken on a number nf distinetive character¬

istics. Outstanding among these was the belief in reincarnation and the

concept of Kanna. Although the Greek P>ahagoras had taught reincar¬

nation, and there are references to it in Celtic mjlhology, tlie belief does

not seem to hsive been present in the older VedaSi nor did it form a part

of the general Indo-European cultural heritage. We know that a belief

in reincarnation, with various elaborations^ has arisen independently m

many parts of the world, and its Indian form may very^ well have been

developed by pre-Ary^an philosophers seeking to find a logical solution

tn the problems created by man's determined denial of the possibility of

his own ejEtinetion.

 

Whatever its origin, the Indian version of the souls destiny was fur

more logically consistent and intellectually satisfying than that devel¬

oped within any otlier cultural tradition. IVluIe the doctrines of various

Indian sects diflered as to the beginning and the end of the souls jour¬

ney, they all were in essential agreement on the middle portion, that

which had to do with the individuars immediate past and future. The

soul began as an unformed, amorphous aggregate of spiritual forces,

which infused the body of some low form of life. Upon ie death of its

host ft passed to another body^ bringing with it the experience which it

had acquired in tlie previous incarnation. Through life after life this

accumubting esperience molded and consoUdated the soul. In addition

to experience, each soul accumulated a running account of what might

he termed spiritual credits and debits, the result of good and evil dc^s

performed in its mcantations, Ttiese together constituted tile individual's

Karma, which determined the particular position in society into which

he would be reborn and the good or bad fortune which he would es-

perience.

 

 

part Niti£; The Owent

 

 

49 »]

 

The belief in Karina wnsi of gresil importance to the operatioD of

tndian society^ since it provided a rationahsmtion for the caste system.

One who was bom a Sudra or Uiitouchuble occupied tliis unenviable

position because it was tlie place in society to which his Karnia fitted

him, the one where he could acquire the type of cxpmence needed for

his souls further development, and receive the rewards or punishmimts

to which his past behavior had entitled him. As a coroUaiy, one who at¬

tempted to leave his caste threw the pattern of his souls development

Into confusion and would 1>e demoti'd many steps in his incaruatiiin. It

was desirable to acquire good KaniMi through sacrifices and the me¬

ticulous performance of rituals^ the giving of alms to Bnihmans and

ascetics, and the practice of general l>enevo!cncu. However, the tnasl

important thing for the soul was the increasing awareness and wisdom

which carried it upward in its evolution* One who devoted himself cn^

tirely to good deeds might acquire so much trcdil in his account tlml ht?

would be delayed tluough several pleasant but unprofitable incama-

tiom, in order that he might enjoy the benefits which he hud previously

earned*

 

The mast direct road to spiritual advimeement was to become an

ascetic. Megastheues noted the eadstenee of communities of ascetics

which reminded him of the contemporary Mellenistic ucadeinies. He

said that the disctissions of these ludian philosophers were concerned

entirely with death, a preoccupation which probably struck the life-

orieatcil Creek as extraordiuujy-. Since even by the time of Buddha the

doctrine of reincarnation had become thoroughly established in India,

it seems probable that the discussions which Megasthenes mentioned

bad to do with the operation of Kcmia and the successive stages in the

soufs evolution*

 

By the time of Megasthenes the ascetic had already been a familijir

object on die Indian landscape for many centuries. One of the seals from

Mohenjo-Daro sho^vs a figure seated in an attitude prescribed for as¬

cetics in later times* There can be no doubt that the insbtution was nf

Indian origin, and it seems highly probable that it w-as pre-Arynin

least, it Buds do parallel in the early cnlturcs of Indo-Eurnpean speak-

ing peoples outside India.

 

hi its inception, Indian asceticism may have been psychologicaily

related to Uie vision quest of tlie North American Indians* In this die

suppliant fasted and underwent self-iniposed sufferings in order to ex¬

cite the pity of a supematoml being. If he was sueccssful, the being

w^ould appear to him and promise to help him, at the same time specify¬

ing various taboos that the human must observ^e in order lo maJntain

the relationship* The hypnotic state Induced by continued fasting ^d

pain made it possible for the suppliant to see visions and hear voices

 

 

XXXIII- Earhj Historic Indie [493

 

which, in retrc^spect, couJd be organized into a coherent sopernatimil

experience of the sort which the suppliant's culture had led him to antieh

pate. The situation was not ujilikc diat in which the inodcro psycho¬

analytic subject finds hunscif honestly reporting Freudian dreams if be

has a Freudian analyst, and Juiigiun dreams if he has a Jungiao one*

 

Whatever its origins, by the time Indian asceticism enierged into

the light of history the practice of austerities had come to involve ag-

grt^sion against the supematural; the ascetic **fasted againsr the deities

in Order to increase his own spiritual power. Some d( the earliest legends

imply that an ascetic, who could perform heavy enough penances, could

build up his power to the point where he could compel the deities to

obey him. .\s pantheistic concepts developed, this attitude waned and

was replaced by another in which acetic practices were directed to-

wEud the subjugation of the body in order to release the mind, and the

more fundamenta] entity which Europeans would term the soul, from

the limitations imposed by tlie Ecsh, We cannot determine accurately

the times at svhich these various changes took place, but during at least

the last 1000 years the principal object of Indian asceticism has been to

aid the soul in its attempt to achieve identiAcation widi the infinite and

to esperietice states of ecstmy in wliich It apprehended tlie universe.

 

The ascetic progressed to his goal by successive steps. The first of

these was the breaking of all worldly ties, including those of Family and

fortune, and retiring to a forest retreat where he conid devote himself

to meditalion and to various physical exercises designed to give him

complete control over his body, Jn these, breathing and posture were

empluisizcd. Wliile there is an extensive and florid folklore on the sub¬

ject, many ascetics unquestionably did achieve extraordinary control of

the functions normally controlled by the autonomic nervous system. The

miracles which this made possible astonished tlie laity and no doubt

helped to keep the begging bow] filletl, but such trainiug w^as not an end

ill itself. Its purpOiie was to prevent the body from intrudiiig upon the

activities of the mind and soul.

 

The next step after the conquest of the body was the conquest of

the mind, achieved when the indhidual w^as able to empty his mind

completely of conscious content and to arrest tlie tliought process, thus

freeing the soul for deeper experience. Tlie ematicipated soul could ex-

pcrience moments of unit)* with the world soul and return from those

with superhuman wdsdorn and power. If the individual was sufficiently

benevolent, he would shore tliis potency and heightened knowledge

with tJiose who had not undergone the experience themselves ond thus

hasten their Karnmlc development. Even if he gave no instruetjon, the

strength and spiritual benefits were conferred by touching his person,

and tlie worshipper w'ho filled his begging bnw'l was diereby rewardedp

 

 

Part Nina; The Orient

 

 

494]

 

Whatever the skeptica] Westerner s reactioD to these concepts, he

must recognize the value of Indlau asceticism as a social mechanism^

Sacred liooks composed near the begidmiig of the historic period say

th:it the ascetic Kfe was open to members of all three of the higher castes

but prohibited to Sudias and, of cotirse, Uototichablcs. The instituHpu

provided an escape for the maladjusted, atid functioned much as di<l the

Western religious orders (n the Middle Ages* appealing to holli mystics

and those unable to face the stresses of sjeculm existence. Not only the

seeker after spirituality, but the prince who tired of his role* the husband

who fpimd his wife insufferable, or ev^en the merchant relentlessly pur¬

sued by his creditors could join the ranks of holy men. He retired to tlie

forest^ where he led a simple, chaste life, [ ie usually became a disciple

of some holy man of established reputation* acting as his servant and

receiving instructiou in return, lu some localities there were whole

colooies of hennits who spent their time in phibsophic discussion and

in studies of the sacred literature, as well as in meditation. During tlie

early historic period much of this literature was still transmitted by w-ord

of mouth and had to bo learned by rote.

 

From the very beginning of the historic period there was a sharp

distinction between the Brahmans and the ascetics. Brabmiins could

become ascetics, but most of them did not. The Brahmans were skilled

workers with the supernatural, profcssiunal priests who knew the long

and complicated rituals prescribed by the Hindu religion. Outside their

rehgions duties they led normal lives, except for the limitations imposed

by the regulations of tliek caste. Many of diem were eager for wealth

and social controk and it is clear that during the early historic period

they were constantly building up their power in Northern India and

seeking to convert aboriginal tiib^ to Hiuduisin,

 

The iucreasing pretensions of die Bruluuans* and die dovclopinent

of more a2[id more elaborate and CKpensive rites wliich only they could

perform* was mot in the 6lh century b.c. by a religious revolution insti¬

tuted by two great leaders, Caiitama Buddha and Vardhamana Maha-

vira. founder of the Jains. Both of these men were bom as members of

the Kshatriya caste* both became ascetics, and both accepted die doc¬

trines of reincarnation and Karuta without question, i-ioweverp in both

cases their teachings were antithetical to Brahmanic ritualism. The Jains

still survive as a minor sect, characterized by a highly developed ritual¬

ism and an extreme reluctance to take life in any form. The Jain priest

going about his dudes swept the path before hin with a broom to re¬

move any insects which might be trodden upon, and would not drink

water In the dark lest he swallow and destroy some minute form of life-

Tlie most important tenet of the faith was its insistence upon Ahim-sfl?

'harmlessness**' a patfeerri of consisteiit non-resistance. The late Maliatma

 

 

XXXUL Early Historic India [495

 

C^dhi, Eilthough not ji Jain himself^ had been strongly inSiientcd by

Jain doctrinf?^. Although Jain mis^c^naries made many converts In South¬

ern Indiii* the religion bad never spread outside the peninsub. The

doctrines ol Buddhap on the oilier hand* have been a force tn world

affairs for 2000 years p md for thb reason uill be treated id a separate

chapter.

 

We have already mentioned that the South Indian record does not

go back much before the beginning of the Christian enij and that for

even that period the infonnation is far from adequate. Quite as in the

Norths the material culture and patterns of village life seem to have ac*

quired very much their modem forms by the dawn of history. The econ¬

omy was predominantly agricutturalp but with all branches of teehnoh

ogy well developedn All tlie Southeast Asiatic crops were raised^ but the

most important crop w^as irrigated rice. Tlie pbw^ dra^vn by water buf¬

falo, was used in preparing the rice paddies. Since this animal was also

milked, in sliarp contrast to the Southeast Asiatic pattern of animal

usage, it seems probable tliat its utihs^ation was modeled upon tlmt of

cattle in regions further north. Tlie technology was equab if not superior,

to that of .Northern India in the same period. Important buildings were

of woofi and were large and firmly constnicted Metal working w'as

highly developed ^nd steel was already being manufactured and ex¬

ported, The aesthetic urge Found expression in ivory and wood carving,

weaving, and metal work. To fudge from the artistic productions in the

region in the somewhat bter period of Buddhist dominanoe^ the art was

naturalistic and characterised by unusual vigor and motion.

 

The social orgonisEatjon and religion of the South are even more

difficult to reconstruct. The best contemporary source 15 the Tolhtp-

piijam, a Tamil work attributed to about die beginning of the Christian

era. Although this is primarily a study of grammar^ it includes dtsserta-

Liotis On many other subjects. For purposes of cultural reconstructioii it

has the added advantage tliat Tamil seems to have been the most purely

Dravidian of die languages spoken in South India and by far the most

svidespread at this period. The information which the work contains may

therefore apply to much of Southern India.

 

According to this treatise^ the Tanul-speakJng people were origi¬

nally divided into four groupings: the people of the mountain, of the

forest, of the plain, and of the seacoast Each div^ion had its chief, and

each carried on specialized activities based on the resources which its

natural environment provided. Each division was composed of numer¬

ous groups, who had different occupations and no doubt exchanged tlieir

products for those of Other groups or divisions. Thus tlie people of the

coast were divided into fishermen, pear! fishers, boatmen, makers of

boats, salt makers, workers in sheik aud merchants engaged in foreign

 

 

Part Nine: The Orient

 

 

496I

 

The early sources do not Indicate whether these subdivinous were

berediton^ hot, in >'iew of the situation existing in most cultures which

shared the Southeast Asiatic co-tradition, it would seenn highly piobabic

that they were+

 

Modem ethnological studies in Southern India reinforce this con¬

clusion. A similar division of activities still exists among tlie non-Hindu-

hied triljes of the Nilgiri Hills. One of these tribes, the Toda, has be¬

come, largely by accident, the Indian group most frequently mentioned

In etfmological literature. A plateau in the Nilgiri Hills is occupied by

three tribes, the Toda, Kota, and Badagn. The Toda herd and milk buf¬

falo and prepare tiic clarified butter which is an indispensable part, not

only of the fofkl supply of other tribes, but also of their ritual pro¬

cedures. They carry on no other economic activities. The Kota are farm¬

ers, cultivating grain, while die Badaga are craftsmen, merchants and

also musicians. The three tribes arc completely interdependent econom¬

ically and share the same territory amicably. At the s^mie rime they Ii\ e

in different vilbges, and each tribe is stricUy endagamous* Each tribe

also has its own distinctive patterns of costume, housing, social organiza¬

tion, and religion. There are various taboos governing behavior between

members of different tribes, particularly in cases where die exercise of

tribal skills h involved. Thus it is forbidden to an outsider to enter a

Toda dairy w-^hen churning is in process. Although the Toda arc recog¬

nized by the othi?r tw-o tribes as the original proprietors of the district

and are accorded additiorLal respect for this reasonp the system lacks die

rigid stratificatioii which characterized the Hindu caste sy.s'tem, and the

religious rites of each tribe are performed by tribal memberSr

 

The social organization within the numerous tribes which existed

in Southern India at the beginning of the historic period cannot be re¬

constructed, How'cver, studies of the modem aboriginal Dm vidian peo¬

ples suggest that it may have been of almost Melanesian complexity,

with clans, moierieSp and elaborate m a triage regulations. The only fact

which is clear Is that most, if not all, of the Tamlbspeaking groups w'ere

originally matrilmeal and even In some cases matrilocai. The position of

women was and has remained exceedingly highp with older women in

particular exerefajug dominance in family affairs. Although the introduce

rion of Hinduism brought with it Hindu sex mores, w'lth insistence on

virginitj' at marriage and subsequent female chastity, the evidence of

the surviving aboriginal tribes and certain traditional practices strongly

suggests that patterns of pre-marital sex experimenlalion usual In cul¬

tures of the Southeast .^sian co-tradition were present In the earlier i>c-

riod. Polyandry was probably approved in some tribes, as among the

Toda, but it b unlikely that il was a general practice, since this Institu¬

tion seems to be tmiformly linked with a paucity^ of natural resources

 

 

XXXIU. Early Historic India [497

 

and cPTitrol of population through female Lufanticide. That there a

lively interest in sex can be deduced from the fact that, of the eight clas¬

sical Tamil authologitfs which ha%'e snnived^ three contain 400 love

poems each.

 

The early literature gives no descriptions of the functions of division

chiefs, nor of the extent to which the divisions were politieally organ¬

ized. Kingdoms cutting across division lines were certainly present from

very early times+ The main functions of such kingdoins seem to have

been to make war and collect taxes. The early his tor}' of Sou them India

h one of almost continuous warfare^ and it is amazing that such a high

level of culture could have been maintained. Apparently the wars were

carried on by professional soldiers^ and subjects changed hands with

little interruption of their daily lives.

 

Megasthenes notes the importance of popular assemblies in the

government of Southern India. !n liis time and in later times there was

a strong democratic traditiDn m government. Although this xvould seem

to be inconsistent with the long record of warlike dynasties, even kings

hesitated to act ^vithout consulting the representatives of the people. At

lower levels, social units of every size and sort were governed by elec-

tive a^emblies operating through committees. Such bodies existetl not

only for villages and districts but also for trade guilds and religious

groups. The pattern of village organization as recorded in the loth cen-

turj' A*Di, when it was already considered ancient was especially in¬

teresting. The land was held by the village as a corporat: on, and its use,

and indeed all aspects of village llfe^ w^ere controlled by an assembly.

Members of the assembly were chosen by lot and served for one year.

.Ml persons witli pro|Jcrty rights in the XTllage, including women, were

eligible to sene if they were of good character and had some knowledge

of Hindu law. Committees appointed from the council were in charge

of the care of gardens, land usage, irrigation, lajid survey* village serv¬

ants, fustice, the collection and pajment of taxes, temples, and charities.

 

It is impossible to reconstruct Soutlicrn Indian religion of the pre-

Brahmanic period. It seems certain that there were numerous tribal

deities, some of which were equated 'xith natural phenomena, while

others seem to have been deified ancestors or local heroes. lliBre was

certainly serpent worship, and some other animals may have been re¬

vered. Ihcre can be litde doubt that the pre-Brahmanic religion was

heavily concerned with phallic W'orship and fertility rites of various

sorts. Magical practices seem to have been more important than m the

North.

 

The nortliem empires of the pre-Islamic period were in general un¬

able to extend their control over the Uravidian South. Only Asoka in the

rjrd century a.c. conquerc-^d the Deccan, and hi$ successors soon retreated

 

 

498] fart Kine : The Oiuekt

 

northward. A$ a result, the Dravidiaits were under no compulsioa to

accept the culture of the Indo-European North, aud what they look from

it they took selectively* llieir acceptance of Buddhism and later Hindu¬

ism Was no doubt facilitated by the numerous non-Aryan features^ pre*

suinahly drawn from Northern Dravidian cultures^ whtcii had been in*

corporated into these religians. Northern tradition has It that the first

Brahmans visited Southern India in about Soo B.c,, and by the and ond

3rd century B.a Brahman, Jain, and Buddhist missionaries were op

emting in the region in considerable numbers. The Dravidians seem to

have welcomed all tliree. no doubt largely because of llreir interest in

the magical powers which the new cults churned, and the whole South,

with the exception of a few backward hil! tribes, accepted the Northern

ndigions. The prex^s of Northern cultural penetration was probably

much Ukc that which took place in Indonesia at a somewhat later date.

We know that there Indian princes or Brahmans, reinforced by the

prestige of their higher culture, established themse]%'cs among the native

tribes and either allied themselves with ruling families by marriage or

enjoyed highly lucrative positions as prime mmislers or as intermediaries

between the new converts and the Hindu gods. It is interesting to note

that by the 3^'d and 4th centuries aji. there were Brahman Idnip in

Southern India. The acceptance of the Northern religions seems to have

been enthusiastic. Their missionaries wei^ showered with royal gifei

and snme of the most striking monuments of the Buddhist perii^ in

India are in the South, where monumental stupas of the and and 3rd cen¬

turies still survive.

 

 

Chapte)' XXXIV

 

 

Buddhism

 

 

Bl'ddhism haj been India's mast important contribution to civtlizatioii.

Although now practically c^tbict tn its homeland, it has become a world

religion, witli innumerable sects and with followers half again as numer¬

ous as all Christians combi I'cd. Buddhism is important not only as a re¬

ligion but as an repression of basic Indian philosophy. Siddhortha, also

known os Cautama. as Sakayamuni, and as the Buddha, was a historic

personage who was bom in 5163 n.c. and died in 4S3 or 486 a,c. Euro¬

peans find these multiple names puzzling. Siddhartha was his childhood

name, Gautama Ids clan name, Sakayanmni his title as an ascetic, and

The Buddha* his divine appellation. He lived to instruct numerous

disciples and to supervise the organization of the religion which he

founded. The records of liis sayings and of the s urious events in his life,

although transmitted for at least a century by word of mouth, are prob¬

ably accurate, How-ever, as with the founders of all great religions, the

myth which has sprung up about him has become more important than

the facts.

 

There Is an ancient Hindu doctrine that a god will incarnate when

some great evil threatens the world and thus save it. Thus Vidinu, as

preserver, bos had numerous oiiators. According to orthodox Buddhism,

Sakyamuni was only one of a series of Buddhas who have come at vari-

oris times in the past and who will come In the future. He bad already

experienced innuinerable incarnations, stories of which are preserv^ed

in the Jatakas, a charming collection of folklore. Having achieved the

highest point of spiritual development, that of a Bodhisattva, he rested

with the gods in the highest heaven. Moved by compassion for mankind,

ho took upon himself the burden of a last reiiicamation. He called all the

gods together and instructed them in Buddhist law. He also presented

to them his successor, the Bodhisattva Maitrcya, the time for whose ap¬

pearance on earth the Buddhist world believes is approaching. Gautama

 

 

Pi^rt Nitve: The Ohient

 

 

500]

 

then loolcecl about for a suitable mother from whom to be rehom. He

chose Mpya, the wife of the rulers of the Saicyas m Nepal, on the border

of Northeastern India. When he announced his decision, all nature made

demonstrations of joy. A cloud of singing birds settled on the palnee and

all the trees bloomed out of season, Maya retired to the women's rjuar-

ters, where the Bodhisatts^a appeared to her in the form of a i>early

white elephant w^ith six red tusks, certainly a more picturesque visitant

than the Christian Angd of die Annunciation. \^"hcn her time arrived,

Klaya went to the park of Lumbini otitside the gales of the eity^ and

Buddha was bom f rom her right side as she stood erect. Tfie gods Indra

and Bradima received the newborti child in their arms, and the two kings

of the Nagns* the serpent deities of aboriginal India, sent streams of hot

and cohl w^ater for Wthing the child. The moment that he svas born,

Siddhartha took seven steps toward each of the four cardinal points* thus

taking possession of the wwld.

 

Mother and child svere borne to the palace in a chariot draw'n by

angels. Tlie mother died of happiness seven days after the birth and

was immediately reliorn in heaven among the gods. Siddhartha w^as

reared by his mother's sister, Mahaprajapati. The cluld, according to the

legend, >vas bom with various aiispicioiis marks, such as wehbed fingers;

a bump on his head; large, elongated cars; and the marks of the w'heel of

the law on the soles of his feet. A great sftgc who saw him prophesied

that he would either become King of the World or the Savior of Man¬

kind. When the child wus first taken to the temple, the statues of the

gods prostrated themselves before him. He disputed with the w^ise merii

his teachers, and astonished them by his wisdom* V^Tien^ in his early

teens, he sat in meditatiDn for the first time in the shadow of a tree* the

shadow' of the sun remained stationaiy so that be would be dieltored and

his meditation undisturbed.

 

When he eamc of age his royal father chose a wife for him. but his

future father-in-law doubled W'hetlier the beauttfuf dreamy young man

had the necessary strength to make an able husband and ruler. He therc^

fore resorted to the compctib'on of suitorSp a theme which occurs in

legends the world over. He offered his daughter tu the one w'ho cotiid

draw the strongest bow and shoot an arrow farthesL SiddhartliJi^ of

cciufsc* far outshot any of his competitors. He then married Yosodhara

and a series of secondary wives wfio were sent with her. However^ the

delights of the barom failed to satisfy him, and he meditated upon the

sorrows and evils of the umverse.

 

His meeting with an old man, a sick man, and a corpse, and his char¬

ioteer s assurance that these things were the unavoidable fate of man.

focused his dis^ntent. lie begged his father to allow him to become an

ascetic. His father refused and tried to divert his mind with new plcas^

 

 

XXXIV. Buddhism

 

 

[50^

 

ures^ A son was hctrn to him, and tlie uvunt was ceJebruted wath a groat

Festival, but SiddLartba tiixnsolf greeted die news witlu “This is one

more tie to break." On the very' night of the festival he fled the palace,

aecotnpiinied by his charioteer, Chandhaka. Tlie deities bore up his

horses* hooves in their hands so that the guards would not hear bis pass-

if^g. At the edge of the forest Siddhartha said good-bye to horse and

charioteer^ He cut oH his long hair and exchanged clothes ^vith the flrst

peasant he met., who was^ needless to say, a god in disguise. He visited

various groups of holy men and fiiiaUy became die disciple of Arada

Kalania. After undergoing the usual instruction in meditation and as¬

cetic practices* he became a holy man. He finally settled In sauthern

Bihar, chosen because of its natural beauty, and gathered about him a

group of five disciples. He practiced great austerities and his fame

spread far and wide.

 

At length Siddhartha's austerities became so great that die gods

feared for his life and sent his mother from heaven to beg him to desist.

In less romantic terms, lie came to the conclusion that austerity could

not give liim what he sought. He ate, bathed* and announced his de¬

cision to give up fasting and yoga practices. His five disciples promptly

left him. He wandered for a time, then^ at Bodh-Gaya, seated himself

beneath a pi pal tree and entered into the sublime meditation which was

to reveal to him the path of salvatiom Mora, King of the Deinons, recog¬

nized the threat to IiLs dominion on earth and tried to divert him. He

sent monsters to terrify him* but Siddhartha, now become the Buddha,

Ignored them, Mara then sent his beautiful daughters, offerurg all the

pleasures of the flesh* but Buddha ignored these also. Enlighteument

came with the realisration that die root of all suGFeriug lay in desire*

springing from wrong concepts of Ehc self. If desire was eliminated,

grief and suffering would cease.

 

After he had e.'tperienced enlightenment, Buddha stayed on for four

weeks under die pi pal tree. In the fifth week a great storm arose, but

die Naga King, m the fonn of a giant cobra, spread hi$ hood over the

Enlightened One* sheltering him from lire rain. Only the final task, that

of giving his doctrine to the world, now remained* aud when Indra and

Brahma came asking him to do this he set forth on his mission.

 

Froiu this time on, Buddha^s careerp as recorded in the legends*

wos a continuous scries of miracles. In sober fact, he seems to have lived

for forty years after the enlightenment aud to have dealt wisely and

reaiisticaliy with the innumerable problems which arose during the

fouxiding of the new religion. Although at the beginning of his muESion

he met with some skepticism and even open hostility on the part of a

few individualsp he was never persecuted. He even underwent success¬

fully the add test for any prephet, retuniing to his home and convert-

 

 

Pali Nine: The Omeixt

 

 

 

 

ing the members of his 0^ family. He enjoined poverty, ehastity, and

benewlence in his followers, and gave them a distincbve costume, the

yellow robe and tonsnrc. He organized them into monastic groups^

whose government was modeled upon that of the small republics still

extant id Northeni India at tlio time* During the dry seasoo tlie monks

and mins, for womim had been admitted In the reUgions community with

some reluctance, went forth to preach the gospel In the rainy season

 

 

SEATED BimUHA AT SARNATH

 

 

 

XXXn^. Buddhism [503

 

they returned to the monastety and spent the time in meditation and

discussion.

 

In its original form Buddhism, like Christiaiiityp \vm simpte and

direct. Many of Buddhas sajings have been raniembered:

 

"There are two extremes which should be avoided. Tliere k the life

of pleasure, which is base, ignoble, opposed to the intelligence, un-

wortljy and vnin; and there is the life of austerities^ which is miserable,

unwortliyi and vain. The perfect one has renaained far from these two ex¬

tremes and has discovert the way w^hich passes in the middlen which

leads to rest, to knowledge, to illumination and to its finol

 

escape. Behold, O monks, the holy truth about pain. Euth, old age^ sick-

ness, death, and scpamtion from that whidi one loves, these are pain.

It k the thirst for pleasure, the thirst for existence, the thirst for that

whidt is evanescent. Behold the truth about the abolishment of pain. It

is the extinction of this craving by the annihibtion of desire.*

 

Again he said^ "Alms, knowledge and virtiie are tlje possessions

which do not fade nway^ To do a little good is worth more than to ac¬

complish difficult works. Tlie perfect man is nothing mdess he spends

himself in benefits to living beings."'

 

**My doclrme is the doctrine of pity. That is why the happy ones of

tlie CEirth find it hard. The w^ay <jf salvation is open to all. Annihilate

your passions, but know that he who believes he can flee from his pas¬

sions by establishing himself in the shelter of a hermitage is deceiving

himself, TTie only remedy against evil is sane rcld^t}^"'

 

During the forty years after his enlightenment Buddha lectured to

hi$ folbw^ers and gradually clarified his doctrine. He denied the value of

caste distinctions, not as dilficult at this time and place as it Ixrcame

later. He also denied the efficacy of ritual and sacrifice, a Eiodv blow' at

the Brahman supremacy. He did not deny the existence of die gods, but

be claimed that they W'ere unable to aid men in their striving tosvard

the final goal; thej^ too were tied to the wheel of life. Even more sig¬

nificant, he condemned llie belief in the trunsmigration of soub^ aJ-

though lliis w'as sq deeply rooted in Indian thought that it became one

of the basic tenets of the emergent religion, lie even questioned the ex¬

istence of the soul as a distinct entity^ holding that it w'as merely the

Karmic accumulation of good and c^il deeds held together by desire*

Wlien one of his disciples questiDned him regarding the beginnings of

the W'orld, be amswered tliat the question was unprofitable, thus forever

saving Buddhism from the conflict behveen a primitive cxjsmologj' and

an evolving knowledge of the nature of the universe which has so

plagued Christianity.

 

All this negativism was intended to strip away supersfition and

to leave the individual free to follow the eightfold pathr This involvech

 

 

S04I Port Sine-; Tme Orient

 

first, right views, whidi Kerns to have meant largely the insistence

tipcn truth as this could be arrived at by Ingic- Secoird was right aspira¬

tions, which were to take the place of the base personal cravings which

he condemned. They included such tilings as an abstraL-t los'c for the

scr\'ice to others, love of (ustice, and the like. Third, Fourth, and fifth

were right speech, right conduct, and right livelihood. Sixth was right

effort, which meant the iatcUigent planning of ttetion toward tlie ends

indicated in the rest of tJie doctrine. Seventh, right mindfulness, seems

to have meant the cUminatiQn of individual pride of accomplediment in

the face of the reniizadon of individual imperfection. Eighth, and least

clear, was right rapture, which seems to have meant the joy to be de¬

rived from meditation and contemplation as distinct from ecstasies of

the Dionysian type.

 

Needless to say, these docbrincs were so simple and called for so

much personal soul-searching that they failed to appeal to the average

indiridual. As tune went on, there sverc increasing accretions of ritual,

w'hilc doctrinal disputes led to the founding of various sects. The trans¬

formation into Nlahayana Buddhism (the Greater Vehicle) svas clearly

aiinuDciatcd in tlic ist nr Anti century A.Oi !iy Nagprjnna, Mahayana

doctrine postulated the existence of beings knmvn as Ikidhisaltvas, who

consciously rejected nirs'ana in order to remain on earth to assist in tlte

ultimate s^vation of all life. Thi.s was in contradictioti to the HinayEUia

(die Lesser Vehicle) belief in salvation as die rew'ord of one’s own

efforts. The pustutation of a greater number of divinities, however, led

to changes in the attitude tosvard the Buddha himself; instead iif being

an enlightened individual, he became a god in the Western sense. The

new doctrine, with its almost unlimited potentialities for religious and

magical accretions, spread the popularity of Buddliism throughaiit fndia

and into Tibet, and from there to China and Japan. Tlie relatively simple

Hinayana doctrines, with their closer adherence to primitive Buddhism,

have survived in Ceylon and in parts of Southeast Asia. Even these have

become highly ritu^lzed.

 

Buddhi.sm, in its early rise to the statn.s of a world religion, owed

much to loyal favor. In the 3rd century h.c. .Asoka, the emperor of

the Mnuryan Dynasty and the first conqueror to extend Ids rule over

much of Southern as well as Northern India, became a convert. Horrified

at the sufferings brought on by war, he voluntarily ceased his conquest

and devoted his later years to good svorks and to the propagation of the

faith. His royal edicts, canyang the tenets of the new religion, were

inscribed on pillars and rocks throughout tlie empire. Three centuries

bter the Kushan kings of Northwestern India also became converted.

The founders of this dynasty seem to have been Turkish nomads who

had raided down into India from the steppes follovring the immemorial

 

 

XXXIV. Butidhism

 

 

[505

 

inxiisiod routeSp but they were eager to appe^ civili^d. Kanishka, the

greatest of their Idngs,^ called a synod to cJarily Buddhid: doctrine^ in an

attempt to heal the schisms which had developed.

 

The introduction of Buddhism into Tibet is attributed td a pious

queen of Endian birthp whi\^ in Japan the first Buddhist niissiOEiaHes

a^T^^Td by royal invitatiem. However, the most powerful \veapons in the

Buddhist conquest of Asia w^ere the religious doctrines and philosophic

concepts of the Buddhists and their patterns of mendicant missionaries.

The great university of Nalanda in southern Bihar, which at one time

housed nearly lOpOOO monks, serv^cd not only as a training school for

monks but also as a goal for devout pilgrims from other countries. The

famous Chinese pilgrims, Hsiian Tsang and I Ching, both studied there

in the jth century* and left vi\id descriptions of that seat of learnings

the vast mins of which may sUH be seen today.

 

The incoherent animistic beliefs of the farther Asian peoples could

oppose no resistance to the closely reasoned, logical systeins which the

Indian missionaries brought* while the religious paraphernalia of images

and piehires* and die beautiful and dignified rites which accoinpanied

them, bad an overwhelming appeal. Even in Chfnap w'here Buddhism

\vas faced ^vith a group of well-defined philosophic systems, the meta¬

physical doctrines and comprehensive appeal of Buddhism won the sup¬

port of a large segment of the population during the cUsordered period

from the 2 nd through die 6th century a.o. Later, when Buddhism was

dying in Indiap new sects were being created in China under the in-

spiradon of Sanskrit texts brought back from India by zealous pilgrims.

The new doctrine then spread from China to Japan, W'herc even today

Buddhism is a living philosophy.

 

India was the first region in vvlifch mEssiodary activities developed^

and they seem to have come about as a direct result of the emergent

Hindu and Buddinst phitosophics. The animist, or even the later wor¬

shipper of local or tribal deities, did not attempt to eon vert others to his

faidi. Conceding us he did the existence of gods who were limited in

power and in the scope of their interests and aeti^ah’es, he felt that every

new worshipper diminished the power and intc^rest w hich his god might

c-xert for his benefitr It was only with the emergenoc of tlie concept of

deities of infinite pow^er, who were capable of aiding all men In all

phiccSp that this alder belief gave way to the idea of attaining divine

favor by bringing tlie god additional worshippers. With the early Bud¬

dhistic denial of the very existence of deihes, plus its tremendous in¬

sistence on benevolence and good w^urks as die surest road to individual

salvation, missionary' patterns assumed a new vigor. In Buddha's own

lifetime he sent forth hundreds of disciples to carry the gCH>d news to

all parts of India, thus ac^iuiring merit.

 

 

Part Nine: The Orie.nt

 

 

Thf Indicia pattems af ascetidsin and withdrawal from the world,

already well cstabluhed by Buddha^s time^ added an Important ingre^

dient to this missionary complei. The begging priest could move among

hostile peoples and disordered nations with impunity, since he was too

poor to be worth robbing and also carried with tdm the mystery of

supernatural dedication. One does not lightly injure a man from whose

death nr robbery nothing is to be gained, espedaUy when^ at the saute

timep there is an excellent chance of offending the higher powers by

such an act It was not until more than looo years after Buddha’s death,

when his monks found themselves confronted by Nfusltm fanaticism,

that they lost this immunity» Prior to that time they were able to wander

cast and west over the immemciial caravan routes and seaways^ bearing

with them everywhere the tidings of the law and welcomed alike by

villagers and kings.

 

By the beginning of the Christian era they had arrived in Alexan¬

dria and, although their teachings made little impression^ since their

philosophy could not compete successfully with the elaborate Creek

systems, they seem to have been responsible for many of the fonS of

asceticism and of monastic organtzation which characterized the early

centuries of Egyptian Christianity.

 

 

Chapte?' XXXV

 

 

Pre-Colonial India

 

 

The D^VELOPAtEXT of modern Indian culture has involved, a synthesis of

elements from iimny sources* The fusion of Aryan oJture with what

were probably numerous aboriginal cultures went on for millennia^ the

;\jyaja elements being diflfused progrcsisivcly eastward and southward r

fieginuing with the Persian and Creek iavasionp Northwestern India

was the scene of numerom evanescent conquests, in all of which the

cycle of events seems to Ijave been much the some. The early and rapid

victories of the invaders were followed by gradual absorption and tbe

final overthrow of alien rule by neighboring native states. The Muslim

iuvaders were to introduce a new pattern.

 

in 712 the Arabs conquered Sind in the lower Indus Valley^ and the

province became the first jiidcpcndent Muslim state in India. From the

8th to tlic nth century^ Western India was in close contact with the

.\rab world through trade, cultural relations, and missionaries who

brought the religion of Islam to a tolerant India. It was not until about

inoo, when a Turk from Afghanistan, Miihmud of Ghazni, cruelly pil¬

laged Northern India and annexed tlie Punjab, that Islam became

equated with political pow er* brutalit)^ and religious fanaticism* After

Mahmuds deutb there w’cre no invasions until tlie end of the i^th

ceuturyj when another Afghan conquered Delhi, this time establishing a

Sultanate which, during the next 150 yeans, gradually spread its do¬

minion southward on the heels of refugees from Muslim tyranny. Dur¬

ing that time the conquerors, an Indo-Aryan people closely allied to the

Indians, underwent some Indianization through culriiral synthesis* To¬

wards the close of the 14th century Delhi was mercilessly sacked by

Timur, who left all qf Northern India greatly weakened* In igs6 Bahar,

a cultivated Turco-Mongol descendant of the Timurids, took Delhi and

founded the Mogul Empire in India.

 

The Moguls were not barbarous invaders but representatives of the

 

507

 

 

Part Nine: The Omext

 

 

S<»8I

 

imcient civilixatiotk of the Near East+ rein vlgorated by Muslim fanati-

ctsm. They were not impressed by Indimi culture in the north, which

was in a state of decay» and they missed the tumdes of their homeland

in Central Asia, (It was Bahar, for example, who laid out the plan for

tlie city of Agra; his grandson, Shah jehan* who built the glorions Taf

SEahaL) Nor did they v^lue the abstract philosophy in w'hich the Eti-

dians were supreme. Continuous relations with the West and prescrilMKl

pilgrimages to Mecca kept these invaders in close touch not only with

the Muslim center but also with the Safavfd Renaissance in Iran.

 

Betw'cen the Weltanschauung of Hinduism and Islam there lay an

unbridgeable gulf. It would have been diHieult to find tw^o civilizations

more nntitheticaL The Muslim invaders w^re uncompromising mono¬

theists, with n fanming faith in the immanence of a highly personalized

anlliropomorphic dei^- the Hindus were polytheists willing to recog¬

nize the existence of innumerable deities, since they regarded all of

tliese, in tlie Inst analysis, as merely mnnifestntions of an impersonal

world soul (Brahman), The Muslims had a violent aversion to ail forms

of image worship^ the Hindus had been accustomed for millennia to ap¬

proach their deities through visible material representations. The Mus¬

lims insisted upon die brotherhood of all true belies^enf and in practice

allowed a high degree of individual social mobility. The familiar Ara-

hian Nights motif of the mendicant raised to wealth and high political

office overnight vvas only the romantic expressiofi of a cultural ideal,

Tlie entire Hindu social system was based on social inequality and Exit)'

of inherited status. Most of all, Muslim values were dynamic. "^Islam^

meant ‘^submission to the will of God^*" but in practice eonsisted in the

dignified Bcceptan<^ of a fait accamplis when no alternative appeared

possible. The Hindus, on the other hand, glnrilied iwssive resignation

and ntber-worldiness. The Hindus^ loss of political power after the Mus¬

lim invasion no doubt reinforced tendencies toward passivity^ and denial

of tlie realitj' of the external world. They cloaked them-selves in a pro¬

tective monlte of exclusiveness, Tlic caste system ciystallized and the

seclusion of w^omea (jHirdnh) developed mpidlyj a,s did untoucliability.

But exclusiveness, passivity, and cthcr-worldliness were already present

when the Muslims arrived. Since, os we hive seen, they were foreign to

the early V^'edie religion, they may well have been of Dravidkn origin,

becoming more deeply impressed upon the Indian population during the

long period when Buddhism w'as ascendant

 

Between such opposites there might be compromise and some

sjmthesis, such as occurred in music and language iUrilu)^ hut no rf?iil

fusion. Following tlte Muslim conquest, variaus spiritual leaders and

even the Emperor Akhar attempted religious uoiBcation. Yet, with die

 

 

XXXV. Prc^Cohnial IiulUi

 

 

[309

 

exception of the Sikh^, llieir followers always Found themselves in one

or iinaJher of the two camps. Althoui^h the conquerors adopted nmny

elements of the Indian technology' and even, as their contacts with the

Hindus continued, took on certain aspects of the caste system, they re¬

mained 0 distinct and, m most regions, politically dominant group.

Since the Muslims were highly conseLous of their status as eonquerorST

they W'cre constantly galled by the rules of avoidance insisted upon by

caste Hindus, and the feeling of resentment on both sides was no doubt

increased by the fact that the numerous Hindu converts to Islam were

drawn from the lower castes. In spite of their doctrine^ by no means all

of the Ilmdus were paciHsts. The Rajputs in Rajputana held out for

centuries, partly by their fighting ability, partly by the devciopinent of

techniques which made their conquest unprofitable. When the fall of a

city was inimincnt the defenders fired it, thus destroying all loot- The

women tmd children committed suicide and the men, dressed in their

nuptial garments, rode out to die fighting- At tlie time of the Mogul

Empire they became vassals rather than subjects. Tlieir noble houses

gave brides to the Mogul emperors, and much of the military^ strength

of tile Moguls was derived from the Rajput battalions incorpomted in

their urmy.

 

Even when the Muslim cxjnqucst had been rapid and complete and

a modiss cfPCfidi had been established, riots between the follovvers of

the tivo religions w^ere frequent- T'hcre ivere even conventionalized

forms of incitement to riot Hindus wdio wanted to start a disturbance

would play music outside a mosque wlicn servicses were going on, while

Muslims who wanted to start one would pubhely butcheir a cow^ with

appropriate comments.

 

The presence of Muslim overlords presumably had much to do

with the development and hardening of Hindu culture into its modem

form. \"arious writers on India have noted w*ith suqjrise that in spite of

the extensive Buddhist and Jain remains dating from as far bnclt as the

3T^d century b.c. tliere are comparatively few' Hindu remains imtil the

5th ccntuiy A.D,, that is, during the later Gupta period which is generally

knpw'n as the Classic Age of Indian culture. TTiis period gave to India

the v^ritings of Kalidasa, poet-dramatist and author of S/i^Kun/aliz, and

the paintings and sculptures of the cave temples at Ajanta in tlie nnith-

ern Deccan. One of the earliest extant, and most beautiful Hindu

shrines (Dcogarh) also dates from that epoch. There is evidence that

V'aisnava and Saiva shrisies existed even before the Christian era, A few

coins and some stone images have come down to us from the and and

1st centuries b.cl Tlie promijicnce given to Siva even on the coins of

foreign conquerors (the Kushans) shows how' widespread the worship

 

 

Fart Nine: The Ohient

 

 

Siol

 

of Siva wa5 at this time. But thert* was nothing to compare in magnitude

or number with the monolithic stmctures of the Mamyas or the later

Atone work of the Buddhists and Jains.

 

This has been attributed to accidents of survival but there are othra-

possible e?cplanations. The Bralunanj, from whtjse activities Huiduism

has been Inseparable^ may have heen ultra-coiiservative and insisted on

constructing their temples and htmges from wwd long after stone had

come into use by the hereticaJ Jains and Buddhists. It is also possible

that^ when these latter two sects dominated Indian religioo^ the Srah-

manSf since they were in echpse at the royal courts, may well have con¬

tinued to caiT}' on their studies and revisions of th^ sacred titcrahire in

their forest retreats and to perform their rites for conservative village

communities, A parallel case would be survival of heathen prucHces

among Western Europe villages for centuries after Christianity had

become the stale religion.

 

Buddhism had as one of its most important precepts the veneration

of sacred relics. The converted Mauryan Emperor^ Asoka^ remorsefu] at

ha\ing laid waste the province of Kalinga (Orissa), which he had re¬

cently annexed, and anxious to convert his peoplei w^s personally in¬

terested m erectidg lasting monuinents to his new^ faith. IJe may e\fen

have used the services of eraftsmen skilled in the CreocHPersian tradi¬

tion of stone cutting, for Achaemcnid influence is strongly present in the

great monolithic pillars produced during his reign. His imperial patron¬

age ushered in a golden age of indlgimatis religious art w'hich, despite

the ebanging fortunes of Buddhism and Bmhj^nlsm from the Gupta

period on, continued until the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate and

the Muslim introduction of a totally new aesthetic in architecture ond

design. The great and little domes and minarets of ^tushIn moiffiues and

tombs changed the landscape of India. Yet the style of Islam undenvent

modification, largely because of the technological knowledge amt skill

which the Indian stonemason acquired during centuries of temple

building. Tlie artistry that had created the ebboratc Images on Hindu

temples was now employed in tlio carving of ambesques and Arabic

calligraphy, and in the use of dressed stone iostead of the more common

stucxro and brick cf tlie Near East

 

By the time of die Arab invasion In the 8th century. Buddhism was

already on the decline in all but Bihar and Sind. The destruction of

monasteries and libraries and the ruthless massacre of Buddhist monks

which accompanied Mahmud of Ghori's conquest completed its cx-

tmclion^ many of the surviving monks fled to Nepal and Tibet. Hindu

temples w^ere brutally tom down and, in their haste to erect their own

houses of worship, the Muslims hacked away the images and re-used the

stone in many of their early mosques. LaCcr, howevcfp^ even where the

 

 

JfXXV. Fre-Cohniat India

 

 

[511

 

Muslim rulers were religiously inclined, their zeal to wipe out llitiLtiilsm

was always mitigated by the knowledge diat under Konmif:: law, un¬

believers were subject to various taxes from which true bdicvers were

exempt. Thus we l^ow fJiat in the early Islkmie conquests in the West,

Muslim governors were warned to discourage wholesale conversions^

which w'cre aHecting the revenue of the Caliphate.

 

It is quite imposjjble to trace the successive steps by which Indian

society and religion arrived nt tlie forms which they manifested at the

time of the first Eirropean contact. As has been previously noted, the

Indians have been singularly uninterested in history and the applied

sciences, and the Brahmans have maintained the pattern of claiming

both remote antiquity mid Vedic origin for arty and ill forms whicli they

favored. By the Colonial period Indian religion and society had been

integrated into an indissoluble whole. Daily life and social intercourse

were ritoalizccl to a greater extent than in any of tlic other world civili¬

zations, and every detail ’ivas reinforced by supernatural sanebonSn Even

the caste system was Justified by elaborate theories of spiritual develop¬

ment. As tlie result of the work of many sages over centuries, Hindu

religion and philosophy had been brought into a working whole.

 

In contrast with the universal gods of the V^cdic Ary^ans, tlie Dravid-

ians seem to have had iunumerable local deities, Tlianks to the paiithe-

istic concepts of the Brahnuios and their doctrine of reincarnation, It was

possible for them to equate the local gods and heroes with beings of

their central pantheon, thu.s converting both the deities and their wor¬

shippers. The coiiGicting altributes of these adopted deities and the

contradictions in the legends associated w'ith them could alway.'S be

explained by the concept that the goeb, like men, were reborn repeat¬

edly and thnt the conflicting tales referred to different amtars (rein¬

carnations). Many of the deities which liad been locally popular in the

Dravidian south had considerable popular appeal, and tlieir worship

spread over most of Hindu Indian Buddhism and Jainisin were both

heresies of an orthodox Brahmanism. Buddhism, particularly in its early

stages, was, as we have seen^ fundamentally philosophic and monastic

and probably was continuallv in conflict with popular belief in local

deities, although many of them %vere meorporated into the Buddhist

pantheon, \Vhen Buddhism suffered for want of royal patronage these

aboriginal deities reappeared in a resurgent Hinduism which, around

the 6th Century, Ijegaii to weaken die Buddhist hold on India.

 

The two main deities of this later Hinduism were Siva and Vishnu.

The chief gods of ancictit times, Indra and Brahma, foil into virtual

obscurity, Vishnu, orginally a form of Surya (the sun) now became the

god sustaining the universe. His numerous avatars show how^ various

divinities w^erc consolidated in the person of one god. Even the Buddha

 

 

Part Winir: The Orient

 

 

was e^cplained as m avatar of Vishnu. Siva socim to havo been a pro-

Vodic divinity; his hopie, Mount Kallasa, was in tho Hitnalayas, and the '

forms of most Hindu temples reflect tlie outlines of his mountain abocle^

Although in common practice HiiidtiLsm is polytheistic^ tt may he

said to be monotheistic in that aU divinities are regarded as aspects of

one universal power. Hindu philosophy posits three great beings or

manifestations of the basic world forces Brahma^ the creator, Vishnu, the

presen er, and Siva, the destroyer+ This is consistent with the Indo-Euro-

 

 

 

SJVA, roim ABilEDp TANJOfll!; X CESTOWY

 

 

XXXV. Pre-Cotonial ImHn [S^3

 

pcfin pattern, in which 3 is tlic most sacred nf aU niunberas and the male

principle is uniformly given precedence over the female. But, according

tn the Salvas all three we manifested in Siva himself, and nccording to

man\% Sivn. and %'ishrm are only aspects of the One. This philosophic

attitude led to complete tolerance among the vanous seels, so that al¬

most entirely different practices and ways of diought svere acceptable

within the one religion* The worship of vital forces was nppennost in

Saivism, while other sects paid devotion to the Sakli (femaJo principle)»

During the 7th and Sth centnries the doctrine of Bimkti {devotion to a

personal god) came into prommencep and soon thereafter the great

philosopher-missionary Shankar organized the first Brahmanic monastic

orders and, in. his remajkable travels all over India, preached for the uni¬

fication of beliefs, Tlie thousands of Hindu temples constructed during

and after the time of Shankar refiect the fervor of tliat Hindu Beoaijs^

sauce.

 

Tlie source of much of Hindu doctrine is the Bhogamdgila (Cfm),

an enchanting dramatic poem in dialogue which is primarily ethical in its

teachings. It cfondeiruis inaction and posits three main paths to salvation

(mokshii): action (), knowledge {jim™ }* and devotion ( bhakti ).

The Gif a, which w'as written some time during the Br^ two centuries

B-CL, is a section of the This work is a repository of Indian

 

mythology, Ipgcridarv historyv and early philosophic speculatioii- The

other epic, the has been a source of great mspimtion to the

 

Hindus, especiallv through its vernacular rendering m medieval times.

Por centuries their tales of gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines, have

been woven into the fabric of the pcople^S lives. From them various sects

chose their deities, both major and minor,

 

There are numerous Vaishnava and Saiva sects and siib-sects^. each

directing its worship toward a particular avatar. In addition there are

miscellaneous cults directed toward minor deihes, such as the N’agas

(snakes) and Yakshas (tree god5)i who are not enmmoiily regarded ai

avatars of llie great gods hut who are mythologically connected vvith

them in one way or another. Each avatar has Its templcSi, in which it is

represented by images or symbols and in these temples there are still

cairietl on rituak handed down from great antiquity, Even today the

god is treated in the temple as a resident king nr queen, and the ri^al is

an enactment of die ancient rojiil daily round. All twice-bom Hindus*

i.e., members of the upper three castes, are expected to perform daily

rituals. Tliis is described by S. Bhattachary^a as follo^vs: ^

 

Whife tho temples ore dedicoted to mony different dettici. rfie

daihj practices in the temples foUoo^ a common pottern, Tltey begin tvith

 

^"RcUgSoia PractiMs of ihe Hindus,-* in Migipn rd the Hindm. EdiliKi by

K. W. Mcrgsji, Nrw Yoik t The Ronald Press Co.i 19S3. PP- *56^157-

 

 

Fart Ntner Thk ORiE>rr

 

 

sm!

 

the mispieiom hmp ccrcm(mij Gt the Iasi ei^hf of the night, when the

deity is auyokeiicil. Then thv tkity is bathed^ and ts^rskipped; at mid¬

day, cooked food is offered to (he detUj^ fothwed by a tamp ceremony^

after which the deity rests until late afterfioon^ tt'/iirn iherc is anoitU-

frig and decorating ccretnontj. In the evenir^g there is nil eLiboraie lamp

ceremomj, after which food is again offered to the deUy, fallowed by the

final ceremony at u'hich the deity is retired for the night. In addition to

these daily eerematies^ iltere are ehltorate rites, often lasting several

days, at the time of the imporfant festieuts. It s/ictiW be home m mind

that white the five daity offerings are ohUgation for the Himlu, there is

no obligation to particijxite frt the ceremonies at the temple. Some eery

demut Hindus go to the temple rarely, if at alt.

 

The Hindu peasant left philosophic speeulations to the BrahmanSp

and followed the prescribed fites in order lo get practical benefits. In

addition to the particular god of his sect, he worshipped local spirits,

legendary heroes who were in some way connected with his caste or

region, and even m some cases prayed to his own antstral spirits. He

would attempt at least once in his life to make a pilgnmage to one of die

great temples dedicated to his patron deity. The festivals of different

gods wera held at different times ond places. Such gathering? brought

together great numbers of wmishippers and provided a welccimc break

in the monotony of \illage life, A fair was usually combined with the

religious celebratioii. Between pilgrimages he might worship his particu¬

lar god at a private shrine, but he would not neglect the village shrine

dedicated to some local dejt}% This wi^ presid^ over by a resident

priest, nnt always a Brahman, who would be called on to assist when¬

ever etahornte rites were needed. In addition, he would address any god

who might bo of assistance to him in current need. Tlius the merchant

would pray to Ganesh, the eiephant-headed god, for help in buriness,

while at the time of a smalljxix epidemic offerings would be mado to

Durga, the goddess of smallpOK, nne of the less lovable consorts of Sivan

Tlie average Hindu, whetlicr peasant or Brahman, did not question the

existence of innumerable deities and w^as as tolerant of other sects as

the followers of one Christian saint are toward those of other saints.

 

Tlie village temple was the center of Hindu culture. Tlicre the peo¬

ple worshipped, were educated, and obtained medical relief and charity.

There the fine arts—music, poetjy, sculpture, and the dance—received

encouragement The activities of the temple were financed by pubUc

and private funds. Under Muslim rule, with its lessening sjTnpathy for

Hindu bfe, heavier exactions were made and the sources of village

revenue declined. As a result the general cultural life of the Hindu com¬

munity was adversely affected.

 

 

XXXV. Pre-Colonial India

 

 

[515

 

Ou the whole the tJeniocratic pattern of the Indian village as de¬

veloped in Ajyan times changed little. Under the Muslims tlie separation

between state and religious affairs was maintained, the village council

continued to rule civic affairs, and tlie Brahmans retained their suprem¬

acy in all religious and social matters. The cconofnic basis of pre-colonial

village life lay in a delicate balance between agriculture and industry.

Cities were primarily administrative and religious centers, and were

usually small, except for those on the coast or on rivers where water

transport simpMed problems of supply. A striking feature was the build¬

ing nf fortified cities and the development of city planning as an art

common to botli Hindu and Muslim. A ruler, wishing to escape from the

Influences of lus predecessor's reign, would pick a new site, constnict a

platmed city^ and then move a popuLation into It by a combination of

forte and persuasion. The duration of such cities depended to some ex¬

tent ou the skill with which the site had beeo chosen. In most coses the

movetnents were only over a short distaoce:^ and in many lucahtie^- there

are clusterings of old and new cities ^vithin a small area.

 

The bulk of the tndiaj:i population occupied rural villages witli an

average of 400 inhabitants. Groups of villages were often uuited in a

county council, which acted as tlie final tribunal in civil affairs. Many of

these communities were isolated, with little ouhiide contact Land hold¬

ings followed the immemorial pattern of the Near East, with cultivated

fields immediately above the village and pasture beyond. Joint property

ownership and siu^Ivorship inheritance, which also followed Near East¬

ern paltems^ pre veil led excessive fragmentation of holdings. The joint

family also piovidiKl for tlie needs of each worker and non-worker

among its members. The village grain share sj^stem { JajmGni} continued

to provide a fixed annual share of the harvest to tlie vilbge carpenteT,

smith, potter, priest, barber, etc., in return for services performed

throughout the year. Economic patterns renmiiicd stabilized and there

were few mechanical improv^ements in workmanship. Techniques of

craftsmanship were transmitted within hereditary groups (castes) and

guarded as trade secrets. The lack of material advance may have re¬

sulted from these occupational monopolies, which limited competition

and diseouraged invention.

 

Indian cuJtiire was characterized by an e^^treme development of

ascribed status and role, w^liich made it the most static and most per¬

fectly integrated culture so far developed. Hie foundation of the society

w\^ threefold: village sclf-govcrnmenh the casle system, and the foint

family* Tlie caste system w^as reinforced by a series of stipematurol sanc¬

tions and rationalizations derived from a highly complex and fonmal

religious and philosophical system, A caste is a closely organized body

equipped with a common tradition and a strong esprit de corps. It has a

 

 

Part Nine; The Oiuent

 

 

5161

 

chief and a cMaundl. Its members meet on Occa^oti in assembly of more

or less plenary aulboritj'. They join in the eelebratioiis of certain festivab

and tliey have jorisdictioji over tlieir members, with powder to impose

penalties, the most severe of hich Is expulsion from the caste.

 

In addition to the marriage regulations imposed by the caste system,

the Indian tillage was, with few exceptions, an exogamotis unit. Groxjps

of villages intermarried an<l were thus bound logetlaer by ties of blond.

Child marriage, although by no means uni versa 1 , became lucrcasingly

common duiiog this period, and sterns from a combination of factors. It

was incumbeTit upon a father to obtain a husband for his daughter be¬

fore she reached puberty* Abo* residence was strictly patiilncal, and it

was easier for a child, transferred to another joint fannly in another

localitjv to become integrated into it than it was for an adult. By cfiild

marriage the father shifted the responsibility for the behnvior of his

daughter to the hiishand*s fainily. In nscst castes which practiced child

marriage both parties were children, and the marriage was not cOTisimi'

mated until they were weU growri, by which time the wife hat! lived

for some years in the husband 5 family and was ready to lake her place

as one of its members.

 

A easte w^as nnm^ially a hereditarj' monopoly of a certain activity or

occupation, in any district in India the caste activities were organized

in such a way that different c^tes did not come into coonoinic com¬

petition. Secondly, in sbaq:) contrast to tbo economic mterdcpendcncy,

there was the factor of self-contairiinent. In general the caste institution

provides a certain sensa of security^ because it delimits the area of social

and economic rivalry. Caste distinttions w^ere less rigid prior to the

12th centurj\ when the Hindu began to protect himself from Muslim

Contact by various dcriecs of seclusion. Since that time intercasle mar¬

riages have been eKceptionfdly rare, although they seem to have been

quite common earlier. The other great tabno, that of dinipg belsvecn

members of different castes, may also have become more restrictive at

that time. The Brahmans, in order to preserv'e their ecremonial purity,

developed laws pertaining to what cooked or uncooked food may be

accepted by certain classes of non-Brahmans, The rigid stratification of

castes and subcastes led to a general ritual of sociaj relations.

 

No matter how diverse the actual origins were, ail castes are, in

theory', arranged in a graded series of social prominence, based on their

supposed derivation from Brahmas body. Each of tlxc four main ca-stes

is divided into himdreds of sub-castes, each of which bos one above and

one below it in the social order, Since the Indlon populations have been

relatively static, this airangement ctmld be maintainetL ^Vliile it is im¬

possible for an individual to rise in tlic caste hjemrehy, it is possible for

an cnUie caste to rise as a wliolcn This is done by keeping the foimol

 

 

XXXV. Pre-Colotiial India

 

 

[517

 

reguJatiisns with respect to prayers, ceremonial cleanliness, and so forth,

witli special strict ness. A Sudra cannot beconve a Kshatriya, and no caste

can become Brahman^ but it is possible to elevate a sub-caste a notch

or two by this method.

 

The caste system is c^celleatly adapted to keeping a highly complex

but static culture functioning successfully. Caste has become a basic

pattern of Indian life and most new social elements are interpreted and

adjustc<l In Its terms. Even die native Christiafis and Muslims^ although

they did not accept the Hindu hierarchy. di\icled into sutHcastes. On the

other hand, many Untouchables espoused Islam, and later Christianity,

in order to escape from their miserable status.

 

In the matter of social organization, the differences between North

and South are still recognizable. Hie penetration of the South was al¬

most entirely by Brahmans and even today the only caste categories

which ore significant there are Brahman and Sudra. Groups such as the

Nayars, whose aetivitics as rulers and professional warriors would nor^

mally equate thcni with the Ksbatriya. arc nev'ertliele$s da^sed as Sndra-

At the same time, the innumemble groups of local specialists which con¬

stitute the real functional basis of the caste sj^em are multiplied to a

imidi higher degree in the South and East than in the Northwest, and

tile taboos governing their interrelations are more numerous and oner¬

ous. In particular* the South presents unusual elaboration of the group

lying below the Sudra in the classiBcatory' system. These are now com¬

monly referred to as the Depressed or Scheduled Castes* since this cate-

goiy is also subdivided and organized along caste lines. Gandhi called

them Harijaus. or Children of God^

 

Tlie regulations governing the interaction of members of different

castes are much more elaborate in the South and East than in the North¬

west, and the whole sj^stem much more rigid, lu Southern India mem¬

bers of lower castes could pollute 3 Brahman or a sacred place by ap-

proachlug within distances which varied \Aith their pc^sition in the local

cflste scries. Some castes in the Scheduled groups polluted ground sim¬

ply by walking over it and therefore were required to u.se special pnllis

and to abstain from the public highways, where members of higher

castes might pass. There were oven a few unfortunates at the very bot¬

tom of the series whose sight was polluting.

 

The restrictiotts imposed on Hindu castes vajy in degree rather than

in kind but they are numerous at all levels. In general, the higher the

caste, the more elaborate the restrictions on its members' behavior.

There are VTirious exceptions to this, os to practically nil generalizatious

dealing w'ith caste, but the Brahman is in nearly every case more hedged

about and restricted by caste regulations than the members of lower

groups. It is quite inconceivable that such a system could have been

 

 

5'S] fart The Orient

 

imposed by force or from above. U is interesting to note that the closest

panilleL to the Hindu avoidance sv^tem is to he found in Polynesia, in

connection with the constant, as distinct from imposed tabocu. The

Polyncsiati regulations were directed pKmarily toward the well-being

of the group and the safety of individuals of lower rank, and stenuned

from the Polynesian concept of mana. The chief, as ^bol of the tribe,

enjoyed the highest mana, while other tribe members possessed the

quality in diounished degrees. Contact between on individual of high

matia and one of iow mana oiight result in some Joss to the higher but

was injurious mainly to the lower individual, for whom it frequently

had fatal results. Wc have seen that the surviving nou-Hindu Dravidian

tribes base various taboos and avoidance practices which are reminis¬

cent of some of ttie caste regulations, and it has also been pointed out

that Southern and Eastern India seem to have participated in the South¬

east Asiatic co-tradition of which Polvnesian culture was a part. It

seems highly probable, therefore, that the caste regulations were origi¬

nally designed quite as much to safeguard the spiritual potency of in-

disiduals and groups, and to prevent injury to those of losvcr potency,

as to impress inferior groups with their social disabilities.

 

The four-category system was, as we have seen, a feature of early

Persian society and was presumably brought into India by the Aryan

iavadeni who were closely related to the early Persians, Hcredi^

occupation groups tending toward endogamy were a frequent feature of

Old World societies. They seem to have been more frequent in advanced

tlian in simple societies, perhaps because economic factors connected

with maintaining craft monopolies were involved. There is good reason

to believe that such groups were present in the advanced Dravidian cul¬

tures of Inrlia. Elaborate regulations of behavior, based on the fear either

of loss of pow'cf or on a belief in the danger of coining into contact with

power greater than one's own. were a common feature of the Southeast

Asiatic co-tradition, A combination of these three elements woultl be

enough to produce the Hindu caste system, the Ary'nn social categories

or chuacs being superimposed upon the Dravidian occupational groups

and the whole being organiaed into a single system in which each caste

^ placed in a partfcnlar category, thus establishing its superiority or

inferiori^ with regard to other castes. Lastly, the insistence on endog-

amy and the establishment of formal rules of behavior governing tlie

interaction of individuals of different castes served to maintain the

system,

 

British coionfal rule in India, among other things, dealt a body blow

to the autonomy and seU-contamment of the village and further frac-

tiu-ed the ca,ste system. Today in independent India other siguificant

forms of social relationships are in the process of drastic reform. Through

 

 

XXXV, Pre-Coionial India [5^9

 

the enactment of new laws, dianges are now taking place in caste rela-

tionships, land ownership, and in the stnictuie of the joint family. These

events, the consequences of which are sdU being worked out, will not he

discussed in the present volume.

 

 

Chapter XXXVI

 

 

Prehistoric China

 

 

China jtAS had a crultarally unified population for a longer eontinuou.^

period than any other civilization of the Vp'orld, although it is by no

means tlie oldest. China's civilization look shape much later than these

of the Indus V^aJlcy, the Near East, or Egypt. Chilians culture,, however?

became integrated early and, unlike the other great early cultureSp has

never coilapscd, but h^ continued its development with varying de¬

grees of effectiveness ever since. Contacts with other cultiufes have been

tiumcrcnjs. The Chinese have been conquered and ruled by several for¬

eign dynasties, hut have always managed to impose their own culture on

their barbojian conquerors and eventually to absorb them and re-estab¬

lish their oivn line. They were the first civilization to evolve a really

Workable and stable government which could handle a large population

made up of both citj' and rural areas, and they have never been truly

overthrown.

 

According to the Cliinese historian, \fencius, Chinese histoiy moves

in SDo-yeor repetitive cycles. The patient has always been; domination

by a foreign con.qucrori abaiorption of the conqueror;, a j^ieriod of con¬

fusion; and finally^ when the Chinese are once mo^e reorganized udder a

Chinese dynast)', a period of aggressive world policy atul conquest. If

historj' repeats itself^ China should be able to dispose of tiie Russians

and become a world power in its own right within another ootiple of

hundred years. The idea that the Chinese ore a simple, friendly, non¬

warlike people is far from ilie truth. China has been a world power

during several periods of her history and has spread her conquests to an

amazing distance^

 

The earliest Chinese date w^hich can be assigned with any proba¬

bility is 2250 B.c-r based on an astronomical reference in the Book of

Hustory, However, development was rapid, and, by the beginning of die

 

 

XJCXV/. Prehistoric Chim

 

 

[521

 

Shang ^^ppr^xiinatciy 1730 n^Ci, China had drAwn abreast of

 

the ^Vesrtem civili^atiofts. Since that time it h^s maintained an enviably

high level of culture, and a continuity of tradition unequaJcd eke where*

Several factors contributed to ^Is. Chinese crops and cultivation

methods were probably the best in the world prior to the introduction

of modem scientifie agHcuIture. They made possible the support of a

population as dense as that of Egypt or Mesopotamia over a vastly

larger area. The Chinese^ from very early timeSp concerned themselves

uith the praeticM? and theory of govern ment, and well before the be¬

ginning nf the Christian era had developed techniques for recruiting

superior minds into the government service* Wicited men* anil equally

wicked women, have ruled in China, but few fools have held posYcr^ and

these only briefly. Thanks to techniques of training and selection* the

Chinese administrative sj'stcm during the last 2000 years has been able

to combine the advantages of the British government service with a

bro^id utilisation of human resources like that created by the American

democratic sy^stem* Lastly, the development at an exceedingly early

time of a system of writing, whicb was divorced from Spoken language,

made it possible to incorporate into a single state and cultural tradition

groups speaking many different dialects. It also made available to the

administrator the experience of past rulers in a way impossible In the

West^ because of the frequent language changes which have taken place

in the history of ever}' European state.

 

The distinctive qualities of Chinese culture have been due at least

in part to geographic conditjons^ China faces east and is rimmed about

on the south and west by almost Impassable mountains. Even communi¬

cation in these directions has always been difBcult. On the northwest

the mountain barrier breaks dourti but is replaced by arid plains^ while

to the north the great ClrcumpolaLT forest extends, or did extend^ across

Manchuria. None of the frontier regions was capable of supporting a

numerous settled popubtion, or one at a high level of cultural com¬

plexity. The only frontier on which China svas threatened was the north¬

west, where It impinged upon tlie Asiatic steppes with their population

of Warlike nomads. As a matter of fact, all die foreign invaders who

have succeeded in conquering Ctuna^ widi the single exception of the

Manehus, have come from this direction. Chinese diplomacy and Chi¬

nese culuare have dominated the eastern steppes since ancient times,

and the invading Huns, Turks, and Mongols were already conscious of

the grandeur of the Chinese tradition. The varions nomad dynasties

which have ruled in China for longer or shorter periods have always

found it necessary to avail themselves of the services of the existing Chi-

oese scholar-bureaucracy, while tlieir followers have been unable to

 

 

 

S^] Part Nine: The Orient

 

compete with the Chinese on a pcaccfn] footing. In spite of attempts to

mflintain their baibariaD way of life, a few generations have seen tiicrn

thoroughly Hcculturated.

 

Chinese Cultural self-^suIBcicncy has been greatly aided by the natu¬

ral environment, Chinese climates are as variable as those of the United

States, Xorthem China has a temperature range much like tliat of our

own Northern Plains, while far Southern China b semi-tropieal. There

are ven’ few crop which cannot be grown somew’here in the empire.

■Much of China b mountainous, hut a coastal ptiiin and three great river

valleys, the Hwang Ho on the north, the Yangtze Kiang in Central China,

and the Chu Kiong on the south, provide large areas of fertile land. Tlie

Hwang Ho ond the Yangtze are linked by the Sso-mih? Grand Canal,

which extends from Hangchow to Tientsin. The construction of the

project was started by Fu Ch'ai, king of the state of Yueh, in the 5th

century b.c. Tlie oldest portion, connecting the Hwang Ho and the

Yangtze, was completed under tlie emperor Yang, who reigned from 605

to 617 A.n. The remainder, including an extension to Peiping, which is

now filled in. was constructed during the Yiian D>-nasty, 1179^1368 a.d.

Thus, by the beginning of the 7th century a.d., it became possible to

reach most parts of the empire by boat and to cxchniige the products

of the most distant regions at slight expense. The mineral deposits were

sufficient for tiie support of a culture still operating on the level of

hand industry. Chinese resources of coal and iron are limited by modem

standards, and it seems doubtful whether they provide a basis for heaty

industry of the European type. However, the Chinese have exploited

the deposits successfully for some 2000 yeai^. They discovered the use

of coal long before the Europeans did.

 

Most of China seems to have been covered wjtli great forests in

early times. These were especially heavy south of the Yangtze, Jind this

region is warm enough for the growth of bamboo, one of the most

variously useful products of nature. All in aU, China has lieen a highly

desirable region fnr human settlement, and one nf the few capable of

supporting a dense population at a high level of cultural complexity

without foreign trade. The Chinese were able to produce all necessary

goods within their own borders, Their trade with tlie West, carried on

by sea and by the immemorial caravan routes crossing central Asia, was

a trade in luxury objects. They sent silk westward and received in rehim

other luxuries: Syrian glass beads and vessels, finely moiight precious

metals, and, in still later times, dancing girls and fast horses.

 

In sharp contrast with tlie Indians, the Chinese have always btvn

historically minded, and the amount of Chinese litemtiire dealing with

the past is enormous. Unfortunately, ihdr desire to use past events to

point a moral and their fondness for systematic organization have re-

 

 

XXXV/. Prehistoric China

 

 

[523

 

suited in the frequent rewriting of the earlier records. Thus, the Bamboo

Booksj which give earlier accounts of the same period covered by other

classics^ present a much less idyllic society, However^ much of the cul¬

tural information presented incidcntEilly in all of these writings un¬

doubtedly has a sound factual basis. It Is fortunate for llm student of

Chinese origins that this is the case* since there is no area of equal si2e

and cultural significance anywhere in the world whose archeologj' is as

poorly knovvm as that of China. For this reason the few regions and

periods which have been studied have received what may prove to be

undue emphasis.

 

The excavation of a ringle site near the modem city of Peiping has

yielded some of the earliest physical and cultural remains of mann These

arc dated tentativeiy as early in the last Inteigkeial pericxl. Following

this there is an almost complete blank for at least ^oo.ooo years. Begin¬

ning at 3000 to 3500 B.c. at the earhest, a series of moderately diverse

Neolitliic cultures can be identified in VEiripus parts of northern and

north Western China. These lead into the sudden cultujol flowering of

the Shang djmasty in approximately 1550 b.c.^ and the begmnings of &

civilization immediately recognizable as Chinei>e. From this time on

cultural developments in Korthem China can be traced Cbrou^ inscrip¬

tions and other Uteraiy records^ which become more and more plentiful

as time advances*

 

South China, on the other hand, is known to us only as it graduidly

emerges into the light of history os a result of its penetratiou by North

C'hinesc culture, and of its progressive conquest by various North Chi-

tiese dynasties. Tlie South Chinese archeological record Is stili, to all in¬

tents and purposes^ a blank. From occ^ional surface finds this region

seems to have shared the Southeast Asiatic Neolithic co-tradition. Some

of the stone implcincnts ore strikingly similar to those of Southeast

Asia, and there seems to be a corresponding lack of finely chipped stone

projectile points and knives* The last named characteristic may be more

^[iparcnt thiin real, since implements of this t^qie arc less likely to be

recognized and preserved than the larger ground stone objects. There

is also the interesting and highly suggestive conclusion of Vaviloff that

the mnimtains of Southern China were an important center of plant

domestication* and that a stirprisiiig number of root and leaf crops

originated here. That there have been significant cultural differences

between Northern and Southern China since at least Neolithic times can¬

not he doubted, and such differences exist even today.

 

Reverting to the archeological record, it is clear that the beginnings

of human occupation in China go back to exceedingly ancjent times. A

protohominoid. Siruinlhropus* occupied Northern China during the last

interglaciaL This form %vas similar in most re$pect$ to the Java man*

 

 

524] Part Nine: The Orikk^

 

PithccanthroptiS^ aJthougb sDmewh^t closer to modern irian in his evo-

lutionar)' position. On the basis of physiciU chaniclcnstics, iiny sur¬

viving representatives of this group wcmkl probublv be eonsigned to a

zoo. Nevertheless^ the behavior of Siniinlhropus was much more hiimpii

thjm antfiropoid. The species used fire aitd made stone took %vluch show

cfjnsidcrable skill in the techniques of blade-striking. Sotiie of these are

so welbsliaped us to suggest ihut they w^ere deliberately designed for

use as specluli7.ed tools: knives, scrapers, or even projectile points. The

species also followed the human pmetice of cunnibalism, ofunistaknbie

evidences of which base been found in tlie single site of this period so

far excavati>d. Since no mdlcntion of burials or other cerciinoiiiol treat¬

ment of corpses has been founds it stM-^ms highly probable that tlitev ate

their own dead. This practice has been current among several historic

peoples, where it was instigated not by hunger but by an imdcrstandiible

desire to keep tile virtues of the deceased in the family.

 

To judge From accidental Buds, this culture passed over into one

with larger and more crudely worked flakes and choppers^ resemblmg

in muny respects the old Paleolithic of Southeast Asia. At a somewhat

later periocl than that of Sinantliropus, and farther to the Northwest,

there scents to have been another Old Paleolithic culture which used

hirge flakes and occasional emdely chipped pointed implernerits reminis¬

cent of the European and African hand-axes, ilow twer, a gap of at least

100,000 years separau^s even these fragmentary Paleolithic finds fioin

the first Neolithic settlement in Northern China. In spite of s few seem^

ingly Upper FaleoUthic objects from tlie upper cave at the Sinanthropvts

site, diis gap still remains to be bridged. Some indication of what may

have been the cultural situation in Northern China during the kte Upper

Paleohdiic or Mesolithic can be gained from ilfscovcriei in Mongolfa.

Heine surface sites have yielded great numbers of small cores from

which slender blades have been struck. Very few of the blades them¬

selves have survived, but there can be little doubt that they were inset

fn bone or wooden implements to provide a sharp cutting edge. It seems

safe to assume that there was also a considcrohle bone and antler in¬

dustry', .’Vlthough only one Or two implLnnents of these materials have

been found, they would be very unlikely to have survived in Open sites.

The w^hole complex suggests a hunting-gathering economy without

jX'rmaiient settlements, cairied on under environmental conditions more

lavorable tliari the present. A few fragments of checked stamped pot-

tvty\ and some bar-shaped ground stone objects w^hich might have been

used both as pestles and grinding stones* have been found on some of

the Mesolidiic sites^ but probably belong to a later period.

 

Tlic earliest NeoUtbie phase in Northern Clilna was clearly a pari

of the Circmnpolar co-tradition. The sites eontiiiti circular pits usually

 

 

XXXVl, Prehistoric Chim

 

 

fSSS

 

referred to as pit-houses. These are so sinal] that they are more likely

to have been uuderground granaries or storage rooms. If lived in at alt

they probably serv^ as cold weather dormitories. Croimd stone celts of

simple generalized type were in use^ as well as chipped-stone knives

and projectile points^ and bone projectile points and awls. Some of tlie

chipped-stone and bone implements have forms which are already dis-

tinetivc and aneestral to those usee! in later Chinese metal objects. Pot¬

tery w^s fairly abundant and was in the CirctimpoW traditionp being

Wker-shaped and grit-tempered. It was freqnendy cord-marked or

roughly modeled. Threedobed cooking potSp made with three bodjes of

ordinary beaker form sloping toward a single mouth at the top* were

not uncommon^ and may indicate the origin of the tripod vessels so

popular io later Chinese periods.

 

The earliest crop seems to have been a large, strong-stalked milletp

kaoliangs like that still grown in the region. Some of the accidental im¬

pressions on pottery have been inteq>retcd as made by rice, but, if sOp

the presence of this cereal in Northern China by at least 2500 pre¬

sents a puzzling problem. With the millet and rice (?) culture the

people also kept dogs and pigs, both irsed for food. Before the close of

this early Neolithic phase sheep and cattle also appear, but the inf re¬

fluent horse bones fouud in sites probably uulicate that die auimal was

hunted rather than domesticated.

 

Toward the close of this period a new type of potter)' appears in

Kansu province in Northwestern Cliina, This is a redp black, and white

ware decorated with spirab and otlicr eur\ iline+ir designs. Large water

jars painted with a broad band of design on the shoulder are the most

characteristic utensib* but there are also bowls and smaller vesseb. The

cooking pets are stiU of the old beaker-shaped, grit-tempered type. This

painted ware is very' similar to the Neolithic pottery from Persia and

even the Danube V^alley. There can be little doubt that it was intro¬

duced into Kansu from the West, but, since no other new and distinc¬

tive culture elements appear with it, it must have been brought in by

diffusion rather than a migration of Western bibes. This whole com¬

plex, including the painted wore, is called the Yang Slmo culture. It has

been very tentatively dated at 3000 to 2500 b.c.

 

In Northeastern China, in Shantung province, there is a cousidembty

richer Neolithic culture, called the Lung Shon. ITie two cultures meet

in the region obont tlie bend of the Yellow River, In the few sites where

hotli are present. Lung Shan remains overlie Vang Shao ones. Indicating

a later dale for the former, perhaps ^300 to 2000 b.G- for its begjnnmgs.

The antecedents of Lung Shan are not dear, but it contains a number

of new elements and represents the highest level of complexity attained

by any Eurasian culture which lacked metals

 

 

5^^ Fart Nine: The Ohient

 

The Lung Shan people built large towns fortified with walls of

tamped eartli. a building material still used in the some region* The old

Neolithic pil^houses were sbll present, but there were also tiie tamped

earth foundations of fairly large reetniigukr houses built on bw pbt*

fomw. To Judge fitun the orrungement of the posts, these houses were

much Ukc tliose still in use in Northern China. Stone and bone work

resembled tliat uf the Yang Shan culture, but there was considerable

use of shell for Iwlli implements and ornaments. The characterTstic pot-

tery was an exceedingly thin, hard-fired black ware mode on the wheel,

 

if this appliance wus present one can scarcelv doubt that the Lung

Shan people also know the cart and ebariot Millet and possibly rice

were the soya bean^ although noi found in any sites to ilatCk

 

may well have been present. Domestic animals consisted of pigs, dogs,

cattle, sheep, and horses. r 6 *

 

This Lung Shan culture seems to have provided the foundation on

which the eiviliration of the Shang Dynasty was erected. In spite of the

bhang use of bronze and the superb skill with which it was worked, the

peasant population remained essentially Neolitliie for centuries It is

rrotewor^y that in the “Tribute of Vr section of the Book of Htiiofy,

presumably dating from near the close of iho Shang dynasty (joay

B.C,) arrowhead stoHEs” are listed in the tribute paid by hvo provinces

of the empire. Although the reference is obscure, the character may well

refer to Hint or other easily flaked stones, rare in the loess land sur¬

rounding the Shang capital.

 

There are no mscriptioos from any period earlier than Shane. The

Book of Changes, which deals with origir« of things Chinese, states that

before the mveation of written characlm records were kept and mes*

sages rent by means of knotted cords. The Peruvian use of tlmse appli¬

ances ( tfuipus) proves how efiective they can be. The Book of Changes

Itself was revised and re-edited several times, so the statements con-

tamed in It must be taken with all the usual reservations. As a further

wmpheahon, the reholar-ptiibsophers. through whose hands it passed,

tljought in terms of a logically organized universe whose order was

perceived by the seim-divine rulers of the earliest limes. Only when

these rulers had established the observances necessary to strengthen and

mamtam the Msmic order did they (urn thdr gifts to the inwntioii of

uoittEiriiUi iippIiiuiceSi

 

One of the first creations of a primordial demigod was the slxtv-

tour hexagrams, figures composed of parallel solid and broken fines m-

nmged m different combinations. Each of the sixty-four figures carried

a different meaning, and all had a magical significance. They were and

sUil are ured in divination for the purpose of finding out whether con-

 

 

XXXVl, Prehistoric China

 

 

l5^7

 

ditiocis are propitious for any activ^t)^ Aecxjrding to the BooJfc of

Cfmnges, the first emperors arrived at inventioii of useful objects by

mcdilatiiig upon Uie hexagrams. The tliree lords, Huang Ti, Yoo, and

Shun "tamed oxen (in carts) and yoked hordes (to chanots)^ thus pro¬

viding for the carriage of what was heavy and for distant joumeySi

thereby benefiting all under the sky." The idea of this was taken, prob¬

ably, from the hexagram stii (^Following": cheerfulness over move¬

ment)*

 

In spite of its revisions and its preoecupations wiih rihial and the

supernatural, the Book of Cfringes offers vTaliiable information on the

pre-Shang culture of North China. Thus the deity Shen Nung is both

inventor of agriculture and Lord of Fire, a good indication tliat agricul¬

ture was carried on at first by tlie slash and hum technique. The book

contains nuntcrous references to battles behs^een the Hsla^ as the Chi¬

nese called their own oncestorSp and the Mioo^ an aboriginal group

whom they found in possession of at least part of Northern China. The

Miao are associated with the sea in the ancient writings, and their totem

animats wero sea arumaJs, sea monsters,, and winged creatures. The

totems of the Hsia, on the other hand, were tigers, leopards, and two

sorts of hear.

 

Archeological work in Nortliem China has done little to clarify

these legends, aside from showing that there were distinct, at least

partly contemporanEOus Neolithic cultures in the eastern and western

parts of Northern China. It seems highly probabie that tho same par-

tidpants in the Southeast Asiatic co-tradition whose northward voyages

took them to Jap^n and Korea also settled on the Chinese coast and even

followed the Yellow River inland, but proof of this is lacking,

 

Hsia society was divided into the 'Nine Tribes of the Bnler,^ the

“Hundred Clans" and the "^in>Tiad Blaek-Haired People.” The lost seems

a curious appellation for a group in a region where any other hair color

is practicEilly unknown today, but red hair nnd gre>' or green eyes are

by no means unusual among Paleoarctic peoples. Ghengis Khan be¬

longed to a Mongol clan called “The Grey Eyed Folk," and Subatak his

greatest general, w^as famous for his flaming red hair* In later times the

Chinese viewed these physical characteristics without entliusiasm. In

fact, they ascribed them to their devils. How^ever, it se^s quite possible

that the Hsia contained a fair proportion of individuals showing them.

The Miao, on the other band, were aJw-ays described as darker skinned

than the Hsia, and were presumably black-haired. Various aboriginal

groups in far Southern China are still called Miao, and Chinese scholars

have assumed that these are the descendants of Noitheni tribes who

fled before the Hsia* It seems inuch more probable that the name Miao

 

 

Part Nitw: The Oiuekt

 

 

528]

 

was applk^d to iovmt noii-Hsia tribe$ living in L\cirt]ii?m Chlna^ and

that most of iht^ were progressively civilizi^ and absorbed into the

Historic Chinese population.

 

From the material in the Boot of Changes it seems that the Miao

were matTiarcbab and tlie Hsta patjiarchal but by no means as strnngly

so as the later Chinese* Many European scholars have been confu^d in

tlieir tnteqsretatious of this material by the now' discredited culturah

evolutioniiry^ tht-or)' that matriarchal ins^tihitions aiwaj'^ preceded patri-

archn] ones. Actually, patrilined dpseent and pittrlarr^a] instihitions are

charaeteristic of all the Fnnisiatic peoples with a hunting or herding

economy. The presence of the radical “woman'* in the Chinese character

for clan and iu most of the oldest recorded clan names is less likely

to be a memorial to an evolutionary stage than to the importance of the

Miao element in the Chinese society of the pre-Sliang period*

 

It is difficult to reconstruct the social and political organization of

Hsia society because of the scantiness of tlie records and their estensh^

revision tn Chou times* There were peasants, military aristocracy who

fought from chariots, and a leader of the w'hole Hsia people, who seems

to biive been much more priest than king. The relation of these divisioiis

to the “^Niiie Tribes of the Ruler,'* the "^Hundred Clans'* and the *'BUick^

flaired People is not dear. The rno^t probable assumption seems to be

that there were \illages of the “Black-Haired People” csfploited and

dominated by families of one of the other groups in a sort of unorgan¬

ized, imcentralized feudal system. It is interesting to note that the ruling

group does not seem to Iiavc followed the cxtondcdTamity patterns

cbamcteristic of later Chinese aristocracy.

 

Tlie duties of the priest-king were primarily to act as a ine<liator

betw^ecTi tlic nation and the celestial beings. He is occnsionallv men-

tioned as leading his people in war against the Miao, or against rebels

whose most serious offense seems to have been trying to introduce fl

new calendar in opposition to the one which he maintained. However,

it U clear that he liad little political power. There also seems to have

been no fised capital of the nation, the king going wherever hf$ services

were required,

 

Tlacrc were innumerable supernatural beings associated with vari¬

ous place? and actiritics, but ancestor w^orship seems to have been much

less important than it became later. Beings Important enough to be-

classed as gods were divided into two groups, tlie celestial deities and

the chthonic deities. The former w^cre generally hciieGccnt and were iu

charge of the seasons, rhe round of agricultural activities, and the

weather. A deity enthroned at the North Pole w'as pre-eminent among

them and has almost the importance of a supreme being. Their w^orship

was closely associated wtUi astronomical studies. Rites in their honor

 

 

XXXVI^ Prehistoric Chifui

 

 

I529

 

pcrfcnned by the priosl-kLog aimujiLly on particulaf ^nd

 

were intended to insure tlie regular of the seasons and the growth

 

of the crops. These rites were performed in the open air^ and seem to

have been highly formal even in the earliest times. The offerings to be

made and the vessels to be used in each rite were rigidly prescribed.

 

The chthonic deihes appear much less frequently in the records,

probably beeaxjse they were so much feared that their names were never

mentioned. Their plaei? was underground, and they were associated with

darknes;;, death, and evil. There is little informatinn on their worship,

hut know that their rites WTre held at night or in dark places, a

later time animals offered to them were burned alive in pits, and there

can be little doubt that they received human sacrifices as weU. Sacrifice

was an Important feature of all the ancient riles and there is good reason

to believe that the most important sacdfico, reserved for calamities, was

that of the priest-king himself. As late as the Chou period (loay-

sai B.c.) it was customarj' in time of drought for the ernperor to pray

that the sins of the people might descend on his head, and then cut off

his front hair and fasten it on the forehead of a black hull svhkh was

sacrificed in his stead.

 

This early Chinese dualisni i^ very reminbicent of aboriginal Sibe¬

rian shamanism, with its suinmcr and winter deities linked with light

and darkness and served by different groups of shamans. There are also

occasional mentions of mctlmmistic practices remintscent of aboriginal

Siberia and far North America, and the Chinese magical number at this

period was four, as among the North American Indians-

 

The historic period begins ^vith the Shang Dynas^ (1766-11^2

Altlinugh frequently mentioned in the classical literature, this

dynasty was considered mythical until a few years ago, when bones

scratched with very archaic characters came to light in the region about

the great bend of the Hwang Ho. Since then royal tombs of the dynasty'

have been sj'stematically excavated, and most of the Shang emperors

fisted in the Bo&k 0/ Histort/ have been identified in eontemporon' in-

scriprions. The combina tion of exca\ alcd objects, ccmtcmporary' inscrip

horn, and traditional literature mates it possible to gel a better picture

of the conditions during this dynasty than we liave for many kter peri¬

ods. The Ciiou dynasty* which succeeded the Shang, has left a wcalffi of

literary records, but tio Chou site has been excavated by satisfacEory

modem scientific methods. Chinese antiquarians* itilerests have pro¬

vided a market for ancient broiues and stone carvings, and tomb rob¬

bing lias been a common if disreputable occupation since at least the

beginning of the Christian era. It has brought to light many wonderfiJ

works of art, but not much can be told from objects 0111 of context, Tlie

excavation of the Shang royal tombs at An-yang still remains an isolated

 

 

Part Nine: The Ohient

 

 

S30l

 

example of scientific wort, arid no later finds have proved ns valuable as

the Shang oracle bones for throwing light upon the daily life of the

upper classes.

 

It is cloiur l>oth from archeological finds and from the ^‘Great Plan^

section of the Booit of Hkionj that the rulers of the Shang period were

deeply interested in divination and practiced it according to several

methods. In one of these a turtle shell was subjected to heat and the an¬

swer to the question put to the diviner was deduced from the cracks

which appeared. In a second and closely related system a scries of oval

pits were cut on one side of a piece of bone, usually a sheeps shoulder

blade. A red-hot metal point was thrust into the depressions, and the an¬

swer was read from the cracks that appeared on the other side of the

bone. Scapulimancy (divdrtation employing a shauider blade) was w Ide-

spread in far northern Eurasia and America. Tmtle shell divination, on

the other hand, seems to have been of sonthem origin, and the Shang

rulers imported and kept tortoises of it sonthem species in order to have

shells of the right sort. In their scapulimancy the Shang diviners

scratched questions to be answered on the bone before heating it This

may have been due to the belief, present in China at a later date, that

the gods were deaf and could only understand requests addressed to

them in properly written memorials, a belief which one presumes the

scribes did nothing to weaken.

 

The inquiries dealt mainly with affairs of the royal palace, proper

times for perfonning rituals, probable outcome of raids, and weather

and crop prospects* Many of the scapubie were ground flat, and some

of them were numbered, suggesting tliat they may have been filed for

future reference. An amusing sidelight on the possible attitude of the

diviners comes from one bone on which the inquiry, the king goes

hunting in the eastern hills on (such and such a date), will it rain?'* and

the bone's affirmative answer, is supplemented by a brief notation: “It

really did rain.”

 

The Shang characters were drawings, many of them quite natu¬

ralistic. which had begun to take on ideographic meaning* They were

directly ancestral to modem Chinese writing by way of the rectangular,

clearly outlined "seal characters'" of the Chou and early Han periods.

The form of the modom characters has been modified by the method of

writing with a brush on paper. The Shang writing was a well-developed,

conventionaliied sj'stem which must have taken generations to reach

the state fn which it first appears. However, it bears no resemblance to

an)thing known from outside China and probably originated there in

Neolithic times.

 

The Shang population lived in villages, and there wa^ at least one

city which serv^ as a capital and regular pbee of residence of the

 

 

XXXV/. Frehlstorit: CJii'na ISJi

 

ruling dynasty. Classical liternture, particularly a poetic work, the Sftift

Citing contains numerous references to the life of the common people.

Apparently it was much like tltat of their predecessors of the Neolithic

Lung-Shan culture. Both sexes were completely clothed, wearing trou¬

sers and a long coat with sleeves. Houses were one room mud structures,

with a door on the cast and a window on the west. The hearth was in the

center of the floor, with an open vent in the room above. The family

slept in tlie sacred southwest comer of the bouse. Here the seed grain

was stored and Ao, the house deity, and Tsao, guardian of the hearth,

received their offerings. Women controlled the house and csjTicd on the

indoor activities, while men did the agriculture and cared for the do¬

mestic animals. Winter was spent in spinning and weaving. Hemp, fute

and bast were die Gbers used in the most ancient times, but silkworms

had been imported from the South by the beginning of the Shang

period. Caring for ibem was one of the womens duties.

 

All the families in a village were related in the tnale hne. Village

government was based on kinsliip and intcr-gcncratiofi obligations, and

the community was controlled by the old men who were family heads,

it is inieresting to note that each village had a town house, in which

the council met and some communal ceremonies were held. Between

times it served as a men's clubhouse, in which they gathered for drink¬

ing Ixiuts and other amusements. Outside the village there was a sacred

grove with a running stream. If possible, the village was so placed that

botlr grove and stream would be to the south, fonning a protective bar¬

rier against evil influences coming from that direction. The sacred grove

was the scene of spring and fall rites. Tlie spring rites were intended to

promote fertility. They were celebrated by the young men and women

and had an orgiastic character. Tlie fall ceremonies were a farewell to

the growing season aad a thanksgiving for the harvest They iticbded

dances by men wearing animal masks, and wen? accompanied by heavy

feasting and beer drinking. They were presided over by old men. In¬

strumental music, to which mogiciil efficacy was ascribed, figured largely

in all ceremonies. The being! propitiated in the village rites were largely

local nature-spirits and animals, among whom snakes, bears, and the

clever shape-changing fox seem to have been the most Importapt. There

was also some ancestor worship at the peasant level, but the rites seem

to have been directed to the ancestors of the village as a group. The rites

directed toward the great beings were performed by the kings and

 

nobles. ■ < ir

 

The Shang aristocracy seems to have led a luxurious existence. Evi¬

dence of this is to be found in the royal tombs of the dynasty, since

these tombs were regarded as dwellings for the dead and were fitted up

with the fumishiogs appropriate to a palace. The tomb chamber was

 

 

53*^ Port Nine: The Outent

 

solullv constructed of heavy timber and was placed at the bottom of a

shaft forty or more feet deep, A ramp gave access (o the tomb, Wheu

the intennent was completed, the whole excavation was filled witli

rammed earth. Unfortunately, in tecent times this feature has served to

show the location of tombs, and the huge prices paid for Shang objects

has led to wholesale looting. The personal servants and favorite women

of tlie roJer were killed and barfed witli him. and. while the extavation

was being filled, numerous freshly sm eretl hitman heads were thn:}^^ in

and stamped down witli the earth. .\Iany of the heads found were still

wearing bronze helmets, suggesting that they belonged to members nf

the rulers' guard rather than to slaves or captives.

 

The inner walls of the tomb were decorated ivitb coaventionali/jed

designs. The tomb furniture included bronze vessels clearly intended for

ritual use, weapons, and stone carvings, inchiding numerous fade ob¬

jects. Lai^e marble figures, which, although rigidly stylized, possessed

great artistic merit, were of especial interest, since thcj- arc not men-

bnned in early writings. Although chairs and tables were not used at this

tme. there were undoubtedly many wooden objects and other perish,

able offerings such as food, garments, and holts of silk. The stone carv-

in^ ow great technical skill. Both the Jade and marble objects seem

to have been sawm out, rather than shaped by the usual Neolithic tech,

niques of battering and grinding. Stone-sawing was also used by some of

the early cultmes in Southeast Asia, in Japan, and by tlie Alaskan Es¬

kimo and Indians of British Columbia, in their manufacture of jade im-

p ementi. It once more suggests the iiJuencc of the rawterious sea peo¬

ple previously mentioned.

 

Weapons were of bronze. The favorite weapon for liand-t<^hand

fighting seems to have been the ‘'to/ a sort of tomahawk copied directly

from a primitive sickle used in North China in NeoUthic times for har¬

vesting grain. From literary sources we know that the Shang nobility

drove Iwo-horse chariots, that the Shang annies consisted of chariotcerii

and light-armed foot soldiers, and that the favorite weapon was the bow.

presumably of composite type. Bronze helmets were worn and probably

plate mail bs wcU, which was made by sewing plaques of metal or bone

Upon a Bexible

 

•The most interesting of the tomb remains are the bronze ctTemonial

WMcls. These reveal a vigor and sophistication of design nnd a technical

 

m casting which have never been surpassed anywhere at any time.

The enthe vessel was frequently given bird or animal form, and smaU

anunal figures were often used for surface decoration. The choice of

animus is suggestive. Although tlic Shang territory lay far north, and the

fotttiders of the Shang dynasty were presumed to have come from the

west by way of tbe steppes, very fmv northern animals are shown. The

 

 

XA'ATfV. Prehisloriv Chitia

 

 

IS33

 

high development of bear ceremoniaiUm throughout Northern Eurasia

and die fact that hvo species of bear were Hsla totemsi rrmkes the omis¬

sion of this atiimal the more remarkable- The favorite subjects w^ere

tigers. Winter buffaJo^ rninSj and bulls^ depicted as conventionalized split

animals known as rao-i*fe/j. This selection makes it appear improbable

that Shaiig art was developed out of animal art of the steppes, and sug¬

gests a southern rather than western origin for it. At the same time, die

fonns of the bronze vessels seem, with few' exeeptions, to be derived

from wooden, potten\ and horn protot>pesH The vessels in animal shape,

w'ith deeply incised decoration, are suggestive of wood carving. It is

impossible to say whether the cofivetitionalized designs with whidi all

surfaces were covered were purely decorative or had symbolic signifi¬

cance. although in view of the high iituali 2 ation of Shang [ife the latter

seems more likely. No dose parallel for designs can be identified outside

of China, but the present writer feels that they slio^v a kinship with the

Dong Son designs, and :iko with the bisiorie arts of certaiii culluraDy

conservative areas in Indonesia and Melanesia, and even with the arts

of the Polynesian M argues ans and MaorL .although the assumption is

guitc unpro\'abk% 1 would not be surprised if archeological research

eventually reveals the presence of an old Soudiea^ Asiatic art style frarn

w^hich all of these, including Shajig, was derivedH

 

The technical perfection of the ritual brorizes is impressive, but it is

literally too good to be true. Even the best mctal-caster has occasional

bad luck. It must be remembered that the objects avaikbie for study

have been carefully selecterl. Only die finest of the bron 2 e objects reach¬

ing the market from tomb robbers have been ascribed to llie Shimg pe¬

riod* It is quite possible that, when information On the entire bronze

inventor)' becomes available, cruder pieces will come to light. The per¬

fection of the w'orkmariship may have been due not only to the skill of

the craftsmen but also to tlie use for which liie vesseb were designed*

Imperfect sacrificial vessels might have been as offensive to tlic go^ ns

carelessness in the ritual. In Shang times bronze was still so scarce that

it must have occupied very' much the position of gold in our own cul¬

ture, Flawed or imperfect pieces may well have been melted down and

recast repeatedly until a perfect object was obtained. Casting was done

lioth by die lost wax method and in terra cotta piece-molds, fragniE^ots of

which have been found on the site of die ancient Shang capital* Tlic

source of die bronze has not yet been determined. Two of the districts

listed in the Tribute of Yu (see Chap. XX-WI, p. 526 } ate mentioned,

each as producing three kinds of metal, so that both the copper and tin

may be of Chinese origin. However, the rich tin deposits of the Malay

Peninsula ivere worked by the local natives at a time when they them¬

selves were $till using Neolithic implements. This suggests an ancient

 

 

Fart Nine: The ORiEfJT

 

 

534]

 

trade in the metal. An onalyaJs of the Shang bronzes should re veil

whether any of the tin came from this source.

 

The structure of the Shang Empire seems to have been intennedtate

between that of a conquest state and a federation. The various districts

which composed it were politically seh-cantained, and there was no

suggestion of anything like an imperial council or general assembly of

nobles. Each district was ruled by its own hereditary noble family, who

had submitted to the emperor and shared tlie benefits of the rites which

he performed. The strength of the central power depended largely on

the personality of the emperor. When the emperor was weak, the nobles

made war upon each other. At all times the empire was at war with one

or anodier of its non-Chinese neighbors. There are repeated references

in the oracle hones to a tribe designated as "shepherds," who lived to the

west of the Shang territory. These were regularly raided for slaves and

particularly for sacrificial victims. In the lists of sacrifices one finds

"shepherds" noted on a par with other doTnestfe animals offered.

 

There is little Information on (he internal organization of (he dis¬

tricts, but it is clear that tJierc was a sharp distinction between nobles

and commoners. We do not know the financial arrangements, but it is

probable that, as in Chou times, the peasants supported their lords by

cultivating certain fields set aside for them. The villagers also provided

their lord with light-armed infantry when he went to wax. It should be

noted that even the Shatig nobility were light-armed by European

feudal standards, while the peasantry were trained in the use of the

terrible composite bow which could drive aii arrow Uimugh any armor

known at this time. 'Hiis rituatioa endured Jong after the Sbang Diriasty,

and it has been cynically suggested that the extreme interest in the wrlJ-

being of the peasantry expressed by the Chinese philosophers, ihem-

selvEs of the upper cla^.may have been related to this fact.

 

Shang culture had an unusually strong religious and magical orieu-

tation. although at the same time it was quite devoid of mysti'dsm. Each

village performed its own ceremonies related to its annual round of ac¬

tivities and also worshipped its own ancestors. The district nobles per¬

formed other rites for the benefit of the district. Apparently each dis¬

trict had a somewhat different series of secondary deities, as well as

spirits of the loeol mountains and streams. Lastly, the emperor per¬

formed rites in honor of the highest group of deibes, especially the ceJes-

bal beings, thus benefiting the entire slate. The rites performed by the

nobles and by the emperor were rigidly formalized. There were strict

regulations as to the type of sacrificial vessels to be used on each occa¬

sion and the appropriate offerings. There can be little doubt that the

procedure followed in the rites was equally oonvenbonalized.

 

 

XXXVL Prehistoric China

 

 

tS35

 

Animals regularly offeTi?t], and hunnin sacrifice was commoner

in the Shang period than at any otlicr time in Chinese history. Ancestor

worship, directed not only to the ancestral spirits as a group but aUo

to the more important individuals in each past generation^ was a regular

feature of the noble and imperial ritc?s. The ngidity of the rites suggests

that they’ were as much magical as religious In their purposes. The irrh

portance cf divumhon has already Ijeen mentioned. While di\7aers may

have constituted a ihstinct group^ the rulers were espected to perform

the rites themselves and to combirie tn their persons the functions ^vhlcb

in other societies were divided between secular nders and priests.

 

In order to perform ihch duties properly^ the nobles had to be edu^

cated. and most of them seem to have b«ea literate, thus differing

sharply from the Western feudal nobilities. There was already consider¬

able ulhcid correspoEdonee, and the skill with which letters and memo¬

rials were composed was a matter of pride. The consciousness of an audi¬

ence which was such an important feature in later Chinese ciiltiiro was

already present, together with an eagerness to bo revealed to postcrit)*

in the best possible light. Although the nobles claimed authorship of

their ofiSdal correspondencer it is highly probable that there was already

a dass of profe-ssional scribes %vha acted as advisors to the rulers and

played a considerable part in governmental administration.

 

The origins of the Shang are obscure. Apparently their ancestors

came into China from the Northwest by the route which conquerors

have followed throughout Chinese history. Moreover, the beginning of

the dyrtastVp approximately 1500 b,Ch, coiresjaands rather closely to the

invasion of India by the Aryans and of the Near East by various steppe

peoples who ivere also horse breeders and chariot users. The generally

accepted theory is that the Shang were responsible for the introduction

into China of a whole series of culture elements of Western origin^

notably the cultivation of wheat and barley, the use of horses, chariot

fighting, bronze casting, and wTiting. Wheat and barley do appear first

at this period and are unquestionably of Western origin, but horses as

well as cattle and sheep were already known to the Lurig Shan peoples.

There is no mdieation that tho establishment of the Shang dyna.sty led

to any great increase in animal blIsba^^dly^ Moreover, they did not use

milk, an incomprehensible fcoture if the Shang cultiue was derived

from either of the co-traditions of the steppes.

 

That the w^heel w^as known in pre-Shang times is indicated by the

presence of wheel-made pottery in tlie Lung Shan culture, and the Book

of Changes assumes that the cart and war chariot were both used by the

Hsia. To judge from such peoples as the Poijmesians and Mayas, m^ing

these with stone tools would be a laborious but by no means impassible

 

 

53®] Piirt Nine: Ttit OrhvNt

 

task. The (ise of hronsse and the techniques employed tii costing it are

almost certainly of \^^esterii origin, but the forms of mcKt of the Shang

weapons and vessels ore unlike anything now known from the West and,

like the decoration, seem highly distinctive. As regards Sbang writing, no

close similarities can be traced anywhere outside China, and it may be

pointed Out that the steppe invaders who make such havoc among civili¬

zations farther west were unifonniy illiterate. Lastly, (he preoeeupation

sv'ilh ritual and divination and (he strong sense of dependence upon

higher powers which characterizes Shang culture is quite at variance

with either of the steppe co-traditions.

 

The most probable explanation of this situation would seem to be

that the founders of the Shang Djuasty were a relatively small group of

invaders who practiced the mixed agricultural and domestic animal

economy of the pre-nomadic steppe peoples. Through their contacts

with the West they had acquired a knowlerigo of bronze, to common use

there by 1500 s.c. and had learned to rely heavily on war chariots,

which tools of the new material made it easy to produce. Tlw? superiority

which this gave them, coupled, perhaps, with a belter military ^ganiza-

tion, made it possible for Uiem to cunqijcr the olieady advanced Neo¬

lithic population of Northern China. However, they followed the same

course as the later conquerors of China, They enriched the local culture

by the addition of a fevr Western elements and stimulated further devel-

opmenU within the Chinese tradition, but they brought about no cul¬

tural revolution.

 

Whatever the Shang ori^ns may have been, the beginnings of this

dyiaasty found Nortlicm China n region of independent tribes xvjth

varied NeoUthic cultures, while its end saw the same region possessing

a unified, unmistakably Chinese dsilization. In many ways the Shang

period foreshadowed the later course of Chinese history. It began with s

foreign conquest, foUowed by the acculturation of the conquerors. U

witnessed the elevation of writing tej the position which it enjoyed in

later Chinese culture and the emergence of respect for learning. It saw

the formalization of religious rituals and the triumph of technique over

emotions in tlic relation of man to the supernatural. Above all. it crystal-

hzed the pattern of assigning the most important secular and sacred

duhes to the same individual. The development of a literate aristocracy

svho were simultaneously priests, warriors, and rulers resulted in a com¬

plete and indissoluble fusion of church and state.

 

Moreover, the result was in no sense a theocracy. Chinese attitudes

were^incntly pracbcsl and made religion a supplement to administra¬

tion. Tliese patterns survived throughout Chinese history and saved the

country from the struggles beriveen priest and ruler which disrupted so

many other civilizations. Even the downfall of the Shang dynasty set 3

 

 

XXXVL Prebhtoric China

 

 

tS37

 

patton for propngandB whidi was followed by exicb of its successors.

The Chou invaders who overthrew the dynasty depicted the last Shang

emperor as a monster of vice and cruelfy. and themselves as libemtors

scot by a benevolent supreme being to punish the Shang Dynasty for

its crimes and to restore order to the commonwealth.

 

 

Chapter XXXVII

 

 

Early Historic China

 

 

Wrra THE Cuou Dvkasty China merges into the full light of history,

and Chinese eulhire takes on most of its c^boractcri^tio patterns^ of

these patterns were already in existence in Shang times, hut it was during

Chou that they became integrated into a cohereut whole- The Chou was

less a dynasty than a periods Although in the dynastic lists it b usually

given as extending from roughly looo b.g, to 221 b.c., the tetnporal con¬

trol of the Chou emperors come to an end about 770 h.c.* when the capi¬

tal was moved east to the city of Lo-yang, Even before this, the disrupt

tive forces inevitable in any feudal system had begun to weaken the

central power. The accomplishment of the Chou dynasty proper svas to

set up a system of thomnglily integrated social, political, and religious

institutions within whicli culture patterns already present in China or

borrow'ed from the barbarian cultures to the w^cst could be developed

and organi^d- It is difficult to tell how' far the founders of the dynasty

were personally responsible for this, but they or their councilors cer¬

tainty were responsible for reducing the prC'esisting patterns to a sys*

tern. The first Chou emperors were in an unusually good position to do

diis, since they had already had experience in integrating dements from

the Hsia culture with that of the barbarians of the steppes.

 

Although later Chinese scholars manufactured a descent from on-

dent Hsin kings for the house of Choti, it seems that the founder of the

line was a Hsia noble, Uu, who settled on the north western frontier of

the Hsia territory in the iSth century' b.c. The barbarians whom he en¬

countered there and reduced to vassalage were probably the same stock

as the “shepherds" so syslematically exploited by the Shang. The con¬

quered population may well have looked upon their Hsia rulers as pro¬

tectors, since the motto of the Chou reiguing bouse always seems to have

been "benevolence is the best policy.'’ In the i4lh centmy b.c. the pres¬

sure of tribes still farther west forced the Chou and their vassals to mi-

 

sja

 

 

XXXVIL Early lliMaric China [539

 

grate further into Chmap where they occupied territory in the modem

district of Fetig Skng and bccflmc vassaJs of the Shang emperors^ At

the time dial they arfived in tills region their culture had a strong steppe

flavor. They were strictly pabrioichal and patrilineal. Horses seem to

have been important in their ecxjnoiny and at first were ridden rather

than driven. That the Chou turned to the use of war chariots^ as soon as

diey liad gained the necessary resources, indicates that they had not yet

developed adequate cavalry tactics or equipment

 

The history^ of the Chou rulersp as recorded in the Bamboo Books^

reveals a combination of an inflexible will toward power^ worship of

order* and a profound respect for the proprieties^ Until the very end of

their vassalage to their Shang emperors tliey treated these mth all the

outward symbols of respect, while drawing mote and more of the petty

states which compCRsed the empire under iheir own control. When King

Wen deposed the last of the Shang emperors and founded the Chou

dynastVp he did so with all the marks of polite regret^ and proceeded at

once to pul the society atid state in order on the basis of what was, on

paper* or more properly bamboo* a rigid system. According to the Chi¬

nese historians^ always devotees of the Great Man iheory* die new sys¬

tem involved changes even in family organization^ and it apparently did

involve a change in the rules of descent among the nobility^ However*

to change the family structure of any sodety is a task of the first magni¬

tude, and it seems probable that what actually happened was tliat the

noble families who had sut^-ived from the Sliang Dynasty^ were encour¬

aged to alter a few of their praetices in order to bring their famdy sys¬

tem into accord mth that already e!?l5tiiig among the Chou nobility.

Since the main function of the peasantry was paying taxfjs, it is highly

improbable that the new dynasty tried to modify their familial habits.

 

The Chou nobility were organized into foint families much like

those of the Chinese aristoctaey in all later periods. The nucleus of these

families was a group of males descended from a common ancestor* shar¬

ing a common residence and functioning as a coqwration under the con¬

trol of the oldest member. The joint families and the larger name-groups

to which such families belonged were strictly exogamous. Control was

strongly patriarchaL Women bom into the |oint family were not re¬

garded as actually belonging to it They were not introduced to its an¬

cestral spirits* but on marriage ivere introduced to the ancestral spirits of

the husband and became thenceforth members of his family group.

Marriage was theoretically monogamous, but when a noble bride went

to her husband's house she was usually accompanied by a younger

sister and various serving women who automatically became tlie hus¬

band's concubines. The position of womm was high. Although noble

women were secluded, they were not confined in harem fashion. Even

 

 

Pari Nine; Tk£ Oment

 

 

540]

 

at this p^iiod womtn frequently received a literary educutinn* and there

are many mdications that husbands frequently consulted their wives

even in affairs of state^

 

In the organization of the Chou empire the basic relations existing

between males wthin the family svere taken as a irtodeL The most im*

portant of these was that het\veen father and son. This was supposed to

be mirrored in the relations of the emperor to the supreme being and to

bis subjects* This period saw the binh of the imperial titJej ”Son of

Heaven.*^ The emperor stood in the rektLon of a son lo the supreme

beingp while at the same time he stood In ific relatina of father to bis

subjects and was supposed to exercise toward them the twin parental

functions of bene%olent support and enforcement of good behavior* A

second familiat relationship strongly tuslsted upon was that created by

the age differences betv’een different generations^ and between older

and younger brothers. Juniors should always respect and obey their

seniors. This svas reflected in. the attitudes and obligations of different

ranks of the nobility toward each other* I^stly^ mid not of familial

origiUp w^as tlie relationship of mutual assistfLiice and trust implied in

friendships which could be used as a basis for loyalty between the

feudal lord and his noble followers*

 

Under the Shang Dynast)' there had been a steady growth of cities^

and the trend continued In the Chou period. The Chou nobles were

city dwellers. Towns were fortified^ and served as centers for adoiinistra-

don and for the concentration and storage of the taxes paid in kind by

the peasantry* They also became centers for trade and for the mamifac-

tiure of articles required by court life. The feudal courts consisted of the

feudal lord^s famtly^ his aristocratic followers, and his advisors and

 

 

 

SHEUNE AT YAMADAp PHOVINm OF ISE, JA^AS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XXXVIL Early Historic China t54i

 

olBci£t]^ not nil of whom were of noble originn They became the centers

of lesmiing and lusiiry^ and provided a new stimulus for the develop¬

ment of civilizatloEL

 

The patterns of peasant Hfe under the Chou w*ere probably Iitde

changed from those under the Shangp but the theoreticid organization

of the Chou state was otended even to speciBcatfons for the peasant

village. It is Impossible to say whether the eight-family sj'stetn de¬

scribed id the records was ever actusilly imposed ^ but it certainly was

regarded as an ideal. Under this sj'stem, eight related families had their

dwellings grouped about a central well. Tlie fields surrounding the

village were divided inlo eight holdings of equal size anci value. Each of

these was assigned to a different family, and the holdings were rotated

at interv^als to achieve complete equality of opportunity. A ninth field,

somewhat smaller than the others^ was cuitivated by the joint labor of

the village^ and the produce w^as given to the feudal lord. The peasantry

wer^ also required to labor without pay on roatls* fortifications^ and

other public works, including the building of palaces for the feudal

lords. In the vs^allcy of the Yellow River^ which still constituted the heart

of the empire, the public works also included extensive urigation and

flood control projects, and the necessity for planning and coordinatiTig

these undoubtedly strengthened the control of the rulers.

 

The Chou swept away the last relics of matriarchal institutions and

established a pattern of direct succession from father to eldest son. Dur¬

ing the Shaug period, succession had passed from brother to brother

before reverting to the son» with the eonsequent temptations for fratri¬

cide and civil wwr. Chou societ)- was rigidly stratified. The nobles were

graded into five classes, according to the importance of the territones

which they ruled. Those of all classes held their fiefs directly from the

king rather than, us in tlie European feudal sjstem. from odier nobles

of higher rank. En Uie initial organization of the empire* the Chou rulers

eased the transition from the older system by confirming most of the

ruling families in the control of their hereditary territories, but any

noble who proved incompe-tent or untmstwortliy coidd be deposed and

his fief given to another, frequently a relative of the emperor* Below the

nobles them was a group of court officials and administrators ivho were

^ho directly dependent on the king, since the\' received their fneomes

as salaries or from estates which he had granted them. Below the offi¬

cials there was a numerically unimportant bourgeoisie of merchants and

skilled craftsmen, while the great muss of the peasantry stocxl at the

bottom of the scale.

 

Between the noblc.5 and common ers there was a clearly marked

division. Only the nobles attended the higher schools and receh'ed a full

education in the six liberal arts of the period: cereinonieSj music^ arch-

 

 

Part Nine: Thi: Orient

 

 

54 »]

 

ery, charioteemig* mathemi^tics, anil Although the Choti emper¬

 

ors boasti^d of having established sidiools for the common people, edu¬

cation in these was limited to knowledge essential for tlieir daily life.

In spite of this limitation of opportunity, there is abuncLmt evidence

that many of the officials and administrators were recruited from among

the coEQinoners, and this tendenej.^ became increasingly strong as the

disadvantages of hereditary transmissloa of ofiice become evidenL The

most important privilcgfi enjoyed by the nobility was that of immunity

from the penal code. It w^as a proverb of the time that “ritual dcjcs net

extend as far down as the people, nor the penal code as far up as the

nobility.** No noble could he executed for a crime, aldiough if found

guilty of a capital offense he might be pressured into taking his own life.

The common pcopicp on the other band, were exposed to the rigors of a

fairly strict penal code and could be punished in both their persons and

property.

 

In return for the common people's forced labor and payraent of

taxes, the nobility took upon themselves the tasks of defending their

subjects and of the amicable and orderly relations with tlie supernatural

upon w^hlch the w^cU-bcing of the state depended. Much as in Shang

times^ the noble of each grade sacriSced to the beings of his district and

to certain of bis o^vn jmeestors, the number being set according to his

rank. Thus the emperor sacrificed to seven ancestors, a noble of the

highest order to five, and so down the line. The alMmportant sacrifices

to heaven, upon w'hich the well being of the entire empire depended,

were performed by the emperor with special ritual paraphemiEia, the

unperial tripods. During die last centuries of the Chou period, whim the

secular power of the emperor had dimmished to the vanishing point,

the possession of these tripods carried with it the light to use the Im-

perid tide and to perform the imperial sacrificial functions.

 

The highly cEUtralized political system established by die founders

of the Chou dynasty soon proved unworkable. Several causes contrib¬

uted to its breakdown. The original system placed loo much responsi-

bilitj' on the emperor, while the strict rules of succession left his per¬

sonify to chance and often brought to the office weak or evil rulers^

The empire was under continuous pressure from bEubarian tribes on

both the northwest and south. The Chou nobility became more and

more a military nobility, whose only congenial activity was war. They

w^ere as willing to increase their estates at the expense of w^eaker neigh¬

bors as they were to protect the empire against foreign aggression. As

late as 700 b.c, the Chou aimies still followed the old organizatian of

chariot-driving nobles surrounded by iLghl-arnied infantry, but the old

feudal levies of untrained peasants were replaced more and more by

standing armies of professional soldiers^ This increased the charges upon

 

 

XXXV/f, Early Historic China [543

 

tlie p^asantiy, who now had to support their lord*s military' establish^

as well ns cost^ of his court Such courts were now

 

e5L^1jlis!ied in many cihes, and ^ied with each other in lusurj^ and osten-

rations display The border lords employed more and more foreign mer¬

cenaries, and the depredations of these poorly disciplined barbarian

troops added to the earlier tronbics of the common people. There were

repeated peasant re^^olts;, and one of the causes frequently cited is the

<Iestruction of crops and property during the nobles^ great hunting

parties. This snggosts tiial the Chou nobles held large scale surrounds

and game drives Uto those of the later Mongols.

 

Under the stress of constant warfare the nobility increasingly dele¬

gated hqlh education and civil admiDistmtion to an emergent group of

professional scholar-bureaucrats. Education, which had previously been

a monopolv of the noble class, thus became proletarianiaed, and schools

teaching oil of the old noble subjects, with the possible ojcception of

archery and charioteering, were opened in many cities. The office of

political advisor to a feudal lord offered a profitable career, and com¬

moners wdio had studied history and learned political skills sought the

patronage of rulers and found it quite consistent with their ideas of

honor to leave their native states and tiike service with whatever noble

wnuld pay them most liberally. The philosophers of the 6th and 5th

Centuries b.c., such as Confucius, Meticius, and othertp were drawm from

this group of scholai-biireancrats, and in view of their background it

is easy to understand the prectccupalions of their philosophic sj'stems

with social and political problems.

 

The constant stale of warfare and uncertainty, and the incorpora¬

tion of more and more barbarians into Chinese society, seems to have

weakened belief in the efficacy of tlic old formal sacrificial rites. Since

the performance of these rites was, in theory at least, the main function

of the ernperor, this also served to weaken the centra! power. By 700 b^c.

the empire had broken down into fourteen contending states, and the

role of die Chou emperor had become somewhat like that of the Holy

Roman emperor in medieval Europe. It carried gfeat prestige but little

actual |Mwer or emolument. The emperor^s politic^] control was limited

to the single state* a relatively small one, of which he was traditional

niler, and his revcmies to the taxes paid by its peasantry.

 

We need not coneem ourselves with the names of the fourteen early

states or the kaleidoscopic changes in the fortunes of their rtding bouses^

By 468 B,c., the beginning of the period generally known as the '^War-

ring States," only three of the origionl fiefs of the Chon empire were still

in existence. The most Important of these was Ch'i in the northern and

central part of China. This state had enjoyed a period of strength and

property under wise rulers, who had established a sort of state capital-

 

 

Fart Nine: Ttrc Orievt

 

 

544I

 

ism based on government ovs-nership of salt and iron mines and control

of trade. In tbe iiQrtliwest the new and largely barbarian state of Ch’in

was tlnf most poweHtiL while m Ihe south the ntwv state of Cb u, occupy¬

ing the midcUe course of the YeUo^v River^ was oxtendtfig its power

northwwd and attempting to bring the whole of China under its domi*

nation. Like Ch'in^ Ch'u contained strong foreign elements, drawn in

this case from the southern mountain tribes.

 

In approximately the 4tli centurj' bxu a new feature appeared. Prior

to this time the strength of tlie Chinese nrnues had lain in thetr armored

chariots. Cavalry now began to be used by the northwestem states. It

seems probable that this period marked the development presumably

in the steppes, of the equipment and tactics necessary for effective

mounted warfare. The combination of the tree saddle, stirrups* die com¬

posite bow^ and drilled liorsemen able to charge in line as w^eU as to

maneuver* was an innovation in warfare as revolutionary as the develop¬

ment of tile tank or airplane in later times. It changed the balance of

power along the entire froiiticr where Chhin met the steppes.

 

The war chariot was an expensive appliance. It was diJI.ctik to

build* and the maintenance of chariot teams in regions where the econ¬

omy \^Tis already based on intensive agriculture was a considerable

problem. The well-orgonizied Chinese states had enough economic sur¬

plus to enable tliem to build and maintain ccjnxfderable cLiariut forces.

The DomndSp on the other hand* lacked both the skilk and the material

resources necessary for the development of this weapon. Armored char¬

iots were irresistible against infantry or undrilled mounted men. It was

only in the periods of political con^inn that the barbarians were able

to invade successfully. Cavalry equipment could be produced by a

nomadic herding people with few financial resources. Tile hfe of the

herdsmen provided long mtervab of relative leisure, and even the manu¬

facture of composite bows and tree saddles roquirerl no equipment

which could not be readily transported when moving camp. After the

emergence of the cavalry complex^ the steppe peoples raided their

settled ncighboTS almost at will. China bore the first brunt of these at¬

tacks, but only a few centunes later Eurnpe, os far west as France, went

down before the IJunnish ea valrj'*

 

With the coming of the barbarian mercenaries Chinese warfare took

on a new and more sanguinary aspect. Tim civilian population of the

fortified cities, which formed the strong point of the feudal defense*

wiis discouraged from determined resistance by systematic massacre

inflicted on towns which w'ere captured after stubborn defense* x^Jso,

captured soliders* who Ld earlier ^ys had usually been set free at the

end of a campaign with nothing more serious than some mark of hu¬

miliation such as a clipped ear* were now systematieaUy executed in

 

 

XXXTIt, Early Historic Ctma [S45

 

order to weaken the trained manpower at the disposal of the enemy.

Metieulous records were kept of the number of heads taken, and it h

said that after tlie capture of the city of Ch'angping 400,000 persons

were beheaded. Even allowing for the exaggeratiqn usual to Oricntfll

scribes* the continuing loss of life must have seriously depleted the pop¬

ulation and left room for a strong infius of immigrants from the neigh¬

boring barbarians. Since Uic Chinese ceononiy depended heovfly upon

the presence of a large taxpaying peasant populatiotL, it is quite possible

that this immigration encouraged by the feudal rulers. The invaders

readily became accuUumted, and the influx seems to have had little

t (feet upon the Chinese civilization.

 

In spite of^ or perhaps because of, the ills from which the nation

suffered, the time immediately preceding the period of tlie VVarrihg

States was one of extraordinary intellectual activity. The rise of private

schools, which funcHoned side by side with those supported by the state

and eventually look over most of their fTinctions, and the admission of

commoner^ to these, provided what was unquestionably the largest

group of educated intellectuals which existed any^vhere in the ancient

%™rld. These intellectuals were all confronted by the very practical

problem of finding some way in whidi to alleviate the sufferings, ob-

riously due to governmental mbmanagement, which were making life

unbearable. Various philosophers found various answers. Among the

resulting systems those founded by K'ung Tzu (Confucius), Lao Tzu,

and Mo Tzu wwc the most important. The first two were able to exert

a profound influence on Chinese culture* and the Confucian school In

particular, thanks to official support, w'as directly responsible for the

dci'elopment of numcFOUS governmental patterns. It is difficult for a

European scholar who is unable to read Cliinese characters to get a

clear picture of these philosophies. Tlie telegraphic brevity of Chinese

sentenees ts not correlated with an equal clarity, and one finds numerous

differences in the interpretafiom which Chinese scholars themselves give

tn the earlier texts.

 

Confucius was of Northern Chinese origin, and the seat of the

school w'hich he originated was in the slate of Lu, still ruled in his time

by dukes of the Chon family. Confucius himself was the greatest scholar

of his d.iy, with a deep interest in historical precedents and a belief that

the lightly organized state set up by the first Chou emperor had been a

golden age. He revised anti idei^iz^d the records from this period, put¬

ting them in the form in which they still survive. His teaching w^as ethi¬

cal in intent but was wholly without supernaturalism* It ts difficult to

translate his concepts into Western terms* but he believed that there

 

a natural sympathy existing between persons. This found its strong¬

est expression within the family chclc, but ideally was extended until

 

 

Part Nine: The OEiE>n‘

 

 

546]

 

it enveloped the whole of niankEnd. In order to put this sympathy into

operation it was necessary to have a correct deBnition of what he called

^mrnesr In the Confuciao philosophy this term had a signiBeanee remi*

niscent of the Platonic absolutes. The ‘‘names* were regarded os realities

ejdsting in the world of ideas.

 

From the point of view of the modem sociologist, these "name^”

would correspond rather closely to a combination of 0 status and its

associated role. Knowing a “name" consisted of understanding the eitaft

position of a parbeukr category of individual in the social struduret

and of knowing the rights and obligations which went with this position-

The biter were phrased 05 rules of behavior^ making it easy to leam

them objechveiy and autumntisoe diem. The proper perfonmmee of an

individual s rok validated bb status- Only the prime minbter who per¬

formed the duties of his office properly was entitled to bo termiil a

prime minister. SimllaTly the emperor^ as an individual, was entitled to

be considered the Son of Heaven only os long as he performed the im¬

perial role correctly. When he failed to do thiSp it became not only the

right, but the obligation of the subjects to set him aside and to find an¬

other occupant for the imperial throne. Since Uie well-being of the em¬

pire depended upon the approval of Heaven^ failure of the emperor in

his duties w'os immediately made evident by a series of calamities, whik

conversely, the right of his successor to assume office was demonstrated

by success in re-establishing order and presperity. Confucianism is

unique among all the philosophies advanced before the iSth ceutuTy

period of enlightenment in reserving to subjects the right to revolt

 

In practice, Confucius was a prctisionist and erpeuded most of hb

energy in darifying the various social roles. Like other schokr-admitiis-

trators of the time, he was peripatetic, going from one court to another

in search of a patron who would he willing to put his tlioorfas into prac-

dee. Eventually Confucius w^as appointed to a minor governmental post

in the state of Lu^ It is told of him that in his later days at the court of

Lii he accompanied his ruler on a tour and remarked that the order

nf progress illvistrated the state or worldly affairs: pride and vice (i c..

the ruler and bis favorite concubine) leading the procession, and

dom and virtue Confucius) followiDg far behind.

 

The Confucian school underwent furtlier development at the hands

of two discipleSt Mencius and Hsiin Tzu, who agreed on the initial con¬

cept of ""namesr but differed diametrically on the question of whether

morality was in conformity with nature and consequciitly on the efficacy

of "sympathy* as the motivating force in good l^havior. Mencius be-

Sieved in the inherent goodness of human nature. According to him the

individual, if not interfered vnih, would turn tow^ard good as automati¬

cally as water runs dowoMl- His followers therefore objected strongly

 

 

XXXVll, Earhj Histone China [547

 

to :ill sorts nf social trompukion. HsUn Tzu, on the other hand, held that

hutnan nature was intrinsically neitlier good nor bad. He believed that

righteousness was a habit to be acquired only through the repetition of

good behavior. He might he thus classed a^ the earliest representative of

the [jcaming Tlieorj' school of personality psychologj'. Consistent with

this View* he also questioned the authority of the remote past and

thought of the development of societj' as a progressive process which

could be best understood and guided by contemporaiy sages.

 

After various vicissitudes the ConFudan philosophy w^as ostensibly

accepted in the Inter Han dynasty as a guide to the organumtion of the

empire. There is a tradition, probably apocryphal, tliat one of tlie Han

emperors, who found his rule increojtngly disturbed by tlie resurgent

power of the old feudal nobility, called in n Confueian scholar and asked

him how this group could be rendered harmless. The scholar is said to

have replied E them to distribute their estates equally among

 

their sons-" The emperor was so much struck by the wisdom of this ad¬

vice that be established Confudanlsm as tiie official philosophy of the

realm.

 

Even if this story were true* neither a single episode nor even official

favor can explain the w'ay in which Confucian philosophy has been able

to dominate Chinese thought for nearly 2000 years. The clue probably lies

in tliat characteristic of Chinese character which Francis Hsu has termed

“situation oriented " According to this penetrating analysis* the average

Chinese is ansdous to understand many situations tu which he finds hiiH'

self and to adapt liis behavior to them. His desire to adjust successfully

is given precedence over any abstract value system. The Confiici'an phi¬

losophy, with its dear definition of statuses and roies* darifies the social

situations which play a predominant part in any individuars life and

provides him with ready-made behavior patterns.

 

Tile philosophy of tjio Tzu presents a contrast to that of Confudus

at practically ever}' point WlicTC the Confudan school concentrates on

human relations aiid pays tribute to the supernatural only in its insist¬

ence on the proper perfonnance of rites, the school of Lao Tzu ignores

human relations and conccotrates instead on the understanding of the

universe* including aspects of it w-^hicb w'c would consider supernatural.

Where the Confucian scIkioI seeks for an ever clearer definition of con¬

cepts, and In this search lays heavy emphasis on scholarship and par-

ticularly on the study of histoiy, the school of Lao Tzu turns to medita-

lion and introspect ion and is content to leave its fundamental concepts

^gue and to seek tlie answ^er to problems in inspiration rather than

precedent.

 

It is an interesting fact that this school, commonly called Taoism*

tirjginated lu Southern China and was obviously an attempt to organize

 

 

548] Puri Nine: Th£ Otstent

 

attitudes and beb'efs already long established in that region. Taoism ob^

piously developed from the old iiaUire worship and disorganized super-

naturalism which preceded the emergence of a politically unified Chtna.

Folk elements entered into it so strongly that w-e do not even know^

whether or not Lao Tzu was a real individLial. There ore a large ntimber

of Taoist delticSp some of them supematural beings^ such as the king of

heaven and the goddess of mercy. This goddess:, an andent deity called

Hsi Wang MUp has been equated >vitJi one of the Buddhist saints and

alsOp £n some localities which have become Christian, wdth the Virgin

Marj\ Other Taoist deities are early heroes of legends. The Taoist god

of w'ar ts a famous general who died in the 3rd century. It is interesting

to specul&te whether Taoist mysttclsin and that of India may not go back

to some component of the old Southeast Asiatic co-tradition. since this

exerted an influence on both religions.

 

The fundamental concept in the philosophical system of Lao Tsai

was that of a onlverse in a constant state of change and reorganization

within the force field created by two opposing principles, the Tin [fe-

mole} and the Yang (male). The Chinese sage did not conceive of these

principles as in conflict. They were in babnee like the opposite poles of

a single magnet Both forces were completely impersoiml and amoral.

 

 

 

PAGDOA, FEKtHa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XXX\^IL Earhj Historic Chino [549

 

The idea of ibe unhorse as a field of ba ttle behveen Ormuz and Ahrii^nan

or between the Christian Cod and the Devil, with every Individual re¬

quired to pick his side and take active part, was totally alien to the

Taoirt philosophy. The Yin and Yang were conceived as being normally

in a state of balance which might be temporarily disturbed. The wi:se

man followed the middle way, the Tao, which was revealed to the indi¬

vidual as a result of meditation, especially in the presence of nature

uninfiiienced by human acH’i'ity, The typical Chinese Landscape, witli

mountains, a watorfaJh great trees, and, somewhere in the foreground,

a tiny human figure seated in meditation* was the perfect espression of

fhis TaoM concept In the presence of nature and its sublime forces

man was small indeed, and his mse course was to gain an uoderstand-

iiig of thcswc forces so as to avoid interfering with them.

 

As a logical development of its theories, Taoism turned its back on

political activities and advised the uidmdual to find his safetj’^ and

satisfaction in a meditative return to nature and to abstain from aetidn

lest he disturb the Yin-Vang babnee. The original Taoist doctrine did

not oonccni itself with social relations, but, in a setting where philo¬

sophical thought always eventually turned to problems of government,

the Taoists were forced to develop tlicir own theories in this field. The

Taoist attitudes toward nature provided the basis for a coneq^t of the

natural and tiiereforc happy man. fie liad big bones, strong muscles and

an empt)' head* qualities to be desired in the subjects of an autocratic

state. The duty of the ruler was to see thiit his subjects were well fed,

steadily worked, and maintaiocd in a state of contented apathy. Both

for his own good and that of the peasants themselves, tlie mkr should

make no attempt to teach or awaken them. .Above all, the governed

should be denied any part irt or understanding of the processes of gov¬

ernment. These tenets naturally aroused strong opposition in the Con-

fuebn school

 

Early Taoism w^as "this-world"* oriented. Like Confucianism, it had

no dear doctrine regarding survival after death. A hazy pantheism al¬

lowed for the ejcistence of snpematurid beings witliout clcm'ly defining

their attributes* Ilowever, the vagueness of Taoist teacbmgs left the way

open for the ioeoqiorutioii of all sorts of popular superstitions. Forces

of nature and gentt loci worshipped from prehisloric times were easily

incorporated into tlie system. So was a hvdy belief in ghosts and de¬

mons, llie latter frequently malicious ghosts, and in an afterworld mod¬

eled on the present. In the later development of Taoism the "situation-

oriented"" factor of Chinese character came into play. If one accepted the

Yin-Vang hypothesis it wai highly desirable to know the stale of the

balancing forces at any given time and place in order to adjust one*s

behavior to it. As n result, the later Taoism became the resort of magi-

 

 

Pari Nine; The Ohient

 

 

550]

 

daiii and forhineteUm af all sorts. Under the fnBuenc^ of Buddhism

it also developed die features neeessarj' to an orgaucEjed religion: images,

temples, fonnal rites, priests, ami even monks and tiuns.

 

The school of Mo Tssu dates from the same time as that of Con-

fudus. Its fundamental principle was that of s)™pathy* but it ignored

die gradations of sympathy b^ed on degrees of nearness w^hieh Con¬

fucianism insisted on so stronglyp and declared that the individuals lov^

should be extended et^ually to all mankind. In contrast with the other

two schools, it was definitely theistic and, indeed, almost monotheistic.

The world was not gov^metl by fate but by the conscious will of a su¬

preme being. The existence of other supematural beings was recognised,

but they occupied minor positicins. Great stress was laid on die reality

of individual survival aftc*? death* The love for mankind which the

school taught was not regarded as either bstinctive or fenrned but as a

religious duty* The attitudes of the schoors, members were strongly

ascetic, and its adherents were expected to sacrifice all comforts and

I'oy to their service to humanity. At the same time tliey combined a prac¬

tical attitude with their asceticism and judged the value of various acts

on the basis of tlieir utility. For this reason they condemned the teaching

of the arts, especially music. The philosophers of this school were noted

as fearle^ts and devoted advisors to princes* In accordance with iheir

doctrines, they were w^dling to sacrifice themselves for the good of the

communiW. PaciB™ was an outstanding feature of their doctrine, but

they w^erc re^stic enough to distinguish between wars of aggression

and those waged m self-defense.

 

Gertain parallels can be drawn betwecti the teachings of this school

and that of the Quakers. Although the follovvers of Mu Tzu relied on

strict logic and lacked the ecstatic quality which characterised early

Quakerism, both were in agreement on the direct relations between man

and the deity, and on the obligation of the individual to give his whole

energies to the bettennent of mankind, while retaining a realistic atti¬

tude. In the pacifism of both one can see natural reactions to the suffer¬

ings of populations which had been subjected to generations of war* It

is a curious commentary on the effects of Mo Tzu's teachings that, after

their official suppression, they seem to have $umved iu the doctrines of

the far from pacifist, secret sects which came to the fore repeatedly in

China in times of disorder. The most recent of these manifestations oc¬

curred in the Peiping rebellion and in the Boxer uprising. The similari¬

ties between Mo Tm$ doctrines and some elements of Christianily may

have been a factor contributing to the imperial Chinese government's

suspicion of Christian missionaries.

 

The three philosopliios just described coexisted for centuries and

exerted considerable effect, not only on Chinese institutions but ol^ on

 

 

XXXVIL Early Historic China [gji

 

each other. A numbcf of minor philo^sophle^ were bom from their inter¬

action. The only one of these which eJcercised significant infiuence on the

development of Chinese culture was the school of the Legalists. This

had as its main aim the development of effective patterns for state ad-

ministration Its concepts were worked out most completely in the

orgoni^tion of the state of Chin, which, a few centuries later, stepped

forward to unite a China enfeebled by the endless wars of a decadent

feudalism. The ftmdamental idea of the Legalists was that of govern-

ment by bw, with human factors eliminated as completely as possible

They devoted their attention to the development of statute bw, and to

defining its meaning so accurately that individual opinion could not in^

tnide into its adminbtrahou. They were probably the first group any¬

where in the world to insist on the equality of all members of the state

before the law* In \ 4 ew of the immujiity of the nobles from the Chou im¬

perial code, this w^as a revolutionary development. The cold imperson¬

ality of this school succeeded in welding the state of Chin into a formi¬

dable weapon and In holding it together during tlie period of conquest,

hut understandably, under the new dynasty^ it disappeared as a schnol

although its principles remained alive under a veneer of Confucianism.

It is interesting to note llxat during the Chinese republic this philosophy,

largely because of its similarity to European concepts of jurisprudence,

enjoyed a brief revival.

 

All the speculations of the philosophers could not arrest the in¬

creasing disorder of tile closing centuries of Chou feudalism. The san¬

guinary wars whleli folJow^ed the intjoduetion of cavalry greatly reduced

the population, and the systematic killing of prisoners of war resulted In

the elimination of a large part of the feudal nobility. The state of Ch'in,

lying north of the center course of tlie YeUow River^ was saved from

ihese evils. It \vas protected from most attacks by a mountain range, and

bud a series of rulers and councilors who were statesmen of outs^tanding

ability* Although thcir ultimate aim was the conquest of China, they

avoided wars of doubtful outcome and followed a consistent policy

aimed at strengthening the state by exploiting its rich natural rcsourees,

including its inhabitants* The rulers' advisors were largely Legalists, and

under their direction Chin w^as changed from a feudal state of the usual

Chinese sort to a totalitarian eonqllcst-^J^ientcd nation of surprisingly

modem type.

 

Much of the population of Chm consisted of Hunnish barbarians

who had drifted into the territory from the steppes. This no doubt fa¬

cilitated the rulers' plans for social reorganization. The great family and

the eight-family village system were both abolished, but one may doubt

whether either had ever become firrnly established in this regiem* Tlie

old feudal distinctions of rank were completely swept away, with all

 

 

Part yine: The OniEsrr

 

 

55*1

 

power centering in the ruler and his ndminislr^tors. Each family lived

en a separate allotments and the number of fields, houscSp servants, and

even gamieuts permitted to each family svas strictly reguiated. Any

family with more than two adult males had to break up or pay double

taxes. The whole state w-a^ divided into districts w'ith officials in charge.

The families within the district were organized in groups of cither five

or ten- If any members of such a group committed an offensCp all mem¬

bers were punished for itp hence they could be trusted to watch each

other and to report delicts promptly* The army occupied a favored posi¬

tion. Ever}' man w^s liable to lifelong military service, and ail officials

were also army officers* The leaders of successful campaigns and soldiers

of outstanding courage were highly rewarded, wlule failure or cowardice

were usually punish^ by death. Tlie Legalists saw to it that these regu¬

lations were enforced with the greatest severity. The main weakness of

the system proved to be that it provided no rewards, only punishmentSp

for the peasantry. Such a system could enforce ob€>dicneep but not loy¬

alty p and it could not arouse devotion. \\^en the slate of Chjii, under

its greatest ruleXp knowm to history as Shih Hunng Ti. finally conquered

the whole of China, its control was short-lived.

 

Shih Huang Ti combined the administrative and organizing ahilit}^

of an Augustus Caesar w'llh the megalomania of a Hitler. In the long

run, the eousohdation of China which he accomplish&tl and the models

which he set for later imperial rule were a distinct gain, yet his name is

still excerated for his excesses, and above aU For bis attempts to destroy

the whole pattern of classical education and scholar administratiun. Bom

to tlie rule of Ch*in^ he continued the cx|uinstan begun by his predeces¬

sors. Whenever a Feudal district had been conquered, its hereditar}'

nobility were eliminated, and it was incorporated into one of the prov¬

inces of the growing empire. At the end of his conquests there were

thirt}'-six of these provinces, to which four more were added later. Each

province, Ln tum^ was divided into districts for administrative purposes-

This general pattern of organization remained in use throughout all

later Chmese history.

 

The organization of tlie new united China was charactorfeed by a

sharp differentiation between civil and military aulho^^t}^ The two were

united in the person of the emperor but were kept separate at all lower

levels^ At the head of the civil administration was a prime minister^ who

was conccnicd only with internal affairs and government. Tlie army was

directed by a general who had no pow^er outside the military* Each

province and district had cadres of both civil and military^ officials-

Lastly, there was a third and quite indepeudent body of censors w'hose

solo duty it was tu chech on the perforniancc of officios of the other two

classes. To insure their faithfulness to the central government, official

 

 

XXTVTf. Early Hisiorie China [553

 

were continuflUy transfc-TTed horn one di^ict to flnothor. Nn ofUdiil M?as

lallowctl to rennain in one place long enough to develop ties viith the

local inhabitants^ and the central power was particularly careful to see

to it that appointments were made to prn\inees as far as possible from

those in which the administrator's owti family was located.

 

Under the feudal system there had been niiiiiemus local differences

innch nice those of medieval Europe. The units of land measurement,

weights and measures^ and wagon gauges varied from place to place.

The last had considerable effect on long distance transport in a regiuii

where all goods bad to be carried over unsurfaeed, deeply rutted roads.

Shih Huang Ti proceeded to standardize all these items. Local laws

were replaced by a single imperial code. During the feudal period a

number of local scripts had been developed and Shih Huang Ti s minis¬

ter, Li Ssu, selected eight of these, added one more of his own devising,

and decreed each of tlicm the proper vehicles for one of the nine types

of literature. Tlie dialectic differences of the various parts of China^

however, amounting in some cases to mutual unintelhgihility, were too

much for even Shih Huang Tis standardizing ability and have survived

down to the present time.

 

Shih Huang Ti"s attempts to standardize thought were less success¬

ful, The various schooLs of philosophy were deeply entrenched in both

education and government, and the colleges In which they were taught

were centers around which resistance could be organized. On the advice

pf Li Ssu, the emperor finally adopted the drastic step of decreeing a

monster book burning. Books on agriculture, astronomy, and medicine

were allowed to continue in circulation, but works on what we would

now term social science and those dealing with history' other than that

of the state of Ch'in w'ere condemned. Copies of condemned w orks w^cre

to be kept in the imperial library, where they could be consulted by

properly qualiBed persons who obtamed permission from the govern¬

ment, but their ownership by priv^ate individuals was strictly prohibited^

That the purpose of this the control of thought rather than abolition

of learning is proved by the emperors creation of a gigantic library in

his capital. In this library ancient manuscripts pF all sorts were assem¬

bled and its destnietlon, at the time when the capitiil was sacked and

burned, probably did far more to eliminate early records than the em¬

peror's suppressive measures.

 

It has been observed that one of the surest methods of preserving a

literary work for posterity is to have it condemned by the authorities,

witlj a demand that the owners of all copies turn them in to be de¬

stroyed. Under such circumstances tlie condemned work acquires an

abi^ormal value, and copies of it will be bidden away* After the collapse

of Shih Huang Ti's superstate most of the condemned books rapidly

 

 

Part Nine; The Oiuent

 

 

554I

 

fieappeiired. However, the r^ression had produced 0 Idatus in the de¬

velopment of scholar^ip. As a result of this and of the new standardi2a'

don of the writing, whose obvious advantages led to its retention, the

classics had to be transcribed and undoubtedly undetwent various modi¬

fications in the process.

 

The massacre of scholars common^ ascribed to Shih Huang Ti

seems to be largely legendary. Some scholars who refused to turn over

their libraries were eKecuted, but most of the victims belonged to a

group of court magicians who had become unpopular. Like certain other

totalitarian rulers, Shih Ifuang Ti seems to ha^'c been extremely super-

stidous and kept about him diviners and magic workers of all sorts,

Those who failed to work promised miracles or made unfavorable pre¬

dictions were eliminated, but there were always others ready to take

their place.

 

 

 

TEMPLE OF BEaVEM, FmCINC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XXXV/f. FMfly Historic ChiFin [SSS

 

The eTHperar’s megalomaiiiii also fdund expression In building on ^

colossal scale. His palace and tomb were the largest structures vt-hich

had been erected in China up to that time. Before the palace stood a

series of gigantic bronze statues east from sacriHcJal vessels of the con¬

quered feudal states, while it is said that the floor of the tomb was laid

out as a map of China with mnnmg streams representing the principal

rivers. These buildings have disappeared without a trace* His lasting

monument was the Great Wall. Archcofogica] research has shown that

die Chmese of the later Chou, like the Romans of the later imperial

period, w'ere much given to building walls along their frontiers. Al¬

though such w^alls would not have been a serious deterrent to civilised

Liiuagonists equipped w'dh siege machinery, they did provide some pro¬

tection against barbarian raids and reduced the utility of the barbaiian

cavalry, their most effective arm. Before Shih Huang Ti came to power

the state of Chao had built and fortiBed a wall on the northwest which

formed the nucleus of the Liter Great Wall, wlide the state of Yen had

built a similar wait on the east. In each case these waUs had been pushed

beyond the original Umits of the stele to enclose lands which were then

settled by the state's peasantry.

 

At the time when Shih Huang Ti came to power^ the importance

of die Hsiimg-nu barbarians was steadily increa^ingj and their attacks

on the frontier were becoming more and more serious^ Tlicse Hsiung-nu

seem to have been the same people as tlic Huns w^ho later terrified

Europe, or at least were of kindred stock and possessed the same mtll-

fary patterns anti fighting ability* In tlic year S15 a.c. Shih Huang Ti

dispatched against them the Commadder in Chief of the military forces,

One of the two greatest officials in the empire, wnth an arniy of 300,000

men. He succeeded in beating tliem back and in anne]dng considerable

lerritorj' from tbcm but as in all w^^xs with nomads, the advantage was

oidy teInponi^y^ To defend the newly acquired territory he linked up

the existing walls and frontier posts, fonoiiig the Great Wall*

 

It has been suggested that the purpose of the Great Wall was quite

as much to keep the Chinese peasants in as to keep the barbarians out.

The- economy of China in this, as in kter times, was completely de¬

pendent upon a large agrarian population whose economic surpluses,

iudividuiiliy small, could be diverted to the support of the state. Them

is abundant evitlence that in the slightly later Han period numerous

Chinese peasants did join tlie barbarians, ^fany of the Cbiiiese along the

border were the descendants of barbarians who had settled tliere and

had become Sinified duruig the feudal period. Tlic oppression which all

the peasants suffered under Shih Huang Ti must have provided a strong

incentive to escape froni his tax collections and labor press gangs. VVhat-

ever the purpose of tlie Wall, and no nuitter how many earlier elements

 

 

Part Nine: Tire Orient

 

 

556I

 

were mcorporateiJ into it, it stiU retrains one of the grenlest work:i

erected by mm md a lasting momiinent to the superhuman energy and

organizmg ability' of the first authentic emperor of China.

 

Shib Huang Ti was far too great an egoist to found a d3masty, Nfen

of his type can never tolerate sons who are potentially of their own

stahire. When he died he left a country seething with discontent, and

the foeble son who tried to carry on the dynasty was eliminated in a

few montlis. The imperial peace gave way to a struggle between war

lords^ with mobs of starving peasants wandering from place to place and

leaving disaster in their wake* Out of the chaos there finally emerged a

strong ruler, whose possession of the Mandate of Heaven was shown by

his ability to restore peace and ordern This man, Liu Fang, followed the

pattern of later war lords, if he did not create it. He was an illiterate

peasant who began his career as a brigand, then made himself Duke of

Fei and finaUy Emperor^ His accession marked the beginning of the

Han dynasty in whidi China became, for the first time, a power in world

affairs.

 

 

Chapter XXXVIII

 

 

Late Dynastic China

 

 

Fnn 2000 YEAMs the Chinese have been the largest politically and cul¬

turally unified group in the world. The eenstts mnde in loo a.d.^ dtiring

the Inter Han period, reported a population of 60,000,000, and it should

he noted tliat Chinese censuses are always underestimated, because the

peasant quite normally concludes that any ofBeial who asks questions is

getting statistics for lax purposes and consequently tells as little as

jxyssible. For the next thousand years the population of China was al¬

most static, indicating that it had developed to the limit set by the com¬

bined resources and techuology at this period. Frojtt 1100 au, to the

census of 1736 die population slow ly increased. In 1736 it was 125,000*-

OQO* Between 1736 and 1881 it advanced suddenly to 380^000,000 and

has been climbing steadily ever since-v

 

At this particular time in lustory there was a sudden increase in

population duoughout the Old World. The reason is not clearly under-

stootL In Europe the increase has been attributed to the beginning of

mechauization and opening of colonial markets* but the same phe-

nornenon took place in China and India, which were untouched by die

industrial revolution at this time. In any case, China has had for a very

long time a tremendous population which was much more united cuL

turily dian any other popubtion in the world. Even in times of collapse

of the central power* when there was confusion and dvil war, the Chi¬

nese have maintaicied their tradition of unity and looked upon such

times as mere interludes.

 

This huge population has been of great advantage to Chioa, for it

has made the countiy really in vulnerable. The conqueror who estab¬

lished himself over this huge, culturally united, dvilLzed population in¬

evitably found himself swamped, acculturated, and ultimately absorbed^

However, such a huge population has also set significant social and

governmental problems* problems which we In the West have faced for

 

55;

 

 

55®*1 Part Nine; The Orient

 

some time but uhicli wc are beginning to solve. Big popuIntiODS are

a fairly new development in world hislor>'. Most of the continental na-

tions, up until the iSth century, were under 25 million, and Great Britain

never eircecded 10 miUloti. The necessity for handling bundreds of mtU

lions of people under a iimfied central goveniment poses new problcitu

for which adequate techniques have not yet been cicvdoped.

 

To understand the background of Chinese political organization, it

is necessaiy to take a look at the general social patterns of the country.

With the exception of t!ie Northeast part of the country, where families

live on large isolated farms, much like the American farm pattern, the

single independent homestead is rare in China. The real unit is the

village, a collection of families living close togetlier, frequently with a

mud wall surrounding the settlement as a protection against wandering

bandits. Beyond tlie villages are a series of cities, which function mainlv

as administrative centers and as dwellbig places for the wealthy part

of the population (which in Old Cliina was almost enUrely the officiai

class) and for the service occupations, such as the manufacture of luxury

objects. ^

 

, ’*^’5 of the economy differed in certain respects from

 

those of India and the West, There is no suggestion of the Indian caste

system, with its hereditary occupational groups. Nor, except within nar¬

row limits, was there the Western pattern of concentrating mannfac

turmg m the cities. There was instead iocal concentratian of particular

industries: certam villages in one district would manufacture one item

and exchange it for the products of other villages. These exchanges were

e^cd on in market towns, which were intermediate in size between

the villages and the cities. The peasants came into the market towns and

sold and exchanged their goods for raw materials which they needed or

ftey ramc for Bnished products. This organization of local specialties,

by which one small district made all the baskets of a particular type

that were used all over Chinn, another concentrating on a special kind

of iron tool, etc.. reSects the pattern of a unified country with stion-

central control which made safe trade possible. Even in times of con¬

fusion, when it did not operate properly, this organization was retained

in the minds of ihc populace as the ideal pattem.

 

The bulk of the population were free landholders living in villages,

'^ere arc two great dividing lines in Chinese society: the line bctvreen

tire man who ov^ land, even if it is only a minute patch, and the man

who does not. The landowner is like the captain of a boat: whether it is

a battleship or a barge, he is stilJ the captain and distinct from a mere

Milor; similarly, the Chinese peasant with his patch of land feeU superior

to a landless man. The other dividing line falls between the peasant and

 

 

XXJfVf//. Lat^ Dynastic China [559

 

artisan groups, who work with thiur hands, and tlie scholar and official

group.

 

Since the Chitiese peasants do not practice primogeniture but di¬

vide their estates evenly among their sons, there is a eousfont frugmcnla-

tioD of holdings^ This means that a section of the peasant popdation is

progressively jiqtieezed off the land and Forced to become either city

proletariat or, in recent times, riekshaw hoys. China, whenever the con¬

trols of famine Or war are not operating, rapidly builds a larger popu¬

lation tliaii can be maintained at the level of hind industries and uses

this proletariat for the heaviest and most unskilled labor. It is because

of this constant supply of labor, which %vili work for anything it can get

in order to live, that slavery has never taken hold in China, In the large

wealthy households there ore women servants who have been bought as

children and might be regarded as slaves, but they are actually bronght

up as members of tlic fomily, and their master has a definite obligation

to find husbands for them when tl>ey are of age. There w^ere slaves in the

Imperial Palace, but tliere was nathing hke the mass sbvery of the sort

wdiith flourished in the West^ That coxdd not develop because it was

cheaper to use the proletariat, just os it was only after tlie rise of the

machine that our consciences began to trouble ns about slavery. Witli

the machine it w'as obviously cheaper to hire a man, treating his labor

ay a commodity and tlirowing him out when he became old or disabled^

tlian to own Him as a slave and he obliged to take care of him.

 

The Chiue'se village is norTnally composed of individuals of a

single name group. There are in China a limited number of family

names, most of which trace their origin to definite localities in China.

Some of these name groups may include as many a$ 400c people^ though

many fomilicas within such a group cannot trace any gcnealogicaj con¬

nection. There is no institution in Western civilization which corre¬

sponds to these name groups. They indude individuals at all social

levels, ranging from scholars high in the government to peasanb and

the diioppropriatcd proletariat. However, these groups are strictly er-

ogamous. The peasant must get his wife from another vlibge, a practice

that saves a man considerable trouble with bis in-laws, who are never

near enough to interfere. Marriages are arranged by go-bcftweens, mar¬

riage brokers who in many cases take a keen interest in knowing the

market and making sore that the marriages lum out well* Marriages arc

of great concern to both families. Parents of a son must provide a wife

for him so that the family line will he continued. Since there is no per¬

manent place for daughters in the Chinese household^ parents rf a

daughter must marry her into another family where she will have an¬

cestors and offspring and not he a homeless ghost when she dies. There

 

 

Port Nine: Tim

 

is no bride price in China, but there is a ceremonial exchange of gifts

between the two families.

 

The Chinese village comnmnily is like oiif own in being a close

in-grotip, in which everjone know's cvcrj'one elsc's business. Morality and

rules of avoidance bebveen U^e sexes are imposed with as much vigor os

would be the case in ti villuge of similar riae in Vermont and by much

tlie same technJqufi. The upper ebsses^ of course^ are permitted to take

concubines, but no peasant has the economic resources to take on a

concubine, and there would be strong social pressure against his doing

so in any case.

 

The new wife is completely subject to her mother-in-law^ and has

no status in the family at first. However, a wife who Ms home sons and

is getting Into middle age is in a strong position, VVhim her sons nmrr;’

and she acquires daughteis-in-Iaw to dominate m her turn, she fre¬

quently becomes the real head of the family. The peasant family is usu¬

ally split after the marriage of the sons. The brothers may get along

well together and prefer to reinain in the family under the direction of

the eldest, but the wives» who come in from various outside villages, be¬

come Jealous of one another, particularly after they have children* and

stir up so much trouble that the families tend to break up in the second

generation ^

 

However, there is a quite diflerent partem of family life for die

scholar and official class. Here the ideal picture is diat of the great

family. Such a family is a corporation which persists for generations

under the leadership of the oldest male in each generatioD. When a man

huJlds a fortune^ by whatev er means, Jt is. his ambition to found a family

of this sort. The family establishmctU is a compound, with each son and

hts wife and children occupying one compartment of it. The group owtis

the familv wealth, whether it is in land or business or wliatcvcr^ in oom-

moa, Hke a curporatioTip pro-rating the income to the various members

of the group as needed. If a son cannot get along with the others or

wishes to try his fortune elsewbere, he will be paid off, given his share,

and allowed to go. Families can be kept going in this way for centuries,

although as a matter of fact, in spite of the ideal pattern of indefinite

persistence, few of the great families have managed to keep going to¬

gether for more tliau four or Eve generations. However, by this time the

group may well number over lOo persons, including a collection of poor

relations and hangers-on wbo occupy an intermediate position between

family members and servants* The head of the family frequently is

vague about where such itidividtials fit into the family^ but it is to his

credit to have a large number of persons in this extended family group.

 

There Is in China another family unit mai;le up of individuals w'ho

recognize a common descent of a fairly close sort, that Is, by genealogl-

 

 

XXXVIff. Late China [561

 

cal record. Tliey know how they are related to oiie another, which the

name group does not. They have a graveyard in common and also a

temple. This temple acts as a sort of foundation. Rich members of the

Tsti, as this group is colled, wiU bequeath money or land to it, the in¬

come of which will be used to help indigent members, or to educate a

proinisitig boy to become a scholar or eventually a member of ilie official

class. The Tsu is sort of a mutual aid society', more importajit in the

south of China than in the north.

 

One of the most significant things about Chinese society is that

there is a high degree of vertical mobility, not only in theory but in fact,

as much as there is in England, for example, where in spite of strong

class distinctions it is possible for a commoner to make a fortune and

buy his way to knighthood- In China tliere is a steady turnover in the

population, with families of peasant ancestry' gradually rising into the

scholar and official class and then dropping out again. Until recent times

this w’orked as follows. The entree to Chinese officialdom was through

education and the ability to pass a series of competitive e.vaminations.

Tlie Chinese system of writing is so complicated that, before one can be¬

come a scholar, his family must have enough economic surplus to sup-

j>ort him for a mioiiiium of six years. This is tlie time required to learn

to read the classics (Coufucian, Four Books and Five Classics), to com¬

pose essays and poetry, and to use a computing machine. These were

tlie things one had to be able to do to pass the Erst examination.

 

Tire scholar held a high position in China, the poorest scholar, a

railage school teacher, for example, tukhig social precedence over a rich

merchant who was illiterate. Therefore, any family who could afford to do

30 educated its sons in the hope that they might be able to pass the official

examinations. These examinations were one of the few' things in early

China which were kept reasonably free from graft, because they were

regarded as the core of the system. It is true that in the later days of the

Manchu dynasty and during some other dynasties also, it was possible

to buy lower military degrees which were correlated with academic de¬

grees. The Chinese themselves hird a term for it; "a degree by the back

door.” Howev'er. an individual with a back-door degree never achieved

an official position in the governmenL

 

The examinations were first introduced under the Han dynasty',

rouglily from 200 n.c. to 200 a . d . There was at this time ojiisiderahle

friction between the emperor and the scholar groups, and it is said that

the Han emperor who organized the examinatipn declared: "Now I

liave the scholars fast in my net" However, it proved to be the scholars

who had caught the emperor, for die Chinese government w'as domi¬

nated by the scholar class from Uiat time until fairly recently. The ex¬

aminations assumed their final form under the T'aiig dynasty, between

 

 

geaj Tiie Orient

 

700 and 900 i-D. They usually consisted of two essays and a poem of

twelve lines of five characters each, all on a subject assigned at the last

minute. Tliis pattern continued with little change tn either form or sob-

ject matter imlil igia, wheii the so-called Republican Revolution oc*

curred in China.

 

It was essential that a candidate for any appointivo post pass at

least the first examinjition. Usually two degrees were required. There

were four examinations in all. but few were able to achieve this highest

degree. Those who did so were taken cate of, even if tltey could not be

assigned to on immediate post. They were pensioned and held in reserve

until a post became vacant. All the administrative officials above the vil¬

lage level were appointed, the appointees being taken from the lists of

those who had passed the examinations. The village bad a highly demo¬

cratic type of government run hy a village council, comparable to ft New

England town meeting. It operated with great edectiveness:. for the

council WHS a group of men who were family heads and whose opinions

carried authority in the village. However, above the level of the vilLtge

council, government was from above downward.

 

The first generation scholar whose parents were from the peasant or

merchant class would rarely be able to get a government post even after

he had passed the rigidly competitive examination. He usually settled

back, content with the dignity received in this way, while his family

group worked to accumulate enough w-ealth so tliat his sons could eoo*

tiniie as scholars. If they passed the examinations they would be in fine

for the coveted government jobs. However, the compcdtlon w'os so keen

that there were always more academically qualified men than there were

jobs. Since the contestants w'erc not arranged no any list of seniority ac¬

cording to the highest marks on examinations, obtaining a government

job required a pull with officials already in office. The candidates tended

to gravitate to Peking where they would w'ait around, pulhng all pos¬

sible Strings.

 

The successful candidates were usually given jobs in a part of China

ns remote as possible from their homes. This was done because, as soon

as it was known that a member of tlie Tsu had a government post, every¬

one who had a kin claim would be around looking for help or minor

jobs. The only way to avoid this horde of hungry relatives was to move

out of reach. In the old days, when traveling was difficult, an official

who was shifted to ft distant province left his relatives safely behind.

However, with the rise of the motor bus and other handy means of

transportation, a flock of poor relotions would be sitting on his doorstep

by the time a new provinota] governor arrived at his post, hoping to

make use of the pattern of family loyalty and family obligations for all

sorts of graft and patronage.

 

 

XXXVIII. Late Dynastic China [583

 

In theory, every pest in the govemitient, except the post of the em¬

peror himself, was open to any man with sulHcient abihty. There were a

few groups, policemen, ferrymen, anti slaves, for examplcp who were not

eligible to take esaminatiDns, but these were small in number as com¬

pared to the Chinese population as a whole. The student who had com¬

pleted a course of higher kaming, which was principally a study of

inorul philosophy, history* and literature, went up for his first examina-

tioa. Tliesc examinations were held in the prefectuTal cities of each prov¬

ince twice in tiiroe years. The examiners were the district rulers and

literary chancellors appointed hy the govemment. When the indi^tidual

came up for examination he had to file a document giving bis age and

place of birth, and showing that he was not a member of one of die prCH

hibfted groups. He was searched to moke stire that he had no cribs or

ponies on his person and then put into a srnall room* tlie door of which

was scaled from the outside with a strip of paper with the official stamp

on it.

 

The examinations covered a broad general field and were designed

tci demonstrate the scholar*^ intelligence and ability. The assumption

was that a man who was intelligent enough to pass the examinations

could soon acquire the special skills needed for a particular job. This is

in direct opposition to the American belief that,, if 3 man knows the sfcilb

needed in his job, nothing else matters, and to our idea of a poljticiaa os

an individual who Is, not only in hfs general interest but in his general

abilities, as near the common man as possible. The Chinese idea was to

devote as much ingenuity as possible to finding a really superior man for

legislative and administrative jobs- by superior they meant a man who

w as honest, disinterested, and devoted to die public good. The rewards

were higb» unlike the American tj^stem where a trained men can make

much more money on the outside than he can in a govenmient job, lui-

less he goes in for graft on the side.

 

The Chinese system was very like that of the British Colonial Serv¬

ice W'hich had been, until recent times, one of die most effective admin¬

istrative groups in the world. Here too die civil service examinations

were directed mainly tow'ard discovering cultured men of high intelli¬

gence, and questions varied all the way from one on the book-coUecting

tastes of Boccaccio to the reading of a weather chart* The Chinese ofiB-

cial was a simiiorlv carefully selected man and a man of high I.Q. Any

European official who had to deal with the Chinese government in the

days when the Manchu dynasty w^as strong w^ns well aware of the high

quality and abilit}' of these men. Occasionally the system might mis¬

carry as, for instance, when a Mandarin of the fourth rank who had

never been on the water w'Os appointed to command the Chinese fleet

in the first Sino-Japanesc war. Naturally the Chin-ese fleet was rapidly

 

 

564] P^n Nine: The ChiiENT

 

eliminated. The M^indarm followed the best scholarly Imclltloii bv writ*

ing an cxcL^Uent literary^ ode m die subject, transmit ting it to the em¬

peror, and then coinmitting sulcide^ But apart from such emergency situ-

ations. the oiethod worked effectively.

 

Sis or sev^eit thousand students svould compete in the first esamina'^

tion. From these perhaps less than ten per cent would be chosen. These

would then take another competitive examination, and so forth, until

not more tfian one per cent, say sixty out of six diousand, would be given

the first degree. Those who passed could go to the prefectural cities and

enter universities to prepare for the second examination. A man who had

passed the first degree had nothing to worry’ about. His financial sccuritj'

was assured, for if his family could not help him for further study, the

commuRily would pay his expenses on the chance of his passing the

second degree and getting a government post. The Chinese have Blw&ys

been gamblers, and they were willing to take the chance of getting a

friend in the government who could help tlic community.

 

Passing the first degree was a great event. The name qf the success¬

ful candidate was inscribed on the ancestral tablets of Ids family. Before

the arrival of the telegraph in China there used to be a special group

of men who made their living by acting as messengers for such news.

They would wait outside the examination rooms until the list of the

winning candidates was posted, then ride off to announce the good news

to the families in remote villages. The families, filled with good FeeJing

at such times, rewarded the messengers liberally.

 

The second examination was held in the provincial capital, with

examiners appointed by the emperor. The procedure was similar to tliat

of the first examination. The successful candidates were decorated with

a coUar and a gold flower. The winners then went to the capital, Peking

in the old days, for examinations in the third degreci The winners re¬

mained to take a fourth examination given^ and corrected in red ink, by

the emperor himself. The winners of the highest degree were divided

into four classeSh One group was pensioned and kept in reserve to fill im¬

portant vacancies. A second group became members of the inner coun^

cil. A third group was appointed to prp^itiomt in government bureaus,

and a fourth group was sent out as provincial rulers.

 

Needless to say, the last posts were the ones most sought after, be¬

cause the ruler was in a position to cut in on the highly organi^Lcd graft

which was an mtegral part of the Chinese governing system. Since there

were not enough posts to go around^ getting an appointmedt, even after

passing the final examination, required a combination of skill and in¬

fluence. The Chinciie official who had gone tlirmigh this process was ex-

ceetlingly intelligent and as long as government in China was actually

 

 

XXJCVUf, Late Dynastic China

 

It'ft lo this honestly recruited hureauerac}' of scholars everything went

exccediJigly well. Tile weak spot in the system svas that there was no

equally rigid arrangement for recniiting emperors. The Chinese did not

follow the patterns of primogeniture, although there was a tendency to

it in the imperial line, lij general, the emperor designated his heir from

among his sons. Since the emperor was pol>gynous and his wives were

chosen from various important Chinese families, tlie scheming and in¬

trigue which this sy'stem occasioned can be imagined. When tlie heir

was appointed, his mother worked on him to gel appointments for all

the members of the family. The sign of impending breakdoun of a

dynasty w'as always that the administratioii began to pass out of the

hands of the real scholars recruited hy the Mammations and into the

haods of palace favorilei+

 

The palace eunuchs played a deadly part in the breakdo^vn of Chi¬

nese dynasties. The eunuchs in China differed decidedly from those in

Islamic countries, where they were usually slaves. In China they were

volunteers, in many eases middle-aged men who had already fulfilled

their obligations to the clan by marrying and producing sons, They

would voluntarily undergo this operation and go into the palace service,

where it was possible to rise to a high position. But the eunuchs, in

spite of their emasculated condition, had famdies on llic outside, and

thus promoted tlie old Chinese administrative conffict of family claims

operating against tlic national claims. Needless to say, the individuals

who abandoned their families to enter palace serv'ice on these terms

were either men who had been mBladjusted or unsuccessful in ordinary

life, or those who had such an overweening desire for power that they

willing to make any sacrifice to obtain it. The result was that they were

a dangerous group. When the eunuchs became powerful enough in

palace administration so that they held administrative posts and

brought in their relatives, a dynasty was on the way out.

 

The weakness of this system w'os at the top, but as long as the rulers

were good, it functioned effectively and made it possible for China to

build up and constantly recruit a highly intelligent oEGcial class, who

were united in education and cultural background. It was, as a matter of

fact, the best system for maintaining an aristocracy which has so far

been developed. The problem of recruiting really efficient administrators

is one of the most exigent problems facing modern natiom, and it is

also one which w€ have han dled very badly.

 

Tile further weaknesses in the Chinese government were the uni¬

versality of graft and the handling of crime. Chinese graft cannot be

fudged by Western standards. The Chinese governor was paid a small

salary and was expected to take graft How much he received in this

 

 

5®6] Part Nine; The Orient

 

way was rigfdry fixed by castcxm and became a predictable overhead

for those who had to deaJ with him. (t was what the old Tammany Hall

leaders in New \ ork used to call honest graft.** If the governor of a city

st^ueezed too much, the merchants and craftsmen would send & pro^

test to the central government. A hoard of esaminers then arrived un*

aniiouneed, sealed the accounts, arrested the o^ctols, and went into the

case. If it was shown that the official had been grafting out of reason,

action was swlfL Instead of letting tlic case drag on for ten years and

then fining him three per cent of hi$ Imoivii take, in American fashion,

the official was executed. This provided a considerable deterrent to

excess.

 

The Chinese handling of crime, while bad by our standards, was

harder an the criniJnats than on the public, w’hich cannot alw'ays bo said

of our practices. Punishment was meted out swjftiy, and there were

many ingenious forms of execution. The criiiiiml, however, Imd little

right of appeal. Witnesses who had no active part in the crime were

tortured on the principle that a more coruplote account of the cireum-

stances could be obtained in this way. This, of course, made any witness

flee ^e scene of crime with ssviftness, and evidence was very difficult to

obtain. If the person charged with an offense was an official, and his

crirno was not flagrant enough for execution, he would be sent to the

capital to await trial. Here he would be kept for months or years, with

ev^'one around him extracting bribes until he was finally milked dry.

This, by the way, was a conscious technic] ue for concentrating wealth for

the use of the dominating group. The pattern was to let the minor offi¬

cials graft all they wished and then pick them when tliey were ripe. It

was a method coming into usage in Nazi Germany, and one which is

likely to appear wherever tlifre are dictntorships.

 

China is unique among the great civilizations in that at no time in

its long history has it produced a strong priestly group, To be sure, in tlie

early times of Shang, Chou, and Han, the emperor was also a priest who

made the sacrifices to heaven on behalf of the entire kingdom, but the

refigious functions of the rulers have always been secondary to the bush

ness of governing or at least of providing the sanctions for government,

the aeh^ procedure being in the hands of experts, the trained bureauc¬

racy. China has never, at any stage, had anything corresponding to the

great temple establishments which dominated the intellectual and eco¬

nomic life of such civilizations as Egypt. Mesopotamia, and to a lesser

extent India.

 

Tho most significant element in Chinese reU^on was ancestor wor-

sliip. Any religion tends to be a projection of those values and interests

which the society considers most important. The two things which

most important in Chinese daily life were the patterns of family organi-

 

 

XXXVIII. Late Dynastic China [g0^

 

zatlon and the eonttnuiJy of family. Next in fmpmtance were the pat¬

terns of politeness, the rules for which were provided at great length in

the classics. These two dominant interests were refiected very strongly

in Chinese religion. The Chinese, no matter to what creed they gave

olScial allegiance, were always fundamentally ancestor worshippers.

 

This practice comes directly out of the partem of family life. To the

Chinese the family is more important than the individual, something

which continues and which may be said to have a living and a dead

division. The ancestors are believed to continue to be much concerned

with the fortunes and behavior of tlie descendants. Th^’ are notified of

all ceremonial occasions in the family, and offerings arc made to them,

ffowever, this is not worship in the ordinary sense of the term. The

offerings arc made as a token of respect and a polite recognition on the

part of the descendants that they o;ve their existence and their good

fortune to these people of the spirit world-

 

Ritual is important in most Chinese religion. The earliest Chinese

texts which have been peserved are those prescribing the exact rituals

to be used for various sacrifices, giving elaborate spedfication of how

the sacrificial vessels were to be made, what proper procedures were,

and the like. It is a form of approach to the supernatural which i$ largely

devoid of emotional content, much like the approach of a well-trained

major-domo or court official to the emperor. If you follow the exact rules

of etiquette in dealing with the supernatural, you will presumably get

results. You arc not expected to love god or particularly fear god, but you

must know Iiow to approach him properly and how’ to influence him.

Much of Chinese literature has been devoted to these matters,

 

in the early days the Chinese not only made offerings to the ances¬

tors hut at the time of burial provided them with all the tools, utensils,

and other equipment which they would need in the next world. In the

Shang tombs, about igoo b.c., tremendous offerings were deposited with

the dead. The reason that such fine bronzes have been found in Shang

tombs is that a dead king was provided writh a full equipment of all the

sacrificial vessels which he would need to perfomi the proper sacrifices

as king in the next world, which was regarded as & direct projection of

the one on earth. They also gave ttie Idng an outfit of servants and fre¬

quently a favorite concubine or two. These servitors would be strangled

and put into the tomb with their master. Sometimes a devoted nobie

would commit suicide and accompany his friend to the other world,

so that the dead monarch could begin his new existence with a familiar

group about him.

 

This practice continued in the imperial sacrifices for over a thou¬

sand years. By the end of Chou, however, feeling against human sacri¬

fices had increased, and the use of substitutes was started. There is a

 

 

 

Pari Niue: Tire Oute^tt

 

 

56SI

 

legcmi dial htiznan sacrifices were aboJished during the Han DjTiaslj^

when, after the death of an emperor, tlie major-domo insisted Uiat the

empress shouk! be sacrificed to accompany her consort. The Jady, how¬

ever, countered tbat, since the majar-domo had run Uic household and

was more famili£Lr with her masters needs than herself, he would he

more capable of satisfying the emperor than she. The matter was

promptly dropped»and there were no further human sacrifices at the im¬

perial funerals. Tlie magnificent Chinese figurines of ilancirig girls, war¬

riors, horses, etc., called tomb figures, duping the lute Chou, Han, and

Tang dynasties were placed in the tombs to take tJie place of real people

and real objects.

 

In modem times tlie orthodox Chinese continue to provide equip

ment for the use of the deceased in tlie next W’orld. How'ever^ tliese are

made of cheap and perishable materiahi^ frequeiilly paper^ and are

bimied at tlie end of the funeral procession and tlius dispatched to the

next w^orld by way of fire. It is quite usual to have a paper automobile

complete wutfa. chauffeur carried in the funeral procession. A paper

airplane was included in the funeral procession of a Chinese general

during the Chiang Kai-shek regime, and was sent flaming into the sky al

the end of the proceedings* Thi$ custom of putting property into the

grave or destroying it at the funejoJ fur the use of the deceased had such

svide s'olidity that, as late as iqio, loans were occasion ally made with the

understanding thiit they would be repaid in the next world. There was

also a belief in Cliina tl^at the hcHly remained in the eonditioa in xvhich

it was at the time of death. For this reason the Cliinese, even today, are

exceedingly rclueiont to undergo atnpiitatidn, even to save Ufe. If an

amputatiun is performed the limb must he saved and eventually buried

with the individual Head,^ of beheaded criminals are normally returned

to the family and joined to the body when the deceased i$ buried. If the

missing juembers w'ere not available, terra cotta substitutes were somC'

times placed ^rith the body. The palace eunuchs in the old days had

the organs which had been removed pickkd in alcohol, so that when

these gentlemen had reached retirement age they could retrieve the

equipment. It was sew^cd back on the body at death £0 that m the next

world one could start out as a complete man. Berthold Laufer, who gave

me tlus informatjon^ had as his possession a jade substitute., ex¬

tremely fiiittering to the deceased, which was di^wvered in a Tang

tomb.

 

Until recently (and ft is difficult to say w^hat the Chinese believe

at present), it was believed tlint all equipment provided for the dead

was translated into the next world. The Chinese picture of this realm, at

least among the non-phllosophic common people, is a practical and

material one. It is an underworld which lies directly below visible and

 

 

XXX\^UI. Late Dynastic China [569

 

rnjiteiiat China and which cflrrc5pcmds in dl details* The Imperial rule

functiDiis in the underworid b$ it does in the upper one. When, in the

tlaj's of the empire, a man was rewartled for meritorious licrviccs, his

ancestoi^ for five generations back were also ennoblctl, and patents of

nobility were duly dispatched to the naxt w^orld so thm the ancestral

spirits could immediately profit from the titles llitis conferred upon their

descendants. There iirc al^ a series of elaborate hells for the wicked,

which included various sorts of elaborate tortures by a series of demons.

One of the svorst punlslunentSj however, did not involve physical suffer-

ing. Tim condemned w'as forced to stand before a magic mirror and

\vatch the results of his evi] deed as they worked themselves out on

earth. He saw hi$ family destroyed, his children aiitl friends suffering

from his misdeed, until his line was finally ruined and extinguished^

while he stood by unable to intcrs^cne or to look away.

 

The Chinese attitudes toward religion arc a mL\tiire of superstition

and practicality. The folklore abounds in tales of demons and ghosts.

The typical Chinese devil is an eartlibouncl ghost who has not been able

to pass over, as the spiritualists say. Victims of death by irlolencc or

drowTiing and suicides cannot follow the normal course of reincarnation

until they have found □ substitute, but are condemned to haunt the place

where the tragedy occurred. The Chinese axe extremely reluctant to

rescue anyone w'ho seems to be drowning, for they believe that the

drowning man is being pulled down by a spirit W'ho has been drowned

at that place at some previous time and who is trying to get a substitute

drowning so that he may go free. If such a spirit is thwarted he will re¬

member and make trouble for llie rescuer of his victim.

 

Although there were some mystics during the early periods of de¬

veloping Chinese philosophy, the general approach of the Chinese is a

thoroughly practical one. Tlic Chine$e have always been tolerant of

various religions and wilbng to worship anj-where it will Jo most good.

They never persecuted on religious grounds, and there have been few

Chinese martyrs* Such persecutions as there were, notably those of

Ibe Buddhists, sprang less from religious causes than from the fear of

having the Buddhist rhureh continue to siphon off the w^ealth of the

land. Tlie Chinese are quite ready to sw'itch from one deity to another

if it seems advantageous to do so. The principal reason that Christiauity

has never taken hold lu China, aside from its being the religion of a

foreign power which is felt to be a threat to Chinese iategrityp has been

that the Christian missionaries objected to ancestor w'orship. However*

the Cadiohc Church has recently ruled that the Chinese Catholics may

bum incense to the ftficestrol tablets.

 

A wealthy Chinese will Frequently have on one side of his Funeral

procession a group of Buddliist monks chanting from the Buddhist

 

 

Pari Nine: The Oiuent

 

 

s;o]

 

scripture. On tte other side a g™up of Taoist priests will recite the

proper spells to scare away demons and bum paper money to pay off the

beggar ghosts. U is believed that these ghosts attend funerals and may

cause trouble for die new arrival in the spirit world unless they are

placated

 

The most sigDt&canC contrlbutioD which China has made to world

culture is its importance as a center for the development and diffuBOO of

dvifeation. It maintamed great city populations when the rest of the

world was living in small villages. It met most of the ptoblcms of gov-

emnient which confront a huge modem state and found working solu¬

tions for them, even to die proposition of how to deal with a small ruling

minoiity. China not only affected all the civiliifiations of the East, provid¬

ing a center from whfcli the neighboring eultnres were constantly rein-

forced, but it abo influenced Europe. The situation of China with regard

to neighboring cultures was mucii as though tlie Roman Empire, with its

imperial institutions, had endured for 3000 years instead of 5™*

cncing all the barbarians witliin radius,

 

China at various times in her history has licen one of the richest nod

most powerful countries in the world. During the 17th and ifith cen¬

turies, the period of European flowering, China was in comparably

richer, and by most standards, more civilized than Europe* Europeans

traded extensively with China, bringing back fine silks and porcelains

which gave the name ^'china*’ to all English tableware. In tho early

ryoo^s things Chinese Introduced a new style and enjoyed a great vogue

jn Europe. Wallpapers, cabinets, furniture and paintings done in this

manner were called Chinoiscrie* French nobles built Chinese summer

houses in their gardens. Many French Jesuits wore sent to China with

the hope of converting the Emperor Ch’ien Lung to the faith. They

w^ere well received at court, but the emperor was more Interested in the

scientific, mathematical, and military contributions which the Jesuitical

scholars were able to furnish than fti their religions offerings* The French

Jesuits, however, studied Chinese phdosophy and classics. There is giKKl

reason to believe that many of the ideas of the period of enlightcumcnt

that formed the background of the French re volution actually perco¬

lated into French thinkiug from Chinese sources. The belief that, while

the ruled owed allegiance to the ruler, the ruler in turn had an ebUgation

to protect the welfare of bis subfects, and that the subjects had the right

to revolt if he failed in this obligation^ Is straight Confucianism. It is

difficult to prove at which point this idea came into the European

thought stream, but we do know that it makes its first appearance at a

time when there was a bm^ of interest in Chinese art and Chinese phi¬

losophy* From wbit we know of the mechanics of diffusion, we can at

least speculate that China was its source.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part Nine: The Orient

 

 

37 *]

 

It is also IntercsUng to note that iQ the writings of Rpiis£eau„ who

WHS brought up by Jesuits a time when the order was pcirocated with

Chinese bought, the concept of the natural man is highly reminiscent

of the ideal of Taoist philosophy, However, the natural man of the

Taoists. based on realistic observation of the oriental peasantry, differs

from that of Rousseau, who cmdow^ed his mythical mau with infallible

instincts and a supenor understanding of moral values,

 

China at the present time is in a state of confusion and dominatiop.

It will probably take them about a hundred years to throw off the Rus¬

sian yoke and refocus their energies, but they have ^ways m the past

been able to absorb or drive out their emperors. It is improbable that

the Chinese will ever become thoroughly converted to Marxism* They

have been civilised for too long to be able to embrace any political

kieology with the religious fervor with which the Russians took to

Communism. The Chinese psychology is that of the wise old gentleman

w^hts has seen too many happenings and too many changes to get truly

excited about anything.

 

One advantage which they have over the West is that they have

been civiU7.ed so much longer. We of the West are only a race of villag¬

ers recently introduced to dty living. We are still making adjustmentSp

physically and sodnlogiciiUy, to iiviug in large aggregates. The Chinese,

on the other hand, have been exposed for over ^ooo years to the most

terrific processes of natural selection, through famine, disease, and com¬

petition of all kinds. Tlie cold fact is that toy can undedive us. This b

something to be reckoned with in the future, particubrly when the

question arises as to what is to be done about a series of large continents

occupied by a sparse white population while one Wge continent U oc¬

cupied by a huge Mongoloid popubtion irtcreasing at a rapid rate. We

can be reasonably sure that witMd another two hundred years a strong

dynast vnll again emerge in China, and that the Chinese will, as in

the past, become an impirtant world power.

 

 

Chapter XXXIX

 

 

 

Japan occupier a position off tht east coast of Eurasia comparable to

that of the British tsles off tlie west coast of Europe. Both are island

groups lying considerably north of tlie aone of comfortable occupation

on the mainland and made habitable by warm oceanic currents, the Gulf

Stream for Britain, the Black Current or Kureshlwo for Japan.

 

The Japanese island group is of volcanic origin. This makes for a

rugged mountainous terrain. However, all the arable land is very fertile,

for volcanic soil, formed from ash and decayed lava. i$ the richest to be

found anywhere. The Japanese have brought under cultivation all the

bnd whid) is tillable and, by means of terracing, have added much

which would not be considered usable in most countries. It is this full

use of the soil which W made it possible for Japan to feed its dense

population. Since the land is already used to full measure, the intro¬

duction of modern farm machinery >vill do little to increase the food

supply. The only agricultural possibility which the Japanese have over¬

looked is grazing. The higher slopes could he used quite profitably for

goat and sheep herds, but pastoral techniques have been foreign to

Japanese culture.

 

Tlie warm current which bathes Japan and gives it a temperate

Chinate brings with it from the south a tremendous amount of marine

life. The greatest food source for Japan is the off-shore fishing beds.

Except for the period of the Shogunatc, from the middle of the 1600's

until Perry's visit in iSga, the Japanese have been a seafaring people who

built able craft and went on long voyages. Japanese pirates were harass¬

ing the Korean coast by the beginning of the Christian era.

 

J.ipan has no extensive mineral deposits. There is some cod in the

north, but practically no oil or iron and only a little copper and gold.

In the old days export of gold from Japan was forbidden on pain of

death, because it was so scarce and valuable that the authorities did not

 

 

S73

 

 

Tart Nine: The Oment

 

 

S74]

 

wrtiit any of it to leave the countryn therefore, ha^ not siifficieal

 

mineral resources to keep a modern technology goingp Her ^iJden

me to power in the ^oih century was niade possible by a poljtii:^ or*

ganizalion which w^$ able to modernize unmediately and consciously,

employing techniques already developed by the West and making use

of every resource possible. This progrorn could not have coo tinned long

without cjcpansion of territory to provide raw matoriab. Unless Japan

can have free occe^ to mamkad supplies, she is doomed to be a third-

rate pow'cr.

 

The ongias of the Japaaese population are still in dispute. We do

apt knew when the first humans came to the islands. No pre-hnraan re¬

mains have been found in Japan, nor even any \'ery early human fossils,

ia spite of the fact that during the Pleistocene Japan w'as intermitIcndy

linked w'ith the Asiatic mainland- Bemains of Indian elephants and

otlier tropical forms have been found. If these animak could have gotten

across, humans certainly would have been able la da aa.

 

The ciirtaia docs not lift arelieologically until the Neolithic. Around

1000 the northern nvo-thirds of Japan were occupied by a curious

fwople called the Ainu. These were regarded for a long time as being

marginal remnants of a Cancasic race. More recent studies have linked

them With the Australian aborigines. They ore probably an old, un¬

differentiated human type from Eastern Asia, which, living in a cloudy

northern enviioment, became more bleached ant than their southern an¬

cestors. They are light-skinuKh with long heads^ bioad faccs^ and stubby

noses. Their eyes ere round rather than almcmd-shaped. They have lib¬

eral W'likkers and much body hair. The later Japanese^ being a mhtively

smootli-skinned and beardless people, have oJwaj'^ referred to them as

the haiiy Amu. The culture of thej^ earliest inhabitants can be re¬

constructed partly from archeology and portly from the life of the Ainu

who still survive in northern Japan.

 

The Ainu culture w'as a part of the Circtimpokr co-tradjtion. They

were BshermEn and food-galbcrers. They lived in pit-houses and used

NeoUtliic tool-s; ground 5toi>e celts, ground bone projcctllfi points, etc.,

and made grit-tempered, cord-marked pottery, altnost indistinguishable

from that made by the American Indians of the Easitern wockUands, in

other words, tlie typical Circumpolar pattern of early cooking ware.

 

The social organization of the Ainu was one of small vLlLages with

an fixoganious totemic groups that is, each group had a sacred animal for

which they were named and toward which tijey held special attitudes.

Their religion was a worship of nature spirits, not increly the elements

such as the sun and rain, but ako waterfalls, rocks, trees, and other

elements of nature. Their most import ant cult centered around the

bear* which was the one dangerous animal in this environment and also

 

 

XXX/X. Japan [575

 

the largest meat Bear^ were regarded as people of a different

 

tribe whOp w'hen no outsiders w'ere prcscntp took off their fur overcoats

and behaved like Other human beings. Special rites were performed,

whenever a bear was killed^ to placate its spirit so that it would pass

the word along to oilier bears that if they let tfiemselves be killed by the

Ainu thej‘ would be w'ell treated. In factp even today the Ainu follow the

practice of capturing a bear cub which is brought up os a village pet

and treated with honor and deference until it is finally sacrificed.

 

In contrast to the Ainu, the early inliabitants of the southern part of

Japan seem to have been agriculturalists from very early times* They

brought in taro and probably rice^ but tliey aho reJi^ hea^dly on fishing

and built their settlements in coastal areas. The areheologiiil evidem^

of their culture is scarce, for they used bamboo and w^ood for building

and implements^ made no pottery^ and used little stone. Apparently this

southern group w'cre physically much like what %ve call proto-Malay, u

btockily built, brown-skinned people with little body Imir. They had

broad faces, small nosc$, tliin lips, and stmight eyes*

 

Behveen these people and the Ainu, who w'cre at approximately the

same cultural level, the frontier fluctuated for some time. Both were

good fighters, but the southern people, having agriculture and therefore

being able to support larger populations, gradually moved northward,

pushing the Ainu back. Still later, somewhere in the 3rd or 4* cen¬

turies fl.c, there was another invasion of people coming from Korea.

These people brought with them bronze weaporis, pottery, and weU-

devcloped agricultural technifjues. In spite o£ their smaller numbers*

they managi^ with their superior cultiue to spread out as conciuerors

over tiie southern territory' occupied by the Neolithic Indonesian group,

whom they organized and absorbed ^ The ancestors of die Ainu were

piished farther north, where lliey remained, making little cultural con¬

tribution aside from forcing their neighbors to tlic south tn maintaiii

iniKtury vigilance. Japanese culture has hj,id a military caste from the

beginning. Throughout their bistor}' the soldier class has been in con¬

trol, whereas in China the soldier was of minor importance^ considered

an unfortunate necessity for the defense of scholars, farmers, and mer^

chants.

 

Descendants of the invndenr established a tribal organization w-hich

became the background of later Japanese society* Their tribes, or clans.

Were norma I ly cudogsmous and were ruled over by a clan chief, who

Occupied a high position os representative of the clan and carrier of the

group mnim, l‘he clunsmen^s activities w'cre limited to agriculture, hunt¬

ing, fishing, and fighting. Manufacturing was carried ou by groups of

artisans, hereditary craftsmen who were not true clan members, al¬

though they were attached to the clan and svere allow'ed to many local

 

 

fart NiW; TiiE Orient

 

 

576]

 

^vonienr In the <rrafthen's f^ntiilies c^jne {□ merge with tlie cIoD

and to diiiin it^ name and a common ancestiy. The arartsmen had spe-

daUzed function; fine weaving, bmlding, and the making of tools Emd

weapons. BeloAV the clan and the craftsmen was a small class of daves*

male and female, usually prisoners of war or their descendants.

 

Each clan had its own pantheon of deities, including a guardian

god. Tlie powers of the^ deities were ill defined, and their habitatinn

and mode of life shadowy. The gods of the various dam were suffi*

dcntly similar 50 that later, when there was political cnnsolidatioti, the

tribal gods could be equated and merged into a national pantheon^ Each

tribe daimed descent from its own deity, and the chief or chiefess of

the tribe w+as beiieved to be m direct line of divine descent through the

elde.st child of either sex. If the eldest child in a chiefs fanuly was a

daughter^ she wotild be the ruler ol tlie tribe. This accounts for the num¬

ber of empresses who figure in early Japanese history.

 

The early history of Japan is diffietilt to rccoiistmct, for diere lias

been little good archeotogical work done there* and the Japanese

learned to write and keep records veiy^ late. Legends and traditions were

handed dovra by word of mouth. Written history docs not begin until

after 55a a.d., when there were a number of Korean scribes and Bud-

dliist missionaries coming into Japan. Moreover* Japanese liistory has

been exposed from its very beginning to propagandistic activities, rein¬

forced by religious and patriotic enthusiasm, and this background is not

conducive to the keeping of accurate records. In the Gth century, when

the Japanese enme into contact with the historically minded Cbiuesei

tliey felt that they should have a history of their own, and tried to manu-

facttire it from the various legends which had been handed denvm. Jap^

was at this time split into a great number of localized dans. Each scribe

set out with the pious intention of writing a histoiy of Japan wWch

would show his own dan as having been the ruler of all Japan through¬

out its hi5to^)^ WTien the clan which was the founder of the present im-

peiial line became dominant, it was obviously to its advantage to falsify

the records and claim that it had always been on lop. In the some way

the ancestor goddess of this dan, Amatera.su, the sun gndde^s^ from

whom the present emperor claims descent, was exalted and put high in

the pantheon of gods, although ttiere can be little doubt that she was

originally a minor deity.

 

Tile Japanese empire came into existence when one elan finally

establislied dominance over the others and its chief arrogated to himself

the title of emperor. The sodety which emerged was 3 feudal system^

with numerous clan survivals. The Japanese nobles were originally dan

chiefs but, as the empire was ceutrahzed, the clan organization broke

down. It was replaced by an extenrfed family orgonkation, patrilineal

 

 

XXXIX. Japan fS77

 

kin groups which incluticd a number of persons but which were smaller

than the original clnus and which did not cut aernss driss lines. Society

wus organized into four classes. At the bottom were tht? Eta, or out-

castes. Tljc origins of this group are unkno^vn. Its nucleus was probably

the war captive s^laves of the pre-imperial period, but it was gradually

extended to include outcastes of all sortsi ciiminals, and even occa¬

sional members of tlie noble class who had not had the courage to com¬

mit hara-kiri when good manners required it. Today die Eta do not

differ in physical t\pe from other Japanese, although they were con¬

sistently |im-Crow^ for cenluries. Thetc touch was considered defiling,

and they were limited to "unclean" occupations: scavengers, execution¬

ers, tanners, and butchers. These last two occupations are particularly

low in a Buddhist country, for Buddhism frow^iis on all killing of ani¬

mals. and those who practice these impious trades are at the very bot¬

tom of tlie scale.

 

Above the Eta were the commoners, who were divided into culti¬

vators^ artisans, and merchants. The cultivators, although they were

economically unfortunate in that they tended to be taxed by everj^body,

nevertheless had social prestige. Farming per se was an honorable oc¬

cupation. Even a Stfinnroi could become a farmer without losing caste.

Artisans ranked below farmers. This w^as probably because, in the early

days of the feudal period, skdied artisans were attached to the ruling

families in a sort of client relationship. They were few in number, since

they were for die most part foreigners who had been imported from

abroad. For instance, a Chinese maker of porcelain would be brought

to Japan to pSy his trnde. He would be provided with a Japanese wife,

but his chiltlren, following the pattern of patrilineal descend couM not

become real members of a clan. Tliey were supported by the noble

family but were outsiders.

 

The merchants originally held a debased position in Japans but

during the ‘'scaled" period in the 17th and iSth centuries, they came into

more and more importance. EHuing this period a strong central govern-

meiit had developed, and, in order to control the nobles, the ruling eSan

insisted that every noble either should be in the capital himself or send

some responsible member of his family there. Various members of the

noble family might take their turns at court, hut the Shogun demanded

lhat there always should be a member of noble family within reach,

acting as hostage for his kin. The old feudal economy, which %vas a

production economy, w^as thus transformed into luxury and money econ-^

omv^ because the nobles and their families who were settled in the capi¬

tal have to have cash in order to buy elaborate costumes demanded for

court rituals and to keep up the establishments which their prestige re

quired.

 

 

Part Nine: The OftiENT

 

 

578]

 

At this pnint tbi? fn^rchadU begun to move in. Throughout Jiippuese

history there ^^erfi trade guilds and unions, which operated mainly in

the larger Centers where the luxury manufaeturics were locatedn The

Japanese city W'orkers who made up these guilds had never been a

docile lower clasSn and the organized guilds often fought back if they

fell die nobles had mistreated them. .As there came to be more conceo-

tiation of populaticm in the cities, the merchants began to acquire

w^ealth, whde the nobles kept the prestige. Gradually the merchants be¬

gan to acquire prestige abo. In the last hundred years before the open¬

ing of Japan, an impoverished nobleman could recoup his fortunes by

marrying the daughter of a wealthy merchant and bocorrung the adop¬

tive husband in the merchant's family^ When there was no son in a

Japanese family, it was enstomar)' to ntarry a daughter to a promising

young man who would be adopted as a son and given the family

name^ Soirie of the greatest of the Japanese merchnat houses have been

built up in this way in the last 100 years*

 

The nobles constituted a hereditarv military class, the Sainurofi

Since a nobles sons fay peasant concubines were rated as noble^ this class

was constantly increosing. The highest noble was the Shogun. This tide,

meaning **victorious general," was originally conferred by the emperor

on the noble in cliarge of the northern frontier region, where the Japa¬

nese were carrying on their endless war with the Ainu. Later it became

the title of the secular ruler who pre-empted the powers of the emperor.

Beneath the Shogun were the great military lords, and at^

 

tached to these in turn were minor chiefs and knights* The feudal sys¬

tem differed from the European one iri that there much more con¬

centration of power at the top. In Europe, the knight lived hy the direct

expioitation of the serfs on his manor. In Japan, taxes were collected by

the nverlord and then disbursed down to die lower ranks of nobles. This

made the nobles highly dependent upon their overlords. The cfldest son

succeeded his father in reociiiing this allowance, and, if there was no

son, the family lost its right to the allowance. Expropriated Samurai

formed a distinct group ^led Bonin, which meant '"wave men ” and

served as nierceDary soldiers under various lords. They were readily

recruited for attacks on the mainland, and many of them served outside

Japan. Thus, for centuries the royal bodyguard of the kings of Sfcim in¬

sisted of Japanese Bonin.

 

The Samurai evolved their own code of ethics^ called EusMdo^ and

had their special dress and scx:ial ritual. Their armor, made from platen

intricately lashed together with silk cords, was effective against the

Japanese sword, which wjis used exclusively for slashing. The swords

themselves were among the finest exainptes of metal-working to be

found anywhere in the world. They were made from alternate layers of

 

 

XXXIX. Japan [579

 

high latid Jmv carbon steet, which repeatedly pounded out* folded,

and welded^ until some of ttie finest blade$ might lisve as many as 2000

laminations.

 

Although equipment and tcchnkjues of indi^ndunl fighting were

highly developed, warfare itself was prunitive. The feudal Japanese un¬

derstood little o[ tactics or militar}' maneuvers. Although they had luirses

and used nicninted men, they never developed cavalry as a dirtinct arm.

War was a matter of brute strength and cunning* and pitched battles

usually began with indhiduat champions coming out betw^n the lines

and engaging in single combat. It was proper for each champion to

introduce himself and recite his genealog)\ If the antagonists could point

out a Qj^w in the recital, it was believed to give him a strong tidvontago

in the subsequent combat* In spite of such chivalrous behavior* the bat¬

tles were sanguinary* and the Samurai code made no provision for either

surrender or the treatment of prisoncjns. Those who could not escape

after a defeat were expected to commit hara-kiri. This tradition pro¬

vided the background both for tlic Japanese no-surrender patterns of

tile recent war and for tlieir failure to conform to what we regard as

civilized rules af w^ar prisoner treatment.

 

The |>atterns of obedience and personal discipline imposed by the

feudal system proved a distinct advantage when the Japanese came in

contact with the West. It provided tlie nation with a group of patriotic

leaders whom the mouses had been tratnc^l to follow* The long years of

feudalism made it pcs^sible for the Japanese to mobjfee national en¬

ergies for the assimiialSon of those dements of Western culture which

appeared valuable to them. Needless to say, the Western military tactics

were among the things most eagerly accepted.

 

AI the top of the social scale wns tlie imperiiil family, who were a

social class in themselves. Originally the imperial family had been the

chiefs of one of the powerful noble clans, but* as they came to be rch

garded as of divune origin and became sanctified, they vvere set apart

from the other nobles. AUhoiigh morriagts in the imperial ^oup were

permitted only within the imperial clan* an imperial prince oould take

concubines from among the daughters of the nobleSn The children of

such unions, according to Japanese rules of patrilineal descent^ were re¬

garded as of divine origin and had full imputial powers. The impeirtaJ

line thus became quite extensive. If the Shogun had trouble with the

emperor* there svas always a collection of Imperial princes, one of whom

could be substituted for the refrartoiy ruler. The usual technique was to

request the emperor to resign in favor of a young and docile prince-

 

The patterns of family organJicatioa were much ihe same for all

classes. All bad the extended family system. All the people in a village

were usually related and, in the bac^ country* mi^t eveu live m one

 

 

Part Nine: Tiffi Orievt

 

 

5S0]

 

big commuDo] Iious&. Th& male sert^ecl ^ fsmiHy heJid^ but vms

Dot accorded the respect nor atJowcJ to wield the authority enjoyed by

a family head in ChioiL. The Japanese have always preferred to work

things out in committecp so to $peuk, whether tire problem be sodaj or

polidcak Therefore the family head in Japan conferred elaborately with

other family members before handing dosvn any important deeisioa.

 

 

 

EKrnANCE TO TUEA.TEn^ ivm cEjmimt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XXXIX. Japan IsSi

 

There hsis dways been considerable prostitution In Japan. The

houses of prostitution were staffed largely by girls who had been sold

bv their families or who had sold themselves in order to pay off family

debts. This vvas considered an honorable and filial thing to do. If a girl

cotild manage to pay off her debt to the house, she could leave it and

go back to her village and marry. However, the madames of the houses*

like ladies of this persuasion everywhere, usually saw^ to it that the girls

remained in debt. The geisha was quite different from tlte prostitute.

She w^as a trained entertainer w'ho had to be able to play various musical

instruments, to sing and dance, and to make agreeable conversation^

The geishas might take care of a pa bon for the night if they wished to

da so, bnt it w'as not part of their profession.

 

The first relatively certain date in Japanese history is approtlmatoly

200 A.D.* w’hen the Japanese invaded Korea under tlie Empress Jingo.

VVe have ttiis, not from the Japanese records^ for there w'ere no scribes

in Japan at this time, bnt from Koreari and Chinese historians. She seems

to have been a powerful nder in eentral Japan, who succeeded in unitiiig

enough elans to make lorge'Scale continental expeditions possible. It w-as

Jingo w^ho first brought a more or less centralized Japan into contact

with the Asiatic mainland, and prepared the w^ay for the Bow of Korean

and Chinese culture into Japan.

 

In 28^ A.o, the Emperor C^'in called in a Korean sage as his ad-

risor. Tills man bmught Avritjng to Japan for the first time. However,

writing did not become established in japan until two or three centuries

later. Japan look on culture and leaning from the mainland and became

civilized only in the 7th century a.u, Tlie first Buddhist temples in Japan

were built just before 600 a.d, under the direction of Shotokn Taishi,

the Crowm Prince Regent, who is kno\vn as the founder of Buddhism in

Japan. In 645 tlie Emperor Kotoku, tlac great reformer, began his cam¬

paign to educate nnd iniprove his people. Tliis reforming emperor may

appear under other names, as the Japanese custom was to give a child

One name at birtl], another w'hen he matured and took nffiee* and a thud,

or divine name, after his death. However* under any name, this em¬

peror recognized the inferiority of his own people as compared with the

ciiilizations of the mainland, and set out deliberately and purposefully

to do something about it. Tliis the stamp of the sort of Japanese

pwchology w^hicli has persisted up to the present time Tlie Japanese

have always been willing to borrow' and benefit by other people s ideas

and inventions^ though remaining essentially Japanese m their attitudes

and loyalties.

 

Kotoku not only tried to civilize and educate the people but also

worked to reorganize the loose tribal government by strengthening the

central power, that of his own clan, of course. He also ^ed to give more

 

 

Fmt Nine: The Oriesi^

 

 

5S2]

 

recognitiori and freedom to the common people. The chief contact for

this borrowing and organization was Korea. In the ne^ct century^ when

the Japanese were going farther afield from their uwu istaniis^ they dis¬

covered that the real center of civilization was not Korea but China^ and

that the Korean culture which they had been imitating was a second¬

hand version of the Chinese. The emperor then sent cornrnisslons to

China to study and report on Chinese mstitutiDns. This was a unique

event in human kistoryt the only case on record * except for a japanese

parallel many centuries later^ in which a nation deliberately set out to

remake its forma] structure on a pattern taken from another country.

The Japanese commission in Ciiina stayed for about rtventy^ years, dur¬

ing which time they selected the most promisitig cniftsmon of all kiiKh

and encouraged them to cany their skills in lacquer work, porcelain,

enaiueh and so fortli^ over the sea to Japan. They also sent over many

Korean and Chinese scholars, and even persuaded scholars and crrtfts-

men from India and Indo-China to go to Japan.

 

During the 7th and 8th centuries in Japan, therefore, there was u

making-over of Japanese life comparable to that which took place in the

bte t^th and early 10th cenhirtes, This reorganiz-ation was chameterized

by the same psychologiciil n^s: the feeling of intense inferiority and

a desire not merely to aitch up with the rest of tho world but to exceed it-

 

The attempts to remake Japanese culture along Chinese lines failed

at certain points. In Chinn at this time the system of competitive exami¬

nations and the establishment of a professional bureaucracy was as¬

suming the form which it was to hold for the next thousand years. Al¬

though tile Japanese made some attempt to introduce this system into

their own country, they were unsucci^fu] because the bulk of the

Japanese aristocracy was still illiterate. Tliere were few Japanese schol¬

ars* and no Japanese literature nr philosophy upon which an arrange¬

ment of the Chinese sort coufd be established. In China the feudal aris¬

tocracy had practically destroyed themselves during the >vars preceding

the emergence of the Han dynasty. In Japan the feudal aiistocracy was

never destroyed, and tire central govEinment sticcceded in bringing

them under control only for short perirKis. The result of diis situation was

that the Japanese olRdak were appointed through favor without pre¬

liminary selection. Giwn the Japanese pattern of strong family and clan

loyal bes* there vitbs a tendency for government offices to be heieditaryi

with no consideration given to honesty or ability.

 

Tlie attempt to center rule in the emperor also broke dowrii follow¬

ing this period of reform. After a scries of able emperors, the line begfiu

to die out. The Japanese met this in very characteristic fashion. The>'

retained the emperor as a sort of figurehead, making him more and more

sacred, while turning over the central control to first one and then

 

 

XXXIX. Japan [583

 

other of the great Japanese clans. From the gth through the igth cen¬

turies the emperor was immobilized by his own sanctit)^ and the taboo

which surrounded him. For exomplep when die emperor sat in state he

had to hohl himself rigid^ for if he turned his head he wouJd cause an

earthquake in tlie direction toward which he Jooked. His person wa$ so

sacred that his hair and nails could be cut only when he was asleep^ end

his persoital belongings or aojlhing he had touched were talxjo. The em¬

peror had to be fed out of new dishes at each ineab and the dishes were

destroyed after he had finished with them. This was an excuse to use

poor and cheap equipment in die imperial palace.

 

At first die secular rulers showed great respect for the empemr, but

later this dechned and they regarded him more and more as merely a

sjTnboI. The institution of the sacred emperor and the sectilor rulers

w^as erystalllzjed under Yorimoto, who ruled from 1185 to At this

time there w'fis a terrific war betxveen two of the great clanSp with most

of the minor dans being drawTi in on one ride or the odier. YorimutOr

whose group emerged victorious, proceeded to reorganize die empire so

that he would be able to control it. Up to thb time Japan Jiad not been

piirticularly warlike. There were the usual dan feuds^ but after this

reorganizatioci, which involved also changes iu the patterns of inherit¬

ances af oBcm and income, a definite militaiy caste emergedp which re¬

mained dominant until the refomiatioii of Japanese politic which took

place after Commodore Perry^s visit in the middle

 

In itqz Yoiimoto w^as given the title Sliogua. This Avas not a new

title, but, after Yorimoto, it took on a new significance and came to

mean military dictator- He preserved the emperor and the court at

Kyoto. HoAvever, without destroying tlie older dvil officiaMom, he estab¬

lished a military administration under Ills conItoL He made peace with

the powerful Buddhist monks and appointed militEiry couslablcs and

tax collectors in all the provinces- Yorimoto was a political genius, and

his dual fom of government lasted until tlie middle of the 19th century,

a pelio^l of 650 years.

 

In the iStli century the Shog^ms themselves became puppets. An¬

other ruling house seized power, and another ruling office was cstnb-

fished. In the last 200 years before Europeanization and reform, tlie gov¬

ernmental setup consisted of the sacred emperor in the extreme back¬

ground and completely immobilized^ nest to him the sacred Shogun

largely immobilized, and then the real rulers, who were sucgcssoib of

ifideyoshi^ wdio had overthrovvn the Shogunate and had establisJied

what was to oil intents and purposes a totEditarian state. This govern¬

ment gave the Japanese good tnuniag for what was to come later.

 

The first Europeans to reach Japan were the Portuguese- They ar¬

rived ill 154^, shortly followed by the Spariiards, Dutch, and British.

 

 

part yUie; TiiE OaiENT

 

 

584]

 

Some coifimerce was established between japan and Etirope^ and the

Europeans brought with them hvo things which profoundly influenced

the ctilture of Japan: firearms and Christianity, Firearms gave new

strength to tiie feudal lordsp w'ho eould now become more independent

of the central power. Their did simple wooden houses w^erc replaced by

stone castles hi moie or less European style, for they now aeodtd strong¬

holds w^bich could mthstand gunfire.

 

The Jesuit, Francis Xavier, was the 6rst missionary to Japan, fie

arrived tn V549> accompanied by some other members of the Socich’ of

Jesus. The missionaries found an immediate response among the Japa¬

nese. The doctrine and ceremonial of the Roman Catliolic Church was

similar to that of the Buddhist religion. The once powerful Buddhist

priesU w^re at tlus time losing their hold on the people, who were ready

to tvim to new spiritual leadership. Tlie new faith was favored by the

central government, for it facilitated trade wdth the ^Ve5t. Within a gen¬

eration after Xavier's arriviJ there w-ere reported to be sto© ChristiaTi

churches and 150,000 Christians in japan. The feudal lords sent cm*

hussies to Rome, and for a time it seemed that Japan might become a

Christian country.

 

During this period three great leaders arose in Japan: Nobunaga,

Hideyoshi, and lyeyasm Nobunaga was a feudal war lord who success'

fully overpowered his neighbors and made himself master of the capi-

tol lie was follow^ed by Hideyoshj, a man of humble rank, not even of

the Samurai class, the only rnstnncc lit japan^s bistoiy in which a com¬

moner rose to the highest position open to one not of divine descent

Hideyoshi, having unified Japan under his military dictatorship, under¬

took foreign conrjuest also. Ifc oveiran most of Korea, which be regarded

as a gateway to Cliiim. It was Hidey^oslu who announced that he was

going to roll up China os one rolls up a mat. However, the Japanese

w'cre no more successful than they were recently in their attempts to

con(]ner China. China docs not roll up easily. The Japanese soldiers ar¬

rived at a time when the Ming Dymasty w^os in conhision and there was

no strong L'entral power. In spite of this die Chinese rallied tinder attack.

 

The Koreans also, altliongh they had never been a piuticuhirly war¬

like or briliiaiit people, showed unexpecter! strength and ingenuity' in

combating the Japanese onslaught. They Invented the first *"ironcladSi

and a fleet of these new turtle boats'' sank the Japanese Sect and cut

their supply lines^ The Koreans also invented at this time the first mortar

to throw an explosive shell, an improvement whieh had not yet come

into use in Europe, although it appeared shortly thereafter. Hideyoshi s

iittaek ground to a halt, and after his death the Xoreans managed to

throw Japanese control.

 

This expansion to Korea was actually a divenion which look the

 

 

.YXA 7 .V. Japan [585

 

miJitary out of Japan and ermbled the new gcivemmeut to seat itself

more firmly. A war which arouses the putriotism oF the population

long been observed to be tlie best way to unite a nation. Ttiis oon<|ue5ti

although unsuccessful in the long run, brought Japanese to the mai^iland^

Also, considerable numbers of Ron in went south and spread through In-

Jonesja and Southeastern Asia^ where they served as mercenary soldiers.

These migrants were» for the most part, men of the noble class who,

through poverty, disgrace, or over-adventurousness, had forfeited their

eonnectiou witli the noble house and svere on thcLr own. The recent

Japanese expansion into Indonesia actually followed an old pattera, in

Avhicb the Japanese surplus military population spilled over into the

mainland territones.

 

Hkleyoshi w'as followed by lyeyosu, ivho bad originally been his

opponent, but became his chief lieutenant, [yeyasu turned hi's attention

to internal aHairs rather than fureigu conquer, and under bis leadership

the counlrj' was fin ally consoHdated. lie lind himself appointed Shogun

in 1603 and was thus in charge of the feudahxed militar)' system w^hich

had been inaugurated by YoriiTioto four-hundred years earlier, tfc set up

a military capitol at Edo. the present Tokyo, away from the imperial

court, fycyasu was succeeded by his son and grandson, and under the

rule of his family Japan had peace for over two centuHeSp

 

During this time tile Japanese not only abstained from foreign con¬

quest. but shut themselves away from the outside world entirely. The

Japanese rulers did not ivant their people to know what was going on

outside the conn try ^ and, in particular, they did not want them to leave.

A Japanese who left the island and returned again was put to deaths The

central powers instituted a complete police state, with innumerable road

blocks. Passports ware required of people moving from one province to

another, and there were local customs charges, os in France, It wm a

bureaucratic arrangement very reminiscent of the Russian iron cuTtain.

 

Before this time the Japanese had always been a sea peopb> Within

a generation after their first contact with Europeans they were building

vessels which could cross the Pacific, and were trading on the west

coast of America. When Japan was closed^ a law was passed making it

punishable by death to build ships above a certain burden. There were

also regulations limitiug construction so that vessels seaworthy for trans¬

oceanic shipping could not be built All foreigners were excluded, e.x-

cept for a few Dutch merchants who were allowed to occupy a small

island in one of the harbors. The only outside skill for which the Japa¬

nese admitted a need was that of mcdlcme. They permitted medical

students to study Dutch sc tliat they could read Dutch medical books.

 

However+ during the time w^hen Japan had been open there had

been a surprising smount of boiTOwmg of European technology and

 

 

Part Nine: The Oulent

 

 

5861

 

ideaf. Thf? Japanese, behind their self-imposed barrieTs. went on per¬

fecting many of the European forms. Tliey developed firearms based on

European mcjdels but modified in accordance with Japanese manual

habits. They made elaborate armor, a modification of European plsitc

armor, made up of lacquered metal and rawhide pot together with silk

lashings. Metal work was raised to a high art. Their swords would take

li razor edge but would also stand heavy service. The Sauiurai lord

would have a variety of sword fittings for his blade, some simple and

refined for religious occasions^ and some inlaid with gold for court cere¬

monials.

 

The Japanese have alwaj's been a beautj^dovjog people, witli a de¬

sire for aesthetic perfection. Their art lias been basiciilly dependent on

importations from abroad, mainly from Cbma^ which were tlien gradu¬

ally transformed to satisfy the native sensitivity for harmonious pro¬

portions, decorative pattern, and humor. Thus, from the 7th through

the 8th centurj\ and again in the i4lh and isth centuries^ when a new

wave of ChiTicse infiuence brought with it cnlligTaphic painting, art in

Japan was almost purely Chinese tn character. Around 1600, in Bide-

yoshi s time, this style of painting was once more synthesized, this time

into the brilliant decorabvc screws that adorned the Imperial castles and

temples. With the rise of a bourgeois merchant class a new art was de¬

veloped through the inexpensive medium of the color woodblock, which

was employed mainly to depict trivia of everyday life* The \voodhIi>ct

was the first Japanese art form to capture the attention of the West

More recently we have been Infiueaced by the sophisticated simplicity

of the paraphernalia used in the tea ceremony, which originally derived

from ^n Buddhist ritual. Another profound influence on modem art

has been Japanese domestic architecture.

 

The Japanese, like the Chinese^ have shown tolerance for all sorts

of beliefs. Buddhism was the first world refigioo to be superimppsed on

the aboriginal nature worship. It did not become pow'crfiil until the

7th centuryp when it began to develop various local sect$. Chiistionit)^

had considerable Uifiiience in the 16th and early 17th ceiitiirics, but

banned by the Shogun ate and practically wiped out. Side by side with

Buddhism and Christianit)>' wa$ the truly nstive Japanese religion,

Shinto, which developed from the aboriginal nature worship. During

most of Japanese history Budhhism lais been the religion of tlie Intel¬

lectuals and aristocrats. Zen Buddhism, with its emphasis on the dm>'eh

opment of the individual personality, had wide influence, especially

among the Samurai, Attitudes created by this sect permeated the aes¬

thetics and ethics of all Japan. Shinto was carried on as an unorganized

back-countrj' cult After the opening and modemization of Japan, Shinto

was made the state religion*

 

 

XXXIX^ Japan

 

Dujidg the Shogumte the popubtioti of Japan was pretty well

stahilked. Tliis was aceompUsbed partly by eousiderable mgetiuity in

sesiml matters and tcchtifques of t::ontraceptio!i, and partly by a process^

which the Japanese disllhe ta acknowfadge, called "tiiinning the family "

Tlie Jopaacse did not practice the usual sort of mfanttcide, in which a

superfluous child is done away with shortly after bfrlL The Japanese

family head who had more children than he could properly provide for

would w^ait until the child was two or three years old and his potentials

of health and intelligence were becoming obvious^ The least promising

oni?s would be oluninnted. This ■thinning'' w^as done in the same way that

one would thin a growing crop, removing the [Xiorer plants so that tho

surviving ones would have a better ebanee* However^ when the Japanese

became mechanized and the developing commercial interest needed

cheap labor and the emperor needed soldiers, the people were encour-

aged to breed rapidly. Being a well-disciplLtied and pabiotio people^

they proceeded to do so, and the population took a rapid upswing.

 

The country was dosed in 1636 and remained closed until 1853

when it wiis opened, so to speak, with a can opener. Wluat happened was

that the Amenenns sent to Japan a fleet of war vessels vastly superior to

imything the |apjinc3e had and politely suggested that they would like

keaties permitting trade—or else. Ic was much like the suggestion of an

offensive and defensive alliance between Russia nnd Finland, and the

Jtipanese liked it about as much. They would have preferred lo stay

temfortably isolated from the \vorId.

 

A few yenrs after Perry's arrival some of the Japanese shore bat¬

teries opened Bre on some European armed steamers, wliich returned

the Are with a speed and precision astontshiiig to the Japanese. It

brought home to tliem very definitely that th^' were helpless against the

modem equipment of European forces, and made them realize that if

they were to be dniwm into the world once more they would have to

modernize themselves as rapidly as possible. The Japanese already had

 

pattern of deliberately imitating other countries^ and China, their

previous modch was at this time in a state of confusion and was itself

being rapidly brought under European control. The Japanese turned to

the West. They sent delegates to various parts of Europe to bring back

die skills which had made the Europeans snccessftJ. They recognized

that different countries excelled in different things. Therefore they or¬

ganized their 4rmy along German hnes^ the navy along British lines* and

finance and manufacturing on French and English models. The United

States they igaoretl at tliis time Os not being far enough advanced to

warrant study and imitation.

 

Perry*s visit was In 1S53. and by 1867 the internal revolution bad

been accompUshed. Feudal dues bad been formally abedished, and the

 

 

S88]

 

 

Furf TtiE Orient

 

 

em«ror was «imtaled as «i actual political ruler, not merely a divine

 

syml^l. Fortunately, the emperor of this kJ”« nd

 

Japanese set up a new go\eminent which looked demo^bc and

 

constitutional enough to win the respect of Enrols, although actu^j

it was handled on a sound Japanese basis of family control. It is Inte^-

ine that in the reorganization, For instance, one of the great dans oo

o"Tr the army, anoUier the navy, while still others went mto vanons

 

businw^-t^e ^ of Japanese life were devaluat^. The

 

population was so dazzled by European nl‘f

 

laied little importance to their mvn culture. Many of the finest p.c^

of Japanese art were sold for a song to knowing Europeans and the

Japan^e strove to accjuire an appreciation of pre-Raphaelito Victorian

 

period of discipline had prepared the Japanese for acting

with a united«'ill upon orders. They laid out a careful plan for

zation. for the conquest of world markets, and then, as part of Uw long*

ranee proeram. for the conquest of the world so that all races should be

broueht under the bene^-olent shadow of the emperor. These plans were

carxi^ weU forward during World War !, but foundered on Japanese

miscalculations in World War IL

 

 

The New World

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter XL

 

 

North American Aborigines

 

O

 

 

The ooN^t}^E^^TS of North aud South America were realJy a New Worlds

Cut off from Uie Old World centers of development by the two great

oceans^ they lagged far behind in the timetable of civiUzation. When the

Spani$h e]q>]Drers reached th^ shores, the peoples of America had

arrived at the stage of civilization which Southwest Asia had attained in

3500 B.c, and Western Eiuope in 1300 That they had achieved so

much in their isolation and had independently made most of the dis¬

coveries and inventions on which civlHzed living is based Indicates that

they were essentially a gifted people. If they had been allowed to de¬

velop their culture and wcjrk out their destinies^ they might bave made

significant contributions to the streain of world civiUzariouH

 

There has I>een much speculation^ and many fancy theories have

l>cen spun, about the origin of the American India jl Even their name

springs from a misapprehension on tiie part of Columbus. At various

times* professional gucssers luivc tried to establish that tliey were de¬

scendants of the Ten Lost Tribes oi Israel, stragglers from the fleet of

Alexander the Great; or emigrants from the mythical continent oF

Atlantis or a similarly bypotlietical Pacific island called Mu, Because tlie

iTionuments of the Maya in Central America arc slmilaT in many respects

to those of the an dent Egyptians, attempts were made to prove that the

Indians were of Old World origin^ ignoring the fact that when the

Mayas weire biiildiog their temples those of Egj^t had heeo abandoned

lor thousands of years.

 

The firsi settlers of America undoubtedly came from Asia by way of

Alaska, There was no indepeodimt human developmeut on this conti¬

nent; no fossil remains of any fanman species e.xcept homo japicft? have

ever been found in Americou Man c^rne to this continent as modern man^

already equipped with too^ and fire and some sort of language* In

View of the Arctfc regions tlirough which he had to pass,, it is safe to

 

 

Porf Ti‘n; Tilt Ne\v Worlo

 

assuiae that he also could provide some sort of clotliing and shelter for

himself. During the Icc Age, what is now Bering Strait was presumably

a land bridge, as the great glaciers stored up enough water to lower the

water level. With Arctic waters landlocked on the north, the shores of

Alaska and !<ortheastfm Siberia would be washed hy the w'arai Pacific

current This was the hypothetical state of the area at the lime of tiie

first migrations. Much of Alaska was icc-frec at this time, but the glaciers

of the Coast Bange would have prev entcrl migrations due south.

 

It seems likely that tlie first wave of migrants followed the coastal

plain, north and cast to the valley of the Mackeiwc. There was an ice-

free eorridca along the eastern side of the Rockies, and also plenty of

game. Asiatic animals preceded man to the continent, and both human

lossih and earlv artifacts have been fovmd in associatinn witli. or em-

bedded in. the'bnnes of citincl animals: the camel, the giant gtoiind

sloth, the Bison Taijlori, and the original American horse. It was believed

for a time that this proved the antiquity of "inn on the continent, as

these animals had been estinct in the Old World since very early tim«.

However, the new Carbon 14 dates indicate that it wa.s the animals whn

survived to a late date rather than the humans who came early. The

earliest dates so far lestKl go back only about lo.ooo years, Seveml

thotisaiid years must he allowed for the migrants to have reached the

sites in sontliom North America w here they were found, so that ta,ooo

to 1^000 years is the limit for the antic|uity of man in .America.

 

Two methods of dating which have l)«*n developed hy .American

scientis-ts in recent years have done mucli to clarify the picture. The first

was a process discovered by Dr. A. E. Douglass, an astroiminer who

came upon the method when he wits studying sun spots and vveatlier

fluctuations. He found, when studying cross-sections nf pine trees in the

Soudiwest. tliat wet and dry seasons were recorded in the width of the

annual growth of the trees. By comiwrison of tree ring patteni.s cif old

liviijtf trees, Inrams foiitid in colonial structures, and posts from p«'-

htstoric ruiiLS, he was able to estahlisli a calendar of tree ring dating

which extended from 11 A.n. to the present. Thw method has so far

proved practical only for Southwestern mnterinl.

 

The second dating technique is a hy-pnxlnct of modem atomic

studies. A radioactive isotope. Carlxin 14. is constantly being proilud't

on the earths surface by the collision of cosmic rays with nitrogen atoms.

Atmospheric carbon is assimibted by living orgatrisms, both plant ami

animal, hut assimibition stops at death. Since Carbon 14 has a half-life

of S‘5^ ^ years, it is possible, l»y deteniiining the percentage of this

isotope in llie" total carbon of the specimen, to date specimens as far

back as 25,000 years. There arc a number of other factors wfiich may

 

 

XL. North American Aborigines [593

 

ups<*t this balaiio.', but this hus still prowd the most aooeptabk method

of clnting imcient materials.

 

All human fosals discos ert-d foil within the range of the physiciil

i-arifltitm of tlie hLsIoric Indiaiis- This range is considenible, for, while

the first migrants were probably of a geiieralized Mongolian type, they

spread out and settled in s{nj:ili, uibreKl groups in a variety of climates

and soon developed individual physical types. .All Indians have dark

eves and hair, medium brovvn skins, and little Or no bod}' hair. However,

tliese chameteristies do not show up in fossils. Tlie bones show that

some were short, some tall; some long-headed, some round-headed;

some had high, narrow noses, some low, broad noses. At the lowest strata

heav-y' flake instruments have bet'n found, crude artifact.^ reminiscent of

e,irly Ij'pe Paleolithic from East Asia* From a somewhat later stratum a

more complete picture can be pieced together, showing primitive man

contemporaneous with the mammoth and the sloth.

 

.All the carlv migrants must have been nomatlic hunters and fisher¬

men, since this is die only mode of life possible in the Arctic regions

through which they had to travel. ;\ji they made their way south down

the Mackenzie Valley to tlie Plains regions, they found a land abound¬

ing in game and free from human enemies. Under these conditions they

iiuiltiphed rapidly. As the ice retreated further nortJi another route was

opened between the Rocky Mountains and the Coast Range, leading to

the Great Basin. The settiemciit of America was accomplishc.'d not by

a single wave of migrants, but by a steady infiltration which continued

for tliousands of years. All the early migrants traveled south in search

of better lands until ihe last comers, the Eskimo, arrived with full equip¬

ment for Arctic life and techniques for hunting the big sea mammals.

They settled in the region and cut off further migration,

 

Tlie [lopulation of tlie continent was very early divided into two

recognizable culture complexes, the .seed-gathentTS and the big game

hunters. The seed gatherers were the settlers of the Rocky Mountain Pla¬

teau west to California and east across Texas. There was little game in

this region hut plenty of wild vegetable food, seeds, berries, nuts, mots,

and bulbs. Since these people were not hunters, their projectile points

were few and crude. Tliey made large flake tools and choppers. Tliej'

learned bow' to mast their seeds and grind them in uicftifcs (coneuve

grinding stones 1 to make meal, and how- to dry their gleanings and

store them in tightly woven haskels of twined cord. For tliis reason their

descendants w'cre know'n as tlic Basketmakers.

 

The game hunters centered in the High Plains of the ^Vestem United

States widi some penetration into the Eastern Woodlands and toward

the Texas border. Hunting, food-gathering societies are as dependent

 

 

594]

 

 

Part Tfrn: Tim New

 

upon the ecology^ of the regiCMi In which ttiey live ^ any olhet laain-

malian species, and do not penetrate into tlie territories which will re¬

quire them to invent or borrow tiew^ techniques. To a Plains hunter a

thickly forested area presented as effective a barrier as a mountain

range. Tlie hunters therefore stayed on the Plains, where game was

plentiful, supplementing their diet with yviild seeds and roots.

 

This culture w^ characterired by an ejrtensive and fine Industry of

chipped Slone pro|ectile points, knives, and scrapers. Two t>'pes of pro¬

jectile points fixe diagnostic for diU culture] the Folsom and the Yuman

points, named for the pbces in New Mexico where they were Eist dis-

covcreib The Folsom is a fluted stone point with lengthw ise fluting or

grooving on both faces. The ^uman points are long and narroTv, wilh

parallel Baking extending across tlie blade and no fluting, Tliese Folsom-

Yuman people were the ancestors of the Ainefican hunting tribes. We

know that they hunted the mamniolli and other extinct anlmaL!, The first

find of ibcse implements w^as made at Folsom, New^ Mexico, where they

were found in association with bones of bison of an extinct t%'pe+ How¬

ever, the hunting techniques were the same as those used by historic

Indians. They had evidently surrouTKled the animals, herded them to-

getlioft and finished them off with javelins, Folsom type poicits Averc

embedded in the bones of the bison. Another interesting feature was

that the tail bones of all the bLson skeletoiis were missing. This indi¬

cated that the Folsom people skinned the beasts, leaving the fciils on

the hide. Since the skeletons Avere otherwise complete^ they apparently

followed the pracbee of the historic hunters, who roughed out the skele-

tous of the buffalo and carried off the meat in large rolls.

 

Taken as a w^hole^ the earliest remains suggest a movement to

America of a people with a emde flake culture and genemluced Aus^a-

loid-Mnngolian characteristics. They probably arrived during the period

of the last glacial retreat, most likely Avhilc the Eastern United States

w^as still under ice, which accounts for the fact that no cultural remains

have been found in this region. These migrants spread over most of

North America and W'ere the first to reach South America. Tliere w^cre

probably no further migrations for a long time because a pericxl of in¬

creased cold made passage of the Strait impossible. With milder ehmahe

conditions, migration from Asia started again with a people of Up'

per Paleolithic culture, w'ho were adjusted to full nomadic hunting

life. These people were Paleoasiatic (intermediate Caucosic-Mongoloid

characteristics) much like ihe historic Indians. These terriers of a hunt¬

ing culture mixed with Ihe older population and adopted seed-gathering

in regions where straight hunting Avas less profitable than food-gathcr-

ing.

 

From the time of this second migration there Avas frequent move-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEW

 

WORLD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

P<irt Tvn: The New Wonin

 

 

39®1

 

merit ocross Bering Strait, possihly by IwiJt, though the pjisscige was

blocked from Mme to time by climutie fluctiJutiurui, Tlicse migrants

tinueci to trickle 50 uth ami eastu^urd seeking more favorable teITitoTJ^

Tlieo Kline u group who had developetl full Circuiopolar culture ^ ice

Bshing, bone implements, and the of hark for canoes and utensik.

Iliis group spread from the Bering Straits area southevist across Ginadat

following the tines of the wooded lakes. Tliese Paieoasiatics were die

ancestors of the historic Northeast Eiidians, the Atgonkians. Tlie later

migrations were of peciple of increasingly specialized Mougobid type.

Al>aut looo B-C* the Eskimn, Avith a highly specialversion of the old

Circumpolar culture, moved into the Bering Strait area- Since they had

a full adaptation to /Vrctic life, they were not impelled tn move oa in

search of a better climate, but settled in the urea and cut oS the route

to further migration.

 

Arcbeo]Dgic:il finds suggest that agriculture arose independently in

several diSerent places In America, with subsequent borrow'ing of crops.^

All the important food plants used by the prehistoric peoples of America

were of local origin. The most important was maize, a plant u hich has

become so highly domestreated that it caniMjit resow^ itself or survive

Without human cure, ft was long believed that this originated m the

Mexican Ilighhinds, where there ore agriculttu^l sites dating back to

1500 B.c. Some later evidence tends to sliow^ that the plant or its an¬

cestor w'as develo[>ed in South America, probably Paraguay^ though

maize of a very primitive tjpe dating from around 1000 b.c, has been

found in Ba t Cave, New Mexico.

 

In Middle America it found a favorable enviroiimenh and there it

was combined with tw^o other locally domesticated crops, beans and

squash. MaLze. beans, and squash, throughout mort of iheir radge from

MiddJe America northward, were planted togellier. Tlic tom was

pbnted in bills, the cornstalks provided poles for the beans^ and the

squashes were planted between the conihllls. Tlie Eesterti Indians called

these three crops the “sacred sisters.**

 

Maize was diEused northward early, but w^hen beans and squash

were also introduced, a halanted ration of starch, protein, and vitamins

was provided. These crops made possible the settlement of regions

where the hunting wias too poor to supply protein food- Their introduc¬

tion w^as eveiywherc followed by an increase in population and a rapid

upswing in culture.

 

Animal husbandry was never important in America Ix^ause there

were few' animals worth domesticating. Only the dog and the turkey

were domesticated north of Mexico. Tlie turkey wiis domesticated first

in the Southwest, apparently quite os much for its feathers as for its

meat Tlie dog was ubiquitous all through .America. He probably ac-

 

 

XL. North American Abori^nes

 

campanied th<^ first migrants from .Asia and wras the compiinion of oieti

in alJ their wanderings «n tins continent. In tlie Arctic and on the Plains,

dogs were used as transport animals. In some places dogs were eaten.

Tlic Coast Salish used dag-hair as wool for blankets. The dogs were

strung up by the neck and the hair yanked out. Early travelers reported

that Salish dogs were extremely ill-tempered beasts, which i$ not sur¬

prising. In the Andean region the llainu and alpaca and the guinea pig

were domesticated. The first tw'o were used for transport and for wool;

the guinea pig was raised for food.

 

At the Kciie of the arrival of the w'hites the first reshuffling of the

population under the impact of agricidture had already taken place. Set¬

tled life in semi-permanent villages, supportL'd hy agriculture, had spread

as far north as the crops would support it. .A series of regional culture

patterns had emerged, linked with particular climatic and ensironmental

areas. The prehistoric peoples north of Mexico can he roughly divided

into nine main groups: (i) Eskimo; (i) Barren Ground; (3) Northeast

Woodlands: (4) Southeast Woodlands; (5) Plains; (6) Rocky .Mountain

Plateau; (7) Skjiithwcst; (S) Califomia; (9} Northwest Coast; Areas s.

 

3 . 5 < g were predominantly hunting or fishing cultures closely re¬

lated to die Old World Circumpolar culture. In areas 4, 6, 7. and fi vege¬

table food was most important, with incidetital dependence on hunting

or fishing.

 

It is impossible to give a detailed account of these areas in this wl-

 

 

 

ESUMOS

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pari Ten: The Wonu)

 

 

59^1

 

yme. The following desciiptiDiis attempt to show iho focal points in tlw

orgatiLd^tLOn of the eultiircs and the charactcnstics which strt each area

apart from ibs neighbors,

 

{1) The Eskimos lived along the Arctic coast from the mouth of

the St. Lawrence to Southern Alaslca. Their culture was dominateil by

urtusuaJJy severe dimatic conditions^ in which the need for food and sheU

ter overshadowed everytliing else, IJick of shelter in this region Jed not

merely to discomfort but to extinction. The struggle for existcuce ab¬

sorbed the attention of the group so cofTipJetely that their social organi¬

zation and religioii! remained at a low level of complexity. They had no

clans, no formal patterns of govern inent, nor even any clearly defined

tribes. The typical Eskimo settlement consisted of a group of families

bossed rather than ruled by the man who was strongest in both physique

and personality. There was a high degree of sexual laxity, again brought

about by the exigencies nf Arctic living. Wife-lending was quite coiii-

mon. For Instance, one man might fw? going up-cfountry for caribou while

another stayed on the coast and fished. If the fishemmit*s wife was skilled

tn preparing caribou skjns. ^i hile the huntcrV wife was noh the two men

would swap wiA es for the season.

 

The winter dwelling for the EaLstem and Central Eskimos was the

snoivhouse, or igloo, which was made from snowblocks fitted together

to form a self-supporting dome. The Western Eskimos used semi-snbter-

lanean sod bem^e^. Bouses xvere heated with seal oil lamps ^ which were

also used for cooking. These htnps heated the igloos so thomnghly that

people ordinarily stripped off their clothing inside the house. In the

summer the people lived in tents of deer or sealskin. Sometimes these

tents were j^et up inside the igloos m winter to make an air chamber be-

tn^’cen tlie tent wall and the snow-waJJ to prevent tlie interior heat from

melting the snow.

 

fleligioa centered around hunting, about which there were innu'

mcrable taboos- If the hunting wics bad it was assumed that a taboo had

been violated. The medLcIne mcn^ called angeJfcojtar, were called in to dis¬

cover who ivas guilty^ and compel the offender to make pubUc confes¬

sion. Spiritualistic seances in which the cingcitoit^ called up the spirits

Were held during the long winter nights and days. {See discussian of

Old Circumpolar religion, pp, 153-156.)

 

The main deity was a goddess called 5 edm, who bved at the bot¬

tom of the se^H She controlled the sea mammals and the game, and, if

displeased, withheld the animals so that hunting w^as poor. Once a j^ear

she was called up by the angelcnb lu a dance riLuah propitiated, and sent

back to the sea iti good humor. The Eskimos were fearful of death and

ghosts. They destroyed or removed aiiy properly which had been in

 

 

XL. North American Abori^nes [ggg

 

couttict vfith the {fc&d or d^iog, and usually broke camp and moved to a

neiiv location after someone had died.

 

lu spite of this rebtjvely tow development of many aspects of the

fornial culture, the Eskimos %vcre an exceedingly intelligeot, self-reliaot

and aggressive people, who exercised most of their ingenuity in the de-

velopment of material culture, Tliey always loved gadgets. Wherever

they came in contact with Europeans they took to meohaniHail devices

with ease and skill Between 1870 and 18S0 Alaskan Eskimos frequently

shipped 05 donkey-engine men on whalers. An agent in Bering Strait told

me that he had once turned a broken watch over to an Eskimo friend,

^le Eskimo had never seen a watch before, but he took it apart, studied

it, tinkered with it, and in a few weeks had it running again, Duncan

Strong told of an Eskimo in Labrador who assembled and set up a kero¬

sene stove which had been shipped to the camp in sections and which

completely baffled the anthropologists. The Eskimo had never seen $uch

a stove, but he studied the diagram and had it together in record time.

 

The Eskimos showed CKtraordinaiy ingenuity in making all sorts of

appliances. They invented the sealing knee, snow goggles, and oil

lamps. The Eskimo sledges were better than anything Europeans were

able to devise. They were made from numerous pieces of wood, lashed

together svith rawhide but not |oiRcd, so that they were Bexible enough

to go over rough ice and broken grotmd without janing themseh'es to

pieces. The tiinners were shod with strips of ivory. Oddly enough, the

Eskimos never made use of snowshoes or skis. Sieges were drawn by

dogs. An ingenious harness was devised for the dog teams. The traces

w'ere prevented from tangling by toggles carved from solid ivory, while

the pht to which the traces were attached ran through a ring fastened

in back so that it could turn freely.

 

For summer hunting the Eskimos used the kayak, a boat made of

W'idrus skin .stretehed over a flexibly lashed framework of wood, plus

pieces of hone for ribs. These were amazingly ingenious contrivances and

made exceedingly good sea boats, except that if they were in the water

more than 48 houns they became waterlogged and the hides softened

and ported from the ribs. If an Eskimo was caught in a storm and blown

out to sea, his kayak w as likely to dissolve under him.

 

In winter they wore tailored skin clothing, usually with the fur left

on. Their footgear was an improved moccasin called mukhiks, which had

sole and sidepieces in one section and, except for the rubber hoot, are

the only form of footgear so far devised which will keep out snow water.

 

They made some pottery which, while unSred because of the short¬

age of wood, was adequate for boiling food. They bod some crude bas-

ketry, but their real skills were concentrated in bone and stone working.

 

 

Pari Ti*ni TtiK Kew Wobij>

 

 

600]

 

Oii the long iivmttT inglits tliey canned delightful little figures of men

and atiinials in ivory + Tfit?)" had 110 inetal* but in the late period, when

drift iron washed in oeea>$ionaIIyt they made good use of it and worked

it into knives and axe!i.

 

The Eskimo^p since they lived in territory which the white men did

not cxjvch have been less aOeeted by white settlement than any other

aboriginal group, and in many regions still live much as they did when

Cohimbus landed.

 

(a) The clumite of the Rarreu Ground, w^hich included Interior

Canada from Hudson Bay to die Rockies^ was almost as severe as dial

of the Eskimo territory* and the food situation wiis even more precari¬

ous, Tlie people subsisted largely on fresh-water fishing. They^ also

hunted snow'shoe rabbits and carihoii, which moved iri tremendous

herds in this Arctic waste, migrating with the seasons- If the hunters

succeeded in catching up w^ith a caribou herd they could kill enough

meat for several months' supply. If they failed to do this, they had to

live on short rations.

 

This was a highly nomadic culture. In summer tliey traveled by liark

or skin canoe, in winter by snowshoe or totmggan, a strip of bark svith

forward end curled up. Houses were conical skin tent!; or lean-to huts.

 

In spite of the severity^ of the climate and the poverty of the culture*

the social argantEation was more u:>inpHcated tlian that of the Eskimo-

Tliey had a genuine baud organization* groups who habitually livetl and

hunted together and who wtie controlled by chiefs, w=ith a teiidenCT for

the chieftainship to become hereditaiy'* Altfioiigh there were no grwip

religious cereiriofiies, ishamans perfonned magic rites and healing rituals-

The idea of the individual giiimliari, a supernatural being wiUi w^hom

one could establish personal rebtions through a dream vision, was im¬

portant here. By keeping certain iLiboos and making certain sacrificed to

one's guardian, one could scc:ure needed help iti huiiling and fighting.

 

{3) The Northea.'fl Woodlands comprised Eastern Canada* extend¬

ing north to the tundm, and the Eastern United States from the Atbutic

to the Great Plains and as far south as V'irginia,

 

The Indians of this region had longer and closer coiiUiet with whites

than those of any of the other groups. Tlie early ctiloiiists woidd luive

stars^ecl lo death tf the tribes ol the eastern seaboard Lad not introduced

them to local crops and techniques for cultivEitiiig them. !t was helpful

also for the wlutes that the diseases which the first explorers had

brought with them had decimated the villages along the coast to such

an etteiil that abandoned fields and deserted vilbge sites could bo taken

by the colonists. If the tribe!; bad been in full strength, settlcjnent

would have bt*en much more difficult*

 

At tlie time of the discovery^ this region was populated by a great

 

 

XL, North Ai;Offgini?s [Box

 

varied of tribes^ most of wliicli had a loosely orgaiiLzied chm systtm witli

tribal chiefs. The territory in most areas was heavily forested, and non-

migratory game %vas plentiful, so that hunting was good all year. Most of

the tribes were farnikers os well as hunters, although they tended their

Belds only at planting and banTst and followed the game at other sea-

snns. One of the striking features of thi^ area was that the Algonkian

tribes^ from Labrador to Virginia, had a system of private ownership of

land, which was rare in alKiriginal ,\meri£ra- Each family had its o^vn

designated hunting and Rshing places. If another group wished to hunt

or fish in this territoryv they could lease tlie forest and fishing rights tern-

 

 

 

BULL HEAD WAH CLUB, mOQUOIS

 

porarily. Land was never sold, however, so that when the whites offered

the Indians pajmetit for their lands, the aborigines thought that they*

were p^iying for hunting rights and became indignant when the whites

tried to take over the lauds and drive the Indians away.

 

The Northeast Woodlands were cwcupied by so many diverse tribes

that it would be impossible to describe them all. The one which had

most influence on the colonists vim die Iroquois. The League of the

Iroquois was a force to be reckoned with in the early days, and its pat¬

tern of cotifetloracy may have influenced the formation of the American

confederation of colonies.

 

Centered in the New York and eastern Great Lakes area, the Iro¬

quois represented a degree of cullural advancement beyond that of their

surrounding Algonkian neighbors. To be sure, they shared many similar

traits of cultiire w'ith these; yet they were unique in at least two impor¬

tant respects, the cjstcnt of their agriculture and their political sophisti-

cation. Thev are Interesting to us also because of the role they played as

a political powder in our ow'n colonial and revolutionary history.

 

The principal tribes known to us as Iroquois were the Five Nations

of the League, or the Confetleracy. These were, from east tu west, the

Mohawk. Oneida, Qnandaga, Cajmga, and Seneca, all located in what

is now New York State, Other tribes of the Iroquoian linguistic family.

 

 

 

Pari Ten: Tiii: New World

 

 

602]

 

howeveTp were thif Huron and Neutrals, north of Lake Huroa and Lake

Erie resjjectively. and the Erie aud Conestoga and others in the Ohio

and FennsyIvania area. The Huroos were traditionaj eaeiuies of the Five

Nations^ and their enmity was reinforced through their eomlng tinder

the influence of the French at » very early period, while the tribea of

the Five NatioiUi feU strongly under British influence^

 

The Neutrals were so coUed I>t?cause, althoitgh their territory lay

between that of the emergent League of tlie Irorjunis and that of the

Leaguers thief enemies^ the fluion, nifither of the beUigerente engaged

in war widi this small tribe. The Neutrals were able lo maintain their

neutrality' because they held the only good flint quarries in the vicinity

and troded flints to both sides^ Neither group dared to attack them be^

cause they knew that this would ti'iug the othtT side to the defense of the

little tribe ami the quarries- The Neutrals occupied a posiHoa much like

that of Sweden in the late war, until the Iroquois began to aequire fire¬

arms and swords from the and English and no longer needed

 

flints. Then they attacked the Neutrals arid conquered ihem.

 

In family and social organizahoa the lioqnois w^ere distinct from

their Algonkian neighbors, being matrilirieally organized, whereas their

neighbors wxre piedommontly d patrilineal orientation# The families of

a group of sisters, or of cousins related in the female line, lived together

in what were known ns “long-bcnuses." These were of bark eenstmctioir,

containing a number of compartmeiits for tl^e individual families, in au-

thorit)* over the Famihes in a long-houso was the trLfltriarchp die eldest

woman of the lineage, often die rnodter or grandmother of die women

heads of the individua! families. Such an extended householdt or perhaps

two or three of such househokk csJtistituted a litieagCp and one or more

of such lineages constituted tbeavatrilLncoi clau. The number of clans of

the Iroquois differed with the tribes^ but in all cases the clans cut across

several tribes. The clans were e^ogamou^, so that a member of any one

cl^n would not majTj^ one of tbf dan,, cither in his owm tribe or ia

a different tribe. Members of thtf sanae cbn were regarded as close blood

rdativeSp no matter how near or remste^ or indeed, fletitiouSt the actual

relationship may have been. Blood relationsbip tics outside of onc^s own

matrihneal clan were of less iiapchrlaiice and were regarded os dissolved

with the passage of a few generatiuns.

 

In this fashion the matrihrifiil elans and the tribi^ furnished a criss¬

crossing basis of social organization. Tlie tribes w^cre local and linguistic

units, bving in different parts d the Lnxjuois area and speaking diff^^r-

ent languages or dialects* while the daiH cut across these and functioned

as extended kinship and ^ial saUdarit}' untti.

 

Agriculture was carried on pirindplly by the woTnen under the di'

reebon of the mptriarcb of eadi lineage or clan* Work parties were or*

 

 

XL. North American Aborigines f6o3

 

ganized ^ bees* onnouncf^ment^ being sent (ml m advance to alL the

women of a lineage or dan by the matriarch. Tlie work was done eo~

npemriveiy on Jointly held tand^ and the produce was divided smong the

member families. The work-bees were often occasions for $odal good

tones as well as for labor- This pattern was taken over by the piofieer

setders of the United States. The menu's business among the Iroquois

was primarily huntlDg, politics^ and warfare, all of which involved ex¬

tensive travdt leading the women with the sedentary occupations.

 

The League of the Iroquois represents an interesting type of politi¬

cal development. Its origin is somewhat obscured by the passage nf time

and fanciful embroidery in legend, yet the main outlines remain dear.

It probably began sometime in the last half of the i5lh century or very

early in the i6th century, or, as the Iroquois still say, "^about three life¬

spans before the coming of the white man." Its instigators conic down to

m in legend as Hiawatha {Hayonhwatha) and Degonawida, two vision¬

aries who, after overcoming many obstudes^ finjilly won ajcceptance for

their ideas. The troquoian tribes at that time were in a state of feuding

and warfare wdth each other as well as with non-lroquoiao neighbors.

The League was to be a League of Peace to abolish w^arfore. The Onon¬

daga were the most difficult to bring into the League and finally capitu¬

lated only with the stipulation that they should hold the highest office in

the League.

 

A political code or constitution was evolved, consisting of articles

and laws covering every contuigeticy envisioned by the founders. It was

 

 

 

WTOfiK mVNESSEE

 

 

Part Ten: The New Wopld

 

 

604I

 

paiMKl on by word of fxioiith until recorded in ttiodem tiuies. It repre-

seated an interestifig mixture of pnliticaJ sophistication and primitive

naivety. It was envisioned that the League should embrace not only the

foiiniiing tribes, hut that "The Great Peace** should be spread to all sur¬

rounding tribes as well so that there could be an end to warfare. Yet the

founding tribes were unwilling to give up their political prerogatives

witliiti the League, and wishetl to bring in other tribes only as subor¬

dinate to themseU'cs. What began os an instrument to end war, and

what %vas known as ^Tlie Great Peace,*^ evolved into an instrument af

conquest which became the tenor of all surrounding peoples. The fol¬

lowing is an example from the Articles of the Constitution which speci¬

fies how' peace shaJJ be spread to neighboring tribes;

 

When tile proportion to c^ubli^h the Creat Peace is rtiadc to a

foreign nation it shall be done in miitual council The Jiaihn is to be

persuaded reason and urged to come into the Great Peace. If the

Five Nations fail . * . after a third council . * . the tcur captain of

the Five Nations shall address the head chief of the rehellious ruiiion

^iiki request him three times to accept the Great Feace. If refusal stead-

ftisihj follou:^ the war cuptain shall hi a hunch of white take sdielts fail

from Im outstretched tmnd ami simll tnnmd quickly forward and dub

the offtmding chief to death. Wor shall thereby he declared and the war

captain shall have his men at his back to suppttrt him in ony ciriergcnci^.

War shatt continue until won by the Five Nations . . . Then shall the

Five Nations seek to establish the Great Fence by a conquest of the re¬

bellious nation.

 

When ficace shall imx^e l}een esiabtisited by the terminaiion of the

war , . ^ fhfTi the icor coptfiin shall cause all weapons of war to be taken

from the nation. Then shall the Great Peace be established and the

nation shall observe all the rules of the Great Peace for all time to come-

 

W^'henccer a foreign nation is conquered^ their aten system of in¬

ternal government may continue so far as is coitisisteni hut tf^y nuist

cease all strife with other nations^

 

The men who constituted llic original council of die League num¬

bered fifty* and represented several tribes. Their names became the titles

of fifty offices. Forty-nine of diesc have becofue perpetual offices to be

filled by representatives to the council and they snrv'ive to the present

day. The fiftieth office, that of Deganawida^ was to remain unfillerh since

there could never be another worthy of so exalted a name. The offices

are hereditary within certain noble matrilineages, but withiu the noble

lineage the particular inetnnbcnl is elected by the women of the lineage.

 

* Arthur C. Pudecj: TIm? af tJw Fife NuTiffiu (Nnw Vcirk Stan?

 

MiiHHiiii Biil!c*tii]p NPi- Albany, 191^.

 

 

XL. North American Aborigines [605

 

f n case of poor tx^r^duct in office, the women resert c tJjc power to depose

or “remove the antlcns from** any man whom \hey have jsent a* (he repre-

sientative of their chm and tribe to the council. An ekbonile ritual was

evolved for the conduct of political business, for conducting mourn¬

ing rites for cjfiicers upon their death, and for instalktioii of new officers

to replace them*

 

As happened in other cases in aboriginal histnrj.\ die outlawing of

internal warfare forix-d intcrtril^aj strife into a more civilized form—the

hall game. Lacrosse was played wilJi great seriousness by tlie tribes of

the League. It fv probably not an accident that confederacies and inter-

* riba I or inter-town liall ganies seem to go hand-in-hand in aboriginal

America {sec below, p. 612K Carnes were prepared for as war was pre¬

pared for: by both training and supernatural means. It is the Iro-

ijuoian boll game wdiidi is the ancestor of kcrosse as we know it. The

Iroquoian game differed from die games of tribes of the Southeast and

Midwest iij tlie type of racquet used and in certain other details. The

regulation raerjuet used in this s[v:jrt today is of the Iroquoian tv’pe.

 

The League of the Irorjuois was a political power to be reckoned

with by die Americaii eoloni.tts and by the British and American govern¬

ments, At die hme of the Rcvolutionaiy' War a portion of tile Iroquois,

principally the Oneidas, were persuaded by Reverend Satiiuel Kirkland^

a missionary to the Oneidas, to remain neutrah Most of the rerniiindcr,

however, sided with the British, knowing full w'ell that they would lose

their lands and independence should the colonists be victorious, Tlic

power of die League was finally broken when General SuHivaUt m 1779^

w^ufi sent by Washington w'itli orders to cliiTiinate this source of Bridsh

strength. Sulli\'aji*s method w'^s to bum the villages and fields rather

than to engage die lroc|UDis in direct battle. Tlie amount of food de¬

stroyed at that time is indicative of the extent of the Iroquoian agricul¬

ture. Tlie record of this c?(pedition describes the destruction of 160,000

bushels of com, together w ith a vast quantity of vegetables of every

kind, as well as innumerable apple trees, of which there were 1500 in

one orchard. With their villages and food destroyed, the power of the

troi^uois w^as at an end. Many of them fled (o Canada, while otliers re¬

mained to make peace later with the Colonies. From diat tlate to the

present, the President of tJie Um'ted States has been known as Ranaila-

garyoSr **Tl 3 e Destroyer of the Seltleincrits.'*

 

Tlie religion of tlie Irotpiois is also of in teres t to us. Out of a varied

itssortmciit of magic;i] beliefs and practices there evolved^ probably in

the fairly late prelihtoric period^ the nucleus of what has become a re¬

ligion of cotisklcrable beauty and dignity. This received further stimulus

and now codification by a Seneua prophet kno^vn as Gafnja::taiifo^ or

“Handsome Lakc^ during the severe crisis period which foUoived iei

 

 

Pan Tern The New World

 

 

606]

 

the wake of the Arnerfcun RevaJtitfon^ In thus form it surviws to (he

present. The pnncipai themes ^vhich recur in the nina! of thh religiofi

are the theme of thankfulness to die Creator and to the various members

of the astral and iigricultural pantheon for the blessrings bestowed by

them, and the theme of affirmatiori that tliese blessings and the status

cjuo should endure forever. In the prayers which were offered at each of

the religious festivals of the ceremonial year^ and in fact at any com¬

munal gatherings these ideas were reiterated, while "Our Mother the

Earth,^ *Our Elder Brother the Sim,^ Xhir Grancitnother tlie Moon,*

"Our Grandfathers the Thunderers" and above aU the Creator were ad¬

dressed and thanked. In tliese prayers the blessings were enumerated

beginning with thnse fn the sea and those nc-ar the surface of the ground,

and then the higher bushes, the trees, the things in the air, and so 00

upward.

 

The Iroquois today hve on half a dozen reservations in New York

State^ two reservations in lower Ofitnrio^ one in Quebec, one in Wis¬

consin, and one in Oklahoma. ^Many have drifted to the cities^ and tlie

Mohawks in particular have become noted for the ease vrith which they

 

 

 

SHELL OOHCET, TESN^^SEE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XL^ North jhtierican Aborigines;

 

have taken to stnicbxml steel work at high altitudes. This latter adapb-

tion to modem conditions is of some interest m \iew' of the fact that an

early ColomaJ historian noted with amazement the absence of fear which

die Iroquois hjid at high altitudes and the abandon with which they

would walk the roofheam of a house or bam in constmetion.

 

 

 

^SE D15C^ MISSISSIPPI

 

 

The League of the Iroqtiois survives both in Canada and in New

^ork State. It is recognized by die United States Covemment pod is the

political organ with which they still deal In Dmnda, where the Ca¬

nadian Ckivemment has instituted an elective coundl, It h no longer

reeognisted as the organ of political representation. I'he League there¬

fore has more or 1es$ gone underground there^ where It survive$ pri-

murily with religious rather than political functions.

 

The IroquoLS played an importimt role in our history. Today, ah

though most of us know^ liltle of them, we continue to use the munes

which diey have bestowed upon towns, cities, and countries. Canada is

an Iroquoian word meaning *'the setdement'* Schenectady means **ojj

ihe other .dde of the trees." The name, however, was applied by the

Irnquois to Albany and not to Schenectady. An extensive pine forest

once existed between these t\vo cities. Other names known by any resi¬

dent of New York State are those of the cities of Canafobade, washed

basin,*' named for a whirlpool m the rocks^ and Skaueatsdes, “bag

 

 

 

Part Ten: Tile Nkw World

 

 

60S]

 

lake,*’ These are only a $aitipk; a map of the state eon tains many more.

 

(4) The SouUieast Woodlands included die territory of the South¬

ern United States froiu the Atkiitie eoast to the edge of the Plains, with

the eieeption of the Seminoles in Southern Florida who had an aberrant

culture which will not be disemssed in this voluTtie. The Southeast cuh

twe is frequently undeicstimated because it destroyed early in the

historic period, but it was probably the richest and most compkv

north of Mejico.

 

The archaic pctjple of tliis regton wore seerhgatherers. River mus¬

sels were their chief protein food and they left great sheU heaps of

these undelectable fish behind tlicnu indicating that they lived in one

place for comidemhle periods. There was a gradual emcrgeuce of plant

agrictilture; arnaianthn gourds. stuiBowers (for seeds)j and tobacco.

None of these crops was deslmblo os a slaple^ but they served to develop

techniques of farming, so that when the com-l>eans-squash complex was

introduced frotn Mexico about the beginning of the Christian era. it w-as

taken over rapidly, the subsequent advance in population and cul¬

ture which these crops have always branghL

 

By 1300 A.o- the region had a large and rehitively stable population

with a high development in all the arts. The peciple did exceedingly fine

stone-working and made pottery' in a great varietj' of forms with painted

decoration. They also aiadc many objects of ctipper. Above iill, they

were excellent fanners* Accounts of early visitors mention cultivated

fieUls several mites squoreH

 

The people lived in homes of timber and stucco: a frame of cypress

poles filled mih a mixture of clay and Spanish moss^ tlic w^hole of which

was whitewashed. Early visitors also commented on the cleanliness of

the towns, not an ordinary^ charaeteristie of Indian villages. The towns

were usually built around an oijcn square, ^vith a temple pymmid at one

end and a council house at the other. Priests offielated constantly in the

temples and kept the sacred fire going day and night. Among the

Natchez in Mississippi there was a priest-kiiig* descended from the Sun

Cod, reminiscent of tJie pricbt-kings of the Old World civilization of the

Near East, and the only instance of this office iu North .America.

 

Tlie temples svere built on huge earth sub structures which undoubt¬

edly derive from the eeremonial pyramids of Mexico* These people built

a retainiiig wall fur the pyramid and then filled it in as the Mexicans did,

although they used eartli or wood rather than stoue. From time to time

the ithDund would he renavatc-cl hy adding an extra layer; sometimes tliis

was done seven or eight times. 1‘he Cahokia mound in East St. Louis,

made in this way, is one of tlie Largest primitive stnictiires in the world.

 

There was an important cult of the dead in this culture and also

elaborate group rituals^ the most interesting being an annual purification

 

 

XL. A/ort/t American Ahori^nes [St’S

 

ceremony edited the busii. This lieJd when the young com was ripe

enough to eat on the ear* At this time all the Itouses were cleaned and

whitewashed, all debts u^re paid, and house £res were exttiigutshed

and rekindled from the eteiusl fire in the temple. Everyone took a cere*

modjal hath and then danced in the square in new clothesL

 

The social and political orgunization in this region was particularly

interesting. The unit was the town. Within the town were a series of

matrilineal clans, each clan occupying its own particular district in the

town and having its special place on the town square when dre members

assembled for games and ceremonies. Tlie clans were divided into two

groups, Reds and Whites, with the clans in each group ranked in a

social hierarchy. The leading clan of the Red moiety provided the war

 

 

 

POTTEItV JAH, MISSISSIPPI

 

 

 

Emcy i»ipe:* HorzwmA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XL. North American Aliorigmes [6n

 

chief of the viUugq, while the leading dan of the Whites provided the

peace chief. The war chief not only led svur parties and planned defense,

but also organized all sorts of communal activities: landdeadiig, repairs

to fortifications (stocltadcs and ditches), anti renovating of the temple

and council house. The peace chief was a judiciary who settled disputes,

prevented quarrels, and ran the legislature, which was made up of elan

cliiefs.

 

There was a strong aristocrutic pattern, with a great deal of autlior-

ity vested in the chieb. This leacbed its highest pdint: aniong the Nat-

che^ who had an extraordinary' social system. There was a smal], aristo¬

cratic group in which there were three grades of nohiUty and a large

 

 

 

EFriCV PIPE, HOPEWELL

 

commoner groups ciiUed stinkards by the Freijcli. The aristncnrts were

dii-ided into the Sons (the highest nobiJif)')^ the nobtesp and the honor¬

able persons- An individual from any of these levels had to marry a

stinkard. If it were a woman of the Sun group^ her ebildren w^nitld take

her own rank, but if it were a man of the Siin groupp his diildren would

drop one step and become nobles. His sou would marry an honomble,

and the sonV children would drop another notch, so that by the third

generation the male linCp even of the Great SuUp would have become

commoners. On the other side, a commoner could become an honor¬

able person or even a noble by providing children for sacrifice at the

<icath of one of the nobles.

 

TTiore was n high development of hummi sacriBce in this culture.

 

 

P^jrf Ten: TtiE Nw

 

 

Sisa]

 

mid prisoner torture as well. \^'heii a noble died, the «ife or husband,

who was a cjommorier^ would be sacrificed and buricfl with the noble.

TTiis was done as painlessly as possible W iidministering thrive large

balls of ground tubucco by way of anentlietic sold then strungling the

individuab

 

The most important political feature of this region wus the con¬

federacies. All the so-ca1](^ tribes in tlie Southeast were actually con¬

federacies of lowas and, as usually happens, the organization of these

confederacies wus a direct projection nf the poKtiCiil organization of the

indi\ndual towns. TTie confederacies were divided into Red and White

moieties, w ith uil towns ascribed to either one or the other. To’ivn chiefs

formed the tribal council, mid, again, at the head of the tribe were a

war chief from a Bed town and a peace chief from n Wliite town.

 

Rivalry' between towiis was taken care of by competitive sport*,

spcclficallv a form of Jacrosse played witli two sticks anti a stitched

leather ball. The American confederacies seem to have risallzed that it

was not enougji to develop techniques for settling disputes l>etween

their component members. xMembers iicedeil an opportunity to wort

off their hostilitiia in hannless action. There is an almost exact correla-

tinn in the distribution iii America of confederacies and of organised

inter-community ball games. Whether these games were the various

forms of lacrosse played in the eastern United Slates or tlie more elabo¬

rate and ceremonial baskctball-like games played in Middle Amerioi,

they had certain features in common, hi preparing for them, tlie magic

used bv the contenders seems to have been cssentlaJly the same as

war magic. The winning communit)' gained heavy prcifits as a result nf

the w^agers placed on their teanit or by farmatized rights to loot In the

Southeast one fnight say tivat die towns waged berosse agaimit each

odier. The inter-town games began ivith the same sort of ritual which

preceded setting out on w'ar parties. If a tow^i w'jis defeated by its an¬

tagonist four times running, it had to shift over to the moiety of the

wiiiiiing town; that is. if the defeated town were a White town* it had

to become Red.

 

Tile Southeastern culture began to decline about the time of the l>c

Soto expedition In 15.40. It is probable tbit new diseases introduced

by the w^hites swept over the Indian ^lettlemeiits wath epidemic violcnoci

When the whites actually began to cncrpqch on the territory', the In¬

dians made an attempt to live as farmers among tbelr white neighbors-

However, their lands were too prospejous, and when, in 1839, gold w^as

discovererl in Georgia, the fate of the Southeast tribes was sealedn in tin?

mad msh for gold the Indians weie gathered up and, in viobtion of aU

treaties, packed off to Oklahoma. Tlie gold deposits proved to be smaM

 

 

XL. North American Aboti^nes [613

 

and unprofitable, but by the tjit>e this; fact was d^5co^'ered, there w'ere no

Indian settlements left in the Soirtheast.

 

{5) The Great PLujns extended from the Wundhuids to the Rockies

south to the Mesican border and north to the sub-Arctic forests and Bar¬

ren Ground. This territon* in early times was the center for the big

game hunters, the Folsom-Yuman culture* Later, the marginal South¬

eastern people began pusliing into the Plains, fo|lowing along the river

valleys. Tliey brought agncidtnre witli them, and. though all the hunting

people were not cons'erted to it. they nevertheless became dependent

upon it. The liunters roanierl tire high plains in tile stirnmer after garne

and in the winter retired to the agricnltiimJ settlements along the river

valleys^ or went south to Mexico and lived with the eastern Pueblos,

 

 

 

SHELl. MASK, TKKSF.S5EF,

 

 

 

 

Part Ten: Tke New' World

 

 

6i-j]

 

Along the Missoim dmlnag^* there uuu n curious rektinu^fhfp

the hunting tribes and tlie agricultural people. Although they were

narmally at war, a truce was establrslied sit the time vs'hen the goldefimd

was in bloom. The hunting tribes came freely to the >illage-5 of tlie set¬

tled tribes, bringing skins and dried meat to trade for com. .At this time

the eneinlcs would get together, bonst of their fights, and count coup.

But as soon o$ the goldcnrod went to seed, the hunters gathered up their

share of the trade and went hack to die hills, and, from then until next

scasori^s goldcorod, the members of the two groups would kill each

other on sighL

 

The river valley people lived in villages surrounded by cornfields,

and fortified w'ith ditches and stockades. They built earth lodges, w^hich

were laige permanent dwellings in which a group of families lived to¬

gether. The Mandan and Hidatsa bad houses So feet across and 30 feet

high at the smoke hole. Most of the time the people stayed in the vil¬

lages, but in spring anrl fall they took to the plains for some himting of

their owai. They used hght, portable equtpineul for these e?cpediboiis

and camped out in conical skin tents. A crude vebiele called e dog

fraoois was used for transjiort. This was a pair of poles which wert^

lashed to the sides of the dog, sometimes with a bre^ strap and bclh-

band. A netted frame was strung bet^veen the poles and baggage of

all sorts was lashed to this. The baggage w'hfch eoiildo'^t be put on the

travojs wm carried by the women.

 

With the introductipn of the hoise^ tilings changed rapidlv on the

Flatus. This had been a marginal area^ made up of people from the

poorer edge of the eastern agricultural area plus a few nomadic hunting

tribes. The horse was a new animal on this continent, since the original

American horse had become extinct along Urith the mammoth and the

sloth. The first hurses were brought here by Cortez, w^ho landed in

Tabasco in tlie spring of 1519 with eighteen mounts. Any of these which

survived w^ere undoubtedly eaten by the starving Spaniards. Cortez

brought nearly a thousand horses from Spain on his next expedition, and

De Soto landed in Florida in 1339 with about a hundred of them.

 

By the middle of the i6uos there were wlid horses working well up

in the Plains, probably Spanidi escapers from the Southw c^. The Plains

were an ideal grazing ground, and reproduction was rapid. The Indians

W'ent into a state of wild excitement and began to catch or steal horses

as their main sport. By the middle of the jyoos practically evciy Plains

Indian had a mount. Tlie coming of the horse made possible for the first

time really effective exploitabon of the biiffafo herds. The combination

of a practically unlimited food supply, and a transport animal which

made possible the enrichment of u tiomadie pattern of life, made ihe

Plains the center of a sort of gold runh, with tribes from ail sides turn-

 

 

XL. North American Aborif^nes [615

 

bling into (he n^gioii. The settit'd people, who had been living along the

river valley, found that hunting expeditions were more profitable, as well

as more fun, than hoeing corn, so tliat itgrieulhire steadily deteriorated.

 

1 'he mobile equipment which had been developed on a small scale

with dog transport was now expanded, and a new, highly mobile culture

characterized by extreme development of war patterns emerged. Tents

became large and commodious. The framework w'as made of four main

poles, with about twenty smaller poles ammged In a circle- Over this

was stretched a cover of buffalo skins dressed to a gleaming whiteness

and decorated witli paint and quill work. Tw enty hunters could sleep in

one tent, ranged around the central fire on their fur robes, with their

clothing and weapons dangling from the tent poles.

 

Nomadic cultures are usually belie\^ecl to be eastial and disorgan¬

ized. However, the Plains Indian baud moved with as much discipline

and accuracy as a hoop nf United States Cavalry"* Tliero was a definite

pattern of travel. Women, children, and puck animab were put in the

center, with the old men as advance and rear guard. The yoimg men

rode around the group and acted as a scretm of scouts against enemies.

 

The actual movEment and the setting up of camp was taken care of

by the women. Horses svere packed with the same objects in the same

way, so that if a particular awl or a spore pair of moccasins was needed

ofi the uay^ the women knew exactly where to lay their hands on it

without delay. When the group reached the camp site selected by the

scouts, the chief of the band rode to the point wberc his teepee was

going to be set up. Then automatically the other famlljes took their posi¬

tions like squads ld a company bivouac. The Plains Indiau camp was

t^scntially a village svhich was Ufted up bodily and set down at a dis¬

tance of twenty or thirty' miles wi\h every thing in the same order* The

%vivcs worked In teams to set up the tepees and unpack the goods. In

less than an hour from tlie rime the chief stopped on his spot the tents

would be set up and fires kindled.

 

Tlierc were no natural barriers in the PLiiiis, and consequently the

tribes were constantly coming into conflict with one another* Also,

horses arc a most tempting form of loot, jrinEise the booty^ provides Its own

means of escape. So war and horse-thiering became die great preoccti-

pation of the men of the Plains, The Plains Indians were probably the

Ix^t individual fighters the world has ever seen. The men were organ¬

ized Into a series of societies much like fraternitiesp and competed with

each i]ther for war honors and in wife stealing, which was a regular pat¬

tern of the Plains Indian*

 

Along with taking war honors WTnt an extreme desire for supor^

natural help. This was the region of the ™ian quest. Spirits appeared

to the men in dreams or visions, offering them eounsel on warfare and

 

 

Purf Tent Tiie New World

 

 

ei6l

 

bunting. Not just the ^dolesceab fasted for visioikS- so did tlie warriors

who felt their powers waning and desired to go out to acquire more.

The northern tribes iiidiitged in fasting and masochLstic practices which

would induce the super Datum! to tnke pity on thern and pve them

help. Tlie Shoshonian tribes in the south, however, went to the super¬

natural beings and demanded powers, if they felt worthy of receiving

them. The powers w'crc used by young men, primiirily for success in

w'ar. The Plains cultures in gnieral hud no phice for old nien. The ideal

pattern w^as that a man would be a great w^pirior, steal hundreds of

horses, have many wives, and then, in full strength, be killed. Cood men

who had the misfortune to live to old age gave up their former way of

life and hecame gentle^ kindly ad\isors_ Ilad men, when they were too

old to go on war parties, bt^ame magiciatis.

 

The ritual life of the Flauis focus^ on one great ceremony, the Sun

dance, Tliis was a time when all the tribes assembled. They came bring¬

ing their provisions, and cam{>cd. each band in its regular pbee, in a

great tribal camp circle which sometimes w^as as much as a mile across.

A special Sun dance lodge was erected, a big eardi lodge of the

these people had lived in before they became nomadic. An altar was

set up, and the various dancers sought power by long-continued dancing

and self-torture. Mi>st of the Plains dancing was directed toward putting

the indMdual into a hjpnotic state in which he heard voices and saw-

visions.

 

These mounted Plains warriors, in their feather w^ar-bonnels^ were

the Indians who harassed the w'agon trains and were immortalized in

the boys" adventure stories and Western modes, Tlie Indians of the

Plains were the last of the aborigines tr> be conquered and brought un¬

der control by the whites, and they managed to give the United States

Cavalry a sUfl fight.

 

(6) The Rocky Moiintain Plateau extender] from Utah and Colo¬

rado north almost to the Canadian line. This w?is one of the simplest

cultures in North America, a direct dcTivalive of the okl seed-gathering

base* Tliese people had on permiinent dwTlIings. Their houses consisted

of a Birnw wooden framework filled with grass and bnish. They made

no pottery but wove gocxl baskets which the\" used tor f?verything: stor¬

ing, canying and winnowing seeds, and for cooking by the stone boiling

method {dropping hut stones Into a basket of water). The)' ground their

seeds on so^vpstone metates. Clotliing was minima^ and made of barkn

They went harefiKit all year, hut in ^vinter the men wound their legfi

with strips of fur w^hile the w'omeii contented themselves with hemp

leggings.

 

The social unit was an extended family group of vague cfintent;

usually an old couple with adult children and their families. There w’ere

 

 

XL- Worth American Ahorigmes [617

 

nd rigid rules of residence In msirnage. Tlie newly-weds moved in with

whichever set of indaws had the best food supply in their temtor)%

There were no chiefs and no formal political organization. Such power

and control as eiisted were vested in die old people and the rnedicrne

meu^ who practiced mainly as healers of disease^ The rehgion was char¬

acterized by the vision quest and an extreme fear of ghosts.

 

(7) The Southwest area Included New Mexico and Arizona, ejc-

tending north into parts of Colonido and Utah- It was distinguished

from the Rocky Mountain Plateau more by its richer culture than by its

climate. This is one of the most studied and best known areas of the

I'nited States archeDlogically% for the rlry climate has preserved perish¬

able matenaU which have disititegrated in other cultures, and tree-ring

dating has made possible more accurate time sequences than are avail¬

able in other regions. All this tends to make the culture look richer than

it actually was.

 

The earliest people in the Southwest were seed-gatherers and smaJl

game hunters, w'ith intrusion of tlie Folsom-Yiiman peoples on die east.

This early hase divided into two main lines of evolutiou: in die east

 

 

 

POTTERY JAR, FUEBLCJ, NI^W MEXICO

 

 

 

 

 

P&Tf Ten: Thf, Ne^v World

 

 

6i8j

 

wtffe the Ba$ktrt-Makeys, who tlevplnped into the Anasazl cultures; on

the west were the Cochise, who de^^etoped into the Mogollon and

Hohokaxn.

 

The earliest recognizable sites of the Basket^Maker culture date

from about zoo a.d. These people had oo pottery but made execcllent

baskets of the coiled type. iTiey also did twined weaving on e hanging

warp without a loom, llie open siles suggest tliat they li^'cd in simple

brush shelters much like those of the historic Plateau people. Thev

lacked the bovv^ but used javelins with spearthrovvers tn the way their

ancestors had for about a thousand yeim.

 

About ym a.d. beans were introduced into the Southwest, with a

tremendously stimubiting effect on the culture. Com and squashes were

□Id crops, but the people had to obtam the necessary protein from wild

game, which was not plentiful. Consequently, w^hen beans came m md

provided a good supply of prate in food^ the ceiling on popubtion was

lifted. For the ne^rt years the Southwestern Indinns went through a

rapid development of culture. In 700 a+o, they were simple village-

dwellers living iu semi-subterranean pit-houses or eaves^ with scant)-

 

 

 

POTTERY BOWL, llOUOKAM

 

 

 

XL- North Attierican Abori^nes [619

 

agriculture aiid very little et^ulpnieut of any kind^ Wichin sno yeitr^

they Were building permanent bouses above ground of timber and

adobe; the bow and arrow i^upplanted die dilail; and they developed

great ^kill Lti all the artj* particularly potterj' and weaving. They spread

out and increasod their territoiy, and also traded over long distances.

 

The high period of Anasazi culture was loSP 1300. This was

the time when the great communal stnictures and cliff dwellings w^ere

built One of the largest of these ‘‘apartment" houses was Pueblo BonitOp

which was started in gig a.u. but not completeiJ until io6y or later* H

covered diree acres of ground, and it is estimated that it could have

housed I zoo people. These pueblos were buU t anguiid a centniJ court.

Tile outer walls were sheer and wiiidnwless, making on impregnable fort

against enemies av itliout siege machinery\ The main building was on three

sides of the court and was terraced back from a one-story^ level in front

to four stories in the rear. The outer rooms were living quarters, while

the inside, unlightctl rooms %vere used for storagOn In the centra] plaza

Were the kivas. These Avere subterranean rooms built much hke tlie old

pit'houscs but used for religious ceremontes and clubhotiscs for the

men. Rcligian traditionally clings to old forms, so the pit-house was re¬

tained as a kiva long after it had been abandoned as a dwelling house.

The cliff dwellings were really villages built in great high caves pro¬

tected by massive sandstone overhangs, which provided excellent shelter

iiml a natural defense against enemies. The Cliff Palace at Mesa V^erde

had jiofi rooms auil 23 kivas-

 

Community living had a far-reaching effect on the Pueblos. A small

family group living alone must produce for itself anything it uses^ but

in tliese unit-houses there was an immediate trend toward specializutiun^

I'he person skilled at a particular craft concentrated on that* played with

his techniques and developed ne^v forms, and excliangad his work wath

other specialists. The ebborate ritual life which has become the out¬

standing featuTC of South western Culbire began to develop at this time.

Kivas were enlarged, faced with stone work* and decorated with sacred

paintingSH Ceremonials became nipre and more elaborate.

 

The decline of this great period was probably brought about by a

combination of drought and soil exhaustion. We know that there was a

dry^ period betAveen 1276 ami Also^ while desert sods are rich, they

are not inexhaustible. In this region the fields had produced well for

such a long period that the people had become anchored to the territory

by permanent structures and such elabamte equipment that they had

ceased to have mobility* and clung Co their fields long after production

had dwindled. At any rate, this high culture seems to have collapsed

after 1300. The cliff dwellings and great pueblos Avere abandoned. The

survivors apparently moved soudiAvard.

 

 

Fart Ten: The Nevv World

 

 

620]

 

Tht* retreat may have been speeded up hy the arrival of the aRee$-

tors of the Navap Indiaiis, a Naderic-spcakiiig people who were pushing

down from the north. The present Pueblo peoples speak languages of

several different lioguistic stocks, which suggests that there were re¬

peated invasions into their territory by simpler out-hang tribes who later

took oti their patterns and were absorbed. The Pueblos retreated to

what is their present territory + whore they survive as the Hopi and Zuni

to the west, and in the east are scattered along the Hio Grande^

 

The Pueblos had a strong clan organization which was usually

matrilineak Each clan had its own quarter of the village and its own

kiva. Political control in the hands of the elders, with tw'O function-

arieSp a w^ chief who organized w^ar parties and directed the activities

of the yonng men, and a cachftw (a term taken over from the Spanish).

Now^adays the w'ar chief takes care of practieai matters, repaCrs of public

buildings, and organization of ceremonies, while the cacique is so holy

that he stays completely in the backgrountl*

 

Eeligion centered around rain and crops. The sun and the com

maidens w'cre the main deities, but Ujere w-^ere imminerobte lesser gods

represet^ting classes of l>eings rather than individuals. The dancers at

rituals wore masks desigiied to represent these spirits, or Kachim^^ as

tlicy are called. Kacbina dolls were made for the children as plajlhings,

but were also used to acquaint the young with the attributes of the nu¬

merous Spirits-

 

The year was divided into twTj seasons: the winter season when the

gods were belic^'cd to be in the pueblo, and the summer season when

die gods retreated to the mountains. At the change of season* in the fall

 

 

 

PADC riNG, NQRTHERJ^ AlUZOSA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XL. North American Aborigines

 

the gcxls inetiirned with Tnucb cejr^mony. Tho nien of the viUagej nicked

and dressed to impersoimte the gods, came mio the village, danced^ md

then went into the kivas^ fn due they emerged as men again^ so

 

that it was apparent that the gods were still in the Idva. The entire win-

 

 

 

W'AH GO», 7JUSI

 

 

ter was devoted to a round of ceremoniijs^ in which the gcx].s passed from

'tiva to kiva.

 

The Navajo were a Nadejae^speaking people who originally lived

in the Rocky Mountain Plateau as a nomadic hunting group. Between

taoo and 1300 a.d, they begHii to drift southward^ attracted by the pros¬

per! tj' and high culture of the Pueblos. They settled in southern Colo-

rado and northern New xMexico and took over most of the arts of their

neighbors, agriculture, pottery making, and weaving, and also boirowed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KACHINA, ilOPI

 

 

 

 

 

 

XL. NortA American Abori^nes [023

 

a good ded of ceremonial paniphemalja. However, they preferred the

individual bouse and never built communal stroctures fn Pueblo style.

After the Spanish introduced sheep they became heavily pastoral, as

they still are. They had never been enthusiastic agricuftiiralists. Tlie

Navajo word for com literally means “enemy food," which is evidence

that they got it first from the Pueblos, with whom they fought. Also,

since they took over the lands which were already worn out, they never

got beyond cultivating small patches near dieir settlements.

 

All during the time of tlie Spanish occupation of the Southwest,

from the middle 1600's through the Mexican War, the Navajo made

trouble for the Pueblos to the south, who were not as good fighters as

they. 'They made raids at harvest time, ran off flocks, and kidnapped

women and children. These depredations brought them into sharp con¬

flict witli the American forces after the kicxican War. In 1863 Colonel

“Kit" Carson invaded their territory, and finally subdued them by killing

off so many of their sheep that the people had no means of support. The

Nai’ajo were rounded up and carried off into captivitj- until 1S67,

 

Being realistic, like most of the Nadene people, they settled down

after their defeat, herded sheep, ajid developed their arts and crofts.

They raised blanket-making to a fine art and also took up the craft of

silver-working, which they learned from Mexican captives. The eiimi-

nation of war, the development of pastoral resources, and the money

income from blankets and silver left the Navajo with a certain amount of

spare time, which was taken op by a progressive development of cere¬

monialism. These ceremonies were directed, not toward crops, as the

Pueblo ceremonies were, but toward healing. They became a society

of hypochondriacs. If a Navajo felt sick, his whole kin group would chip

in to get him a magical cure. To accomplish this liealing, the medicine

man made, first of aU, an elaborate design on the ground by dribbling

colored sand bctwx’cn the palms of his hands. Designs w'ere colorful and

intricate and based on mythological references, The mdividual to be

healed was placed on the design and an endless series of songs were

sung, in the course of which the design was destroyed, point by point.

 

The Navajo base been successful in maintaining their tribal identity

and in resisting white control of their culture. This resulted largely, of

course, from tlie fact that thejr territory is too poor to be coveted by

w'hites. They have bred tremendously. At a recent count there were

50,000 of ihein, as opposed to 7,300 in 1S67. However, at the present

time they have overbred their resources and are on the verge of starva¬

tion.

 

The early Cochise culture in Arizona split off into tivo distinct lines

because of climate differences in the region. The people who settled in

the western part of the state, which is desert countiy, became the Hoho-

 

 

604]

 

 

Part Ten: The New Wotoi)

 

 

Vam, while in «bc eastern pliiteau, which had a high altitude and more

rainftJl, lived the MogoUon. The two groups, originidly of the same

stock, e^tjlvcd two quite different patterns of life.

 

The beginnings of f lohokam culture can be traced to about 300 b.c„

at which time they were already using pottery and the bow, raising corn,

and liWng in pit bouses. The archeological record for the Hohokam is

less complete than for the Anasazi cidtoes because they lived m open

settlements and because they pracdoed crematinn.

 

In tliis dry territory any sort of large-scale agriculture was impos¬

sible without regular inigatioti. Therefore, this region became Ae on y

place in North America where systematic irrigation svas practiced. By

700 A.a. the Mohokain had devised a system of irrigation ditches which

tbev continued to enlarge and improve up to 1400, Canals were as much

as thirty feet wide and ten feet deep, and covered an a^egate length

of 150 miles, Wlien one considers tluit this engineering feat w-as accorn-

plished by a people with only crude stone and wooden tools, it is truly

remarkable. There must have been some centralized authoritj- who di¬

rected the work, since it served many settlements. The canals had to be

continually serviced, as they were constantly silting up and requiring

 

additional labor. . i,-

 

Between 600 and 900 there was a strong Mexican influent* in this

territory. This brought an unusual development of carving in stone,

bone, and shell. Cotton was introduced from the south, as svere ball

courts, in which a game somewhat like basketball was played in Mexi¬

can fashion with a rubber ball.

 

Somewhere between 1100 and 1400 there was an invasion of the

region by w'bat is known as the Saludo culture, which had strong Ana-

sari iuEuence. Instead of fighting it out, these two people settled down

amicably and lived tugelher. with very little diffusion of culture, how¬

ever. Archeological evidence shows the bouses and pottciy of the two

distinct groups existing in the same settlements at the same time. This is

puzzling and most unusual, but some clue may be found iii the existence

of the ball courts for intcrgionp sjiorts which, as has been pointed out,

as a technique for working off hostility and as a safety valv c to

prevent wars. Also, the cooperation jieeded to build and maintaiu the

irrigatiem system would be impossible in a group svhieli indulged iu

inter-tribal warfare. It may also be that tJie liobokam were ferocious

enough, when they did fight, to discourage attack. They were the an¬

cestors of the modern Pima, Yuma, and Papago, famous fighters who

defended tlieir territory against tlie tvarlike Apache as well as against

 

the whites. . , ^ *i

 

The territory of the MogoUon had just enough rainfall so ttiat 11

 

was possible to'raise com witlioui irrigation. Lacking the incentive

 

 

XL- North Aiorigjnes [&5

 

which spurred the Hohotcam to inter-bihaJ cooperation and mdustrv^

the Mogollon scraped by in meager fashion doing littJe to develop their

semi-arid land. Their chief craft w&s pottery-making, the so-called

Mimitres wares of the Mogollon being among the best of the Southwest¬

ern stj'Jes. These prehistoric peoples were eventually absorbed by the

Anasazi. In historic bmes their tenitor)' was occupied by wandering

groups of Nadene Apache^ (The name Mogollon derives from the Mo-

gollon Mountains, wliidt id turn were named for Juan Ignacio Flores

Mogollon, an early governor of New Mexico.)

 

(8) The California area cxlcnded from (he Rockies to the Pacific

Coast and north roughly lo what is now the California border. It was a

region in which the old seed-gathering, small game-hunUng culture w^as

given an opportunity to reach the limit of its basic potentjalities, as the

region wos geographically Lsokted by mountain and desert- The fine cU-

matc apparently discouraged initiative^ The California Indians had no

 

 

 

POTTERY BOWX, MTStBRES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

020] Fart Ten: The New Woulp

 

agriculture, no pottery, ant! no weaving. They hunted small game and. if

thev were near the coast, Bshed, but tlieir main staple was awnis, These

nub are bitter, since they contain tannic acid, and are usually considered

inedible, but the Indians pounded the hulled nuts into a coarse meal

which thc?v' piled into a hole scooped in the sand. Over this they poured

hot water'wluch leached out the add and left a tasteless but nutritious

 

meal, from which acorn mush was made.

 

The Channel Island group made a peculiar kind of plank canoe,

but elsewhere, when the Californians took to the water, it was tm a sort

of raft called a balsa, a cigar-shaped bundle of reeds wfrapped with

bajuiia vines, on which they rode astride much as modem vacationers

at California beaches ride rubber animals.

 

Clothing was minimal, and houses were flimsy affairs made of a

light framework of sticks covered with thatch or bark. However, each

village had one well-built house, the dance house. This was a seini-

subterranean circular lodge, apparently a descendant of the pit-house.

It was entered through a smokehole or side tunnel mid served as a

men’s clubhouse and ceremoninl center. On the occasional frosty nights

the whole village used it as a dormitory. They wcntld build a fire in the

middle of the floor, keep it roaring until llie place was thoroughly

heated, then put out the Ere. close the smokehole, and bed down for die

night, if they had headaches in the moming, they attributed them to

the work of evil spirits.

 

Arts and crafts were at a low mark, with the exception of haskclry,

in which these [leople excelled, ,4ppiirciitly they expended all their

aesthetic cravings on thLs one art. The Hiipa made a globular basket

with bird feathers caught into the weaving, so that the entire basket was

cuvered with a thick, velvct-Iike nap of vari-eijlorcd iridescent feathers.

Ceremonial robes were also made From soft featliers fastened to a netted

base, somewhat suggestive of Polynesian feather cloaks.

 

In social organuwtion, the pattern was that of small tribes. The

largest political unit was the village, usually a unilateral kin group

There were neither chiefs nor councils. However, there was an extensive

trade and exchange of baskets, sliells, and deer skins. In northern Cab-

forma trade became so extensive that a regular cuirencj' was developed,

based on dentaiium shells which were fished from the Puget Sound area

and traded over the region.

 

The tribes were exceedingly localized and spoke a diversity' of Ian-

gtiagcs, valley having its ohti dialijct. Calilomia was a sort of

tural cid de sac into which small groups drifted, settled dowm, and lost

all memory of where they had come from. U became a mosaic ^ tribes

w'hich stayed self-contained in their osvn territory. iTic Californians had

on elaborate creation myth, but each tribe believed tliat the world had

 

 

XLs Norih American Abori^ms [627

 

beep created in its own territory. Each tribesnmn could stand m the

center of hi5 o^vn valley and point out to his ehildren where the Creator

had made everjihmg, point by point Each tribe regarded its own terri¬

tory as the center of the world and had little desire to wander outside

of it.

 

When the Creator had finished making the world and everjihing in

it, tfie animals tamed upon him and killed him* He became a dead deity^

a literary figure who did not require piacation or prayer. Religions at¬

tention could therefore be devoted to the more immediate spirits who

contnoUed hunting and good luck of one sort and another. Featured in

most of the stories and legends of this region is Coyote, the trickster,

who held the place in California folklore that Brer Rabbit does in the

 

 

 

WOOD^ EATTtE,

 

 

 

Fart Ten; The New Would

 

 

6s8]

 

 

 

ivouy "sow. GATaien'

 

 

Unde Bemus stories: lie was tin* wilj'. dever one who always got the

best of the tied.

 

Boys were initiated into manhood in a series of elaborately co®.*

turned ceremonies, Tlie bull roarer was no important part of this ritual,

one of the few instances in which this instnmicint appears in North

America. Sorcery was important here and was used for social control,

particuhirly in trading patterns. The threat of malevolent magic was an

 

effective spur to delim^uent debtors.

 

Funerals, among those families who could afford to honor their

dead, were fairly elaborate. The body was exhumed for the formal cere¬

mony, which tool; place when the familj' had collected enough surplus

for the event, A stsiffold was set up and the both' or bodies plac-ed upon

it. Tlien llic framework would be hung with as many baskets, blankets,

and ornaments as tbe family bad been able to assemble. The fire was

then kindled and everything w'ent up in smoke, an example of ostentfl-

tious waste reniiniseent of Northwest Coast potUttchss,

 

{9) The Northwest Coast area extended along the British Ci^

lumbiau coast from Northern California to Southern Alaska. Although

it was well to the north, the w'arrn Japanese current gase it a mild

climate and the heavy rainfall proxluced a temperate Jungle of hemlock,

spruce, and cedar. This region was uni<iue in tliat it Is die only place in

the world which produced a really high culture vidthout the develop

ment of either agriculture or domestic animal husbandry. This was made

possible by the abundant food supply- Salmon ran in the many streams

in the spring; the sea teemed with halibut, cod, and herring; elk. i^r,

and bear roamed the forests, and the forest undergrowth was nth m

berries and edible greens. These people had no nei^ to undertake me

laborious work of clearing and planting.

 

They mode no pottery, for wood was so plentiful that it was u^d

for everything. They even cooked in wooden boxes by the stone boiling

method. They were expert wood carvers, and both their utensils

their ceremonial objects were of high aesthetic quality. Their w<^

carving achieved its most spectacular display in the huge totem poles

which are characteristic of this culture. They made baskets and also

 

 

 

 

XL. North American Aborigines [829

 

wove on the true loom, lunng shredded cedar baric ^ometiiiies mbeed

with mountain goal wool or even dog hair. Clothing wa$ simple. They

wore robes and cap^es but no fool g^or, in rainy wenther^ which was

about half the time in that tountiy^ the)' donned broad rain bats woven

of straw^ the only aborigines to use hats except as ceremonial headdress.

 

Houses were large wooden rectangular structures tirade by fasten¬

ing split plants to a framework of upright po$ts. In the north tlie planks

w^ere put on vertically and the roof was gabled. Jn the south they built

with horizontal plan}^ and a shed roof. The houses were large and were

occupied by several families of the same Uneagei the house chief and

his unmarried children, his daughters and their husbands and children^

ix'rhaps a yomiger brother or nephew and his family^ and usually a few

odd relatives and a slave or two. One of the largest of tlae prehLstoric

Kwakiutl houses was 520 feet long and 60 feet wide. The main house

posts» and sometimes tlie comer posts» were elaborately cars'cd in

heraldic designs which embodied the family histoiy' and the crest of the

hneage. These lolem pole house posts were often as much as 60 feet

 

 

 

FECEED srOSE FILE DEIVEn, ElVAl£HJTI.

 

 

 

Part Ten; Tise Nenv Wohuo

 

 

630I

 

 

 

ilANf) adze, KWAICIUTL

 

 

high+ rising well above tl>e roof. Single totem poles were set up

often as grave pjats which tot<l fn narrative symboltsm the history o(

tJie family or some legend to Avhith the lineage had special rights-

 

Villages were laid nut along the waters ^ge, with houses, one row

deep, facing the water* Piers and canoe nins were built along the beach.

During the summer salmon nms^ the hunting, and llie harvest seasons,

the \illage moved into encampmeTits dose to their w'orlt* where they

lived in flimsy wooden shack.^ labored from dawn to doik. The men

fished and hunted- the women dried and smoked tlie fish and meat on

racks built in the camps. Women and children picked berries and dried

them for winter* By the time the cold weather arrived, die storerooms

were plied high with wooden boxes stuffed with food, some dried^ some

put down in grease* With provisions assured, the people could turn

their energies to oflier matters.

 

The most extreme matdfcitation of this culture was the potlatch.

This was an eiabomtely staged competitive feast at which wealth was

ceiemoniaUy displayed, distributed, and fretjucntly destroyed as a sym¬

bol of conspicuous waste. This was a society of distinct social gradation,

and the only w'ay to achieve power and prestige was by giving a pot¬

latch. House chiefs w^ho had given potlatches were the nobl^ of the

village. The village was the chief pohlital unit, organiised along clan

lincSp Social prestige was not fixed, however, and had to be constantly

mainiaiiicck The commoners attached to die household of a noble

worked for him in order to raise the status nf their househokL If any one

of them could acquire enough wealth to give a potlatch of bis own, he

could rise to noble status. At the bottom of the social scidc were the

slaves, usually captives tikcn in war, who were forced to work in the

chieFs household until they were ransomed by their own people.

 

 

XL. North American Abori^nes [631

 

The poUaich undoubtedljr origmated in a ceremony designed to at-

tmcl labor for the extensive task of buildmg the great houses and erect¬

ing totem poles. L&ter^ however, it became a form of competition and

a nieans of establishing the position of groups in the tribal hierarchy.

;V]though there was some inter-tribal warfare and considerafale plunder-

Ing, llm potlatch drew off inter-\iDage rivahy and scr^'cd as a substitute

for war. A chief would invite the cldef of a group, with whom he was

competing^ to a potlatch feast. The guest arrived with al] his followers

and his household, and they were fea;st]ed and entertaiued at a ceremony

which went on for days or vveeks. Gifts were distributed acjcarding to

rank in an elaborate ritual. In the early days gifts consisted of bLmkets,

carved bowk and boxes, goat liom spoons, and even slaves. After con¬

tact with the whites, w^ash boilers, sewing macliines, phonographs, and

such tilings were iiicluded among the gifts. In addibon to such real

propert)^^ these people aUo recogniased another kind of property. Special

rights to certain songjs and dances, religious society mcmbershipis^ and

crests cxiuld be sold, pawned, or given away at a potbteh.

 

In addibon to the gifts, property was destroyed. The host would

tell his servants to build up the fire, and they would break up a canoe

and use it for firewood, pile on blankets^ and pour on fish di], a prized

commodity in this group, to rnaice the fire bla^e up. The guests were

 

 

 

f MSTED MASK, KWAiaUTL

 

 

 

 

0^j Pdit Ten: Tnt New Would

 

not s^ipposecl to move back froin the Bre anti frecjuetitly singed their

clothing at these displays. The chief who was the recipient of all this

had to accept everything with no show of emotion, but he and his house*

hold slipped den™ in the social scale until he could give a return pot¬

latch at which he olfeireil his rival as much as he had received plus loo

per cent Interest. If he could make it more than loo per cent he could

really shame his competitor, who went w'ay desvn in the social scale

after such an insult.

 

The Rnanciitg of these competitive orgies required the establish¬

ment of loans and interest rates. In a society which had. no mechanized

economy and no form of investment except loans and gifts, the potlatch

pattern resulted m nn inflation of credit in w'bieh the outstanding prop¬

erty of 0 single individual might exceed the total wealth of the tribe. In

order to keep the system working, a sort of hnnkiiote. called copper, was

devised. This was a copper plate which started out witli a noima]

value of from ten to twenty' dollars, depending on how good a piece it

was. Each time it was used in a gift exchange, however, it increased in

value lOo per cent—soniked up credit, so to speak, until there were

certain coppers which were worth as much as $15,000. Tlius the pot¬

latch became a form of investment, with cy'cles of giving and receiving

and with interest mounting and social prestige going up and down.

 

 

 

PAINTED XSASE, KWAKUnt.

 

 

XL. North American Abori^ne^ [6^

 

Credit was stable, howt?ver+115 the social status of the borrower was at

stake and this was a culture in which ones social standing was of su¬

preme Importanice.

 

It may appear that the [oug occupancy of the Indian tribes had left

little imprint on the present culture of North America, which fs pr&*

dominantly North European in origin. With the exception of many local

crops^ most of which have now b^o incorporated into world agrioub

turc^ and the sharing of knowledge of techniques for dealing with a new

territory which the aborigines offered the early settlers, the Indian popu¬

lation appears to have made little contribution in the norths However^

it may be significant ih.\t the pattern of confederacy w^hich ivas wide¬

spread on the North American continent has rarely emerged elsewhere.

Confederacies^ as opposed to empires, are cliaracterircd by the impor-

tanee attached to individual initiative and freedom of choice. It is at

least intcrestiug to speculate that the establishment of the coiif^eracy

which became the United States of America may have had its roots in

aboriginal patterns, and that the tradition of democracy and individual

freedom flourished with special vigor in the land which the proud and

independent Indian had prepared for us.

 

 

Chapter XLl

 

 

High Cultures of the South

 

 

The inrat crvilJiATioNS of the New World all arose south of the Wo

Grande. Although all the Indian migrants came from tlie north, toe

northern tribes never bceame civiJisEed in the strict sense of the word,

which implies the ability to build and live in cities. Even the Indians

of the Southeast and Southwest, who achieved the highest culture, re¬

mained villagers and farmers.

 

The region below the Rio Grande must have been settled several

thousand years later than the north, for it would have taken the migrants

that long to make their way soutliward, generation by generation,

reason the sou thern people ouldislanced those of the north was that they

acquired, early in their settlement of the region, a basic crop upon

which a brge "population could be built Com (maLee), the great Araen-

can staple, was domesticated first in tlus region. Some authorities ^1“

that toe wild plant (of which no trace has ever been foimd) came from

the highlands of Guatemala; others make a ca.se for its development on

the plains of Paraguay, lu either case, it was a southern pkni. Beans,

peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, peanuts, and other important food cro^

were also doinesticatrxl first in the south and diffused later to the north¬

ern groups.

 

The high cultures of the south succumbed inevitably to the Span¬

iards, for the assumptions of European superiority had a sound

European military power. The rapid and overwhelming victories of the

Con<|uistadorcs may be summed up in Hillaire Bellocs couplet!

 

Whatei^ happeiis icf fuice got

 

The Maxim gun and they /mue not.

 

However, these cultures were loo populous and too brilliant to be com¬

pletely absorbed or contained by » foreign power. In all Latin Americ^

culture complt-jses are arising which are not European in patterti.

 

 

XLl. High Cultures of the South [6^

 

old Indian cultures, as weU as the old Indian physical type, are teas-

sorting theimclves throughout the highland regions from Mexico south.

 

In Mexico two types of cultures arose in early times; the plateau

cultur^ of the Valley of Mexico and the lowland cultures along the

coast in Central America. Although a continuous scries cf cultures

emerged in the South, tliis volume will touch only on the three out¬

standing ones: the Muyan civilization, which was the most splendid out¬

growth of the lowland area; the Aztec civilization, which was the high

point of the plateau culture; and the groat dviiizatian of the Incas,

which flourished on the west coast of South America at the time of the

Conquest. These three cultures represented quite different ways of life

and lay so far apart that they were scarcely aware of each other's exist¬

ence, although much of the learning of the Mayas was diffused into the

Ajttec culture^

 

The ancient Mayas occupied w-hat are now the states of Yucatan,

tiampcche, British Honduras, and most of Guatemala, a territory somJ

IZ5.000 square miles. They were i.solated from the rest of the Mexican

retiuisula, being surrounded on three sides by water (tlie Mexicans

 

 

 

tVKPnVnV MASK, MAYA

 

 

Pflfl Ten; Tiie New Womj)

 

 

636I

 

 

 

sculptured mahrix vase, ^*ava

 

 

were never nnvigatois) find on the fcjurth by the lofty Coriliera M^n-

laiiis. The unique civilization of the Mayas was developed without m-

Evicnce from outside sources and wtis due to the native genim of the

Mayan peoples and tlie rich and fertile enviremnent in wfudi they were

 

fortunate enough to live, , ,

 

The economy of the civilization was biued upon maize, but

region was also rich in everything needed for a high civiHatation, Bean^

squash, chili, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, cacao, alligator pears, and i

hlcco were raised in addition to mai/e. Food was seasoned with vamiw

and allspice. Cotton svas woven into cloth and gourds were used or

utensib. Tlie forest providerl a variety of fine woods, imd the local lime¬

stone was one of the finest building materials in pre-Columbian Amutic^

It was easily qtiamerl. hardened on exposure, and turnetl into lime wne

burnetl. There were also, throughemt tlie region, beds of ^vel whic

made a natural lime cement. All the materials for a durable stone and

mortar masonry were at band, and the Maya developed a unique stone

architecture which was the finest, at least from an aesthetic st^dpomt,

in die New World, Although they never disetwered the of the Key-

stooe arch, they built fabulous structures using the corbeled done root-

vaults. The gr^t ceremonial centers such as Ghichen Ifea, Uxmal, an

Peten are of breathtaking beauh' even in their ruined state.

 

Mavan sculpture rank-s among the great art of all time. The May

temples'are a maze of delicate and intricate carving depictirig goeb

their attributes, religious ritiiab. and kingly triumplis, as well as styliz^

birds, flowers, and serpents. The Old Empire dly of Palenque was ptob-

ahlv the early center for this amazingly beautiful craft, as much of

sculpture and moulded stucco work found tliere dates back to the mi '

die of the ytli century. The great limestone cover of the sarcophagi!

 

 

 

Xf-J- High Cultures of the Soiil/i 1^37

 

discoverctl in iggs in the Temple of Inscriptions at Palenqoe compares

with the finest of the low'-relicf sculptures of ancient Egypt.

 

.At the time of the Conf|uest, Mayan civilization was in a slate ol

decline. The people were living in villages or in the shells of their great

cities. Old Empire cities such as Palcncjue had heen long deserted and

lost in the teeming jungle growth. It was not until early in the igth cen¬

tury' that arclietjlogists cleared the brush from the crumbling beauty of

the long dead cities and discovered bow great this civilization had been.

The Mayas svere not only the finest sculptors and architects of the

New World; ihcv were also die greatest scientists and the group who

came closest to develnping a consistent system of writing. Tlie Mayas

employed an ideographic w riting in svhich charncters or signs were vised

 

 

 

STONE BAU. OOUJtr MARKER. ItOWDURAS

 

 

Part Ten: The New Wobup

 

 

638]

 

9L5 canventiondlized symbols for ideas. Altltough the Mayan cmlization

was in decline at the time of the Conquest, scientific knoivledge and the

art of writing survived in die priesthood and the ruling class and were

still going forward. If diey had had more time they would undoubtedly

have developed a more flerible and expressive system of writing. How¬

ever, as their first act <if occupation, the Spanish Conquistadores made

a point of stamping out leuming and its bearers, so that the small group

of inteUectuals wbo carried this knowledge was promptly ehmioated

after the Conquest. Diego de Lauda, archbishop of Yucatan, in 1562 col¬

lected and burned in the pbza at Merida hutidreds of books of history.

 

 

 

tUSCHXIBtLVr A.VTHaOPDXIOBFH, MEXICO

 

astronomy, and mathematics. The only volumes which survived were a

few which were sent back to Europe os curiosities. From these, scholars,

after years of study, eventually deciphered the graphic system of Mayan

wanting.

 

The Dresden Codex, the most important of the surviving books, is

a matlicmaticnl and astronomical treatise in which the periods of revolu¬

tion of the various pLiiiels, and the times of edipses, lunar and solar,

fiavc been worked out In a sort of long-range almanac. These calcula¬

tions demonstrate that the Mayas at the time of the Conquest were

vastly better nslTonomcrs than any in Europe and as competent mathe¬

maticians. They bad also devised a cumbersome but estraordinarily

cumte calendar in which, by using several different systems of notation

 

 

XLL High Cultures of ibe South [^9

 

simultaneously, their' could place any date exactly ^-idun die period of

die Calendar Eoup^ which covered ^ years of 363 days each, or iS.gSo

days. Tlve Aztecs, Misstecs, and Zapotecs^ who borrowed their respective

calendars from tlie Mayas, made use of these 5^ X 363 day-^pcriodsp

which the Aztec called the *^year bundle,” flowever, they were never

able to calculate beyond tbis 52-year cycle uud achieve long-range dat¬

ing as the Mayas did. Tlie Mayas^ as Ls shown by the insertpticins on the

moiiumetits^ were aw^ore of the exact length of die solar year. They were

thus capable of extCEided calculations in which the position of a certain

day could be worked out from their initial starting pciuL

 

Unfortunately for die Mayas, Intellectupl and aesthetic develop¬

ment w^crc not Unked w^ith correspondingly high achievements in politi¬

cal and militarv' science. However, ihe collapse of the Old Empire,

w'hich occurred during the gth centurv\ was due less to foreign aggr^-

sion dian to interna] economic cauiies, Tlie culture had eoncentrated on

the arts and sciences to such a degree diat dicse aspects had become

ovcr-elaboratedj, w^hilc the economic atid agricultural system svas neg¬

lected and finally became unable to provide for the increasing needs of

a growing population. In the 12th centvirj' tlie Empire was invaded by

wandering groups of Toltcc people who, under the impact of the ex¬

panding Aztec Empire, forced their way south into Mayan territory.

They came first os niercenaries, much as tfie Coths penetrated the Ro¬

man Empire,

 

The weakened Empire succumbed tn the invaders^ but the foreign

conquerors who remainerl in the region were absorbed by the superior

culture^ About 1000 there was a renaissance of Mayan culture and from

that time until 141x1 the Nmv Empire flourished, centered chiefly in the

Yucatan. During this period the great cities of Chichen Itza and Uxmnl

W'ere built. These w'L'^e ceremonial centers and not cities in the Old

^Vorld sense* However, the Mavns w^ere never able to achieve n strong

centralized government. Their Empire w^as never a uiiitcd kingdom, but

rather n group of cities nilcd by its own hereditary' line of priest-kings.

They formed a few short-lived and loosely drgoniztxl confederacies, Tbis

ancient eivilization had fallen into dcfcline long frefore Uie Spaniards

anived.

 

The Aztecs, who occupied the vuUey of Mexico when Cort«2 ar-

rivetl in 1519, were themselves new to civili/Jition, Tliey wefe a Nahuiin

tribe who settled on unintshy isbnd in Lake Texcoco in the 13th century

anti established the cit>' of Tenochtitlan, the site of the present city of

Mexico, Because of their inhospitable and inaccessible Joeation, they

Were protected from invasion and their civilization gradually advancetl

in population and culture. Under their fourth king, Iticoatl ( 14^7—

1440). they formed aa alliance svith two otlaor dtj' states, Tescoco and

 

 

640)

 

 

Pari Ten: The New Would

 

 

 

AZTEC fWmiT DiSlCJJ

 

Tlacopan. This tripartite confederacy warted against the other Nahuan

peoples and expanded until it had established an empire which estcnded

from coast to coast and dominated most of central Mexico.

 

Tlic Aztec Empire was a pltiiider empire much like that of Assyria

in the Old Worlds Its rulers achieved wealtfi and power from loot and

tribute, but did little to organize or assimilate the subject tribes. Since

tlie Aztecs lived by war it w'as natiiml for them to build a strong military

system. All able-bodied men were trained for war and liable to military

service. Wars were frequent but not orduiatily of long duration^ The

principal Aztec weapons were heaw favelms thrown wath a spear

thrower, bows and arrows, and wooden sw'ords, along the edge of wliich

sharp Sakes of obsidian were inserted. It h reported that an Aztec war-

rior could pierce Spanish annur with a javelin tlirust and decapitate a

horse with his wooden sword. Tlie common soldier fought naked except

for a loin cloth, but war leaders w^orse corselets of quiked cotton soaked

in brine to make them resistant, and helmets car^-ed of wood in animal

likenesses. Great lords went to battle wearing cuirasses of gold plates,

 

 

 

THALOC, oon or RAIN, AZTEC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XLL High CuItfifTs of the South [641

 

over which were draped colorful mantles of fcatherworfc. Battles were

ijiore cereitioiiiii] than bloody, since die object was to cap tine the foe,

not to kiU him. A warrior did not receive acclaim for Idliin^ men m

battle- The coveted milltaiy honors of knighthood went to those who

brought captives back to the capital to be saoiificed on the altars of the

gods. Huitzilopochtli, the God of War, was the highest deity in the

pantheon. To keep him strong so that he w'ould make his followers vic^

torioiis in battle, it was oecessary to offer the hearts of many military

captives, and the higher in rank the victim was^ the greater the power

the god received. The necessit)’ for sacrificial victims led to war, and

wur led to sacrifice, in an ever-ejrtending cycle.

 

Tenndititl;^ ut the tinte of tlie Conquest was a large and bcautifiLl

city built on isliintb in Laike TeJtcoco. Socially and govemmentaUy it

was a typically Indian b-ibal town, but its size and %vealth gave it the

 

 

 

QUETZAlXOATt-, COD OF LEARN'tNC, AZTKC

 

aspect of a capital city of a great empire. TI10 city had few streets, but

wiis crisscross^ by canals with portable bridges^ Along the edges of the

island were the “floating gardens^ diligently cultivated by the peasants,

who paddled their produce Co tow'n in tiny dugouts. The houses of the

aristocrats were one-stoty' dwellings built around a courty'ard bright

with flowers and shrubbery. On pyTumids high above the city rose the

great temples, before which were the plaiuts where the thrilled populace

gathered for the bloody rituals of sacrifice performerl on the temple

steps. The society' was aristocratic, and the life of the upper classes was

luxurious and elaborate. The polibcat base was the ewgamous chin; a

group of clans comprised the tribe. The tribal council, w^hich wa^r the

 

 

Fart Tenr The Nem' Woulp

 

 

642I

 

chief governing body, was made up of representBtives from each tribe

chosen on a basis of merit.

 

The judicial)* was we)l*developcd, and crime was rigorously pun¬

ished. Anti-social acts, graft, venalitj'm office, and drunkenness, except

among the old who had retired from active life, were serious offenses.

Theft might have been a simple matter in this wealthy society where

doors were never locked, if it had not been regarded os an iinfoigivable

offense which carried the dwth penalty when detected. The state took

core of the people and no one had to steal because of hunger Corn

patches were planted along the roadside for the use of the needy. In

case of famine militarj* campaigns were inaugurated so tliat additional

supplies could be exacted as tribute and distributed to^he people. The

Aztecs niso had a unique institution of voluntary slavery which acted as

a sort of poor relief.

 

 

 

TEICULE 1>1%S1CNS, A2TEC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XLL High Cejf(t4re^ 0/ the South [643

 

There were se%'eral diffei^iit of sJaverj' in society* Mili-

tojy captives were sometimes easkvetl, but for the most part they were

dedicated to the sacrificial knife of the priests. Poof families* if they had

more children than they could coiivenienUy support, sometimes sold a

child or two into slavery* CriminalSp instead of b^Lng imprisoned* were

sentenced to serve as slaves for a given length of time. They were usu¬

ally handed over to the person against whom their offense was com-

rnitted. for justice here was based on restitution to the injured individual

rather than revenge on the wrong-doer. There was also the system of

voluntary slavery. A landless man who was unable to support himself

could give himself away as a slave so that he w^ould he taken care of-

FroBigates who had dissipated their means by high hving or gambling

could become slaves undl they could recoup their fortunes* Handsome

young women from poor families w^ould sometimes go into voluntary

slavery for a time tn order to accumulate tlie finery necessary to set

themskves up as prostitutes. Slavery was not too exacting. A slave could

rnurry, control his family, and own and accumulate property- There were

 

 

 

TEXTILE DESlCNSp A^fEC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fart Ten: TitE Ne\v World

 

 

644!

 

even slaves who had sbves of their own. Children bom in slavery were

free. No one who had been a slave was rlig^ible for tribal office but, with

this exception, volimtao' sla^'e^J■ was not a great social disgrace.

 

Children were educated at honie by the parents. .At fifteen, boys

were sent to a school maintained by the clan, called a “bouse of youth."

There they were grounded in dfeenship, war, history, and religious

observances. The important temples also conducted schools called

cn/nu’Cocs fesr training in priestcraft. Parents frequently presented their

sons to the caJmecac in infancy. The training was rigorous and compli¬

cated. Boys were taught writing, a hieroglyphic system like that of the

Mavas and used primarily for hiw and business records. They were also

required to memorize the long series of mnemonic chants in which tlic

mythology and literature of the Aztec religion were pneserv'ed. Those

who continued in the school and %vent into the priesthood were also

initiated into the organiJSiition of the pageantry and ritual of the religions

ceremonies. Fasting and self-tortvirc were also a part of this regime. The

highest offices in the temples were awarded to those who had distin¬

guished themselves in the calmccac schooLs.

 

The Spaniards justified the conquest and looting of the .Aztec Em¬

pire bv insisting it was their Christian duty' to wipe out the leaders of a

heathen nation which sacrificed men to its vile gods. To the Aztecs, tlie

sacrifices were an expression of tme religious feeling. Tlie gods requiitd

to be strengthened, and nothing W'i« more nutritive than the human

heart, which the priest offered the god, still dripping from the body on

the stone altars. The victims suffered none of die torture and humilio'

tion which ihe Spanish Inquisitinn was moling out to heretics at this

time. Many of the captives who were dedicated to the gods were treated

 

 

 

POtTEnY D£SICN, CKICMIMEC, FHE-AZYEC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

€LAV TIGER OQp^ ^^POTOG

 

With honor, given luxurious qinirters with IinndimadeTis to attend them,

and feasted And regaled. The ceremonial death ejeectitEd before erovvtb

of thrilled spectators frequently brought religious ecstasy to the vietiiti

also, for death on the altiu insured his entry^ into the highest heaven.

Even the knowledge that his body would he thrown dowti the steps

and carried off to form a cerenioniai feast was not a humiliation^ for the

flesh was consumed in the belief that the eaters were estabUsliiiig a

closer union with tlie gixl himself. It was a religious concept not unlike

that of the Christian communion, except that the Aztecs were painfully

literal about it.

 

Tho Indian civilizations, witli llieir vast treasures of gold, were

predestined prey for the greed and zeal of the Spanish aggressors. How-

the s^ift capitnlntioii of the powerful A-ztec Empire to CortK, who

arrived witli a force of 450 men and 18 horses, was due to a ccunbim-

tlon of factors which operated in favor of the Spaniards.

 

 

 

Fart Ten: Tite New Wonvo

 

 

646I

 

 

 

MUHAl^ BONAMPAlt

 

First was the initial confusion as to who Cortot w'os and what he

wanted. Throughout Meatico tliere persisted the legend of Quctzalcoatl,

the Plumed Serpent, a Toltec god who liad in andent times desceuded

from heaven to live on earth as a king and bring art and wisdom to the

people. When he was driven away by a more p^erful god, be fled over

the ocean in a boat of serpent skins, promising to return to bring tt

golden age to his people. Qaetzalcoatl was sometimes represented as

a bearded white man, and tlie belief that Cortez might be the rein'

camated god piiruK'zcd the will of the Aztec warriors. Cortez entered

the capital unchallenged.

 

He promptly seized Montezuma as n hostage, but even this act of

aggression merely terrified the people and failed to crystalline resistance.

Cortez was permitted to leave for the coast, leaving his lieutennrit Al¬

varado in charge. Tlie people closed the markets and kept to their

houses, but when the feast uf Huitzilopochtli was to be celcWted they

assembled in the scjuarc for this important ritual Alvarado interpreted

this as a military assemblage, and at his order the worshippers were

slaughtered, men. women, and children. This roused the city to violent

 

action, but too late. -rw

 

The great weakness of the empire soon became ap^eoL The eoji'

quered peoples had been held in hue by force and obliged to pay trib¬

ute, but had never been incorporated into the Empire and consequently

felt no loyalty. Many of the subject bibes were easily persuaded to join

the beleaguered troops of Alvarado. Even those who identified

selves with the Aztec state were reluctant to take up arms at this tiioSj

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XLl. ffigft Cultures of the South [647

 

for ft was harvest season and the toss of their crops seemed a greater ca¬

lamity' than the depredatians of the invaders, The Aztec warriors were

no match for men with guns, and their patterns of ceremonial warfare

were of little avail against the realistic tactics of the Spaniards. Once

aroused, they fought with stem and hopeless courage, but treachery,

plagues, and bloody losses brought the nation to its knees.

 

In South America the great dvilization arose in the Andean High*

lands. The populating of South America is an archeological puzzle, for

the Isthmian region, Oven at the present time, is an nlmost impenetrable

 

 

 

clay BOlYtE, nazca

 

 

 

P<irt Ten: The Ne%v Wobld

 

Jungle, while the coastal waters, particularly on the Pacific side, are diffi-

cult for navigation; there are adverse winds and no good Wbors, be¬

cause the jungle grows down to the sea. But somehow the migrants got

through this inhospitable territory and fanned out over the continent.

At the time of the Conqulstadores the tropical forests of the Amazon

were peopled by savage tribes who lived in thatched huts; the men

bunted and Gsh^ and the women cultivated patches of com, peanuts,

and manioc. The pampas of Argentina and the plains of Patagonia were

 

 

 

ootJ> njiSt:, ooLO&unA

 

 

 

 

XLL High Cultures of Hu* South [6^9

 

occupied by hunting and secd-gLithering nomads. OrJy m the Andean

region was there advanced civtlizahon, with city living and high tech¬

nological political, and religious acliievemcnts.

 

The Andean region is so high in elevation that it would seem an

tinfavorable place for die development of a great e^vili^at^o^. However,

the Indians of the high Andes have a tremeadons lung capacit)' and a

greater concentration of red corpuscles in the blood stream, so that they

are able to e-irry more ostjgen and can do heav-y w^ork at an altitude at

which the average European becomes &££y and hims blue,

 

It is believed that die plateau was die starting point for Andean

culture, although the earliest evidences of the settlement of agricultural

people have been found along the coast. The Erst migrants in the coastal

region were already farming people who settled fn the river valleys and

lived on various vegetable and root crops aiid fish. Independent cultures

sprang up in the coastal valleys. Back from die stream beds the land

became desert and was not arable. A system of Irrigation was developed

In which ditches carried the river water out to tlic limit to w*hich the

head of w^atcr would take iL To prevent evaporation m this hot, dry

area, irrigation ditclies were roofed over. The settlements ^vere built on

die desert, as arable land was too precious to be used for dwelling rites.

There was a sudden upswing of eulture m this region about 1000

 

 

 

^iOCfUCA JAR

 

 

Part Teni Tite New* Would

 

when the co^ifll farmers acciuiied com and bcBDS to supplement their

 

The nest great cultuml upswing took pbee in tlie 3rd or 4tli oentuf^

in the northern coastal valleys, and was known as the Mochica. In this

period the craftsmanship reached great heights, particularly pottery and

weaving. The MocUica made jars in the fnims of sculptured heads so

realistic that the>’ can properly be called portmitiire. Thew painted prt*

terv shows scenes of daily life, inytbolog>-, and battle scenes which give

a fine picture of the cultme, They were apparently a warlike people

 

whose expansion was based on military eonquest.

 

The next great period, about 1000 a.o., was the Tihuanaco, named

for the great ceremonial center, the mins of which lie on the southern

shore of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. This empire extended over Bolivia and

Peru. It is difficult to see how this region, which has poor, stony

an elevation of 14,000 feet, was able to support a population with the

surplus time and energy to build structures such as those at Tih^co.

In the plateau north of the center there are p^amids of cobblestones

forty feel high. Tliesc are not ceremonial pyramids but merely stones re¬

moved ill Uve clearing of the fields and stocked in great heaps.

 

The Tihuanacan skill in handling large stones was remarkabit!.

They' erected huge monolithic gateways, each hewn from a single pie«

of stone and elabomtely but rather unimaginatively carved widi a sen»

of figures which were obviously copied from textile designs. Hmv ^c 1

a nionnmtnl, weighing from sixty to seventy tons, was transported or

 

 

 

PAI^^EO ea^AY BOWL

 

 

 

 

 

COLD TUMBLER, ICA

 

several as It must have beetle remains a mystery* These people

 

did not ev™ have the wood for making skids snd levers.

 

Apparently one of the early discoveries in this region, which came

into luU use in the Tihuanaco period but characterized all the later

Andean cultures, was the abUit)^ to organize and direct mass labor. A

Series of empires, apparently developed by conquest^ spread throughout

the plateau and gradually incorporated the coastal valleys. One of the

most important of these was the Chimu, whirfi arose about 1300 ajj.

and represen ted a partial re-emergence of Mochitja^ modified by Tihua-

Baco, Like the Mochica^ this was a penod characterised by fine crafts-

 

 

 

6s2l

 

 

Part Ten; TtiE New Would

 

 

marnliip. particuliirly evulenctd in the pottery, wbicl. was made m

strildd^ and beaiitifu! animal effigies. The Crhimu were city dwelled who

hiiilt bree citv units oi two U pes: the eeremonial centers of the Tihua-

naco tv^ and also big, tn.e cities rrf the Old World ty^. whir* were

residential and militarv centers. The ixipubtion was large and ^11-

OTganized. and land was sy stematically irrigated so that evmy available

aert^ was iind^r ciilHvatioii.

 

The famous hica Empire (H^ to 153=) ’^^t and greatest

 

of these. The term Inca refers to the ruling tribe of the Empire and also

w‘as the name taken by die hereditary king. Tlie Inca ruling group

achieved power by profiting from tlie tediiuques of recruiting «uid ap*

plving mass labor which had already been developed. The Inw were

^gi^lly a small Quechiia dan living in a Peruvian valley of the pla-

 

 

 

CEll£MO.N[AL UBN, SOUTH COAST P£HU

 

 

 

 

 

XLL High Culiure^ of the South [653

 

teau. The valley was only 10^000 feet in elev^afion^ so that com^ potatoes,

and other crops coidd be rtiised profitably, liowcvext inosrt of the land

was so steep that terraced agriculture was iiecessaiy'. These terraces rose,

one above the other, for thousands of feet^ with occasional gutters faced

with stone cut through to cajry off the heaviest rainfalL Water from

springs was diverted to trickle down from terrace to terrace* lliese ter¬

races were so well planned and solidly constrticted diat thtfir outlines

are still discernible on the hillsides. The people hiid worked out the

altitudes at which varimis crops svould thrive and also knew about

fertilization. All humcin and animal cscrcment w'as sa^cd to use on Ihe

fields. Although they tUd not have the plow, this Andean horticulture

wiis comparable to the terraced, carefully fertilized fields of the Chmese

or Japanese.

 

The hicas were reniork^iblc engineers and builders. Tlieir temples

and fortresses WTr<? constructed from great blacks of stone, cut in ir¬

regular angles and ground atid adjusted until they fitted together iivith

perfect accujacj\ Ko mortar was iiscti. This was earthquake eotmtry* in

which w'alls of squared stones would have toppled at the first tremor,

but even nnvi% nearly 500 years after they were placed there, these stones

are so perfectly joined that a knife blade cantiot he inserted between

them. Inca buLldiugs give an effect of massed brute strength which is

ovcrw'helining, in the dav'S of the Empire, representatives of foreign

groups whom the Inca were attempting to bring in w'ould be taken out

to inspect the great fortress at Sacsahuamaii. The massive strength of the

edifice frequently impressed the ambassadors to such an extent that they

acceded to Inca demands without a struggle. Thi$ fortress vvas com¬

pleted shortly before the arrival of the Spaniards, so that this type of

cimstmctlon w^as by no means n lost art at the time of the Conquests

 

The Incas also understood the need for rapid communication in a

great empire and built better roads than any people before tfiem, with

the passible exception of the Romans. Roaids w'erc narrow, since they

were designed foi niniiers. mit wheeled vehidcs. But they were built

to be usable in idl weather in difficult terrain over mountams. across

canyons and rushing torrents. At interviils along the way were post

houses in which couriers always w^aited to take over a message from

a preceding nirmcri U was possible to send a message from Cuzen to

Quito, a distance of 1300 miles, by tliisTnetbod.

 

The Incas inctirporated theHeighboriiig tribes into the Empire by

a steady pft>eess of expansion., generation by generation, peaceable when

possible, fdr the Incas had no dehght in war for its own sakCi Finally^

their territorv' incksdctl all the Andean plateau and coast culture com¬

plex^ extending northward into Coliinihia and southw^ard aver Bolivia

and Chile. To the west lived the Aymora Indiaiis of the lowlands, a

 

 

654]

 

 

pari Ten: TifE Ne^v Womjo

 

 

 

INCA CUP

 

 

savAge group whom the Incas never conquered^ although thw managed

to establish occasional trading posts there-

 

The Inca Empire was an early and eitreme example of a totalitarian

state knit together by lines of command which kept every phase nf life

under complete coDtroI^ Land, minend wealth, and herds (llama and

alpaca) were the property^ of the state and were admuiLstered by the

state in exchange for Ie\'ios of labor. The land was divided into three

parts: one for the Incas (the mling class), one for the temple, and the

durd and largest portion for the people. The people s land was assigned

by families and was reapportioned each year* If there was a new baby in

the family another strip of land was added^ if there was a death, the

holding was reduced. Each newly-mariied couple was provided with a

house and land and two sets of new dothe$. An order would go out that

on a certain day public marriages would made. All the young un¬

married people would be brought together into a prefcctural center ond

given a few hours to get accjuainted, although frequently betrothaLs were

already arranged between Hie couples. Marriages were arranged by ihe

State.

 

When certain districts became overpoptdated, a section of the papn-

latioij would be dm^vn off by regular draft and moved to unoceupi^

land in another pint of the Empire. Care was taken, how^ever, to move

these people to districts where the general climate, altitude, and vege¬

tation was similar to those in the region which they had left. This sys¬

tem, which was known as the iTtifiifiiaCp w^os also used to keep conquered

 

 

XLl. High Cultures of the South

 

groups under control. After a province hud been added to the kuigdom,

about half the population would be gathered up and sent to a wgion

about a hundred rniit-i away. Another displaced group, who did not

speak the local language, would be moved into the vacated territory.

In this way the Incas were able to brcalc up the older cultures of the

cuiitjuered people and impose Inca culture upon them, so that within a

few generations they were completely assimilated.

 

The population w'os di^'ided into groups of ten families, with one

nian suiting as representative for the group. He was held personally re¬

sponsible for the conduct of his group, much like the corporal of a

squad. Five of the groups of ten w'ould be orgaimed under another

leader, and tw'o of these groups of fifty would be subject to a centurion.

Five centurions would he subj'ect to a chief, and two chiefs to a geDcral.

who thus headed a tboiumnd families. Four vice-roys controlled the four

sections of the Empire, which extended in the four directions from the

capitol at Cuzco. Heads of the various poUtical divisions were forbid¬

den to have direct relations with one another. Business was routed

through channels up to superiors and down again. .4t the top of the

scale w'os the Inca himself, who was a divine descendant of the sun.

From time to time the Inca traveled through the land in a magnificent

and ceremonial tour of inspection.

 

 

 

INCA BOWL

 

 

 

Fart Ti’n: The New Worlb

 

 

656]

 

There was no <!estitution in the Inca State* In case of famine or

crop failure, tJie people would be provided from the public granaries,

The flocks of llama and alpaca belonged to tlie Inca. Once a year they

were itmtided up, and the wool was plucked, rather than cut, and dis¬

tributed to families to be spun into thread. Tlie thread was collected and

reissued for dyeing. The dyed thread was collected and distributed to

expert weavers to be made into cloth. Wearing was developed to an

extraordinary extent, many of the textiles comparing favorably with the

 

 

 

PAINTED DCill, INCA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XL!, High CttUurcs of the South

 

 

[657

 

 

 

INCA WALL N*CAH CUZCO

 

best work of the Chine5te or 16 th ceiitiii^' Europeans. .4 straight weaving

frame %vithout even a thrown spiiidJe was used, hut it was manipulated

with uncanny manual skill.

 

The tremendous amount of accounting which a system of this sort

entailed was handled by cun' pus string recorels edled These

 

were dangliug cords in which knots of various sorts were tied to repre¬

sent various transactions. It was a kind of shorthand which depended

partly on memorjv The quipu ctJiiid not be read accurately by anyone

lint the man w^ho had made ih but the qiiipu maters were able to han¬

dle involved long-range transactions with this type of record.

 

There was a special group of men who wore drafted as youths for

the personal service of the emperor. The yanacfYuo, as they were culled^

wore supported bv tlie state and assigned to wrioiis duties. The finest

artists and cmftsmexi came from this group. The fnca apparently recog-

ni 35 cd that a populace completely directed and eonditioiied to constant

antdike industry would not have dn? imagination or initiative to produce

aesthetic goods, TJiis group was selected and trained to supply this need-

The Yanacona smitbs w'ere particularly skillful. They worked with cop

per, silver* and gold, but had no iron. They used both smelting and ham-

inering, made bronze by mi?(ing copper and tin, and also made plated

vessels bj" applving gold leaf to silver and silver leaf to copper and ham^

mering it in. Cold poured into tiic capitol. The palace walls were dec-

 

 

 

part Tent Ti!£ New Worui

 

 

6S8]

 

orated with gold friezes; the Inca ate from a solid gold service; during

public ceremonials, the entire plaza of Cuzco was roped off by a chain

made with solid gold links. In the Temple of the Sun there was a golden

garden in which trees, flowers, and birds were all made of gold and a

Iife*sizctl golden shepherd tended a herd of golden llamas. Butterflies

and other insects, made of delitate gold filigree so light and perfectly

balanced that ihty Boated tlirough tlie air, hovered over the golden

flowers.

 

Roughly corresponding to the Yanacuua was a special group of

young women called the Altacum. They were selected at the age of

eight or nine ami put into a sort of nunnery. Some became priestesses^

sonie became imperial eonctibines^ and some were giveu as wives to

favored Yauacuna or nobles. These girls w^ere also trained as fine weavers

who prepared the beautiful textiles used in the palace of the Inca,

 

TTie ruling group was reemited from the hereditary nobles of the

conquered tribes. These young men were sent to school in Cu^co, the

capital. The ablest ones were chosen for administrative posts in the capi¬

ta], and the others w'ore sent to govern outlying provinces. The incoship

was a hereditary oflice, the heir being the eldest son of the reigning Inca

hy his eldest sister. Gontrarj' to popular beliefs about inbreedingp it

should be noted that six generationj of this type of marriage produced a

line of highly able and intelligent rulers.

 

Inca conquests were systematic and welhorganized os those of the

German army. There were regular levies in preparation for foreign w'ars.

Before a territory^ was invaded, the Inca built roads leading to it estah-

lished forts to fall back on, arid accumulatc^l supplies. Spies were sent

out to bring back information on the country^ to be invaded. Attempts

were made to stir up some sort of local revolt in the country to be at¬

tacked so that the defense would be disunited and in confusion. Con¬

quered groups WTrc given easy terms if they submitted. Occasionally

thLs was accomplished witlmut w^.

 

The Inca Empire wiis probably the most successful totalitariaii

state the world ba$ ever seen. Unfortunately for the Inca+ and perhap

for history, the Spaniards arriv ed at a time when a break in the united

front had just occnnrctl. Tlie father nf Atahnalpa, the lost Inca,^ had

married a Quito svife as well as his regular sister-wife. Some of thf

northern tribes, not yet completely fused into the Empire, recognized

the Quito son as king, and this revolt was in progress when the Spin-

tards arrived. Pizarro got a foothold in the country by offering the aid

of his men as mercenaries to help Atahualpa put down this revolt- As

soon a.t the northeni groups bad been defeated, the Spanish, already

entrenched in tfic capital, captured Atahualpa and murdered him and

most of his nobles.

 

 

XLL High Cultures of the South

 

The great defect of total itariiuiism, wherever it is found, soon be¬

came evident here. When people are accustomed to talcing orders and

never thinking for themselves, their initiative is destroyed and they arc

easy prey for any leader who takes command. The Spaniards were thus

able to domuiate the Inca group in a way which would have been im-

possiblc if the people had not been already so thoroughly regimented.

 

The Spanish, as usual, introduced a ireriml of mcredibly short¬

sighted exploitation. As they were primarily interested in gold, they

failed to maintain the irrigation canals and aqueducts on whit^ the

™nomy of the counby- depended. Epidemics and excessive levies of

forced labor in the mines further decimated the ^Jopijlatiod, In the first

years of the Spanish occupation the population of the Empire dropped

to less than half of what it had l>een. Tlie science and leartiing of the

Inca svas lost with the elimination of the upper classes, but the village

pattern which was the base on wliicb the Empire was built survives

nmcmg the Andean Indians, They have been gradually increasing in

number and consequently the culture which develops here will be ^ik

ou a strong Indian base.

 

 

!! ®

 

 

Conchmon

 

 

This chapter is a ieefure detiveFcd by Dr, Union on June 3, 1^8,. ihe pmt

lecture in that iu^demk: year in ihe course from which this book developed,

ft is a clear statement of the principles which animate this tooit, and tee fiave

therefore, except for slight mechanicot changeSf reprinted it verbatm.

 

 

As 1 T0t4> vou last time* I have been tillable to cover the American cuU

tiires iii the latter part of the course with anything like the completcuass

tliat I wanted to, and have hud tn skip over to what really should have

been led up to more gradtially, what appears to be the presenl situation

in our society and perhaps the immediate future.

 

I remember on one occasion I attended a talk by Archibald Mac-

Leish^ who made the comment tbah “Our period is unique for the great

number of middle-Uged individuals ^vho have a fcnawlcdge of the fiilnre

»ind are eager to share that knowledge with others/ I do not wish to be

included in that catcgorJ^ 1 do not have a knowledge of the future.

 

The only things however, that the anthropologist can say is that fol¬

lowing the ordinary' techniques of extrapolatiou—the term means sight¬

ing along in the direction in which things are now moving from a com-

fortahle dishince, ?to llnit you can sec what the trends have l>eefw-tlierc

ato at least certain tilings W'hich we can say It is highly improbable will

hap|5eii any rinic 10 the immediate future, while there are other things

that it seems highly probable happen.

 

In order to give you a little of tiiis hackgrounck I will go back and

recapitulate tivo or three tilings very btieflvp Vou remember that as fxur

back as the first seincsler+ I spoke of the great aod smaU niutatioiis that

took place in culture I said that the general pattern of cultural growth

appeared to be not a uniform^ cootimious progress^ in which eileh stage

was a little lietter than the one before, and so on, bul that actually cul¬

ture growth has proceeded by a process somewhat like that of biologiml

mutation, !t ;ilso k preceded, of course, by the smalk cunmlative

changes* Just as in biology, you have, side by side, small variations in

selection, and mutatioris due to some freak of the genes. You have an

extreme change taking place in form, and taking place in sucli a way

that it will be hereditary, can become fixed^

 

661

 

 

 

 

Condmion

 

 

662]

 

Nmv, then, m the Idstorj- of human cuJture there have been three

hstsit: mutatjon^^ The first one was the use of tools, fire, and language.

Tlie setwnd, which came Only some six thousand to seven thousand

years ago, was the discovery of how to raise food, which immediately

brought In its train a whole series of social and technological advances,

such things os, on the technological side, the smelting of metals, tfie

wortlng of metals, the development of the wheel, the plow and loom,

the basic mechanisms, the invention of w'ritingi tJie development on the

social side of city life, of kingship, drilled armies. In other words, within

a thousand yesu^ after this second mutation, die basic patterns of dvili-

zabon, as we ordfnarily think of it, nf the culture stream which origi'

natotl ill Southwesteni Asia,^ and which is directly ancestral to oiir o^vn

civilization, were established, and sunaved with very little change domi

until about 1800.

 

Bccmise we ore dose to this series of cultures—despite Tojm-

 

bee, who Inis apparently no culture perspective whatever—wc see Ihe

minor differences in them as being of supreme importance. M a matter

of fact* the so-called rise and fall of the civilizations In this particular

line, which include ail the great civUiziitions except possibly that of

India, which is marginal in certain respects, actually only affected the

surface of the culture. You will reincniWr that I told you that IndJau

culture Is partly of Southeastern Asiatic origin ratiier than Southwestern.

ITic changes in official rciigion by which, let us say, the local baal of a

Palestinian village later became a lloman deity, and then a Christiau

sainh and is now a Mohammedau saint—1 don't know' what he will be

after the new state of Israel Is established, but 1 will bet he wUl stiil be

around—these changes arc only superficial

 

Tbrougboul the marvelous age of the Henaissance just as through¬

out the Dark AgeSp while kings came and ‘went, and scholarship rose

or degemrated, the peasant with his ox went right on plowing the land

raising the same sort of crops that his ancestors had raised for the la^t

three or four diousand years, carrying on the same sort of hand indus-

tries. In the cities, w 4 en they reasserted thcfnseivcs, again and again

you found the same patterns wfijch went back to Sumer repeated; the

pattern of the organized hand craftsmen, who were not only manufac¬

turers, but also salesmen, the guild ty| 5 e of craft orgaiiization in which

the main idea was fine craftsnianslup, plus ef|nitable distribution of op*

portunitj'.

 

Even the technology remains strikingly the same. There were a few

minor changes that came in. Fox instance, when this ci\ili/atioii took

form, it was dependent on bronze as its principal metal, and later this

gave place to iron, with a sort of proletnrianizplidii of metal-using., be¬

cause iron was cheap and abundant* and bronze had been scarce and

 

 

Conclusion

 

 

[663

 

expt'^ve* Vpu had the earlJur, more complex Ijpes of vt'riting, which

required prctfessionals in alJ the regiotis outside China, giving pLace to

another proletariflii device, the alphabet, which made possible a much

more universal literac)-, a few things of this sort. During this period,

the culture had changed onJy slightly, and it had reached an effective

ndjiistinent between tiie technology, the patterns 0/ economic distribu*

tion, and sociaJ forms, the sort of adjustment wliich can only be achieved

by long experiinentation.

 

Since the lute 1700's, the third great mutation in human culture has

really gotten under way. The fact that w-e are in the middle of a muta¬

tion is very confusing to scholars who do not have tins sense of culture

depth, who don’t know what has happened before. For instance, you

have such gentlemen as my friend. Dr. WiUiam Osbourn, of the Univer¬

sity of Chicago, taking the chart of the patents in the United States

Patent Office, and showing that they have increased at such and such a

rate per year, and then projecting this for a thousand years, by which

time presumably everybody in die world will be making five or six pat¬

ents a year, as an individual.

 

Well, as a matter of fact, we know that this is highly im probable

Wo are in a period now of very rapid change, probably not past the

middle of the working out of this tliird mutation. I wiij come back to

this in just a moment. The third mutation itself consisted in certain basic

inventions, certain new basic inventions, of which hvo were perhaps the

most important, that lay at the root of the whole pattern of change, I

would say.

 

First of ail was the discovery of how to get [xjwer from heat. The

ancients knew' how to use power. .As a matter of fact, as we excavate the

sites of the classical period, particiilurly of the Homan period, we find

that there were very few fundamental mechanical appliances, such

things as gears and ^'Iting, and so on, for the transmission and use of

power, diat the cJnssicoI people rlidn’t know. But the only source of

power w'hich they had, aside from animal and human power, and to a

lesser e.'ctent. wind power, was water power.

 

This discovery of iiow to get power from heat, first from the steam

engine, later with the inlenial eoinbnstion engine, and now with the

jets, and so forth, wliich is passing over into atomic ener^v was basic.

 

It is interesting to note that still all the plans to use atomic energy are to

utilize the heat that is generated in this svay. It is the use of the heat that

is still basic in our po^vc^ production.

 

Next to this heat discovery, making it jpossible to use power machin¬

ery anywhere that yon could get fuel, was the discovery of the scientific

method. Now, this is in itself an invention. You will be told repeatedly

that the Greeks svere the ones who discovered the scientific method.

 

 

CGficht-sitm

 

 

664]

 

They discovered or developed it only to a very limited degree, and not

in the terms in which we now think of sdence* The Creek scientist

^vhenever he came to mi impasse, fell hack tipcm philosophy and pure

reason, not recognizitig that when ymi are dealing with multiple phe¬

nomena, operating in configurations, the logical results are by do means

always llie correct results. You can sec some beautiful examples of this

in the social sciences, or, let us say, in classical economics, where logical

developments have been carried to a point which bear only the faintest

relation to reality.

 

The Creeks believed in the infallibility of the human mind, and

this was die kst resort to which any question that could not be settled

otherwise could be referred. During the dominance of Uie Christian

Church the great age of faith and epidemics which iulervcnKl between

the fall of the Roman Empire and tlie Rertaissanee, the Churdv the

support of its own authority, kept pounding away on the fallibility^ of

the human mind, and it managed to get the European population pretty

well convinced of the fact.

 

Then, when the authority' of tile Church, which it had sought to sub¬

stitute for reason as die final test of the validity of any conclusions, when

the authority of the church could no longer be maiutaiued, Europeans

cast about for otiier inlallible things that diey could refer to, to put

checks on their ideas^ and evolved the pattern of experiment in the mod¬

em sense. The Greeks experimented, but having tried ii thing once and

bavhig gotten a result tliat looked fairly good to them, they quit there.

The essence of the scientific method is that yon try an experiment, yon

record die results as accurately as possible, and yon use, wherever pos¬

sible, mechanical means of recording, because tlic scientist realizes at

present that one of the easiest things In the world i$ for n man to fool

himself, if he wants to get a certuiu outcome. He must watch himself

constantly- The results of the experiment and the techniques are an¬

nounced and published, whereupon a dozen different men w'ho are

working in this field promptly try tlie experiment and see whether they

get the same results or not, and so on. It is by this metliod of rigidly

controlled experiment, building up bit by bit, establishing one point

after another as a frontier, a solid frontier, a fortifieil post, you might say.

in which to move forward into the iinknow^n, that most of the gains in

our basic knowledge have been o^ade.

 

Combined with this shift in techniques bus also gone, since Classical

timeSt a very decided sliift in attitude. Although the Creeks were moving

tow'ard modem science and its technical application, there was a block

in their case basecl on vsiliie judgments. They felt tliat gentlemen did

not work; in fact, gentlemen did not do anything practicaL The Greek

gentleman went do^vn to the market place and spent the day standing

 

 

Conch^siun

 

 

[ees

 

 

around talking wh'ih his slave was shopping, and then he came

 

home, nnd another stave gave him a good rubdowm^ another slave

cooked his tlinnefp and so forth. But gentlemen didn't do aii)ihing.

 

I am reminder! of that great American classic, “Archie and Mehita-

beL"* I don’t know whether any of you have read it or not. It is an inter¬

view with one of the ancient pharoahs; in which the pharoah said that

the boys of the settee set were far too aristocratic tn have any purpose,

that llie^- K[^cnl their time gadding about or having pyramids sent home

to tr\' on. The Greeks did not indulge in p\Tamids* but didn't like

to apply their philcisnpliic knowledge to anything practical. On the rare

occasions when they did, it was definitely felt that the philosopher,

mathematictan, in what not, had been guilty of unethical practice.

 

Many of you have probably read the story^ of the siege of S)iracuse,

in Sicily, which had a large Roman army on the ontsjde, and Archmiedes

on the inside. Largely as a result of the activiti(?s of .Archimedes, the city

stood off a siege of o\^er hvo years^ fjecanse he devised all sorts of inter¬

esting little apparatus to annoy the Romans, such things as a setup of

parabolic mirrors, ^vith which he focused the sunlight oa the Homan

Beet that was lying at anchor in the harbor and set it on fire, v^arious

machines that were used for casting projectiles, and so on. He simply

seared the life out of the Romans, who were a bunch of ignorant savages

anj-way at this point. But Plutarch, wTiting 600 years later, nevertheless

feeb it netessiiiy to apologize for Archirnedes having made practical use

of his matliematical formulae, and so on^ that he had worked on, and he

says that the philosopher had made these machines, not of hLs own free

will, but because the King of SjTaciise had rerpiestcd him Eo build these

machines as a demonstration of the clear laws of mathematies and mc^

chanics w'hicli, m this could be explained to persons of lower

miniLs^ who could not perceive the truths in the abstract.

 

In other words, it u'ould be on a par with saying that the manufae-

fiire of a 16 inch gun was done to illustrate the laws of ballistics realisti¬

cally. Well, the Europeans got over this during the [lark Ages. With the

collapse of the upper class, there also w^ent the idea that you should not

interest yourself in praetical matters. In fact, during the Dark Ages, they

hud to be exceedingly pracrical to keep alive* most of the time. It i$ in¬

teresting to note tlint the methanicai foundations of modem culture

Were really laid dttring this period, which all those people who were

trained In the scholastic discipline regard as being one of the low points

fn the West. As a matter of fact, more ineehanical improvements were

matle during the [>ark .Ages than during the whole Greek and Roman

Classical pi'riod. They w'ere hard up. They had to devfse methods for

doing the same things as well and much more cheaply, %rith much loss

expenditure of energy and materiEiJs.

 

 

666 ]

 

 

Cmciusion

 

 

You for instance^ ih^ heavy Romatie5qiie architecture giving

pkee to the Cothic, which rec|uired much ]c^ labor aad much mu-

tcrial^ but also TcqutrecJ a much better knowledge of the qualities of

stone, of the luteractioD of stresses, and so on, much more scientiBc

building.

 

Well, finally, as 1 say» there was a gradual hiiild-up here, begmniug

in the Dark Ages, increasing through the Ecmissance, and with the

modem periodp the third rnutadon getting definitely under way in per¬

haps the middle 1700*5, since which time it has proceeded with a steady

acceleration^

 

Now, there is one other thing which characterizes all periods of

rapid culture growth, and that is that groups seem to be interested in

one thing at a time. Culture growth is practically always disharmuuic.

I’he inventors, a ltd so on, are like chickens. If you ever fed cbickcuSp

you know that you throw' a handful of com over in this comer of the

pen, and they all bolt for that. Long before that is eoiisumcch you throw

a bandful of com in the other comer of the pen, and they all bolt for

that. Societies get interested in one thing at a time. In this mutation^ su

far, the hiterest ha$ been almost entirely in mechanical improvements;.

Now, this is perfectly normal hut it Is reflected in a rather curious atti¬

tude. A few years ago 1 saw a sign advertising a new lubricating oil,

and the only thing they had to say about it was that it was the flrst new

lubricating oil developed In twenK' years. That was ttjc only thing on

the board to advertise it. At the same time that you expect to sell things

simply because they are new, mechanical appliances, and so on, you

have the sort of Congressional investigations that are now tinder way.

In other wurdsp in this disharmony, we have on the one side a steady

pushing forw'Ord of the mechanical and technoJogical developments,

with extreme wiQjngness to accept new things: while, at the same time*

until very recentty, practically no attempts have been made to bring the

rest of the cultunil equipment the reorganization of the sncial structure^

the reorganization of distrlbutionp and so on^ up to time and into har¬

mony with the progress that has already been made.

 

Now, one of the things that has gone on here, svithout our realizing

Itf Is that due to the nesv technology, and the new' science, there has

been a subtte but very real change in the actual values^ By this, I am not

speaking of morals or anything of that sort, but of the things that are

W'Urth having in our society, a change which has gone on w'ithout most

people realizing it or understanding what is happening, a change which

must parallel what took place with the development of agriculture

W'hen, for the first 6me, land ceased to be something that you chased

tleer over, and became something which could be individuaUy owBctk

and, in fact, used to exclude other people from achieving a livelihood.

 

 

 

 

[667

 

In tliLs new pat tern that 15 emerging, you have the old valuesr

steadily diminishing. In the arsi piace, the value of real goods has gone

dfiwm, is g(Hjig down steadily. This is masked nicely by the hid that

there is more and more gold in llie world, and countries still use it as a

yardstick for measuring their money. There is also inflation, so that al¬

though a dollar looks like a dollar, it only buys 33 cents of what it

bought in 193S. and so forth. But actually, in tenns of basic value, the

amount of materials, labor, and so forth, that are lecjuircd to produce

goods, the value of goods is going down steadily. With your mass pro*

duction methods, particularly with the increasing mechanization of the

assembly line, you can turn out tremendous cpiantities of goods at a

very' small relative cost.

 

A good picture of this is to contrast the actual value in materials

and labor required of a modem rayon dress, shall we say, with the

dress of the present wearers grandmotiier s. The great-grand mother was

probably a peasant woman who wore a dress made from wool raised on

the sheep on the farm, clipped, spun, dyed, woven, made up, and so

fortli. Tlifnk of it in sheer terms of calorics and man-hours, the contrast

between the two. .\s a matter of fact, wc are already in a position where,

in the m(?cLani2ed countries—and all countries will be mechanized be¬

fore very' long—our main piobtem ordinarily is not one of producing

wiough, but one of overproduction actually. However, this is not based

on the eliiiiination of nee<l, but is based on the fact that we don’t have

the techniques for getting the goods around. Our distributiot) tediniques

^e stiJl, shall we say, iSth century, except for high-pressure advertis¬

ing, which IS not exactly meeting lire problem, while our production

techniques arc 20th century. One of the things that our immediate an-

ci-stors collected and hoarded, real goods, has lost much of its value.

.■\lso, the real value of land has diminished. Again, all these things are

masked by the inflationary' tientls. But actually, land, while it is desir-

abk' if you expect a runaway inflation, nevertheless, is not something

that does you much good at the present lime iis an ijiveshuent, beenuse

it canmit be bidden; it is too subject to taxation.

 

Also, f may say, with the dcveloptnent of modem farming teeb-

nlijiies, and so forfli, much of the marginal Lmd is certainly going to be¬

come valuable only for tree growing or some other long-range, siow-re-

turn investment. 1 am told by one of my agronomist friends that, given

the application of full modern techniques, you can raise all the food

normally required for the |Mpulation of the United States on the area of

the State of Kiansas, I think tlds is probably true, but these techniques

have not spread. I may say tliat one of the nice little problems that

comes in here is that as you mechanize your land more and more, your

people and your farmers drift off it As agriculture gets on a factory

 

 

Conclusion

 

 

668 ]

 

basis, thf nest qiifstiosi is. How do yovi get your population to breed?

Cit>’ populations have never been able to reproduce themselves. The

country people provide the raw population, the country yokels, who

come in and are transformed into city slickers, in the same way that they

provide all the other raw materials that go to the upkeep of the city. If

yon cut out your nirat population, you will have to resort to some new

devices, as yet uninvented, or at Jeiist untried, La order to keep your

population up. You have another thing that is happening here, and that

is the passing of those adjustments that have been made in the West to

the now conditions, through the exploitiitioii of foreign, unmechanized

markets; in other svords, the passing of the conditions upon which capi¬

talism, as we ordinarily understand it, has been built. For the last 200

years, Europe, and to a lesser extent America, have lived Ijy selling their

skills diey being the first people who were in the vanguard of the me¬

chanical revolution, the first ones who were able to step up their per

capita production. Tliey have met tlie fundamental problems of read¬

justment bj' producing in excess, and then marketing this excess in other

countries that were not yet mechanized- In tliis way, they were able to

keep pretty' much the outward forms of llie old system working.

 

At the present time, these unmechanbeed markets are going to go

very rapidly, or are gone. No technique has been devised so far to really

prevent the diffusion of valuable scientific and technological knowledge.

The attempt is being made now with the Iron Curtain, and so forth.

Of course, if you were really thoroughgoing in modem warfare, since in

modem warfare every' new gadget may conceivably be of use, the logical

conclusion is for no country to let anybody eke find out what is being

invented or discovered here. The result would be a very simple paraly¬

sis of progress.

 

But anyway, this business; of median izatioti is going an apace. .Most

people do not realize, for instance, that the largest and most modem

steel mill in the world is in India, Even with the interna! confusion in

Chitui, in the last two or three years before the World War broke out.

and after the Japanese episode, as we call it, after the Japanese hud be¬

gun their attempt to CDiiqucr China, China wjis exporting more manu¬

factured goods than it wns importing. Japan, before the war, was able

to manufacture and sell in Lancashire in England a cottnn shirt of die

quobty that was produced in Lancashire, cheaper than they could make

it in Lancashire. In other words, the good old days when the West could

exploit the world, and had all this outlet for its surplus capital, and so

on, are about gone.

 

So that most of the tilings w'hich we thought of and have been

brought to tliink of as being of extreme value actually are lieing quietly

 

 

Cc^nc^r^oii

 

 

[669

 

undermined, are rm longer as much worth having as they were. But, the

thing that is emerging as being most valuable is the yssured job. This is

the thing that £5 most important to have at the pj:t}sent time. And the

best fob of all is, of course, die government job, as long as you belong

to the party that is in power. I am very' much interested in this contract

that has just been signed bj- die Auto Workers, in w^hich, tnstead of hav¬

ing a Bat dollar rate, so nmiiy cents an hour, the scale is going to vary

relative to the cost of living. This k the SrOrt of thing that has been done

in go^'cnunetit jobs in viuious plac€?s, not the United States^ because

the United States has very' deddedly still not come to that adjustment.

 

The man who has the government job, as long as his party is in

power, can’t be fired. He usually gets pretty^ liberal allowances for re-

tiremeiit, vacatiorcs^ arid what not; and therefore, this is the thing diat

is wordi having. Even in those large organized iridnstTies which now'

approach governnieiitaI status in everythiiig except the absence of con-

trol over them by the population which they exploit, die assured job

k also highly important. If ymu look at this, if you Icwk at the more

recent social, and political developments in these termSp you will see

that after aU, both your Cnmmuiiiki and Fascist rno^'cments represent

small organized grou^is which have grabbed the govemment jobs, which

sure die things tnost w'orth ha ving under the circumstances.

 

This movement is exactly pamllel to ivhat happened at the time of

the Roman collapse, wlieii various mobsters, with their gangs—-Tamilia”

was the Latin name for them—moved out and took over sections of

land with the peasants on them, which w-ere the most valuable thin^

under the correiit circumstances^ In the same w^ay, you have your one

party, so-calletl totalitarian groups, moving tzi and taking over the gov¬

ernment control and government jobs.

 

Now, then, the question is, Whot happens from here on? We

can go on pushing the present trends of technnlogicsd development and

of endless increase of protluctioii, widiout making changes anywhere

else, until we finally reach a state of stasis, and ^cn of collapse^ the

Sort of tiling that w'c came very^ close to in the 19^9 panic.

 

We know that there is going tci be a w'orld-wide diffusion of tech¬

niques and mechanization, which means that all countries, or at least all

politiciilly organized groups of countries, such as Benelux, all customs

unions, and so on, ttre going to have to reorganize their industry and

their distributive and governmental teL-hniques In tenns of production

For mteniji] consumption with^ at iiiDst„ a 50-50 exchange on foreign

trade. That is. one cx^untiy will simply not be in a position to exploit

another through superior skdU^

 

It means that there ^vi]] be no new' tnarkets; and to a considerable

 

 

Con deleft

 

 

670]

 

extent no new nattim! resources. However^ these naturaS resources will

be developed internally through new teehnoiogieal advances^ and vari¬

ous ersatz products, tlie sort of thing tlaat nylon is. We have got a pretty

clear map^ 1 would say now, of what the future world situation Is going

to be on that We also may look forward to the end of free competition,

even within the units. This is an itnpopiilar fact, but it is a fact. More

and more in the Cnited States-^nd elsewhere ako—small industry,

small factories, are being cither absorbed by the big boys, or are

being organized into associaCions, and so forth, which have extinguished

real competition. The trend, therefore, can go In ways at tlii-$ point.

Either you can move toward the socialised state, or toward an oligarchy

of great companies, which have entirely ceased to be eoinpetlLive. and

which control the government instead of the government controlling

them. You can't tell which way this is going to go.

 

As regards social! Kation, I svi>uld say tliat we can view both the

earlier Nazi and the present Communist and more recent British ex-

peiimetiU In soclaUmtion as the first attempts to really grapple with

this problem. And as first attemptSi all of them are clumsy. The essential

problem here Is dow'n to what size productive nr marketing unit your

direct governmental eontroi can function efficiently.

 

Ob\1ousJy, when the farmer has to sign six papers iu order to kill

his pig in the fall, you ha^e long since passed the point of diminishing

returns. What we still need to find out, and probably only will find out

by experiment — let us hope that other countries can do quite a bit of

experimenting for us — is what industries have to be controlled by the

govemmentj and how far down the line in size we must go^ in order to

insure at the same time efficient operation and a fair distribution of the

products.

 

Now, there is anotlicr trend, looked at from the individunl angle,

which is very strong here, and this is the trend for lessened social mo-

bllitv' and toward the emergence here in the United States of a class sys¬

tem, You can sec this taking shape steadily. You have> for instance, the

emergence of hereditary skilled craft groups, suggestive m this respect

of the Indian caste organization. Yon may mnember that a short time

ago one of the mid western carpenters" unions was sued for passing a

regulation that only the sons of carpenters w'oukl be taken as appren¬

tices. This was declared illegah but does not pevent the thing from

operating in practice. Most of the skilled handcrafts at the present time

are largely hereilitary, even in the United States. And with this, of

course, a class s^^'^tem is emerging.

 

In industry, tfitire has been a somewhat countertrend of despeclab-

zation^ that h* in the big industrjesp less and less requirement for skilled

cniftstncii, and more of the "tightening nut No, 39** sort of thing on die

 

 

Conchtsion

 

 

[671

 

assembly line. But the tlirag that h required here is more pnd more

managerial skili and tecbnica] skill. There is an excellerit prohability for

the emcrgencic of a disdoct managerial cUs3<

 

it is very interesting to note that in Russia, where the new aristoc¬

racy is being organized on this basis, the Russians, storting with the

good intentions of most revolutionaries, have now wound up with a

situadon in which there is free education to the end of high school.

Theo, there are not only heavy fees to be paid for the university, but

for the 6rst two years of the university, there are no fellowships or other

aids to students. For the last two years, they can get financial aid. But

this means that the only people who can go on from the high school level,

which is the les-el of {^uciidon required to make good factory foremen,

the only ones who can go on arc those ^hnsc families are in a position

to pay the university fees. The only people in Russia who are in such a

position are the specialists of one sort and anotlier. and the party inem-

l»crs. And in order to be specialists, you ha\ e to have universi^ train¬

ing. Therefore, you ean see the emergence here by a device as iinob-

tnisivc as the one party ballot box, shall wc say, a new aristocracy, and

a new mechanism for retaining their aristocracy.

 

I III ay say that the American patterns of vertical mobilJ tv could be

maintained perfectly well in the face of this present change, whether

the ovi'uersbip of industries becomes sociaJisdc or oligarchic, by certain

very simple devices. However, 1 have found tliat these devices usually

ore not greeted with enthusiasm by the people W'bo make the most noise

about maititoining the good old American patterns.

 

Tile first device would be a 100 per cent inheritance tax. so that

everybody would, theoretically, at least, start from scratch. The second

w'oiild be unlimited, but selecljiely applied educaUotial opportunities.

This is something which we approach in our state universities at the

present time, but it should be carried even further, so that any man who

had the intrinsic ability for high training and specialization, maiiage-

•rient, and so on, could get it, irrespective of W'hal his family had been

or where he had started in the social scale. Perhaps third, to complete

the picture, would be the most effccb've device employed hv the Catho¬

lic Church to assure itself of constant new blood from below, that is, the

combination of celibacy of the clergy, plus a rale that no illegitimate

child can become a member of tlie clergy. This unmcdiately i^es nut

family successions. There are certain exceptions to this, as with the

Medici Popes, and so forth, hut in general the nile has been pretty well

maintained.

 

A combination of the first two of these, plus hopefully the third,

would assure the maintenance of patterns of vertical mobility, and with

this, of a really homogeneous society, No strong class lines could emerge,

 

 

ConcliL^ion

 

 

67^1

 

because each imlh'iduah who, thrgtigh hh own abilities, msc to a posi¬

tion in the niliog gtoup, would not be tied to relatives in the lower soctaJ

levels^ you see, and the various backgrounds of the members of the up¬

per group w'oiitd help them to keep in touch with the people.

 

There is very Ultle probabilffy lliat any such technique will be put

into play. We urCp however, faced by a necessity' for maintaining our

pr4!senl democratic patterns and institutions, ijtiperfect as they are, for

as long as vse can. We must realize that at tlie present tinie any one

party sj'stem which manages to get into power in a modem state and

introduce the police state of the sort which the Russians developed first,

and the Nazis then ebborated and improved, any group that is able to

gel into power in a modeTn nation and to stay in for the few months re-

qiiirctl to anchor themselves in this w^ay, is practically impossibk to get

rid of. rt is one thing that all anthropologists recognise. There is a direct

correlation behvceti the military le^niques at any piulieular time and

tlie degree of despotism on the part of the niling group.

 

In societies in which the average man Or the average commufiity

has an excellent opportunit}^ for successful revolt, in which he is, as a

fighting unit, practically on a par w'ith the trained soldier, you find either

democratic institutions or else a touching solicitude on the part of the

ruling group for the well-being of the governed. I may say that this was

the beginning of American democracy'- Given the tactics of 177 ®^ ^

 

squirrel rifle over the fireplace, you don't have to bother much about

despotism on the part of the niling group.

 

To achieve an e^iuivalent situation at the present time, there would

have to be a tank in every garage. As things stand now, the weight t$

all on the side of the professional soldier and of tlie govemment that can

buv his services and prov'ide him with the highly lecltnicol and elaborate

equipment that he needs. If deinocrocy slips at this point, she is gone

for a long time to come. We might as well recognize that fact. There is

ahmvs a terrible temptation to turii over your control to one sbong and

able mail, because he gets things done. He doesn't produce committees

tn investigate un-American activ ities, and so fortli, usually. The first man

to set up a dictatorship is usualiy a pretty able man; he has to be. The

trouble is that we have never devised any mechanisms for keeping on

getting good ones after the first, ^nd I don't know that they can actually

be devised. But in spite of this temptation^ and in spite of the bungling

which Is characteristic of all democratic governments, it is the one sys¬

tem which retains sufficient flexibility so tliat it has the possibility of

adjusting to changing conditions without periodic revolntions and de^

stfuction and the general inconvenience that these cause.

 

I am not at all opliniistic flyout our abiJitj' to maintain democracy*

hut neither am I pes-siinistic about the sort of tiling that Is going on at

 

 

Concltision

 

 

I673

 

 

tlie present time. After all, ] went diroagb World War and I remenw

ber the great upswing of religious fervor which brought us Prohibition,

and a more highly organiired variety' of crimes than the United States

hud ever seen. I remember the red hunts that were orgaidzed at the

dose of World War 1 , which bear striking resemblance to the sort of

tiling that is beiz^g carried on now*

 

V\t 1I, in sutnraiiry'p 1 do not elabn to know what is going to happen,

but we can be fairly $iire of this^ that fn due course of time, a successful

modtAS Livendi is going to l>e worked out, in which the advantages of

modern science and inodem technnlogy w'iU be combined w'itli social

systems which are really adjusted to them, and which work. Some of

the most impoitant advances that are being made at the present time

are, I believe^ those whieh are coming fium the studies of person abty

and culture. That is, for the first time we are beginning to get some

insight into what is really hiiman nature^ and how It is shaped. So

tliat while adjusting forms, and so on, to die machine at one end, wo

are more and more learning how may operate to adjust human bc^

ings to tills system, at the other end. By this, I do not mean making

them better on assembly lines. The man tightening nut No. 3^ on the

Ford asseinbly line was, after all, as even engint^rs recognize^ 0 triinsi-

torj' phenomezmn. As the machines got better, more and more men caine

off die jusscinbly line* until you got a situation such as the facton"

in Milwaukee whidi* w'idi a crew of eleven men, was able to make all

ihe automobile frames in die United States. It turned over to war manu¬

facturing, during the war, but I imagine they are getting it readjusted.

All the men did here w'as to sort of walk up and dowa the issembly

hue, and if anything got stuck, replace the broken part, or wliat not-

This is the sort of thing that is going lo go on.

 

Well, the best w'c can say is that human beings are tough, and diat

they alw^ays have succeeded in readjusting.

 

The atom bomb raises interesting possibilities in this connection,

hut [ doubt even if our uccasioual t^vo-headed descendants, after

thorough irradiation of the northem hemispheres, w'ill differ very' much

from ourselves. They may have split personalitie!; of a very different sort.

But the main line id scientific development now' is actually not in the

development of more machines and more atomic fissian, and so on, but

a steadily advancing understanding of human beings, of what can be

done with them; and with this, more and more possibility^ for develop-

Itig techniques by which we can produce well-adjusted and satisfied

populations*

 

How'ever, the great difficulty in this work, azid iu tlie social sciences

in general, is that it tends to bring out points which are not greeted

with enthusiasm by those in jKj\\'or, In the totalitarian state, tliere is no

 

 

Conclusion

 

 

674I

 

US? for eitiier the social scfeotut or the ps}'cho]agi5t^ except as a pure

technidan, pruddiug superior methods for producing the particular re*

suits that the party iu pcxiiver wants and finds to their own advantage.

The trend, at the present time, outside of a few favored areaSp is cer¬

tainly to^vard the suppression of both. If we now go into a totalitarian

phase—the beginnings of which are quite possible—I anticipate that

those scientists who are interested aow Lo huinan studies go the

way of the Creek philosophers, that thej* wiD be among the first victims

of legimentatioii. However^ the Creek philosophers left behind them a

foir amount of know-ledge that had been acquired. They were able to

start a number of things, so that when the bonds of Church and State

wen? once more relaxedp after a few thousand jiears, people were able

to pick up and carry on from there. The hope of the modem worker

in the social sciences is that during this period of really surprising free¬

dom—because periods of freedom are rare in world history—we may

be able to get far enough ahead to lay a solid platform from which the

workers in the next civilization can go on.

 

 

^grapn

 

 

CHAPTER I

 

Cj.eixaxi>, F-s Our FrimiUt^ Ancestors. York; Gqvvsrd^^kCajmi

 

Hooton^ II. a*: Poor Hchttwns. New Y^ork: Doublcday CompaDy-

 

‘ Up From the Apes. Bcivised edltton. New Ywk: The MacjtiilkD Co,;

 

1946.

 

Howtixs, W, W,; Mankifui So For. New York^ l>oiihleday & Cempaiiv; 1944.

Le Ciuw Ci^Aiuc, Wp Eh; Hktoftj of the Frlmotes: An Introduction to tho

Stud^ of Fossil Man. London: British Museum CuJde; ^949<

 

5 j\ipsOx%\ C+ G,: The Mconing of Evolutknu New Haven; Yule Lfniversi^

JVess; 1950.

 

Weipepireich, F.: Apes. Ctonte, and Men. Chic^igo: University of Chiai£o

Press; 1946.

 

WiDTE^ A. T4 Afen Before Adorn. New Y’oek; Riuidom House; 19422,

 

Ieiuces^ R. and A- W,: The Qreot A Sttui^ of Anthropoid

 

New Haven: Y'ale University Press; i9;i9h

Z ucjcxiLMAN, S,; The Sockil Life of Monketjs end Apes. New Y'ork: tldiramt.

Brace ^ COp;

 

 

CHAPTER n

 

Dai.y^ ftp a.: The Changing Wodd of the tee Age. New Haven: Yole Uni¬

versity Ptess; 1934,

 

Flint, B. F.: GlacUil Cro/agy firmd Pleistocene Epoch, New York: John

Wiky Ai Sons; 1947.

 

WmcHT, W, B.; rile QuahTriory fee Age. London: The .MacmiBan Co '

 

1914^

 

Zeuner, F. E*; Dotir^ the Past. Rev^Jsed cdiHon. London: Methticn & Co,-

 

1950*

 

 

CHAPTER HI

 

Aaifi,EY-MoNTAt;u* M, F*: An Introduction to Physical Anthrop^ogy. Spring-

field, tllinots: C. C. Thomas; 1945.

 

Eoyd^ W. C.s Cenetics and the Races of Man, Boston: Little, Brown & Qi+:

 

1950.

 

CooN^ C. S,; The Races of Europe. New York: The ^fncfnaJkn Cq.; 194^.

 

——^Gajln, Si mad Bmosisix, J, B,: Races: A Study of the Frohlerra

of Race Formafton fri Afon. Sprin^eld, tlliiiois: C. C. Thomas; 1950.

Count, E. W., editor: This Is Race. New York: Henry Schimian; 1950,

Hooton* E. a.; Up From the Apes. Revised edition. Mew York: Tlie Mac-

milbip Co.; 3946H

 

Howtclls, W.: Mankind So Far. Y^ork: Doubleday ^ Company; 1944.

 

675

 

 

 

 

676]

 

 

Bibliogmphy

 

 

CH.\PTER IV

 

 

BexEDiCTp R.: Futtcttis of Culture, York; Hoiiglit™ VlMiii Co.; 1913^.

EnicjcsoXr E. H.: ChMh&od and Society^ S'^w York: \\\ Ncirton & Gm-

 

pfuiy; igsw^

 

C11.LIN, J.p editor: For a Science of Social Mnn. Kew York; The MacmiUan

Co-; ^954-

 

Gouff^s'wrr.isJER, A,i History, Psychcdogy and Cidture. Kew York: AUred A-

 

Knopfi 1933-

 

Hahinc^ D. G,: Ferspnal Clurractcr and Cultural Milieus A Collection of

Beadir^gitr Revised edition, Syracuse: Syracuse University Press; 1949.

Il0MC>iiA>rXp J* Golturc and 'Fersanality. N^ew Yoik; Hurp^f h Brotiiert;

 

 

I. ■

 

KAiu>i.Nt:fl, A.: T^ie Individual and Hk SociWy. Kew York: Columbia Uni¬

versity^ Press: i&39h , . ..

 

-: The Psychological Frontiers of Soaety. New ^ork: Columbia Uni¬

versity Press; 1946K

 

KLCCKiimu^, C., and Muiway^ H. A-: Personaliitj in Mature, Society^ mid Cm-

ti/re. New York; Alfred A, Knopf; 1948^

 

LintoXj R.: The Sltfdtj of \faii. New York: Appleton-Cmtury-Croft^; 1936.

 

-; The Cutturd Background of Personality. New^ York: Appbtoo-Cen-

 

tury-Crofb; 1945.

 

Lowie/R. H.: primitive Society. New^ York: Boni and Liveright; igao.

 

-: SoCMiJ OrgoniiiJiion. New York; RinehaTl & Company; ig4^»

 

Muadoce, C. P*: Sociol Sfrttclurc. Hew York; Tlie Macmillan Co.; 1949-

 

NtwcoMB, T. NT,, and Hahtxey, E, L.i Readings in Sacid Psychology^

New York: Henry Holt 6 c Co.; 1947.

 

SAPiPtp E,: Selected Writings of Edward Sapir in Language, Culture,, and

Personality. Edited b>' D. C. Mandelpoumn Berkeley: University of

California Press; 1949.

 

Saaoen-t* S. S., and Ssfjni, M. W.; editors: Culture and Personality. Now

York; Viking Fund Puhtications; 1949h

 

Snztt, Hallo wni.i^ A. Li and Nem-aian, S. S.; editors: Language, €u!-

 

iare, and Fermnality: Essays fn Memory of Edward Sapir. Menosna, Wii-

consin: Sapix Memorial Fund; 1941*

 

Wirmsc, J. W M., and Child. I. Lh! Child Traming and PmonalUyi A

Cross-Cultural Study. New Haven: Yale University Ptess; 1953.

 

VouNCp K.: Sociology. New York: Amencan Book Company; 194a,

 

 

CHAPTER V

 

Bailvett:, H- C.s /nni>i:a^if^it? The Emit of Cultural Change. New York;

MeCmw-Hill Book Co.; 1953*.

 

Dtxov, B, B.; The Building of Cultures. London: Charles Scribner’s Sorts;

192S.

 

FtHTH, H.: of Social Organi^tion. Loudon: Watts A Co.; 1951+

 

fltT rti i am S. C.: The Socifdogy of Inrmtion. ChJrago: Fcsllett Publishing

Company; 1935.

 

Hodcen, M. T.: Change and liixtfmj. New York: V^lkliig Fund t'^ihlicution

No* tS; 195a.

 

Linton, R,, editor; Acculturation In Seven American hntian Tribes^ New

York: Appleteu-Centuiy-Crofts; 194*?^

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

 

(877

 

 

—-editor: Thu S€tEnc^p of Men in tht^ WorW Crisis, New Yoik: Colitml^ia

 

Uni^^rsity Preiis; 1345,

 

MALiNOU'SKtp B.t The Dynamics af Cidture Change, New Huveo: Viile Unt-

verrity Press; IQ45*

 

MusifORD, L^r The Condition of Man. New Yofk: l[iLrcourt+ Br:icc h Co.;

1&44-

 

OesuTRs, W. F.: Social Cfmnge. New Vorki B. W* lluebseti; 1913.

 

R,; Liston^ H.; and Hkhskovfts, M. J.: "Memorandum on the

Study of Acculturation.'* ^-^/Rencaw Auf^ifio^wfogiri,; Vol XXXV'ItJ ( 1936);

pp, 149^-

 

CH.APTER

 

CtuuDK, Man Moka Himself. New York: Oxford UntveRity Press;

 

- : Social EcoiuHon, Lmulon: Watts & Co.; 1951+

 

Clark* C.t prejin io CtLilizaiioiu London: Q^bliett Press: t94^-

 

CHAFTEH Vn

 

Eixis^ H. H,: Flint U''erJtfntf Tec/injyi/ej of the American Indians. Coltimbus*

Ohio; i94(j.

 

Knowles, Sih F, H. S.t Stone Workers' Progress! A Study of Srone Imple¬

ments in the Pitt Rivers Museum. Oxford; Pitt Rivcjrs Museum of Odord

University' Occasiniml Pupors on Techncilogy' No. 6; 1953.

 

VVaison, \\\i Flint Imptements: A pi of Stone Age Techniques and

 

CuitureSr Loudon: British Museum Guide; 1950.

 

C1L\FTER \'in

 

AxuLftsoNp E.: Plants, Man^ and LlfCr Boston: Little, Brown h C04 193a.

 

BntfXNEn, E. he S+; Sandeh, I, T.; and EInsmincsil D.: Farrnera of the World.

New York: ColumbiEi C^nivorsity Press; 1945.

 

Cur WEN. E. C.* and G.i Plough and Paalure: The Early Hisionj of

 

Farming. Nifxv York: Hemy Schumann t953H

 

JanseNp L. B.: Mans Foods. Champaign^ Ill^ois: Garrard Press; 1953.

 

Mancelsdorf^ P, C.+ and IlEEr’zs, R, C.; Ffic Origin of Indian Corn and Its

Rclaticeir Austin; Texas Agrkuiturul EKperimeuta] Station, Bunetfn No,

574: May, 1939.

 

SAuini, C. O.: Agricid^uraJ Origins and Disfiersals. New York: Auirnicao

GeographicaJ Society; 1952.

 

Vavilov* N. L: Sftidies on the Origin of Cohivated Plants. ]>alngrad: Buh

letin of Applied Botany and Plant Breeding; Va\. XVl; 1926.

 

~The Origin, Verioiron, Immunity, and Breeding of Cultivated Plants.

Translated by Starr Ch^ter. Waltham:^ Mass;.: Chronica Botauica C04

 

1951-

 

CH.4FrER IX

 

Story of Writings Achiev'cment of Civilization Scries No. 1.

 

Cocklan^ H. H.: Notes on the Prehistoric Metallurgy of Copjtcr and Bnome

in the Old World. Chfewd: Pitt lUvets Museum of Ckfnrd Univeurfty Oc-

c?nsionaI Papers on Technology No. 4; 1951.

 

CuBw'EN^ E. C,> and Hatt, G.i Plough nnd Pasture: The Early llirfory of

Farming, New York: Henry Sehtunao; 1953.

 

 

 

 

 

6781

 

 

Bibliography

 

 

DiHtMCEx, D.: The Atpttahet: A Key to the History of Mankind. New York:

PhilosoptUcnl Libraiy; 194S.

 

Fohses. R. J.s Melallurgj/ in Antiquity, Leidm: E. J. BriU; 1950.

 

KHoCbE4i, A- LmT Anthropotogy. Revised edition. New Yoriti Harcouit, Brace

i& Cp^;;, 1945#

 

Mason*, W, A.: A History of the Art 0/ Writing, New York: Tlie Macmillafi

 

Ccxj 1920'+

 

MooEUtousE, A. C.? Wrifing end the Aipftabet, Loodon: Cohbelt Press; 1946.

_: The Triumph of the Alphabet: A History of Wrir/ng. New York:

 

 

Heniy Schumim; 1953. , ....

 

RicxAiui. T. A,: ,Uan and Meiah, Vob. 1 and 11- Nov York; WhitUeacy

House- 1932. , - , „ ,

 

RoscnthaI-, E.: Pottery and Cen/mics. HarmondsworthL Pdican Books; 1949.

Satce. R. U.i Prfmllioe Arts and Crafts. CambrldgCi The University Press;

 

 

1933<

 

 

CHAPTER X

 

Lowre, R. H,f Hie Origin of the State. New York; Harcourt, Brace tt Co.;

 

•Maine, H. S.! Aiiciei?( tuic. Third Americati ediUon. New York: Henry Holt

&Co.i 1873,

 

Oppenucimer, F-; The Slate- JodianapolLs: The Bobbs-Meirul Company;

1914.

 

Bediteld, R.; The FoJffc Culture of Vtioafun. Chicago: University of CliJeago

Preso', 1941.

 

Seacle, W.! The Quest for Late. New York; Alfred A. Knopf; 1941.

 

 

CHAPTER XI

 

Braidsi-ood, R. J.i Prehfsforic Afen. Chicago: Chicago Natural History Mti-

seum Popular Series: Anthrupology. No, 37; 1948,

 

Bnno»it,-iL, A, It.: Early Man; A Sureoj/ of Human Origins. St. Alhansi May-

fluwCT Press, liutcmnson's Scientific and Technical PohUcatioiis; 1948.

Bubjutt. M. C.i The Old Stooe Age: A Sfody of PakoUthic Tifnes. Second

editiofi. Cambddgic: The University Press; 1949.

 

Chiloe, V. G.: Afon Mokes Himself, lAmdon: Watts 4f Co.; 1937 -

Hoebki.. a, E.! afon in the Primitioe WorW. New Ynrfc: McGiaw-HiIl Book

Co.: 1949.

 

Leakey, L. S. B.s .Adam’s Ancestors, London; Methuen and Co.; i&34'

MacCwiuw, G. G.t Homan Origins: A Manmif of Prehistory. Vols. I and II.

 

New York; AppletoH'Centtiiy-Grofts; 1934.

 

Oakley, K. P,! Mart the Tool Maker. London: British Attiscum Guide; i949-

 

 

CH.APTER XII

 

BEHStrr, R. and C: Hifi First Awirafiatw. Sydneys Ure Smith Publication;

iggA, .

 

Bocohas, The Chukchee. New Yotki Ameirietin Museum of Nutural

 

History* MemoirSp ii; 1904-09^

 

Ehxiii, a/ F.: The AustnJidn AhoriginCJft Sydney: Ai^gus and Roberlsoiii

t9jS«

 

JOCHELSON, W.: The Peoples of Ariaiic Ruiskf. New York: Americnr; Museum

of Natural History; 1928.

 

 

 

Bi 7 >fiograp 7 i^ [679

 

K* On the Aborigm^l Inhabitants of tJw AndEaman LoAdoa±

 

Triibncr & Cq.; [preface dated 1^3]*

 

Mubdocic^ G, P.: Ocif Frimiti^ CdiifernpofarteiV. New ^'brk: The MatTniHin,

Co,; 1935.

 

RADCLiFFt'BJtow^i^ H-: Tfw Andnman I^ndeFs^ Gimbridge: Tlie Uui-

versiry Press; 1933.

 

Sc3iAF£iiAp T; The Wiomn Peoples of South Afrka. London: G, KouOedge £c

Sons; 1930.

 

ScfCEa^sTA^ F,: AFtwng Congo Pygmies* Londop: Hulehip^on Go.; 1933^

 

Seucxiann, C. G.p ana B. Z.; The Veddas. Gambridge; The Uni%^mty Press;

1911.

 

Skeat, \V, and BuiGDKS^ C. 0 -; Fagan Places of the MtJay Fenimuia. 2

volumes. London: 71 >e Macmdlon Co.; 1906.

 

CHAPTER XIII

 

Bucic^ Stb P, IL: T^ie Comjfig of the Wnorf. Nebon^ CawtLron In¬

 

stitute of Scienbirc Rescoiw; 19^5.

 

-: V 0 £iags of the Sunrise^ New York: Frcderiek A. Stokes Co,; 1938.

 

Dutf, B,: The Moa-Hmlcf Feri&d of Maori Culture* WdlingtoR. N-Z-: De-

partmerLt uf IntemcLl AfFalrs; 1950,

 

Lijvton, fl.: The Archeology of the Marquesas Islands. Havv^i: B. P. Bfshnp

Museum Bullebiu, No. 23; 1925.

 

MovRrs, H. L., jft.: ^rly Man and Fklstoome Strstigraphy (n Southern and

Eastern Ajia. Cambridge; Papers of the Peabody Museum, Harvard Uni¬

versity, Voh XDC No, 3i 194.^.

 

RjEseNF»aJ&, A.i The Megidithic Culture of Melanesia. Leiden: E. J. Brill:

 

 

CPIAPTER XTV^

 

Buhhou's, E. GiJ Folyncsiai A Sltid^ in CuUurcd Differentiation.

 

Gotfienburg: Eflmogniphic Museum; Ethnogmphfc Series 7; 1938.

 

ContUNOTON, R. H.: The Melanesians. Onfcrd; Clareitdon Press; 1891.

 

CooN» C. S*p and Andrews, J+ .NL. IV: Sfudier in l/i« Afi(Arapofog|^ of Oce¬

ania ernd Cambridge: Papers of the Peabody Museum, Harvard

University* \’'oL XX; 1943.

 

Deacon, A. B.j JVfoirituJlti; A Vanishing People In fAe XoiO Hebrides- London:

G. Roudedge 4 Sons; 1934.

 

Fiuth, R,; We. the Tdeopia. London: G. Allen A Uuwin; 19136.

 

-— : Prffrirtiue Ecwnomks of the New Zealand Maori. New York; E- P,

 

Dutton 4 Co.; 1939.

 

Goodenquck, W* H.s Kin mici Commiififisf on Truk. New Haven: Yale Uni¬

versity Publications in Anthropology. No. 46; 1951.

 

Krieceo, H, W.: I slant! Pcoidcsof the Western Pacific^ Mii^onesia, and Poly¬

nesia. Washington: Smilhsonian Institution, War Background Studies

No. i 6 j Sept, 1943-

 

LiNTONp R.: The Material Culture of the Marquesas fjrftfndj- Hawaii: Memoirs

of the B, P, Bbbop Museum, VoL Vlfl, Na, 5; 19^3.

 

■ — — — : The a Hiif Tribe of Madagascar^ Clticagoi Field Museum of

 

Natural History* AatbmpoJo^cal Series* PublicatiDii No. 317, Vol. XXII j

^ 933 -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BibWogrop/iiy

 

 

ON- R F,: The KatingoA, Chicago: Cniv<Msity

 

? L P.rrhi KJmer impifv. Phibddphk; Tmn»aclion, of the

 

■ ■!__^ fif 1

 

 

6SoI

 

Liston. H.: WjsCEin-. P-; and D'H«i«oscainiT. ^

 

New Yoit: Museum of Modem Art; Simonj^d ^ p nuuon

 

MAusowTi^. B,: Argcmoiif^ of the Western Focific. New Yurt: E. P- Dutton

 

—*^cJf^COfJ(nw and Their Mogte. London: C. Allen & Unwin; 193S-

Mcad VI.: Frofii the South Seta. Saw York: Williaia Morrow A C^;

 

OuvEn D.; The Pacific JjJondi. Cambridge; Harvwd UnJverslw Press; ^95^-

RivEi»s.'wrH. R.: i/Worj of Melancsutn Societij. Cambridge: The Uiuv .

 

SralH^^T^iaiuro: A VfHoge Jn the MardutJI idaude. Chicago: Chicago

 

Natura] History Mvaeiim; 1949. ^ , iT„iiFe™[tv

 

\Vnrrtsc. 1- VV'. M.; On Beatming a Kaxma. New Haven: Yale Univeniiy

 

Wil^^S.'^E.: Papmns of the TmnvFiy. Oslord: Clarendon Press; 1936.

 

CH.AFTEB XV

 

BaITTONp

 

BiUC^$, Aj- Asa a urn. ^ .

 

American Fhil<M<>phic«l S<>ck v-xn Vn^irmid Co

 

Cmi, F. C.: The Peo^ea of Stahysia, New York! D. Van Nostnuid Lo..

 

r'/iiT^Mfrnr44 M ' The ItfoPil of Ball. New Y'ork: Alfred A, Knopf; 1937-

S ”rH.'c!;'s".I,SS ^ N.W Y.,*. Joh. Wiley 6 S,m.i .9S».

 

Du BoLs, C.i The Pcoi^e of Alor. MinfieapdiJii University of Minnesota PtosSt

 

FmmR.; Molny foliiYuitii: Vta* Po“m> Economy. Londoni KeSim P«“l

 

and Fram Verdiwm* New'\ork: *945-

 

Kfxnhuv 1.: The Ageicis iiufica. New York: The John Day Co.; , rt.

 

Kfom, n! J.: RortitMduf; Archeotogicat Descriptiotf. The Hague: M. Nijh .

 

PeruTw. Tlw Megidithic CuHiirc of ludoneaia. Umdon: Longmans.

 

TEa^f^-^i^ddal Low In Indoneiia. Translalcti- X«w York: liutitotc

 

Wlvst^*! R* The A CidJumf IlialOTif. Lmidoiu RciuOedge A Kagan

 

Paul; 1950.

 

CHAPTER XVI

 

BuAmsvoou. R. 1.: The Near Eaaf aod tt,e Fmmdofion* cf CicHi^tiou. Eu-

 

eene Oregon; Oregon State System of Lon,

 

CmS^^V. S Nero Ught on the Moat Ancient Eoat. Revised edition. Lon

 

don: Foutledge & Kegan Paul; igS^ _ . .

 

DAVisrrN, D.t The Story of PrehijptfWM: Cfuifisatfon*. Lotulom, Watts

 

Fuasktobt. H,; The Birth of CiviH^tioo in the .V«ir Fust. ]a:>nd«tt; Wilfi.ims

 

pEiiHN^'^J^*^:^The Comparorisc Archeology of Early A/eaofWteinJo. Chi

cagD: Studies in Ancient Oriental Civiltzafions. No. 3S: 1949-

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

 

[681

 

criAPTER .wri

 

Chilow^, W Oa The Dawn of European Civilizaiioo. Foiiiih ecUtipii. New

York: Alfred A. Kiiopf; 1948.

 

-: Prehistoric MigratUins m Europe, Oslo: H, Asc:he?hough Co.; 1950-

 

Davison^ D.: The Story of Frehi^torre CitilizatiOTvs. London: Watts C04

 

Hawx£S. F- C.: The Prehistoric Fouadatians of Eiiro^w: Yo ihe Mtjceoean

Age. Londont Metliucn k Co.; 1940.

 

Feaae, and Fi£iJii£, II. J*: Hi*- Corridors of Time Series. Vols. t—IX.

New Hpveii; Yale University Preffi; i9^6“36.

 

CRAPTER X\ 1 II

 

Childs, V. G.; T(ie Age. Cambridge: Tbe University Press; 1930.

 

-— -: TVie of EuTopean Clcdizatinn. Fourth edition^ York:

 

Alfred A. Knopf; 1948.

 

——Pre/jisforic Migmltotwf in Europe. Oslo: H. Asebehoiigli k Co.; 1950-

ClakKh J4 C. D4 Prehjsioric Enro^w: The Economic Bitsis, New York: The

Philosophical Library; 1952,

 

Dasison, D.: The Stortj of Frchkiorfc Ciciti^iions. London: Wults & Go,;

 

1951-

 

Haivkhs^ G. F. C.; The Prehistoric Found&tiom of Europe: To tm Myoenenn

Age. London: 6t Co.; 1940.

 

CIIAPTEH XIX

 

CmLDF, G.: The Aryans: A of Indo-Ewwpettn Origins. London:

 

K^an P:iuL Trench, Tnibner k Co.; 1926-

HfnsoN, A. E-: Knzak Sodd Slntctare. Neiv tlaveri: Yale University Frvsst

193^-

 

jocHELSos, W*: Tfie Feopks of Abiotic Russia. New York: American Museum

of Natural History; 19:^8.

 

Kellejl a. G.: Homeric Society. New York; Loiigmiins, Green & Co.; 190a.

LAStB^ li.: Genghis KJran, Emperor of All ilfen. New Yc>rk: Penguin Boaks;

no date,

 

CHAPTER XX

 

The Cambridge Ancient Uisiory. ist volumes. Cfimbndge? The University

Prtss; 1923-39.

 

Baekee, The (Jfc of the Ancient East. New York: The MacEiiLlLm Co-;

 

1923 , ,

 

Gujecr, N.: The Other Side of the Jordon. New Haven: Americon Scnools

of Oriental Researcli; 1940.

 

Mosel, A.t The ^tanners and Customs of the Rawata Bedouin. New York:

 

Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts; 1928.

 

CLeahy* De L.: Arabia Before .^fuhammed. Londmi: Kogan Patil» Trench,

Trubner k Co.; 1927-

 

Fatal R.: Man and Temple. New York: Tlnjinas Nelson & Sons; 1947,

 

SWAYNE, H. C. C.: Trips T/ifoPigA Sornnh’hintl. London: R. WtEjd;

 

igtro.

 

WooLtJrVj Sm L-; Aferdiofn: Recent Di*coj?cdejf and Hebrew Origin#. New

Y’^ork: Charles Scribner's Sons; 1936.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

 

6&i]

 

 

CHAPTER XXI

 

BWiVSTED, J, H.: Ancien/ Tfm«, A Histtm/ of thf Earl^ World. Boston: Gtati

 

it Co,; 1916. „

 

Cahletcw. P,! Buried Empire. New Yofk: EL P. Dutton & Co-! tSOQ- _

run B g, SL C.! Neio Light on the Moit Aitdent Bart. Eteviswl ediuon,

don; Roulledge it K^n Paul; 195a, , ^ «

 

DavisoKj D.: Tl>e Story of Prehistoric CioUisations. London: Watts & Oo,;

 

Del^hte, L.i Mesopotiwnw: The Bebyhnian and Ariyrtan Clot/isotion,

New Yofl!! Alfred A. Knopf; igaS-

 

Fua^vicfort, H.: The Birth of CieiK^tion fn the Near EcM. London: U illtiuas

it NorEntc; 1951-

 

WooLLEY, C. L-t Tfie Snmeridn*. Oxfoid: Clarendon Press; 1928.

 

_ - Ve of the Chatdess. New York; Charles Scribner’s Semsj I93®-

 

 

CHAPTER XXll

 

Albhickt. W, F,: The Ardteolosy of Pdestioe. Hiumondswortli: Pelican

Books^ 1^49-

 

CiULDE. v' C.: New Light on the Afos* Ancient East. Revised edition. Lon¬

don; Routledge & Kegan Pniil; 1953■ „ , .

 

DouCHEETY, B. P.; The Sealand of -Ancienl Arobfci. New Haven: Yale Um-

versity Press; Yale Oriental Series: Researches, Vol. XIX; 1932.

 

CinLVET, O. R.: The lltttitcs. Haimondwurth: Pebcan Books; 1952,

 

MoflET, A, and Daw. C.: From Tribe to Empire. New Yewk: Alfred A.

 

A*T.; Histonj of Assyrta. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons;

 

10 ^* 1 -

 

_; lUttorif of the Pmian Empire (Aeftflepisitid Period). Clilcago: Uni¬

versity of Chicago Press; 19^8.

 

 

CILAPTER XXin

 

Evaks, Sffi A,: The Falacc of XtitiO» at Korwsoa. 4 vulomes- Uindon: Macmn-

 

lan 4 Co.; 1941-33■ j

 

Hosier: The Iliad. Transkted by W. 11. D, Bouse, New York; New American

Librarv of World Utt-mture (Mentor Clajssirt); 19SU-

 

-- The Odyssey. TTanslaled by W. H. D, Boiise. Ne«> York: New Amen-

 

can Olrraiy of World Lltefaturc (Mentor Classics); 1950 , . r*

 

PEsPUEHimv, J. O. S.i The Archeology of Crete. lAindcmi Mrthuen h

 

 

Ft-4Ti^ The Works of Plato. Selected and edited by Erwin Edniiio, New

 

York; Moduli Ubrnty; i93*- , ... 1 1 1.

 

FurTARCH: The Licet of the Noble Crectant and Boimns. Tnuislflled by Jfiim

Drvden. New York: The Modem Library; 1933,

 

 

CHAPTER XXIV

 

BlCmnish, H.t The Itame Life of the Ancient Greefer. Tmnaktcd by Ali«-

Zlmmcm. New York; Funk and Wagnalls Go.; no ikle,

 

DviiANT, W.: The. Life of Greece. New York: Simon and Schu^: \y39 ' ^

Cloveb, T. B.: The Ancfimt World: A Segm/Urtg, New York: The ,MacsnilUn

 

Co-i 1935 .

 

 

 

 

 

Bihliag^phy

 

 

I6S3

 

 

HaiX. H. R.: The CicSisatlon of Greece in the Bronze Age. Londonj Methuen

4Co,i iflaS.

 

IlEJiCKDoTUS; The History of Herodotus. Translitted by G. Rnwlinson, New

Yoik: Tudur Publishing Co.; 1932.

 

11 WE, W. W.: Ancient Greek Mariners. New Yoric: Cbtford Univefsih- Press:

 

 

i^ 7 h

 

Plato: The Worits of Phia. Selected and edited hy> Erwfu Edman. New

York; 'fhe Modem Libmty'; 1930.

 

Plutarch; The Lives of Ihe .VoWe GrecJfJrw and Bomatts. Tnuislmted by John

DtydeiL New York: The Stodero Libraiy-, 1932.

 

RosTOVTi!Err. M- I.: Ouf of ihe Past of Grcecoatid Rome. New Hiiveti: Y’ale

University iVess; 193^-

 

 

CfL^PTER XX\'

 

ChcRN. A- S.; Hbtofy of the Srisfi Slotc to 1014, London; Miicmilljui & Co.;

1925.

 

J.SCOBSTUAL, P.: Earfu Cetiic Art. Oxford; Clarendon Press; 1944.

 

Taciivs: The Complm Works of Tacitm. Tnwiskted by A. J. Church and

W. j. Bfodribb, New York; The Modern Uhraiyi i 94 aH

TtrocTOHJEs: The Comptele Writings of Thucydides, Translated by Crawley.

Now York; TTio Modoni Lilwoiy; 1934-

 

CHAPTER XXVI

 

Bahrow, R. H.: Skii;ery in the flewHiO Empire. Lnndoii; Melhvim & Co.;

 

^ 9 * 8 . ,

 

CsncORiNo, J.; Dailu Life tn Ancient Rome. Translated by E, O, Loiiinor.

 

New liavon: Yale Universi^ Press; 1940.

 

Duhakt. W.: Caesar and Christ. New York: SliiKW and SeJsuslcr; 1944.

CiRBON, E.: The Decline and Full of the Roman Empire, s. volumes. New

York: The Modern Library; 1932.

 

JLlmixvll-.Maciver, D.: The Etruscans. Oxford: Clarendon Press; 1927,

 

- Italy Before the HiMBurw, Oxford: Clarendon Press: igsB.

 

CHAPTER XXVII

 

BnoctcELAiAXN, C.; Iftriwy of tiiC IsiamCc Peopfcs. Translated by J. Car-

mkhael and M. PterlmaniL New York: G. P. Putnam s Sons; 1947-

Coon. C. S.: Canitvirt: The Story of the Middle East. New York: Henry Holt

 

Dieneii. BipHiiiiiiJm. Translated by E. and C. Paul. Boston:

 

Little, Brown & Co.; 1938. ,. l l . 1

 

Hell, J.* The Arab Ciollixnttpn. Tnimlated by S, K. Biikhsh. Cambridge;

 

W. Hefier and Suns; l 9 itS< , . ,

 

Him, P, K.: The llislary of the Arabs, Third edition, revised. London: htae-

 

milhui A Co.; 1943.

 

Lindsay, J,; Byzantium into Europe. London; TIh: BodJ^ Head; igS*-

Bunciman, S,; Bi/sdJitine Cioilization. London: Edward Arnold and Co.;

1936.

 

Youse. T. C.. editor; Near Eastern Culture and Society, Princeton: Princeton

U^versity Press; 1951.

 

 

 

 

BibUography

 

 

684!

 

 

Ci LIFTER XX\^ 1 I

 

BunxTiT^ M. C.i South Africa’s Pa,^ fn Sfone aiiil Paint. Camlirklge: Tbe

University rrtss; 192S.

 

Caton-Thompsdk* C. L The Zimlmlme CuUure^ Ruim itnd Rffucthm. Oxford:

Clairnclan Fress; ^93^^

 

J. C- D-: The Prehistoric Cuttures of Ihc Hom of Africa* Loitdon^

 

1953^

 

Hjvmblv, \W Dh; Soirrcr* Hrmh far African Anihropalogy. Pnits I m \6 11 . Chi¬

cago: Fiisld Mii 50 um (>f Natural fUstuiy^ Ant^opologicuJ Series, Puhliqa-

tirai No. 394. Val XXVh

 

Gooowi\^ A. |. tl,, anti Vak flitr Lo^ve, C.i T/ic Sfoiw Age Coiforpj 0/

StM/t/i Africa. Capetm^Ti; Animis of the South Afdtoii Mi^uiiip Vol-

XW'lIi 19:29.

 

Lkakkv, L. S. D.: S^tiNc Age CuUurest of Kemja Colony. Cambridge: The Uni-

VfjTsitv^ Ptess; 1931.

 

--: Stone Age Africa. London: Oxford University Press; 1936.

 

-editors Profrecfiifigx of the Pon-Afrkmn CongrcMs &n Prehisionj, 1947.

 

New YorL: 1949

 

PoXD, A. WhI CiiAnuis, L,; S-; and BAiti^a, F. C.: Prehistoric

 

Hahitaiion Sites in the Sahara ami JVorffj Africa. ^Visconsm:

 

Logan Mu!(ciim BuHetiii Nol 5; 1938.

 

D'UcitL, Berher Arts: /in hitroduetkm. Nornion, QkLahonia; Umver-nty of

OkLmunu Press; 1932.

 

WutsiN. b\ ft-: prehistoric Archeology of Sorihu^ Africa. Cambridge:

Papers of the Pealxxly Museum, Harvard University; VoL 19, No. i;

 

1941-

 

CHAPTER XXIX

 

BAtTMCAfvrtL, E- J.: The Cultures 0/ Frehixtotic Egypt. Oxford: Oifiird UiU-

vcTsity PiTOi 1947.

 

BnCASTLt}, J, FI.: A fjrj.i/i7r^ of Egypt from the Earliest Times to the Ferskin

Coiujuest. New York: Cliarles Scribners Sons; 1905^

 

Budge, E. W^; A Shnrf Hhto^j of the Egyptian Feofde. Londbn; J. M, Dent

k Sons; 1914.

 

Carter. fL, and Mace, A. G.: The Tomb of Tui-Ankh-Armn. Lemdon: Cus-

seJl k Co.; 1923.

 

Ctf]U>b, V- C-: 4 Vei£f Light on the Most Ancient East. Revised edition^ Lor-

don: Rotitledge k Kegan Pnuh 19^

 

Ei^WAfttBtp |. E, S-: The Pyramids of Egypt. Harniondswoilh: Penguin

Books; 1947^

 

J-Cates, W* C.: The Scepter of Egypt. New^ Y'^ork: Harper and Brothersi

1953-

 

Huzayyls* S. a. S-: The Place of Egypt hi Pjntr/iwtor^r A Correlated Study

of CUniates and Cultures in the Old Ciiiros Metnokes do ITnsti-

 

tnt Egypte, VoL 43; 1941.

 

MA.vtnipAV-inTE, j. E*: Anefenf EgypU New York; Thomas Y. Crowell Co,;

no date.

 

Mini RAY, M. A.; The Splendour that WoJ Egypf. New York: Pidlosophical

Library; 1949.

 

PtTRiE, VV. M, F.i Prchislorfc Egypt. Lniidini: British Sehixd of ^ireheology

in Eg>'pt; 1920.

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

 

[6S5

 

 

Seliwiax, C, G.: Eg^pt at^ Xegro Africa: A Btud^ in Dimae Kingdtip.

London; Georee HoutlecJge and Sons; 1934.

 

G. R.; The Vricate Life of Tiftcrn^^janifn. N'inv York: The MeBridn

Compiitiy^

 

VVATOEtu, L. A-: kgypimn Cwdi^ion: liis Snirifrurn and Real Chro-

 

n(Hogy. London: Ltizat h Co,; ig^o,

 

Wilson, J. A.s The Burden of Egypt. Cliicagd: UiUvcrsily ol Chic.ngp Press;

 

19^1*

 

 

CHAPTER XXX

 

 

Cnuj>, G, SI.. Utnbuudu Kimhip and Cliafat^er. London: Oxford Univer-

sity Ftess: 19^9.

 

COLSO!^ and GLuCKiiApi, M. (editors) : Seem Tritics of BrttbJt Central

Africa, Lcmdoti: Oxford Uiiivt^rsity Prtss: 1951.

 

CuuwiCK. A. T, and G. \L: L'iwna of dw flicew. London: C. Allen & L'n-

ww: * 935 -

 

DEi^tTOSSE, M.j The Nvgraet of Africa. Traiiiluted bv F. Fligcbnun. Wash-

iiigton* D^C-: Tlic A^x^iutinn Publiibefs; 1931.

 

IYoke, C. M.j The Laiiifws of S'orihern Rhadt Jna. London: G. C Ilun-ao A

Co-t 1931. ^

 

EvA^PiuyciwHD, E, E.; Wilchcnift, Orachrs and Magic among the Autnde.

Oxford: Clarendoft Press; 1937,

 

“ Nuer. Oxford: CliLrendon Pt&w; j^ti

 

Foiites, M ; 3 Vjc Dymmiea of Clamhip Among tfie TalUmi. London: Ox-

lord Univffidly Press; 19*^5.

 

- —: Ttu: \lVi of Kinsidp Among file Tadeiisi. London; Oxford l^niver-

 

«<?' Press; i 949 -

 

Foums M-, and Evans-Phitcharp. E. E.: A/Hmii PoUtiad Stjsiems. Lon-

 

doii; Oxford Universdy ftess; 1940.

 

Huntxh. M.: Reaction to ContfueM. Lcindoii; Oxford Univenitv Ptcjs-

 

JuNOD. II. p,; The Vathonea, CambridEC: Deightmi. Hell & Co.; 1935.

 

K,\Dtnai. P.: Women of the Crttw^dds. A Study of the Economic TosHum

^ Women hi Baon«da, Britidt Camcfoons, laiiidon! Jt. M. Statiruierv

Office, for tlie CoIeiit^iI Office; 1952.

 

Kh.SYATTA, J4 Facing Manut Kcfuja. Lundoiif Seeker h Wiirbiirg; 1938.

 

Knior::, D., and E. J*: A Rrdbii uf a JlffjVi Qwjcnt A Study of Laeedu So¬

ciety, Kew York; Oxford University Pr^^f; 1943.

 

Lirmc. 11 . G*: The Religmm Symm^and Sodai Organizittkm uf the

rtTTii. Utreebt: Ecinliilc eii zoon ^ 934 -

 

Wekk, C. Ka The h'orihern Tribes of Nigeria, s. ’V'olujiJt-s. London: Oxford

Unfvcrsiry Press; 1935,

 

Nadku, S. The Nuba. L^^ndon: Qslord University FrcsS; 1943^

 

JUDCLiFtTE-BHowN, A, R, Hud Fomje, D>. editors: AfTiciin Systems of Kin-

itiUp and Merriage. Lemdun: Oxford University Press; 1950.

 

Rey, C. F,; The Real A/jw,Wffni£L Third edition* PbfljiddpbLii f. B. Lipniii-

Co.; no date.

 

 

HicitAnns, A. L: Land, LnlMtur and Diet Jn Northern Rhodesia. Second im-

pression. London: Oxford University Press; 1951.

 

Rood. F* R.; Peaptc of the VdL London: ^facmllkn & Co,- 1926,

 

 

 

 

e86l

 

 

Bibliography

 

 

ScHiU>fiftA. I.: The Khoisdn Feoplea of South Africa. IxmdcKri; G. Routledge

& Sons; 1930 .

 

_; A Haruibook of Tswam iLdw attd Cuetom. Usndon: Oxford Oni-

 

versity Prcsss; jg^S.

 

ecUlor; n«? Bantu Speaking Tribes 0} South Africa. London:

 

 

G, Routledgc & Sons; 1937- , ,

 

Schwab. C.: Tribes of the Liberian Hinterland. Cambridge; Papers of fbe

Peabody Museum, Harvard CniveisUy; VoL 31; 1947>

 

Ssimt, E, W.. and Dalk, W, NL: The Hii-Spcaldng Peojiles of Northern

Rluidcsia. London: Macmillan Cu.; igao.

 

Taibot, P. a.; Peoples of Smitliem jVfgrrte, 4 volumes, Laindon: Oxford

Universit]*' Press; 1926 .

 

W'acndi, C.: The Changing Famify among fhf Bonlu Kuciroufjo. Lcradun:

 

Memorandu of ll« InlemaUotiaJ Africuii Enstitute; No- iS; 1939,

Wreks. J. H-: Among the Frimitice Bakongo. Londom Seck-y, Service &

Co,; 1.914,

 

Wiuov, M. H.: Coml Compony. London: OKfnrd University Press; 1951.

WuJON-HAFFENUtN, J. It,; The Red Men of A’fjgerfu, London: Seeley, Sers'^

ice dr Co.; 1930. .

 

WmcoiT, P,; The Sctilpture of A'egro Africa. New York; LolumbJa Uni^

versity Press; 1930,

 

 

CHAPTER XXXf

 

HA&riELO, H.: Traifr of Dioinc Kingship in Africa. London: Watts A Co,;

 

 

HcBs^vrrs, M. f.: i3iafiortu?y. on Anrioif Weri African Kingdom. Vols, I

and 11. New Y’ork: J. J. Augustin. Inc., Publistrm; 193®*

 

Kupen, H.; An African Aristocracy. London: Oxford UntviirBlty Press;

 

Maib, L, P.i An African People In (luf 3 off; Cenfury. Londoo: C. Houtledge

 

 

ftr 1934 -

 

G+ K-! A Kingdom. Loridtin: Keg^a Fitul,, Trench, Tnibner

 

 

Moiii>ocic.'G.^.t Oirr PrfmiUce Contemporaries. New York: The Macmillan

 

 

Co.; 1934 .

 

Nadel. S. F.; A Rfock Fy^nrium. London: Oxford University Press; 194a-

RatTHay. H. S,; The Ar/ionff. Oxford; Clarendon Press; 1923.

 

Roscoe, Tfie Uagaiida, London: MaemiHnn bt Co.; 19^1-

 

 

CHAPTER XXXII

 

 

BAB,s'EtT, L. D.: Anriyufifea 0/ fnriid, London: P. L. Wamcr; 1913.

 

Ckhue, V. C.: New Light on ffie Moil Aiidcni East, Revised edition. lAtii'

don: Routledgc A Kegau Paul; 1953.

 

MAi*5if ^ , J*» editor: Mob^nfo Dorti umi tti£ OivmSifbon. [.japoo^w.

 

A. Probfrhoiji; 1931. , .

 

Macxay. E.: Earfy Indus CieMtsations. Revised edition, London; Luzac ontl

 

Cq^; ^94^- I

 

MmiA. V.: Prehistofio IndUi- Revised edition. Cttlciittft: University of On-

 

cutta; 19*7". « . 3 , a- 3 E,

 

Movius. H, L.P Tn.: JuJrfjf Man and the Fh*isiocan€ StmU^raphu in

 

cm attil Cami:ridge: Pupers of the P&sbody Museiinii

 

Horvuid University: Vol, 19 , No, 3 ; >944*

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

 

m

 

- i I^W 4 ^r Ctilfur^s tt/ Satithem and Ea^iem Aa^. PWla-

 

(iclphia: TrjinsattiDHii ul the Ami^rfcaii Phil<isopliica .1 Society^ Vq\. 38,

No* 4;

 

PiCGOTT, S.: Ffehktoric India. Hiirmundsn^irtht Pelictui Books; 1950.

 

?n.\uuAVAS\ST}A.^ S4 V^dic HeUgiofi atid Fhilox(ypiw, Ecb^lorial supervision

|jy P IL Iloustc^i. Myliipore, Madniiii Srt Eaiiijiknsna ^futli; 1950^

 

Snx, C. E,: The Pageimt of India's liistonj. New Yofk: Longmans^ Green &

Co.; 1948. Val h

 

Tfmia, 1L De^ iuid PA'tEaSfiN; T* T*; Studies on the Ice Age fn India and

Associated Unman Cniitmrs. Wtishingtofi: Caiiicgie livstitiition of V’V'ash-

uigton Publication No. 493; 1939.

 

WtiEELtK, R, E* M.: Fioe Thoumnd Years of Fakistm. London: C. Johnson^

1950*

 

CHAPTER XXXIII

 

Ghoossitt, B.: The Cii^tUzation of Ituiia^ Trsnslated by C. A. Pbillips. New

York: Tudor Pohlishing Co.j 1939.

 

Hawhudch, £.: Indfun Coeisf end The Story of a Lining Past. Bos¬

 

ton: Houghton ^]JMiI1 Co.; 1935.

 

Hutto.v, J. H4 Coirfe in India r Cambridge: The University Press; 1948.

 

Mqhoan^ K, \V.* editor: The Religion of the Uindits, Now York: The Ronald

l^ess Company; 1953.

 

Kicc, S.: Hindu Customs and Their Onghxs. London: G. Allen and Unwin;

IS 37 .

 

Rrv^EK.s, W. M, R,: Tfte Todas, London: Kkcmilbn & Co.; 1906.

 

Sen, G. E.: The PngeanC of Ltclin^ New York: Longmans, Green &

 

C04 1948^ Vol. ].

 

Sevaht, Eyt Caste in India. Tninstfitrd by E^ D* Ross. Lemdon: Methuen &

Co,; 1930.

 

Swaxatha, S. W V-; Riiciel Synthesh rn fJIudu Cidiiire, London: Keg^n

Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.; 19^8.

 

CHAFTER KXXIV

 

Daviu*!, Ch a* R.t Sofci^if; or Buddhkt Odgfiw* Lcnidim: Kegan Paulp Trench,

Tnihncr h Co*; 1931.

 

RAomKiiiffiENAXp S*: (^atama, the Bnddha, Loiidon: Oxford University

Press; 1&3S.

 

Thomas, E. J*: The Life af Buddha us Ijegeurf (lud HiRtory, Loiidon: Kegan

Paul, Trench, Tmbner & QJ-; 192:7.

 

CHAPTER XXXV

 

Arcscejv, J, C*: The SIfr/is: A Study in CompaTattve Eeligion. Frineelon:

Princeton University Press] 1946.

 

CnooKE, W*: The Natives of Northem India, London: A. Constabte t Go,:

 

^1907.

 

Elwtn, V-: The Buigo, London: J* Murray; 1939^

 

Hutton, J. H.: Ctnie fn India. Cambridge: The Uni verity Ftess; 194 ^-

 

MonoANp K. W-p editor: The Religion of the Hindus^ New York- The Ronald

Press Company; 1953.

 

Sen, G. E.: The Pageani of Indids History. V'^ol. I. New York: Longinang;,

Creen & COh; 1948.

 

 

 

68S] Bibliographif

 

SENAitT, E.: CdJfp in tndUt. TransJatml by E. D, Boa®. London: Mcthoon *

Co-; 1930.

 

Cfr^PTEfl XXXM

 

Ane)KIis!!En, J, C.t Chtiflren of thti Yellow hutlh. New ^dik; 1934 '

 

-- Researchej in tkf PrebiistOTy of the Chlticse^ Stockholm: BuUetin of

 

the Museum of Far Easleni Antiqotlies No. 15; lOfS*

 

Cm Li: rfte FornioiiOH of ifie Chinftst: Peopfe. Ciimhrjdg.ei The University

Press! igaS*

 

Cheix, H. C.; The Birth of China. New Yofts The John Day Co.; 1937 "

 

-; StufiJfi in Early Chinese Histonj. (First Series). Washin^on:

 

American Counal of Learned Societies Studies in Chinese and RoTsted

Civiliziidans. No. 3; 193S-

 

CntssfY, C. B.; China's Ceuarapltic Fmmdation.i. Ne^v Yoik: MqCruw-illl!

 

Book Co.; 1934. . . c r

 

Moviire. H. L, Jn.: Early Man rtruf ffie Pfetriouene Sfrarigropfi^ in Sout/iem

and Eastern Aida. Cambridge; Papers of the Peatwdy Museum, Han ard

Univereity, Vol. 19, No. 3 ; 1944- ^

 

_; Lott;<,T Pdealithic Cnitufei of Soathem and EiHlern Arid. Phua-

 

deiphia-. Transactions of the AmeriKin Philosophical Society, Vol, 3S,

 

NOi 4^ 104 ^

 

W^irm:. W, C.: The Bone Culture of Andrtd China. Toronto: University

of Toronto Press, Museum SUidtcs No. 4; 1945,

 

Wu, C* ]>.! Frebistorio Patteftj in Chifiif. London; Kegon Paul, Trencli,

Trubucf h Co.; 1938.

 

CH.VPTER XXXVU

 

Buxton, L, II. D,i Cfiirw, tfu* Land nmi the People. Oxford: Cbicndein

E^ess: 1949.

 

-: The Peoples of Asia. New VorJs: Alfred A. Knopf; 19*5-

 

CnsiEu, H. C.: Sjofm. A Study of the Ecohition of the Chinese World Vime,

Chicago; The O^n Court PubUslung Co,; 1929.

 

Fuse, Y. L; A Sfir»fl History of Chinese Fhilosaffhy- Edited by D«k Bwtde.

 

New York: The Macmm.in Co,; 1948.

 

CocKinicj), K, C,: A Short Hatonj of the Chinese People. Revised edihem.

New York: Harper 4 c Brothers; 1951.

 

DE Cpoot, J. J. M.: rfjo Hcdfgfon of the Chinese. New York: The MaonillHn

 

LsTOURETre. K. S.: The Chinese! Their fJirfory and Ctillnre. New York;

 

The Macmillan Co.; 1934, u

 

Pas Ku; History of the Fonrn'r Han Dyrmty. Translated by llomcr H.

 

Dribs, flallimore; The Waverly Press; 193®' „

 

W it rn i, B, L,: rln? .Wn/fi-Slotn Syriem of Aiiricnt Cfilno. Ilamuen, Con¬

necticut; The Shnestfing PTess; 1953.

 

WtutELit. ](.: A Short Histora of Chinese Civilization. Traiislaletl by

T. joshua. New York; The Viking Press- 1939.

 

WniiAMs, S. W.: The Middle Kingdom. ReiHscd edition, V’ols, 1 and H.

 

New Vofi: Cliartcs Scribner's Sons; 1883,

 

WiTTFOoKi., K. A., and F£nc CiiiA-SittNc:: History of Chinese Society: Litfo

(907^1145). Trajisacliotis of thp Aiiii'rk::ii! Pbilosopliieul Society, Voi-

36, 1946. New York: DistrihuteU by The Miicniilbn Co.; 1949.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bihliagraphij

 

 

[689

 

 

CHAPTER XXXVIII

 

CutANc; Monlik: Tiflfc# jfrom the Weii. New iliiven: Ywle Unf^ersit^" Fre&sj

^ 947 -

 

Pei^ H- T.± Prfuvrnf Life rn London: Kegau Piiul^ Trenoh^ Tmbner ^

 

Co-t 1^7.

 

FntEn, M, H-x The Fabric of Chines Society. New York; Frederick A.

 

Prieger; 1953

 

Hsu, K* Lp K.; Under the Ancesiorif" Shadow. Roidledge if Kegan PaiLl;

 

1949-

 

- Americam ana Chine^i Two of iJfe. New York: Hetiiy

 

^chuDian; 195:3.

 

D- 11a Courifrij Life i>i Southern China. New York: Tciichcrs Col¬

lege, Cohimbki Univetsily: igas*

 

Lanc, Oa Chinese Family and Society. New Hsivetu Vale Utiivcrsiiy Press;

 

^^46.

 

L\tTFEB* B.: Jade. Chicago: Field Musitiin of Niiitmal History, Anthropo¬

logical Scries* Publication No. 154, Vol. X; 19 ti.

 

Leonc, Y* K.t Euid Tao^ L. Ka Viilage anti Town Life in China. London:

 

NfonSE,. H. B.: The Gdd^s of Chintt. London: Ldngmuns* Green At C04 1909.

SmEs\ O.: A Historif of Chinese Paintings London: The Medici

 

cleiy: 1033-

 

Yasc, M, C.: a Chinese Vdtage. London: Xegon Paul, Trench, Tmbner if

Co.; 1948.

 

CHAPTER XXXIX

 

J.: The Japanese Nation: A Social Surtcy. New York: Einehait A

Co,; IQ 45 »

 

Choot, C. J.: The Prehisti^ of Japan. Edited by B. S* Kraus. New York:

Coltimbia University Tress; 1951-

 

Hearn, L-: iopon-" An Attempt at InlerpretaHon. Nenv York: The MuemiUan

Co.; 1904.

 

Latourette, K. S.: Hie History of Japan. New York: The MacmiLbiii Co.;

 

1947* ^ ^

 

Musno, N. Qa Prehhloric Japan. Yokohama? 1911.

 

NoRftECE, Ea Takashima. Salt Lake City: Umversity of Utah Press; 1954.

RErsciiAUEF, E. O.: faiHin, Past and Present. Revised edition. New York*

Alfred A, Knopf; 1953,

 

Sansosi, G. B,: Juf^n: A Shori Cidhinif ffiiffwjr. Revised edition. New York:

Appleton-Cenlury-Crofts; 1943.

 

Takekoshi, Ya The Economic Asfjecfs of the History of CJoilL^ation of

Japan. Vols. 1 , th Ic HI. New York: The Macniilliin Co.; 1930*

 

CPLAPTER XL

 

BtHEET-S^imi. K.: The Kskimos. New York: E. P. Dutton It Co.; 1936.

Catlin, G*: JVofth Amfricon Jndinns. a volurnes, London: Chatto and

Windua; no dulc,

 

CODEiiE, H.: Fighting teith Praperfi^. Y\irk: J. J, Augustin, Inc,, Fub^

Ushers; 1950.

 

Cor.LrErt, J.: The Indium of the AmerfcdSi New York: VV* W, Koriou A

Cumpany; 1947-

 

 

 

figol

 

 

Bibliography

 

 

CVBTU, E. S.! The AnurWcon ftuftan. Second revised edition. 20 vol-

 

tunes. Narwood, Moss.t Tlie Plimoten

 

Dal.£^ E, E.: The ifuUans the Norman* Ofclah&nta: University

 

Sociiii ^Veaiwn PueWtu, Chicago: Uni-

 

CnnwS! c!, Ti^ Cheyconc^fiufions. a voliunirs. New Haven: Ysde tJnl-

 

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WoshittgtQD! Stiudisonion Inslitiitioii, Bureau of American Ethnology

 

Bulletin No. 30. Parts J and II; 1907. r r- j, 11..I

 

Jewess, D.: Indians of Canado. Ottawa: National Museum of Qumda. Uul-

 

KEaTwJ) e! LSior?¥*c fndfawi* of Notib America, a volumes. New York;

 

Harcourt, Brace & Co.: iga?. * , . c., ,.,<5^ Ann

 

KLMrrc, W, V.: The indb»is t»/ ihc VYialcm Creot Lakes, 1615-1760. Ann

 

Arbor: University of Michigan Press; 1940.

 

Klucetioils, C, and LtictnoN, D.i The Saoaba. Cambridge; florvord Um*

 

CudiufjJ end Nofurol Area# of Salico North America.

 

Berkeley: University of CaJifomia Press; 1949. .

 

_ llandhook of ihr tmlinns of Caff/omiti. Berlcdey: Cflhromia

 

Co,- 11 ) 53 . (Burenu of Aiticrican Ethtiolo)^ Bulletin No. 70, 1915.)

Lowie Vi. H.: The Croif Indfatia, New York: Rinehart & Cotn^ny; i93S-

Maccowak, K.; Early Man in tf>e h'ew World. New York: I^e Macmillan

 

pfs,; QutMBY, C. ].; and CoeuJSR, O.. ttulians Before Cofimihi*#.

 

Chicago; University of Chicago Press; W 7 . -

 

Moucan. L, H.i The Uogae of the Uo^De-Ho^au^ffee or Iroquois. H. M*

Lloyd, editor, a volumes. New Ycirk; 1901.

 

Mludoce, C. P-f Our Primftlw Contemiioraries, New \ork: The MacnHllnti

 

Ofl^ NL^: An Apache UfeAVay. Chicago: University of Ghiengo Press;

 

Oscf>(^/c.: Jngaffk Afotcriof Cidiiiro, New Haven; Yale University Publlca-

 

lions ill Antiiropology, NOr SS; 1940- j

 

Pamman S Tn.: The OrtEon Tmit, Kew York; CaslPii House; no d^e,

Pabsons, C.; The Fuehkt of Npw Hftven: Yak Univcrjuty Press;

 

Rasm?Sn, K.: The Pcopio of the Polar North. Edited hy C. Herring. Phaa-

 

_ilf PeFTf “» 'll*

 

pc^dlitioiir Nfl-- 1 and x^^li w ^ n "U

 

RrtouE, W. A.; The Frc^lroquoiOH Occupations of Xeto York State. Roches¬

ter; Rochester Museum Memoir No, i; 1944 - .

 

Seixams, E. H.: Early .Wan in North America. Austin, Teras: University

 

of Texas Press: iSSa- r i. tr ,.rr

 

Speck. F. G.i Nashapi. Norman, Okliihotna; Utiiversity of Oklnhama Press,

 

SFiEifu.: rurwu Tribci of the CUa Rtner. Chicago: University of Chicago

 

press: 1933.

 

 

 

 

Bibliographxj [691

 

STEfiN, J.: The Carnes of the Americas. Mew York: J. ADgua-

 

tin, Inc., PtibliiJitrr; 194S,

 

SwASfTOS^ J- ft,: JiuJiun THhcs of ihc Lmeer MiimUsippi VaUiy and the Ad-

iaceni Coast of t/u? Gtjf/ of AferlCii. W^kshingiofi: SjnrsIthJaDbn kistitii-

tioti. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin No. 43: 1911.

 

—-1 The Indians of the SouOtmsiern United States. Washlfigtcm: Smith-

 

sonlaii Institution, Buit^jiu of American Ethnology BiJleiin No* t37»

 

1946’

 

--: The indian Tribes of North America. Wajshiiigtoii; Smitlisonion In-

 

stiriitioii, Buicau of Ameriran Elhnoingy Bulletin No. 145;

 

Unobhiiilu, B. M.s fleJ America. Chicago^ University of Chicago

 

Press, 1953. ...

 

WiiiSLiiH+ C,: The Amcri^n Italian. Third edition. Mew York: OsJord Uni¬

versity^ Press^ 1936^

 

WirnMJxcrmN^ H. M.: frcliwtoric Indfam of the Southwest. Denver: Colo^

rado Museum of Natural History^ Popular Series Ng. 7; 1947 ^

 

-: Ancfcwt A/oii in Moff/j A/FJCritd. Ttiird etlitfout revised. Denver:

 

Cotorado Museuin of Naturul J-Iistory^ Popular Series Nup 4; 1949’

 

Ilisiory of the North Ametican Judiams. E^ted hy A. B*

Hiilhert and \\\ N* Schwimje. Columbus: Oliio State Aicheologicul and

Historical Society; no date.

 

 

CH/VFTER XLI

 

 

BtsKm, W. C., and Bmu. J. B.: Andean Cuituro History. New York;

American Museum of NoturaJ Hliflofy, Huntllidok Senes No. iS; ^949^

 

BtsMerr, W, a, nnd ZiwGc, R. M.: The Torahtimarn. Chicago; Untverrily

of Chicago Press; 1935.

 

CoLL-iEu, The indians of riie Americcs. New York; VV. W* Norton ^ Co.\

1947-

 

Cann, T,, and TnOKiesON. J- E,! History of the Ma^es. New York: Charles

Scribner's Som; 1931-

 

Hay. C. L.. and others: The Maya and Their Neigfdiors, Mew York: Apple-

ton^Century-Crofts; 1940*

 

JovcK. T. AhS SfJiffh American Artheoio&f. Neiv York: G. R Pvttnam^s Sons;

1912.

 

Karsten, R,; a Totaiitarian State of the Fast Helsingfors: Swfetas Scien^

tanim Petmica; CommeutatioEes Httmiuiaruni Lirtcrarum XVh 1949^

 

Kklemai^, P.: iHedfeca/ Aftiericon Art. a volumes. New York; The Mats

niiilan Cg.: 1&43-

 

MAnxHA3.E, C. R,: The Incas of Peru^ London: Smith. Elder & Co.; 1910.

 

M(£aS's, R a.: Ancient Cimli^ions of the Andes. New York: Ch^irles Scrib¬

ners Sons; i93t«

 

Mosce, C*: Mdirmtizaiion in the Andes. Translated by D. F* Brown. Baiti-

more: Johns Hopkins Uni^'crsity Press; ^94^-

 

M0HE1.V, s. G.: TAi' HuchwiJ ^^aya. StanFord, CalifomiA! Stoaford Univer-

 

 

silv' Fress; 1946, . .rt. w

 

MunnocK, G- P-s Our Primiffotr Copi/«mj*>iwrjei* New York; The Macmillan

 

Co,: 1935-

 

Passons. E, C,: .Mffitf, Toten of Soals. Chicago; University of Chicago

 

 

Press; 193®* , „ , . , ™ . .

 

Spindes, H. ).! Ancienf Ciutffsatkrns of 5 Ffl*icP and Central America. Third

 

 

 

 

 

Ggsl Bibliography

 

edition, Npw York: Amedcnn Museum of Nahinoi Histciry^ Handbook

Series No, igaS.

 

Stewafo, H., editor tinndlmk of South Amerkao Indians. Wjisbuigton:

Sniiduonian InstitutioD^ fiurejiu of American Ethnology Bulletin No»

143; 194®, Vok l — M .

 

Tat, S,^ editor: Heritage of Conquest. Ctencoe* Illinois: The Free Pn?«;

 

igsa-

 

Tilo\rrsDK, J. E.r Miwlcp Before Cortez. New York: Cburlos Scribner's Sons;

1933 -

 

VAiLiMiTi G, G: Aztecs of Mexko^ New York: Doubleday ^ Cdmpaiiy:

 

1941*

 

 

Index

 

 

AbaiTwy, 4 ^^ 463

 

Abydi 3 $, 4 U

 

Aby4ttiii4i, 93. 95. 395, 396. 399, 427

 

At^hoeans, 336. 337

Achwirmidi, 4B6, 4S8. 5,10

Oiifft law, 1^3, 204, ai8p 33a

Jui^ilcsoentK. 176. 197 p 315. 426, 61G

Adultery, 176, sS^p 418, 463

adze, agi, 474

Argesm Is.^ 247, 317

Africai, 238, 239, 253^ ^^-463; agrtoit-

hirT, 95, 431, 439, 440; ftrt. 438. 4435

BugAndU, 447-SS; Blade Culture, 143*

^44« 3^4; Biislinien< 157-9; DuhcKmey,

455^; dairying eulturesp

 

4w>-a3j metal worklngp 109,

310 , 183. 437i Neci]ithk‘„ 395-91; ^^aJc-

oUthic, 393. 394; poBtJeol flfgrMlbfaliflCi,

4^6, 429. 4S1. 4S^)^ #0; P>giiik3. 156.

157: rcBglcm. 4^9-31, 44 X 443^ 4S4.

455. 460, 46a; settlenwiiU 181, 183;

social orgoni^tion, 428, 429

Afterlife ( oIki ICanua and fteliicaTna-

tion>* China. 549, 588, 589; ^gy|ii.

4^1, 413. 415; Semites^ 289; Southwest

Asia N'eolfliifi::^ ^|2

age eatogofles, 31, 434, 618

Agnf, 483, 4S4

agrojfati jcfnnm, 311

agriculture, go-3, lOM; Africa. 95*

431 h 43S-7i 439. 44^; Ccntrul Europe^

*50. China, sai. 5*3-7 poJiJin^t

 

Citle, 328, 327: EuTopcAP Neolithic,

*51^ India. 475^1 pmlm. 49a,

495; New World, 59fk 653^ South^st

Ajfa TVfeoUthic, 174; Southwest Asia

NenhUik. S 3.71 Soutlswest Aafii Neo-

lithk dllFusiofi, 237

Ahunsji, 494

Ainu, 574, STS

Akbor. Emperor, 9, 508

Akheuaton, 4IO:. 415, 416

Akkadio, 314

 

 

Alaska. 591, 592

! oJehemy* 408, 409

 

AkrJiuringa onccstDr, lo, i6g

Akatundcr the Great, 4M, 488p 489

Algotikkris, 596, 601

Alip 3S0

Aiioctma, 658

 

ulphahet, 53. 112, 344, 366

Alvarado, 847

Amati^ajiu, 578

 

ancestor worahip: Aonani. 221; Australia,

166; Bagupck, 455; Cliloop 528, 531,

535- S42p 567; OahfltiiL-y. 481, 4S2J

4J4; Madagascar, 208: SieSi-

tcituncao. 248; Xegro Africa, 439, 442;

Falyucsia, 190, 191

Aimlii, 308

Amcnopliis in, 416

Amjpn'Eia, 411, 416, 443

Amru. 382

 

AnoMzi, 47, Slip 619, 8 s5

 

Anulolfa, 236, 239, 241, 3.53, 313, 3J4

 

Andumau !$.» 159

 

Andean cuItunCp ^7~S9

 

Angekok$, 598

 

Argkur Tom, 219

 

Angkor Vut^ 219

 

Anuiiriip 219, 221

 

Aolnodroy, 78

 

autlimpqiiJs, 3h S» 8, 9, 11,51

 

antler^ 251, 252

 

An-yung, 529^-30

 

Apichc. G24, 825

 

Arabs, 203, 287, 377, 379, 382, 510

Anibia. 239

Arcbintedcs, 865

 

architectiire: Crete, 335, 336^ Egypt,

405; Greece, 345, 346; CothiCp 860;

Inca, 653; Maya. 838, 637; Ronun-

eaque, 668^ TJiiuajiucan, 850, 851

ord ploWp 241. 254

Armenoki, 299, 314

 

 

 

 

ill

 

insmt, auA, 330^ 1^35, 260, 315, 354, 360,

373» 57S, fi-^o

 

iuTowhi2iidf, 74. 75

 

6tt’ AlHeiitL PaledJthk:; 13^41: Aim 3«1Q>

650, 6sa, Atutmlum, 161, 166;

Buddhist, 487, 4^^ Ctiinae,

 

519-33 jwdm, 555. STD; DaJtOirtfJan,

45^; KgypliM. 343^ 4^^* 4^7i EaJsinw,

6 do; Etnisciui, 369^ 370;; Greek, 343^

HiDdu, 495: |apaai», sSB; Makyo

PdlyikciCtU]^ 179; 636^ 637; M«U

 

oncKiAii, wa; Miwum, 32S, 319; Neg^o

Afiicfin, 43fi; Ntuthwest 6afl;

 

Pideolithlc^ 13S, 141^ 14a; FulytiEjiaii,

19:1, 194; Southeast Woffllkiidi, 608

Aryaos, 258-66+ 296, 367; influence cm

nKxieni European culture, 265, 266; in

India, 47S. 479, 480, 481+ 483, 4SS

OUtrlidJUi, tndiaiv 482^ 484, 492-4. 506

Ajihanti, 43S, 44&

 

Ask Mincir, loi, 317-19, sSfi

Asokn^ King, 486, 4^^ 604.

 

Assam, lai

 

AssyTton Emplir, I27

 

jutnorKKcny, 58, iid. 293, 304, €38, 528

 

Atahyjilpa, 658

 

AlhetLS, 242, 340

 

Atlantis, 338, Mi

 

aflatL speojr tliniwar

 

Aton, 416, 417

 

Attik, 267

 

Augustus, 371, 37a

 

Aujtinloid, 472

 

Aufltmkipithiciui Prcmietbcus* 63, 394

Aiutniliuu, 36 p 72, 73^ 87, 9D,

 

Avan, 268

 

ai£«. 75. 7*f 135. 137* 146, 214, 229.

 

251, 252* 253r 474. S^i4

Aymajn Indknsp 653* 6s4

Altec, 63s* ^39-47; buckgujuTKlp 639;

Conquest. 644-7; educatkmp 644^ hiw+

643; skvery, 642^4, war. 64D

 

ftr, 414

 

Bahor. SO17, 508

Badaga trCbe. 496

BadutoD, 403

Bagaoda. 44^58

ftahlm. +46

Bali, ai$

 

BaOuins, 239. 241

 

 

Index

 

ball gomes, X2S+ i27p 6o4p 612^ 624

bamboop 56, 159^ i73. i74

8 ffl 7 ik» Books^ 323+ 539

b anana, 448

bands. 22, 23, 137. tS4. 157.

 

Bantu, 434

 

Baiborians, 125. 353^3:

 

355-74 Cauk, 357“9; Irish, 3 S 9-^3

liardi, 259-50p 381. 3^

bark cliiftli. 97, 98, iSOp 203, 437^ 43®,

448, 449+ 453

bark poJiitmgp 161

barley^ 9a, 53S

BoTten Ground. 597, 6 dO

Bosaxii, 451

 

Basketnmkers, ^1^

bosketryp 70; African^ 437; Austrdfjm,

161; CaJiTonib, SaBj Mt^ Fk-

 

tcaUp 616^ Snulbweat Asia NeoUtbic,

229

 

Bat Cave, New Mnteo^ 596

Battle Axdt Cuttwe, 253

Beaker Ftdk. 106, 249, 365

beans, 596, 608, 618. 634, 63^

bears. 138* 574, 575

iMf 94* 95t 1M9

bebnviar patternSp 10

Bdessarius, 376

Benin, 436, 456

Berbeis, 446

''Best FHendp^ 458

Betel, 214

BAageoadgiilo, 513

Bhattachaiyap S., 513

bison, 592. M4

 

Black Potleiy Cuitttce (China). 295

blades, 14^

 

Bkdu Cidlures, 138-45; bi Africa, i 43 .

 

394; in the Near Eait+ 144

bbw gun, 156, 159

bokj, 77- 76. t37

 

Bonk qf Ckmget. 526, 527, 528. 535

 

Book the Dead, 415

 

Book of History , 520, 526, 5291 53^

 

boomerangs, 81, 161. 229

 

Borneo, 210^ 215

 

Borobudur. 2it

 

borrowing, 42, 43, 44, ^5*1 34*1 #00* 48S

bow and arrow, 79, So. iS7p 18*1 1 ^ 4 .

352, 619, 640

 

bewf; ccmpcBlte, 8a, 326, 5321 self. So

 

 

 

Index

 

 

[m

 

 

firahmiL, 5U, 51a

 

Brsiimiios and Butlimimimi, 4691, 481,

486, 490. 491. 494, 5 ID, 511, 51s

br«ftdfnau 96p 97, aoi

bride price, 355. 3B0, 43B, 456, 483,

 

SSft 5^0

 

British ColuDibin^ 4f5, 90, 153

BriliBh I*l«, ^38

 

bronu (Sw ako Cbliieie co^'

 

S4. iti4“it>9 fW*rifrt, aoS, 335,

33^. aS3. 3651 3^67* 3Bg, S46. 663

Bmnw Age. 14. id6, 107^ 109, lag, 335,

32 ^ 330^ 33), 335, 343,144, 347,

 

*S3. *54. 335, asS. 313

brcchef ^iid akter marriage. iSS, 411.

44^Sr 453

 

Buddbo, 311, 494^ 499-5^3^ SOS SH

Buddiiluii, alDp 379; iu China^ 505^

5^ in lodia^ 495^ 499 ^ 5 ^^ 509-11.;

in JapuiiH gSi^ 583^ 5^

bulj^buting* 333

biiU-boAtt, 308

bull-murer* 167, 6a8

BtiHn. 13$

 

Burial: Aiyin, 264; Barbariam. 353^

Beaker Folk, 349; Califomiiip 628:

China, 534, 53a, 581, 567-9; Circum-

polw. I55i Crete, 337! 403.

 

404, 408; Otfuiany, 3571 Indiil, 473.

477f 470! Bon Age, 354: l^randiOthid,

137; Scnrihwejt Asia Neolithic, 33?o.

S13^; 5umer« 301: Turko-Tatar, 3/8

Buniii, aai

 

Bu&lunen, 79, 8a, 144. i57-9. 33 ®* 39^5k

42«, 435

huAk^GoQ

 

ByanntiDE Empune, 269, 375^ 378, 362,

 

396

 

Cif^^oc«wi, 457

catiqtuf^ fiaa

CacM/, 244, 254,

 

Cahakia Mound, 608

ealemkr: Mayoo, 59^ 63S, 839; Egyptian^

40a

 

CaliFomia Indiniu. 58, 597* €25-8

Caliphate, 380, 381

c^mecac, 644

Cambodia, aig, 220

 

03 * ^6, 247^ ajj, 273, sOi, a^h

 

397i 59a

 

 

CBxiaaollea^ 318

Canada, 805, 607

 

wmibalum, ai, 137, 179, aoi. 243, 524,

 

64s

 

caopeo, 174, iSo, iSl, aoi, 32J6, 447,

448, 596, 600, 628, 530

Caphtor^ 318

Capri, 243

 

Carbon 14, 149, iSo, gga

camvaos, 28^ 384, 397, 428

comivensa, 86, 7S

Cjihoi], Kit, 623

Carthage, 341, 370

 

eaite and class: Aryan, aSi; Artec, £41.

642; Baganda, 449; Celtie, 360, 361;

Dohomean, 456: Egyptian, 41$: Etrua^

CPU, 368; FeudiiJ Eumpe, 374; Gcr-

man, 358; Inco^ 858^ Indian, 469* 479,

490, 49a, 494, 513-59; Japaassc,

576-9; Madagascar. 205' Negro Afri¬

can, 428, 429; Northwest Coast, S30;

Southeast Woodlmds, 61Siuneriau,

306

 

cat, 396

 

Catboliclsni, 221

 

cflitle, 93, 95, 204, 227, 237. 238, 242,

257 k 25S, 271, 431:^3

Cattle Cuiriut:: spread of, 258

cflvaJfy. 26S, 273, 39^, 544; tactics, 373,

374

 

cfiVfls, 63, 137-45. * 5 ®

cavie bear, 138

 

C^\-c painting. 138, 139 140, 158

Celts, 354. 359-63. 365

ecu™; Dabomevv 459^ China, 557

Champa, 219, aao, aai

Chondragupto, 487, 4S9

charcoal, 63

 

chariots: China, 526, 532; Cnjto, 327;

Egypt. 597i European Neolithic, 255;

Gaul, 358; Mongols, 273; Sumer, 114,

 

ass 307

 

chariots Lu woJh, 114, 255. 260. 288, 358,

397. 5fiS. 533. 535, 536. 544

ehMtakdhip; African, 441^ Aryan, 282;

Barbarian. 358; Melaneofan, 198; Mi-

ctfonesion^ 201; Folyinesian, 184^ 185,

187; Southea^ Wdc}dlamif+ Bit; Sooth-

*c$t Asia NeolUhie, 23^^ 33; Tniko-

Tatar, 276

Chjehen Itm, 636

 

 

 

 

 

Index

 

 

iy]

 

99, lOO

 

Chkidu, V. CordEin. ^36^ 239

Chimo, 65^

 

China r agricuhnrt, 341, 543^ sas-jf poj-

 

ifm; uislncfocy^ 531, 53.5. S4^3*

 

BJt mid jJthcologyK 533, 52 ; 7 > 5^19-30.

 

533h 555^ 57«>; bronzfis, ioS, 536,

Safl. 53Jt. 533. S3+. 53S. 5^7: B«‘J-

(klii^in, 5D5, 560; '‘Burriing <A Buoki,''

553-4: uljznqte and 531.

 

534; lOinm nnd puni^hiiieiit. 564^: trd^

 

iiciiitkifi, 53$, S4a- 545. 553-

 

Sfit^4: irmpi'/rir, 53B-9. 534, 539, 540.

54** S43 . S4®t S 49. 5^5, 5P®:

 

amltMtlans. 56^-5- gqv^mixKrnt admin-

ijitratinn, 5a u 334. 5441, $43, 55*^3,

563-6; grufu 564-S; influrnce in Smith-

rjut Asia, 31P, aiS; invaunni pf,

 

5551 litpriitui^, 321, 533, SS3-4;

rmi Ksmatei^ 532; name gmips, 539.

S4S, 5^9: peaadfiU* 541-3. 553. 558-y^

pnpuLitkpn, 523, 557, 558; fitligfon,

S34-S. 545^1* 566-731 trade

with Wert, 533. 57^1 vilLifii!:,

S3C»-l, $41, $St-3. SSfi^: writing,

IIP. Ill, 113. 1^3. aoa, 237* 274.

378. 531, 536, 529, 530. 553, SS4

Chini^se ioduenecs in Jupiin, 576, 577,

 

5«3

 

cities, IlS-as, J35-7t 294. 295. 346,

348, 639' in Oiinii, 540^ 541; ffi GfL-tLv

33a. 331; in Gtepce, 349: Itt India.

5151 in laLim, 384, 385; in MertetP^

636* 639^ 641; in N'lfw Warld, 634,

637. 641

 

Chou dviijisty, 397* 528. 539, 530, 534,

 

S37. 53S

 

ChristianHy* 290, 374, 375, 378, 379,

369, 398, 446; in ChitiB, 569; in IfidlJin

517; in Japan, 584

CHristUn Clmrch, 374, 389, 393. ^^4

Chiilnitjcn. 3^, 63

C/iwrfnga, 165, 167

circumcision, 387

 

Cirtiiiupohir rullure, 22^ 153-6, 276, 524,

52s. 574i 596. 597, 39ft

ciHseendiip: Cicck^ 346-7 i BnmiHl, 372

city pkn: IndIn, 51$; Soiwet, 300

city rtnte-s^ 304, 3<^5. 346, 368, (>3^ 640

civil service; Chinese exnminatiDiis, 5&1.

565^ ftoiiwiu 372

 

 

cbnar Aimfiicnn Spulhwran 6001 A£tet;.

641^ 642; BiJgiiitdi;t, 4SO+ 451; Celtic

(See fiipth), 360, 361T 363^ Dilsomey,

456. 461; iroqiiois, fiosi Japan, 57^

576; Mada.g:i^ai, 205; Negro AFrtes,

428, 434; SotUJieart WcwdLmds. 609

L’bff dwellings. 619

clubs, 76, 77, Si, i6ov 161, 174

climate and gci3grapby: Aliico^ 435, 438;

American S«nktliwirst, 617, 619; .Andean

regkm, 647-9; Cliina, 521, SS2; Eg>'T*^

400^ 4DI; £uropeuii Ncplitliic, 2411

aso: bidin, 467, 469. 478^ j^pao, 573;

Aiediterranenn iHicmil, 246. 2 ^l Pteis-r

toerrve, I4, I5:; Southwest Asia, 22$,

280,^ 281; steppes, 257

clothing, 97, 1 17; Aij'an, 26O; Anstmlljiii.

]6o; Sagands:, 448* 449; Barbajiani

>355i Bronze Age^ 228; Buslimen^ 157^

Chinese. 531; East tndionH 489; Iriib,

360: Minoau, 329, 330; Neanderthal,

137. iSfi; Northeast Asiatic Ncolithie^

174; Northwest Coast, B29; Rocky

Mt. Plateau. 616; Semitic noninds, 285;

5c]i;lheart Asia, 215; Snuthwe^it Asia

Neolithic* 228; Turko-Tatan, 271, 272

Cochise, 818p 623

Cochin China, 219

cobnizflduE, 341, 349^ 364, 653, 654

conenbines, 263, 2S61 309. 310, ^Sop 45O1

S5il. 56&. 658

 

confederaclefK 125-7* 633; Azlee, fl^o;;

Droquois. 803-605; ,\9ayn±L, B39; Bid^

niML, 366: Soutlreart Woodlands. 612;

Tiuueg, 426

 

ConFuehis and Confucianism, 221., $43-

545 - 7 . 57 **

 

Congo. 438, 437

 

conquert, 127-9; luca, 65S, 659; IsUmlCH

3^; Koiuiiii. uF Caul, 359; Semitic^ o|

SiiJixf p 300, 307-308; Spanislip of Al¬

ices* B48, 647

Ccnapilrtadnns, 834, 848

cooperatfi^ labor, 360. 603, 611, 624

copper, 54, J03. 104* 107. 108, 229, 249*

3^7. 3S7* 402, 657

Care Ciiltnrc, 135, 136

Corinth. 346

Coen. See maiw

Cortex, 614, 639. 845, 646

 

 

 

Index

 

 

408

 

EOtClHIt B %4

 

cojiatr, fic>7, Gi8

 

crafts* 1*4, J95, 3cia, 3S5. 406, 456^ 573^

 

576. 61S

 

cTMtion niytHu, 191, 1^, 636, 6i7

nvmAtion, 475, 477

 

Cn?tf. 343-4, 395, 318, 333-3^: Achfle-

336; {ig^i-ultiifr and KLisbondiy,

337^ Jirt, 338* 339, 338; citiw. 330^

331; Invaders. 335. 336, 33S; kgeaiia^

33+t 335; ^ti'ttticims, 337, 3381 tcli-

gl<m. 33a, 3331 sea ftiflJig* 33flj tifch-

nokigy, 3*7, 3*8; trade. 332; warfiifF,

33^^. 331; wt-iapcFns. 33^

crime and punidiment. 584^ 566

CrmMogmuj^ 139

Criine-on Wnr^ 44

culture chcmgc, 41-8. 173, 866

culture. *9, 33, 40, 49. 50

culture elenwnti^ 33. 34. 36. 37# 41 , 4S.

44, 4iSn ao3

 

currency: Culifomiii, 6a6; Egypt, 430;

Vlclancsla, 196^ Negnp Africa, 439;

Scandinavia^ 117: Sumer, 308, 309

Ciiicti, lao, 653, 635

Cydepian masonryi 335, 650, 653

Cyprus, 337

 

Dalnmey . 447, 433-83

 

578

 

dairying cultures, 338; E. AJricmis, 437*

431-4; AiyaiH, ASS. a6o- Hoi-

ler^lob, 43$, 436

dance hmise, 628

E>ariiii, 486. 4^8

Daayiii, 460. 483

Deccan, 468, 469

Degonawida* 603, 604

detiujcrBcy^ 348; in tndia, 483, 497* 5i5

dettlca: Aryan, *63, 364; Aztec, 641. 648;

Bagi&nd4i, 434, 4S5; CMimi, 5*8. 3*9,

33 ij Ddumievv 4&A: 4<^J-17 p

 

JHikIu, 483. 4^. 491. $11, 313: Japiin,

 

$76; Mediterranean, *48; Melarkc^siui^,

i94: Negro Africa, 443; Pnlyncsia.

igo-*:: Rijine. 388, 369; Semites, *SS,

389; Sout]ivi''est. 6*0, 611; Southwest

Asia NeoHlhic^ *32-4: Sub-Arttlc EiJ-

iS5: Slither. 301-303^ Turka-

Tatar^ 378

 

 

[v

 

de Landa, Dkgo^ ^38

descent: Africa, 441; Clrctimpabir, 154^

Egypt, 418; IrtK|tinia, 60a; Japan, 579,

Slckneaui, 198: Micronesia^ soij Pol-

yncsiu. 184, 187, i88| ^ch, 1S4:

Soudieait Asia Neolithic, 176; Soulh-

w’^cst Asia NcoLtliic, 030. 231; Tuareg.

4^5

 

De Sola, ffemando, 613, 814

Dcuttm-Malay* 177-80

 

diffuB£iin„ 237^ *39, 243, 247, ^^6,

 

310; Southw^esl Asia complex^ aa3r-9

digging stick, 71, 157, 323. 231

disease tolemncc, 26, 9$, jso. 395, 6cso,

812

 

ilLrharnninic development. 36, 37. 668,

 

dlvinatiDii, 96. 2ifi, 233, 304, 337^ 3$^,

43^. 4 Wt 4^. 33flp 535

dog, 16* 86. 87* 596^ 597^ $99- harness,

$99: tiavob, 614, 615

itfj^mrru, 248, 249

 

domestic auiuials, in coutrasl in wild, 88.

 

Sg

 

domesticatiDn uf animals. 86-90 h 93-100;

cameU 93: col^ 398; chlclceiip 98, 99;

goal. 94: hoiw, 93, 271; pig,

sboep. 8g. 93

 

domestication of pLinU. 90-8, 100-102,

226, 326

 

dcmestlcatiou of pkywet^ 663

Dnng-Som log. ao8, 475, 533

Donglsss, A. E.. 592

Pmvlcliiin language, 472, 473^ pcdp^eSp

49&. 498. 511

Dresden Codex, 838

Dniidsp 363

Durga. 514

dyeing. 228. 408. 858

 

cBilh lodge. 614

economic surplus^ 356

EcHincnc. 425

 

education: Asctec. 644- China, ^5^

 

542, 543. 545. 553. 5^1-5; Egypt. 423;

Inca. 85S; ludia^ 490

Egypt. 48. 47, 88. 94. 107. *08^ iSS-

 

317, 343, 382. 400-4^3, 445. 44®.

591; eomptrison of tjppcr and Lower,

404; history^ 401-406; mililaTy orgon-

Izatiun^ 419* 4*0; political orgonim-

 

 

 

 

 

Vl]

 

Esiypt { cpritJncHSiJ)

 

ti^, TcJigkm, 41^

 

4^3; iDciol oTgmiiatbTii, 41/1 41^1

tccKiulogy* 406-409

elepliaota, SB. 477, 574

mtpcftrf, ccnice|rt of: Chini^ saB, 529;

l^pm, s^, ^3

 

coipuo. W5-7. 3 ^ 5 ^ Afritao, 435;

 

Aztpc, taB. 640^ 646; &yziiitliM?i 375*

376 ; Inca, 6 s 4 ; NJayan, ia 6 ; RotpiiUL,

37ip 37a

 

«ncultimtianv 39, 40

uidogiiidy^ 2^3

entotnininoiit, 186^ aiS

irntcj^ 301

 

coUtH. 64^ 134

 

opk», atSv 359 , 380

 

Eskinw. 83, 83* X47* 4 ^ 5B7.

 

598-800

577

 

EcnisccoUp ip8, 317, 318, 366-70

 

eotiuErhs, 565, S68

 

EiifOpc^ 93^ 106. 133,^ 134, 139, 14S, 337 t

33a, 34 ®P 373 , 456

 

Eiuopenn Neolithic^ 341-56; stlgnitioii.

^^editc^^lIH^aIl lltiorBl^ 241-50^ 35^;

mignitioiip Ootial Eufop?, 241, 250-6

Ei'riu, Sfr Arthur, 325

eMsIutiDD, bidlogicid, 49, 50

evnlutioDp cuItiifBl^ 49-60

rvolurtotuijy AdapUtlon, 3-^+ 334 25

exogamy^ ■S39> 559. 602

 

family atructufe^ Aryitn, 362, 263; Chi¬

lli 63 ^ S 31 . 539 . 55 i. SS 9 ^^

 

566, 567: IftdlaHi 490 p 5SSS Irttnwlnn*

6o 3; JaponcK^. 579. 580; Northwc!st

Coast. 6^

 

Fotinit. 380

fch-mokijig. 37a

fertilfurr^ 90, 9it 3 ± 8 , 365

fetish, 431, 436. 443. 454

fcudalbm^ 306; Aryan, 364,365; Chinese,

5 * 8 . 5403. 5 S 1 - S 53 t Euiwpeant 373 .

374 : fapttMM, 576-9

F«, 384

Fifi. 97* *94

 

6tvp Alt 48, 63^p i57p 214; drill, 64, 66;

piitonp 314; ploWf €4. 65, 67; law, 64,

314

 

 

Index

 

ire find tools, 31, 48, 63-^, 85^ 591

ish nets and traps, 84

isHing, S4, 8s. loo, i4S. 214, 343. 448,

600, 6oSp 635

Five Nations. 601

 

Flake Culture, sSp 135, isSp 394p 474p

593t 594

ftoi, 93

 

flint 55, 64. 9*. **9- 60a

fobum poiotf, 594

Folsom-Viimao Cpltnre, 613, 617

food galhefers, 53, *50-69

fortlfioBhons, 33S» 365, 653

fotiils, 3, 4. 6, la, 33 , 3f9S, 592, S93

French caves, 140

French coknklliin^ e 31, 463

Fuoan, a 19

 

furniture^ Turko-Tatar, 373

 

Cajft Mnda, 313

Calk, 437

 

goBeys, 243, 344, 330, 331

gambling, 263, 368. 356

Gaudht kliihBtiiiat 495

Canesh. 5M

 

Canges Valley. 468p 478, 4S8

 

Gaayadoiyo ( Handsome Loke)^ 6054 606

 

Cauk. 355, 354, a57“fl, 366* 430

 

Gautama. S» Buddha

 

geisha, 5S1

 

genetiesp 33, SO

 

Genghis Khan. 270, 278, S*7

 

Gef^us, 3S4-7

 

Ccncan, 402

 

ghosts, 99, 23a, 378, 389, 3Q1, 453, 454 p

S49- 59Bp 617

Glbmhnr, 16

 

Gi%anrcs/i» epic of, 88, 477

Ctrl. 405

 

glacial periods, 14. 15, 593

gloss blowing, 406

goats, 94 p 343

 

gold, 239, a53p 360, ^p 406. 408. 487.

 

573. fi57p 656

Gothic a68

 

gnin, 93, 95, loi^ loa, 227

griLtnmaip lo

Grcait Cake, CamhodiJif aig

Great Plains, fip 597* 613-18

Gre^, 48, 237, 243. 336^1 339'S*-

400, 420p 683-5; colonl:mtkmp 349: ctil-

 

 

 

Indeii

 

 

[vii

 

 

Clwce (cOTitfnued)

 

rural badcgrcutud, i^i, 343; pKlbiophy

and ui«o«, 343, 344; poUticjiJ styitein,

IHG. 34&; reUgkni, 3S0-as technology^

045.356

Greek gnm»,

 

Creeks in IndKa, 486-^ passim

grinding stones, 73

group living, sft, 30

 

guilds, 300, 385. 419, 458, 577* 57a, 870

gun powder, 379

Gupta perirkd, 5®^ 510

 

habit, 7

 

hadtth^ 379, 3B1

hair dressj 339

 

Hallstatc Culture^ 3s5^ 337. 354- 461

Hiunitc^, 446, 448

Hammer stone, 72^ 74

Hominurahi, 398^ 311; Code of, 94 f

306^ 309, 310* 31 u 3J»

 

Han dyuai^, 30S, 547, 581

 

Kano, 447

 

Hiua-kin, 579

 

Haii|zkfi5, Vixtouji:liab1es

 

harpodn» S4

 

hamspicolioap 98

 

Hawaii, 179, iSo, 18^ ig&, 191

 

head^hunbng, a 16, saB

 

healing, 430, 617^ 643

 

Hebrew, 318, 378

 

bclitaglyphics, 405

 

Helen of TtOVp ai0F 33®

 

Heliopolis, 40A, 410

 

herding: Centrml Kuiopean Neolithic;

aji; Nava|a. 813: steppes, a57; Tua-

reg. 428

Hennopolis, 410

Herodotus, S58, 4C»0, 4aDp 486

hetagrajms, 536-7

Hiawalhup 603

HidatUp 614

Hlde}’oshi, 584, 583

Hinayann Buddhiim, ai i, aaa, 504

Hinduistn, 3 id, aai, 483. 4^5^ 510-14

HispanD-Mauietlan, 398

Hiswiik, 3a4h 8^5

Hittftes^ 314^17. 354

Kobakmn, 633-5

Homer, 333, 324^ 3^5^ 336 p 337

Homo mpiefti, ta, 21^ as, §91

 

 

Hopl, 6ao

 

53^ 3a7p a39, 592- dorai^cutiou

nf, 93J in America^ 591, 614, 615; la

European Neolitlilc, 357p aSa, 397^

horse culluje of iteppes, 287-74

Horus, 41D, 411

Hottentots, 428, 431, 435

housei: Amnrlemi Southwest, fii8, Big;,

Aiyaa, aSo; Australian, 180; Dagandu,

4481 aarbailEnF 355; Busbinen, 138:

dilm^, S3i; Ejldmo, 538- European

Neolilhic^ z^x; Great Plains, 614,

brish, 359; IroquoUp 6021; Minuan, 331;

Nojthw^ Coast 6391 ^ocky Ml. Pla-

leau, 616; Semibo nomads, aSj; South-

east Alla, EI4;; SDiilheast Asia Nei>

hthic, 174; S^thwost Asia Neolithic,

aa7i Sumcrlau, 300, 301^ TerrottLarc

people^ 365; Tuiko-Tolar, 27a

Hsia people, sa7, 3^18, 533. 535, 53S

Hsu, Francis, S47

Hstion Tsung, 305

Hsiin Titt, 54B-7

Hue, 220

 

HultzHapochtLl, G41, 646

Huns, 268

 

hunters, 81-3, iSt’^P ^38; Africatip 433 j

Buihmen, 158; European Neolithic,

^53: Mongoilaup 171; North Amencan,

593. B13. 614* B35, Bsp; Fgyxny, 15JS

HuntlnglDO, EHfwmtb, 353

Hupa, 626

Huron^ 60a

 

Hwang Ho Valley^ 395^ 296

liyena, 88

hypertrt^hy, 51 p

hysterlai, s^p 40

 

Eberian Peniniulap 341, 343, 347* 249

leelaoiE 15

1 CMn g, 505

 

Id^Dgraphic writlngp 325, 6^p 838

 

lie. 438, 456

 

IJ'ma, 381

 

libt, 204, 214

 

Uiad^ 323, 324

 

Emeriim, 18 Ip 203

 

ImpleineDts: nntLer, 55: bone^ 55; stone^

55. 73-6

 

Inca, 58, 128, 635, 652-9; agrknillure,

653; archileetuie, 653; communidtHofi,

 

 

 

 

Index

 

 

wti]

 

Incfl

 

653: Conquest. 658, 659; empire biidld-

fnjf. 653, 654. 65S; totalitiirianisnii.

6s^-S

 

Indio, 4J&7-5i9i africislttlEte, 475. 47^-

481^ 4gn>. 49SE ciatcs, 469, 470. SI3.

515^19; farrigii Lfode and Settlement,

487* 4S8; gedjpmphy and climate^

487-91 478 i infliH-tice In Sciitlieajl

Aila. aio. ill, 9l8, 478. 47S, 488^ in-

vaiion and InHnericn nf {nihiidnrtp 46S,

470, 474, 478^. 4^, 4®7.

 

514^ 515. 518* phjflical dw-

 

octemdes, 4 %. 47 ^ 474^ popiiiatl™^

 

487, 469^74. 515; n&UgS™. 470p 4^3-

484. 510-14: Veda, 479-^: village,

483. 483. 49Dp 405-7 p 515

Individuiil, 19 30, 34. 37i 3^^ 4®-

 

asa

 

[ndo-Enropcan languages, 10, 349,

ft59, 367* 31s 3^

 

Itidoimiap 173

 

Indm, 483, SXl

 

IndrapuiUp asD

 

Indiu Vafley^ ltd, 113. 336, aflS- *9*"^

46a, 475, 479. 477. 47®. 479. 49o, 4S1

 

Ipfaat care, 38, 39

 

UiltiHtian. Ser pubcriy flics

fnstiiirt^ 7, 8p 11

 

Intcfcat rales, 198, 204, 330, 380, 309.

63a

 

Inierpluv-ial, 17

 

Invaicn: Aryan, 361; Japanese^ 581, 584;

Mongn1ian< a68s Mnslim. 3S3.

 

425; Rnmnn, 359 p 383; 3flo,

 

308

 

invasiotu; of Crete, 335- 33 )®p 33®: of

Indiii. 468-87 5M-^9

 

ptifjimt of Japan, STS; i?f ttoifinji P™-

innib, 3®4-7

 

Invention^ 4*- 43- 49. 83. S4. 4*3: Wow

guRk 158; glass, 4oai Imm and bjcunH

54. 199 p 318* Icalher, 4^:

miULing, 94; stcelt id9p writing, lid^

 

III

 

triih# 359-B3: clothing and {mnamimt,

360; hnrbaiidjy, 359; political dirgani-

3®a. :^3: social organii^kin,

3)5d, 382

 

 

iron. 1107-10, 182, 2d8, 214 p 338^ 314,

317. 318. 317. 354 . 433 t 437 p 5^2,

 

600^ 883

 

Iroo Age. 238p 255, 33frp 354

lxtH|lldiS, 250^ 601-808

irrigatiem, 119, lao; AndeEn, 849; ^Syp*.

401; 1 lobokam, 624; islnm, 384: Mes¬

opotamia, 298, 299; Near East^ 282;

PttJutc, 91

[sis, 411

 

tsUm (Serr sko MnsUnis 278, ago, :^-

S9, 425, 434, 44S, 448^ city ide of,

384-8; Mnliaimned, 377 - 89 : dflvery In.

388-8

 

[tKoatJ, 839

 

ivtiTy\ 13a 438. 599, Boo

584. 585

 

Jiifitt, 494. 495 . 509. 510, Si%

 

I^LpUaEjncXt 388

 

Japun, 573-88; Chinese inEuefice, 576,

582: edntaet wllb Westn 574, S79s 5^3^

584^ |icunm; emperor, 582, ^3; **"

elusion, 585-8; gropapliy and re¬

sources, 573: hlstdry, 578; military or-

ganb-iitkm, 578, 579; political orgndi-

zation, 576, 577; populatiDn^ 574, 576;

lellgldQ, 588j trade, 577, 378

laiiikiiM, 499

Java, 211, aad

Javn nmn, Gp 523, 524

jcfiiiti, 570, 57a. 584

Jingo, Empress, 5B1

Judgment of the Dcad^ 415

 

Ko, 411, 413, 418, 446

 

ALac/ilnOp 620

 

KadL-ali, 319

 

KtidishUif 302

 

K^ldasa, 509

 

Kamchanicbit [, King, 19O

 

Kanislikia^j King, 505

 

Kanmi province, 525

 

Karma, 49 ip 4 ^^ 494 . 503 . S ^3

 

Kkraks, 270

 

Khalvary^ 38

 

Khmer, 2x9

 

kings: Buganda, 451-4: Celtic, 362; Cre*

tan, 33i-«S Dahome)^. 457 - 9 J Egyp-

Han, 414, 4 * 1 , 433 : Javanese, an?

Madagascar, 205^ Mesopotamian,

 

 

 

Index

 

IdngE (r^nr^nt^)

 

N»rthciUt Asiatic, «l6, at8; PulyrW'

siaji^ 185, rSB^ jgo; Si?iiiitiCn 300

kinahip (See dew?cnt)i Aus^liOp 163-5;

PfllyucalB, i88, igo; Southwest MUi

Xcolithlc, aiji

Kirkliuidp Rev, Samuelp 605

KJvas, 6ig-ai

 

kncHMkji, 325, 331, 335, 337, 338

 

Kittan, 379, 380, 381, 389

 

Kurea. 575, 576^ 5&ip 582^ sm

 

Kcita irihc^ 498

 

k( 4 Dku« Einpcrar, 581

 

Krtt, 448

 

Kri^, ai4p 215

 

KsliAtriyiL, 4 ao. 4&4. 5^7

 

Kuihim, 489, 509

 

Kuihiti^

 

KwakJutl, €29

 

kbor^ 121+ 40s

laenuar, 605

Lagiuli, 31a

 

language, 8. 9, 10, 173, 179, ao3, sii;

ArabiCp 389; Caltromiap 6262 Etniscua,

366; Hmtte, 314. 315; India, 472, 477*

4^5, 488^ 508; Ziidi>£urapeAn«

 

249, 23S, 359, 267, |itk|uob^ 60a,

607; Lit in, 372, 389^ Lcrttiaik, 3591

McdJtorrancaTi^ 249, 250; Me$optJfca-

mia, 399^ Semitic, aSl^ Soulhi^est, €20

Ijiu T2q, aai, 545-0-

Lflttn language, 372, 3S9

[jiufexp ^rtholdp 568

lawp laa, 123; Aztecs 842; Bagancb, 451,

452; BurKajJan, 357; OltfCp 361; Irn-

quote, 604: MucldgCLBcar, 204, ;

 

Vic^pataenla, 305? Negro Africa, 4191

44^: Semitic noinatk, 385, 386; Soutli-

east Asia, ai6| Suulheiist WoDcllniub,

Smithwpftt Alia Neolitlik^ 332;

Sunier, 308, 3*0^12

League t>f the Itoquutep laG, 601-807

learned bidui^ior, 7- 24^ 38

leamiTig, 7, la

legultem, 531

Lcvaltoii^ 135

libmries, 553, 638

Llbya» 348, 44^

lioiu. 38

Li Ssu, 553

 

 

[ix

 

Hamflp 94. 597, 654, 656

 

hwm, 54, 113^17, 476

 

lost WAX }net>icid^ io6, ai4, 399, 437

 

Luuiep Robcil. ia$

 

Lung Shim, 525-6, 531, 535

 

MacLLcteh, Aidilbald, 661

Madagmeafp a6, 83, 173^ 177, iSi-a,

303 - 206 ^ 248, 249

Modjapohitp 213

 

iiiagic: AujtTBllii, 167, 188; Eagaotia,

454; BLidu Cultures, 143 e ChMa^ 528,

S27x 329; Circupipobr, 155^ hftrknesia^

194'-8, 198: MicTi;]r>csia, aoi; Negro

Afrkra^ 430; Nnith Amerleu, 623, 828;

Southeast Asia, 216

Magyarfp 368

Mahnhafi^iii 513

Maliavim^ 494

MaKayana BuddhifTn, 504

\iaLiniid uf Ghcpmi, 507

MiiKmud of ChoTi, sio

Mui^a, 499

 

maize, 608, 614, 618, 623, 634, 636,

 

6 gi

 

malads, 26, 27, 179, 181, 395

Mamelukes. 388, 430

Mam:hus, 521. 5S1, 563

Majidau, 614

Mandarinute, 221

 

MaLtyo-PoJyneftkm languagj^ 173, 179,

203

 

\takyo-PoIyoesiai] migrant^ 177-83 fhii-

sim, 303^ 304

 

miiuii, i 36 p 1S9, igo, 216, 518, 575

xMaori, 180

Marro Pok}, 312

rimrkets^ 385P 449

^farquesEij Is.p 85^ 185

itmrrfagc; Ambiiin Eumiatb, 287; Aryau,

26ai Atutralia, 163, 164: Celts, 380;

ChiruLp 559, 580. 589; Ctrcumpotaij

154; Dahomev. 4S7. 43®; Egypt. 417,

418; ItHLni* 654 E KwaJtiull, 52; Mel^ne-

sda, 197; Polynesiap 188,189; Southea^

Asia, 215: Soatlieasit Asia Neotithiop

176; Souiliwcst Asia NeolithiCi 230;

Sumer. 309, 310; VedljL% 4S3

311

 

masks, Ahican^ 438, 443

rfiatedal CTiiture^ 36

 

 

 

 

Index

 

 

iiiathccnatics. 3^

inAtrwchyp 334^ 336,

 

Miiuryui Empire^ 488. 489

Maya^ as, S^, ^ laOp S9i. ft3S-9J

ninchlttciuiT and mA, 636-8; collapse of

tKc Empiic, 639; eeonomy* g»S-

niphy* 63s. 63P; scientific achieve-

mcnti, 637-8

377. 3&S.

 

^tedino, 37S

 

Mediteiraneati littoral, 93. 109* 398, 445

Medileixftncaii peoples, ^*!- 7 p 34 ^

 

XtedileiTBEKTsia Sea, 343. 1^44

Megiilithic complM, 247, 248, 474, 47S

Mcga8ths, 303. 247, ^48, 474, 475

Megaatlkcnrs. 4S7. 4^. 49^. 4 ^- 4 S 7

MekEiesifl, 178.

 

Ntckncslnti Ncgndd^ 178+ *79

Sfomphbp 4 D 3 » 410

Nfrndiis, 5®®# 543^ ^

 

Mcjum, 404

Mn 0 ttrv^ 348. 249

 

nwii^s club botues, tS7, 198, 2&1. 53 ^*

615, 626

 

mcrchaiits, Japan we, 577* 578

 

Merida, 638

 

MerinidcaiiS, 401^ 403

 

Mwolitbic, 55, Bft ga, 1^3. MS M®.

 

148, 1S2, 239, ISt, 474

Mwolithic, Cblnt. 520-37 passim

Mewpotamia, no, 112, 137. 336, 253,

294-3*2

 

niftaUiirgy* 88. 54 p S^p 60. 103-10. 349:

costtng, 104; ChloB^ 322^ 526-36

passim; Cfcle, 327; Lneu* 6s7i 658;

India, 475; Near East, 314, 315* ^^eg^5

Africa, 437; smekiog, tp6, 107, 314 p

318

 

Mexico, S9. 60. $13. sgfi, 608. 613, 823,

624, 685

 

Mloo peopli-p 527-8

Mictonosla, ijg^ 180, 201, 20-2

MigroHnnS! Barbarian, 353; EuropHui

historic, 247s European Neolithic, 341;

Imerina, iSl; Malayo PolyitHta, 176-

82 j North Amcriaxn, Sga-Si South

Amcricfl+ 634, 6471 648^ 649: South’

west Asiatic^ 307^ 238, 239

inllitary orgonizatioa: Aztec, 640: Bnr

bwian, 356; ChiOBse, 536, 54*-S< 55®:

 

 

mditafy organization (conifnued)

Dahomeyp 460: EgyptUn, 4^^ 4®<*:

Japanese feudolifln, 57S, 579: Homan,

371; Soothwest Aointtc, 235^ 23®;

SuiTKrriiin, 306, 307; Tuffco-TntOf, 373i

1Z74

 

militujy tnctics, 273* ^74, 307. 378* 4 ^^

539i 544. S4S. 579

 

mllkiiig, 94, 204, 3*4, 33S, 357, 270, a7l^

43S

 

miUel, 9S 396. 525

Mindortfio, *78

Ming d>na5ty, 213, 584

mining, 249

htinoap. See Crele

Minos, 3a& 331, 334. 335

Minotour, 334, 335

Mkkccnc, 5

 

misskmiulcs, 218, 32382, 455. 46®^

49®. 505. 55ti. 569. 564

Mifamoe, 654

 

MuteeSp 639

 

Mochica, 650, 651

MogDlkin, 6i3, 634, 625

Mogtik, 507-509

Mobammedp 377-89

MnhaimnciiQiilam. Sea Isbnn

Mohawks, 60*, 6 p 7

Mobcn|o Dam, 477^ 478

moiety L Auitr^an, *63; Stnitheait

 

Wnodknds, 609, 6*t, 613

Mcmgplcjil, 237 p 47l„ 473

Mongob, 267-79; Conquest, 278

Mem Khmer. Siw Khmer

loonothcismt 393^ 4*®

monsoon, 4 89

Monle Circeo, 137

Montezuma^ 646

Maroccop 347

Mosques, 388

Mo l^xu, 545, 550

Motistertan, 136, 394

Mukosn, 455

mukluk^ 599

 

muniniificntion, 404, 413, 453

murder,. 357

3fifrfkJdnu, 306

 

Miulims {see abo Ukm): in India, 4S6-

4S7. 507-**. 5*7i i«ctS. 380-2:

 

in Southeast Asia, 212,^ 313^ 218

, mutants, 86

 

 

 

 

Index

 

imitotiDns, 23^ $61-4

 

Myceflciuutp 337^ 33B

mysteiy religfam, ^46,

mythology: Afrlcn, 435^ Auatnilk, 165-^;

Ctdis, 334, 335; Egyplp 4^19; Soutii-

AMa Ncolitiiic, 176

 

Nngaijuiui> 504

Nahmnn. the 333

 

XqJiiun tribes, 639, ^ 4 ^

 

NailarKLi Uafvenlty^ 505

NKtelirz^ 60S

imtural seleetioii, M

Xn^-aJOp 17, &ao^3

 

NmL 3761 456

 

Neati{iejtb.[il jimo, 6p 136-40, 394

Near East, 103, isg, il7p i^, 144,

^136. aS4 * sS 5 p 2flo, 4^6

 

Ncfertiti, 417

Ntgrlto, 14^ 17S, 3oa

NisoUthfCp 115, 173-82, 236, 337, 238,

474 . 47 iS, 5*3

 

NnuJithie cultures: Africa, 393-9J China,

$ii(H37 pots/m; Europe, 241-56:

Southwest Asifttie, **5-34

NeutraLi, €01

 

Nw Zealand, 179. 180, 185

Nile River, 4Mp 401^ 404, 445. 446

Nobunaga, 584

 

oomadsi Amb, 3S4; camel, 283, 264;

hoxiCp ays, 273^ flains, $14, 6*5? rek-

tfon with town dwelk«i 263^ 284;

Somitk, 281, 2SS

 

nonicfl* 409, 4i3, 42a

Nomiom, 9, 128

NorlJi Africa, 246, 247

Nortbeort Woo^ods, 800-608

Northwest Coast, 5a, S7 p i4Sp &a7i 828-

33

 

Nubia, 398p 405, 406. 419, 422. 44 Sh 44®

Oats, 92

 

oWdJAn, 7a, 640

Ojin, Ernperor, 581

OkiciiW'a, 76

 

ob'garchin, 348, 368

clives, 93, 242, 326, 369

Ouondago, Goi, 603

Onefrios, Sol, 605

Orlinon, 375

 

Omui^ 37S

 

 

[xi

 

duoiiieots, 229 p 260, 2851 2g9p 360, 404

QsidSp 400, 409^ 411

Ottoman, House of, 3S7

 

FaJutes, 91

Pokuquep Oadp 637

 

Paleolithic, sa. 55. 64. 77i 84. ^33-49.

393s in Africa, 393, 334 -, In Cblaft,

$20^7 porrfm,' is India, 474

FalestinCp 233

 

PoFifAo^t, 4S3

paper, 97

 

paper mulberry, 97p 98

Foniguay, 598

PaTknp A- 604

Pfuthlans, 371 p 375

PatoLTputra^ 489

FathagoraSp 491

 

palrfaicbyp 361, 262, 274, 285, 288, 385,

 

541

 

P0usanlud. 325

Peldog man^ 6

Pelttagi. 335* 336

“People ol the Book*” 378

“People of the Hoiii," 436

Penyp Com., 583, 567

Penlap 267P 269

 

Priislan Empire, 375, 376* 3S2, 488^ 4B8

 

pertanollty, 39

 

pcr^nmility norm, 39

 

Peru, 34, SS, 58, 59, 60+ 130

 

Peten , 636

 

pets, 87, 88 , 271. STS

phalaiui, 307

 

Phir^oh, 404, 406, 412, 4X4, 421* 423

Philippines^ 179

Philhdncs* 317+ 5^8, 327

philosophy: Chinese, S 48 "SJJ Greek,

343. Hindu, 512-1.4

Phoenkians, 112, 2B4, 341, 349

Physical chartcteristlcs, 22; Abyssinian,

190: Ainu, 574; Anncnaid, 299: Aus-

tmlian, 159; Bu^mePr 157; Cretan*

306; DeutuTo-Maiayi 477: Indfan* 469-

72; Melanesian Negroid, 178; M^0-

potaiii!u.n, 299; Near Eastern. 314:

People of the Hotp, 426, 427; PmlO'

Maby* 177* 575; SouEbwest Asutin,

237

 

plctographs* ill

PictSp 481

 

 

 

Index

 

 

xi\]

 

93t 96< 99. 359

 

p{grii<;ulJit.kin, 35, 4:16

pilgiittki&ge, 143. All, aSS, ^77, 3S8. 3%.

 

411

 

pdjiacy* ai3r aaop 573

ticUpM'is^ 10ft

 

pH hiniw; Ainu. 574; Chinji^ 5^4-^;

 

N<!w World, 61&,

 

Pixanu, 6$(l

 

PUilm lndSans. 5ec Cnrat Plaim

 

PliiiKi. 33S, 344

 

Pk‘isloc«H*^ Ai, 134

 

ptow, iiS-17- 313- * 37 . 337^ * 53 . 47 B

 

Pliitdjich. 335, 344

 

PluvliLb, ]6p 17

 

PilDllipctlll, AAO

 

pulitica] tiirgiiiii2£itiuii, 60, 135^ AustriiliuL,

 

iGl, i6a; 641^ B4S.; Bagandui,

 

4^1; filadc Cultures^ 142; Cfifmi, 53

S^r S40w 543- 5S3p 553, 5&3-®;

bi7iTi«VV 45 ^jr 4^: Egyfitp 421. 413:

Gmwcc, 34fr-9: Jmtb, 654^; Iroquoiip

603-607; StikdapiscaSf 204, 105.1

 

Mptmaaia^ 197: Ntgm Alfioi,

 

4291 PoIvTiwiii, 19*1 Rt»nc, 371-3;

Semite noniAdcp ^165: Suiithrisi^ Asin

Nralithlc, ^74; Soothi'an WoodJaRds,

609^x1; Swilivwcatr Gao; 5 uma» 304,

305; Tuareg, 436; TtLflco*Tfitar+ 174,

376

 

pnlvandry* 2G3, 287. 496

 

polygyny, 44. lA * 97 # ^ 74 t *67* iSH.

 

418, 438, 440, 449

Polynesia, 15, 179^ 180, iSa-g®

pnpuliitiofi density, 33, tig, 150, 337^

467, 6i8, 567

 

pcTpolatioii prefrsurep lol, 237^ 469, G54

poptiLacion fpnmd, 137. SiS

Forttf, Admind, 78

 

{KBtilien of ivomea; AlTleaii, 43S-40;

Aryan* 363; Chinese, 539, 540, 559,

560; Dahotiicy. 437. 4G0; Indian* 508;

lilauik, 385; Mediterranean, 344;

l^lelpninLaii. 197; fk^uLheoat Ailntie,

llS^ Snnierian, 510; Tuiitcg, 425;

Tiirko-Tatar* Jt74

Potlateh, 154, 330, 618-33

putters wheei* 114

 

pottery, 71, 114, 115, 146^ Andean, 650,

852; CliJikcse^ 534 Eg>'ptliin, 401,

403; Etruscan, 370; Eumpean Men-

 

 

pottciy (c&ntinmiti}

 

Ltthlc, 351* 353^ Indbti^ 476; Mer-

Imdtiin, 401; Mesopotamiui, 399;

Minoof^ 337; Near Eostctu^ 314; Ne-

gro Affiezm^ 437; Nortlieasl Asia Nco-

iJthic, J74; Scnitiiwierf AsintiCp 338,

139; Tasinn, 401

pi^lauff! Pairing, 74,

prestige, *30

prestige lerk^, 33

 

prEcfrts: Axtee, 844; Chiruii, 566: Egypt*

433; Jndiii, 484, 485, 313; pDlynesiu*

I9I; Sunier* 303

 

priest-icings, 331, 334, 368, 608, 639

pfimogeniture. 187, iSS

property, lai, 151. 515, 53^, 5S9 p 601*

(^31

 

proslitutiun^ 124* 115, 288, 581

Proto-Kliday, 177, 178, x$n< S7S

PuJi^ 410

Ftoleiny, 207

 

piilierty iltcs: Aiistralum, 163, s66, 167;

Califomian, 818; Melanesian, igS-looj

Negro Afrioui, 419

piiblie works* 401, 405* 43ip 45a,

 

611, 630

 

hieblo Btmlfo* 619

piiehUks^ 38, 613* 619, 620

PuTudha, 484

fVgniics. 14. 79. 156-9

pyramid* 46, 405, 6 q 8* €4!

pyiiteT, 64

 

Quccbiia* 651

 

f|ijeeii-si4ter, 411* 418, 448, 433

Quetzalcoad, 646

 

58^ 657

 

Ha, 409, 410

mee, li-8

 

redol differences, a8

rado) stocks. t 2 , 17#

 

Rajahs 316

HafpiitSp 509

lloFrio^0itci, 513

Bed Sen, 18. 390

rcIneajrriLiiiDii. 484* 49a* 5^1

rdndccr, 87* i 54 i *38

rrUgfnn; Ahm, 574. 575 : Aaniunc**, ait;

Aiyan, 163. ^64; Ao^trnlkn, iG^n 188:

Bagcmda, 454, 455; Buihinen, i59i

 

 

 

Imlex

 

 

[xiii

 

 

religion i^conUnavd)

 

CailfonUon^ 6^7, 61^; CdUc, 3^3'

ChificM. 53S-35 pdiifni,

Circumpolar. i$4i

 

ihomey, 460-fti E^gyptian, 4159-17;

EskimoK sgSj Cemiaii, 3S7i Cwkt

350^3; Indiitn, 470, 4^3. 4S4»

 

Iroquois, 605, 606; |apfljjcse, 5S6;

VlrditmToncATit a46j MeliuicsiaiVt 194;

MhiouiH 3aa» 333? Mualim. 377-^2;

N«gro Atfica, 439-31, 44a, 443: Per¬

sian, 373: Pplyn^sian* igo-a: Semitic*

33&-90: SomnlL 29a; Soiithmi^t

Ncalillikr, 176: Soolhw'cst Asin N<ch

iithic, 333, 133: Soothwistcra, 630,

^3; Suinerioii, 301-304! TuTfcci-Taiiw,

376, iyS

 

Bovolutionary War+ 605. 6fl6

Bhade$inn 394

rk*, 101, ina, iSa, aj03, ^04, *13. 475-

S^S

 

riti4at: An^an, 2)63, 3G4: Cai-e Iksfit* L40:

 

Chhid, 531. 534- 53^- S43. 5^^ ERV?*

tiain, 4ia^ 413; Gwk, 3S0i Irotiudsf.

606; \!«iilciTLirk:on, 34^: ^^tistim, 3SS,

389; Kqv'ofo, 623; NVgro AFrfcun, 435:

Pal)'nc$laii, 192; BQiiion» 19a; Smilb-

cail WootlbindSf 608, S094 SoulKwcst

Asia Ncolitliic, 332,2^: Soulhwesiem,

619-ai

 

roods, 449, 653

 

Rocky Plateau. 507. 6*7*

 

Romo, g8, 19a. 331, 340> 364. 366-73,

669; conquests. 370. 371: Erorpirt?. 37*1

37a? fiaciil poLk^yi 372; mititaiy* 371 s

Republic, 371; Senate, 37I

Hongn, 19a

Ronin, 578^ 585

Rousseau, 184, 57a

riiyal ostahllshmcnta, 331, 33S 4S9

royal aucc^ssion^ 416, 449, 45*. 453. 457.

 

45a S4t. 578 658

Russia, 95

 

RuesLui botanists. 91^91.916

sacrifice: animal, 98. 204. 203, 276. 337-

 

414, 529, 534. S3S; biimauH 19*. *76.

337. 357- 449- 4$a, 454, 461, 462. 529,

53a, 534. 535- 567. 569. 611. 61a, 641.

 

644

 

Sacrahuainan, 653

 

 

saddles; tree, 273^ 359 ; puck. 273

Sidwra, 16, 17, 246, 247. 3S7, 425

SaLDyamunL See Buddha

Sabcb, 624

Salish, 597

Sal-mi, 302

Sanuiites, 366

SaoiDO^ 183

fkijubit, 211, aao, 479

SiimuTBi, S77. 578, 579

SnrdlnfiLqs, 347, 366, 367

5u5^ruiui Peisiatts, 376

Scandinavia. 106. 107. 117* 337, 244, 376

5 CnpuJiniaru.y. 530

SehRiTnunn, H.^ 323-5

scieftco, 343. 344, 637

scientific method, 663

Scots, 24, 184

Scythiona, 342^ 358. 489

Sea faring: ChlnesL% aoS; Japano^c, 573,

5855 Mediterranean^ 243^ 344; Miuoan,

243, 344- Setnitid; 384; Sooitbeast Asia

 

Ncolilbic. 174+ tSo^ i9l

 

Secret societies, igS-^aop, 443^ 444

SedaUT 598

 

sced-gathoreriL. ^93. fioft, 616, 617, 825,

648

 

SuiiiinDles> 5o8

Scmilra, 53, 280-93, 3™

 

Sepik River, 300

Set, 400, 409, 411

 

sfige; attihidci louard, 176^ 184. 194, a 15,

ail* 263, 387* 4981; eategorki, 31. 34;

division of labor, 33, 70, 115, iifi^ igu

315. 374 . 435. 438. 430 * S 3 *. 803*

 

6 j 5

 

Shah Jehon^ Sf>6

 

shamans (See? also angckuk}^ 34a, 152.

15s- *S0i *67- *68, 276, 43a. 431, 434.

454- 5*9. 617. 623

 

Shun. a32

 

Shang dynasty. m>8, 237,. 267, 395- 531-

43 TNisr/m

 

Shuntimg prov^ince, 525

Shardana {S'nJ^n h 317. 367, 419

SliuTikar. 513

 

sheep, 89, 93, 327, 343, S33

Shield of Dlmuede, 333

Shih Chlng, 331

Shih Huang Tl, S5*-^ patrfm

Shiites. 380

 

 

 

 

 

Index

 

 

xiv]

 

Shinto. sSfl, S&7

[ihip boUdio^ ^44^ 330,

 

Sh^Ti, i 98 , S77, S7fl. SSa, 58^

ShcshoiK^ 6i@

 

Shotcdcu Taiihi^ 581

Shrivijiya^ an

shrines^ 333, 286^ 301, 388

Si4iin^ 21^ 021^ 222

iicUci, 92, 144

 

Skfdhartha. Si^ BiiddbA

Lwgmige, S

Sikhi, 5og

lilvwp €^3, 657

Sinintlsjcpui, 523, ^

 

Singhuxiirl^ 211

 

Sivi, ill, 477, 484, 509^ 510, 311, 51a,

 

514

 

skL 153, 154

 

Kkldil, 7^ 22, ii€

 

Slc>i«, 4Sfi

«bve-king;s, 3S71 388

davieiy: Aiyan^ oBn Axt«c, 643, 844^

Bagandii, 449, 450^ China* 55©; Crete,

331^ EbT^ 41S, 419; CmM. 346;

bkin, 38a, 388-41; Japim^ Mmk-

gttscQj, 205; t^Vgseti Alrioa, 441; Nnrth-

wfcsl Coiut^ ftjo; Sinnites* i36; Sumer,

3t>5p 306; Tufto-TaiaTt 274

 

599

 

shngfl, 7«, 174, 251

mow shoe?, 1S3, 154

meU] iTTgani^siUnm 53; Aiyno, i6i: Av»~

todian, 163-5; BnrbnHun. 355, 356:

Btirtini Ground. 600; Blade Cultures,

t42; Bu$hmcfK 158* 159; Dnhameaii,

4 S?i 417. 4ifl; EtroMn,

 

* 36S; Indian, 490; Iroquoia, Boa; Japa-

D*ie, 5771 Mfllnsaiyi 204; Mediterrru-

rwtin, 244; Negto Ahk^n, 42S, 429;

Fnl>i>eAlah^ 186, 187; Rocky Mt.

 

Plateau^ 816^ 617; SomitiCp 285; Sottth-

west Asin Nc^ithii^ 230: Suinerinn.

3D9 p 31 d; Turko-Tatar^ 275, ayfi;

Vctiic, 4^3

socia! aelectiem. 25

iOdety. 30-33

 

SolomoDp King, 283^ 285, 2go» 311

Soltitrean. 139

Srmu^ 484

 

Somali, 290V 392, 4ia

SornttliLond, 399

 

 

Southeait Aaia: donietdcnlJau of planti

and animals in. 95-8^ icno wooing,

110: Neobthie. 173-%; Fost-Neolithk,

ao7-aa

 

SOiitbcjOit Aitotk cn-tradikioni,. 523, 524.

S^T. S33. 54S

 

Southeiist Woodlandop 597, €08-13

Southw'csk, Amcnenn, sap S97.

 

Soutlkwetf Afla, 92-5. 113, a^s^p 280,

281

 

Spain. See Iberian PeninMola

 

Spanish oivcSy 140^ 141

 

Spniih Conquer 634, 635. &44-‘7, SfiSp

 

659

 

speafSv 77* 174. ^14

spear thinwcr, 78, 79, 180, 618. 640

iquaihp 596, 608. €r8, €38

ftoe-l, 109

 

itepped, i4ap 257p asSp a66, 167, 532,

533

 

ftepp peoples^ 266-73, 353, 538, 53Sw

539^ 544

itnikards^ 611

Stone Agp, 7i. 73, 107

itonu working, 52, ya-d, 134-^: chipping.

 

55p 7*. 74. 75p 174p 533 i 834^ drdlingp

 

7 a» 78, i 39 p In aiina, 533. SH. saj;

in India, 474, 4731

Stoiwheoge, 249

Slopford. A. G.. 361

Slnmg. £>unca£kp 599

Structural adaptationH 5« 3 . 7* 24. 23

Subarctic Eumsfa. Sm Cumimpobr

Subotnip 527

 

Sudan, 397* 434. 435- 438. 447

 

Sudm, 490. 454. 494. s^?

 

Sulliv-Bo, General John. 605

mllao. 387

Sumatra^ aii^ 212

 

Humeri [04p 1O7, Xl 4 i 258-312^ 3141

cily wall, 300; lintises, 300. 30ij

guage. 299. 300; law* 308, 309-13;

miUtary organizatton* 3o€-3oS; pliH-

cid drgonizatiQOp 304, 30^1 3^^ nsh-

gimip 30t-3i04: Semitic imailon. 300:

■oclnl eiaHci. 305. 308; jocial ofganh

xntioci, 309. 310: technology, 295+ 300

Sun diiDceH €16

Sunni, 380. 381

SiniyavafTmin IL 219

Stirya. 511

 

 

 

Inde^x

 

lyphjlif,

 

Syracuse* 6^

 

Syria* 313, 377* 406, 419

 

taboo (tdpuK 155, i6fls *^76. iSS-||0,

ai6^ iAS, 51S, 000

TfldtttSt 354. 3SS. 350. 3S7

TomO, 493, 497

 

Tttog dynuty^ SBi-a

Tatigabo, 19a

Taoism, See Loo Tzu

Taro, 67* g6, ifla, aoi, 436

TnTjulns, 367^ 368

Tosioji, 40 £

tattooing* 192 , 213

 

toutian: Assyria* lay, laS; BagawK

43a; Byxikotiuin, 376, 377; Oohonm^

4S9? 117, 4111

 

TKxlLa UiUvcoity, 490

techoology, 4S. 50, 53, SS s 3 p 0a,

ISt. 399, 345t 40a, 408-409

Temido of Inscriptroos^ 637

Temple of the Stm* 65S

Temple prostitutes, aBS

temples, 134, las, 192, aii, aiS, *19+

aao, 303, 30a, 357, 421* G&B, 638, 841

TeopcbtitLiii^ 119, 639, 041

(erraced ngrlcultiirc, 241

Terramore* 365

Teacoco* Lake, 639, 641

Tchii, 2aa

Thuiliiod. See Slain

Thebei, 410, 445

IhcocTocy* 304

Thejscui legend, 334* 333

tblnldng, 8v 10

Thoth, 413

lhrcg.lifQg^ 2^:7

tlegnT 140

 

Tibinumco, 650, 651

Timur, 507

 

tin, to6, 307, 3S7, 057

Tlacopan, 640

 

tobacco, 214 I

 

Toda tiibe^ 498

Tokarinq luigunge, 267

T&tkappi^m, 493

ToUe«^ 639

 

tombs, ai2p 144.147,368,369, 408,414,

 

417, 4 S 3 . 4 r 3 t S 3 *. S 3 *

 

Tonga, 187, 18E

 

 

[xv

 

tlxiU, 48, 09-S5, 134-^ 143, i44p

 

14s. 140. S 3 S. 530

totem pdes, 6aS. 629, 630, 631

teteniisin, 168, 412, 428^ 430, 527, 533,

S 74

 

Toynbee^ Aiuold 393, 66z

trade, 141, 195, 198, 207, 230, 256, aSo,

SoBp 33*^ 3S5. 4ao^ 438, 487^ 532, 533,

577. 57S. 020

transpoitatioii, 119

traps, Sa, 83

 

tree ring dating, 48, 590, SiS

tribal tirgBo^ation; Aiyan* 281, 263;

Barbarian, 356, 357; Chinese^ 542;

 

490 . 4 & 7 S Japanese^ 575, 5^3

Sernitie, 285

 

tribal ipecLdbmtkniH igfi, a^5

Tttjy, 316, 318, 319, 323, 324

Ttu^ sSd, 501

Tutr^, 42s, 420

 

Ttia«b (Celtic clan), 380, 20i^ 383

tundra^ 148

Turkotrim), log

Turtiy. 590

 

TuHco-Tatar, 259, 266-79

Tutankhamen, 315, 417

tyntnC 348

TyTrbeni, 317, 300

 

Uganda. See Baganda

UntouchiblH, 490, 492, 494, 508, 517,

518

 

UnikfigLoa, 312

Vaisyu, 490

 

value-attlttide system, 38

vampiius, 156

Varanglati Cuord, 376

Varumt. 484

Vaviloff, 523

 

Vedic literature* 479^, 484

VwJlc fwriod. 479 ^ 4 . 490, 491

Vemos figures, 1^43., a33

vfee-toy, 43*, 443. 635

V£ld»g, *44

 

village life, 116, 204. 4fi*, 4^3, 4yu,

 

405 ^ 7 . S 3 U. 531 , 541! qwead of, «&.

 

*35, *37, »5/. *94. sSs. 46*

 

Viigiii, *34

 

Vialmij, *10, 4H4, 401, 430, 509, 511, 51a

 

 

 

 

Index

 

 

xvi]

 

quest, Si5p 6 i6

Vizkf. 4 ^

 

WailmaU 11/

 

wuU^: ChiJUp 550 * SuiiKf, ^

war chicly 6ii« ^0

war hoftorst 6][4 k 61$

warfare: Cblna^ SSlJ |i»pftn, STB* 5 ^ 5 ?

MifTDEKsK KM: Nortbeast AsK arft

SpinJtfc Namfldii 4 ^ 4 ^ ^ 5 ^ Soaiolii

 

3^

 

•^Vjtrring StJitw " 543-S

Washidgtaa. Ccurgc^ 298, 605

water buffalo, toi* ai^

 

aos

 

weaving; A/ilcii, 437: China* 531;

Egypt. 40®; Europe. 54; Inca, 54 ^ 55 .

656, 6^; Northwest Coast, 639;

 

Semites. aSj; Southwest Asia Neo¬

lithic. 32B

 

welgliLs and toeasuies*

 

wheat* 91. ^ 37 . 535

 

whccLp 113-tS. ^37.^ 43?. 47®P 535

 

Wl/e of Cshei'^JP 'V'rf/, 99 p 100

 

wwd can'ing, 43^

 

wood working, 5^1 i 3 ^. 4^. 437 .

 

SMt Gaff

 

 

wiiUng, S3, S&, 110-13. ffSj; ChiiKie,

111, 113* 536, S^Bi 5 :^f 553 p 554 t

Ccctiin. 3 aSr 3*6; Egyptian, no, in,

S13, 4055 Creek* 341; Hittite, 315;

Infliaop 480; Endus Vidby, liO» 113;

jAponc^p 576, 5S1; Mmyan, SB, 637,

638; North American. 111; Fhoviuden,

 

111; SuiTherian* lio, 113

 

Xavid, Fnmch* 5S4

Yakut* 376

 

yams* 90, b 6. iol, i§ 3 > 43 ®

 

Yanoctina* 657, 658

Yffog Shoo, 52s

Yin and Tong, S 4 ff. 549

YorimotOp 583. sSS

Yoruba. 446

Yuan dynaaty* 522

Yuman poinbp SB 4 . ffi 3

ynrtj* 273

 

S^pntet^t ff 3 B

i^ggyraf, 301, 303

Zikm, 302

 

ZonwrtTiiiniani, a 67 r 375 * 37 ffp 379

 

Zulu* 43S

 

ZiuiLi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A NOTE ON THE

 

 

TYPE

 

IN WHICH THIS BOOK IS SET

 

T^//£ text of this hook is set in Caledonia, a Liaotype

face that belongs to t/ie fatnili/ of printing types called

“modem face‘s by printers—a term used to mark the change

in style of type-letters tl\at occurred about iBoo. Caledonia

borders on the getxetal desig^n. of Scoioh Modem, but is

mote freely drawn than that letter.

 

The book was composed, printed, and l»>uruf by Kings-

i««T Press, Inc., Kingspoit, Tenn. The illastfotiom were r«*

produced by E.\fauviNG Co., Inc., KnoxoiUe, Term,

 

The paper was numufaciured by P, H. Clatfelter CO.,

Spring Groce, Pa.

 

 

r 9

 

 

1