Культурная эволюция Homo sapiens. История изобретений: от освоения огня до открытия электричества. Рашид Шафигулин
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Culture and technology of Homo sapiens
Annotations Book: Cultural Evolution of Homo Sapiens.
This book is dedicated to the history of cultural development and human progress.
Our species – Homo sapiens – evolved in contrast not only to the animal world, but also to our predecessors, previous Homo species (Genderdelbians, Neanderthals, etc.). Why are cultural achievements and progress associated with sapiens? What are the most important changes in human behavior that allowed sapiens to develop and reach heights that no one had reached before? What is the uniqueness of Homo Sapiens, and what happened in their lives, as a result of which this particular species has reached the digital, information age? Our book tries to answer all these questions. She not only describes the latest scientific research in this area, but also puts forward a number of new hypotheses.
The author seeks answers to the most difficult questions about the cultural development of the human race, relying on the latest archaeological and scientific facts. The reader is offered complete information about where and when the oldest finds were found, he has the opportunity to trace how the gradual accumulation of knowledge and the formation of traditions took place. The author tells how the very first invention was made, and why the scientific explosion occurred literally from scratch. Together with the author, the reader can try to understand why it was Homo sapiens who overcame the path from making fire to creating the international space station.
The production of fire is called the first not by chance. It became one of the greatest cultural acquisitions of ancient people. If primitive man had not picked up two pieces of wood and started rubbing them one against the other, we could still dress in skins and live in caves today, or the genus of Homo Sapiens would simply have stopped. Scientists are still puzzling over how the idea of getting fire by friction came to our ancestors. It can be understood that after seeing the sparks when the flint struck the flint, the person decided to catch them. But how could he have predicted the appearance of fire as a result of friction? Moreover, this ingenious discovery occurred almost simultaneously in different places, which excludes the possibility of borrowing. The author has his own opinion on this, and perhaps the reader will share it. The book contains archaeological evidence and the first evidence of the use of fire by people. The reader will find out when and who of the homo became the lord of fire, and most importantly – why it happened.
There are many hypotheses why people needed fire. Someone thinks -for heating. Looks like. But what about the fact that some of the tribes of Neanderthals who lived in the northern latitudes did not know fire? Perhaps to scare off predators? Or tanning hides? It is not excluded. But the efforts expended by a person to obtain fire immeasurably exceeded the result of achieving goals of this kind. Everyone agrees that fire was primarily needed by people for cooking.
And again the question arises: why? The answer seems to be on the surface – cooked food is much tastier. But it tastes better for you and me. To ancient people, raw food seemed more familiar and tastier. The author is convinced that people switched to cooked food to protect themselves from diseases that, quite likely, caused severe damage to the tribe. At the same time, those who ate thermally processed foods survived.
The transition to cooked food has changed the appearance of people. The teeth changed, a more powerful jaw was not required, the intestines became shorter, but the brain just increased. It was just right to think about how to simplify cooking. Because at first it was a very laborious process. People dug holes, filled them with water, and then lowered red-hot stones and provisions into them. Now people needed dishes.
And again the fire helped out. Having extracted it, a person learned how to burn clay. If the fire was built on a clay platform, then it happened to find pieces of ceramics under it later. The book tells about the latest archaeological finds confirming that the production of ceramics began from ancient times. Ceramic containers have since become reliable human companions and continue to remain so to this day.
People were born and died, and after reading the book, the reader will learn how the ancestors acted with the deceased tribesmen. Perhaps, together with the author, he will wonder why the funeral rite has become so important for people. The book tells when the burial intentional graves appeared and why people began to bury their relatives, how the gradual development of funeral rituals took place, how the buried rites of Homo Sapiens, Heidelberg man and Neanderthal differ, and how the buried rite evolved in Homo Sapiens throughout its history.
Cremation, which is quite widespread today, was familiar to our ancestors. The author gives a chronology of the development of cremation and asks the question: why were the deceased cremated? And why exactly such a funeral activity evolved in the late Homo Sapiens of 40 thousand years ago?
Archaeological finds indicate that our ancestors have used jewelry since ancient times. The book provides a chronology of finds (130 thousand, 80 thousand, 60 thousand and 47 thousand years ago), tells about the late Paleolithic cultural revolution and the development of the culture of human adornment. What could have prompted our ancestors to make jewelry? What events took place in the human environment that led to cultural transformations? The author expresses his hypotheses about why the jewelry served ancient people. He sees jewelry primarily as amulets, which, according to the ancestors, were supposed to protect them from evil spirits (diseases), and also tries to solve the biggest mystery that many scientists are struggling with – why Neanderthals, and then Sapiens, used bird claws, animal teeth and shells for jewelry.
Hair loss is another of the not fully solved secrets of our ancestors. The author does not consider all the hypotheses that exist in this regard. The author himself considers in detail only one hypothesis closest to him, information, as well as excerpts from various scientific articles give food for thought why a person lost his fur. Having got rid of the hair cover, a person simultaneously got rid of harmful insects- lice and fleas, which caused significant harm to his health.
But after parting with them, the hairless man faced a new problem – flying blood-sucking insects and was forced to seek protection from them. Ochre (iron hydroxides) became the salvation. Even in the Middle Paleolithic, the Presapienses and Neanderthals began to use it quite widely. Ochre was mined in mines many kilometers away from housing, but such difficulties did not frighten the ancestors, the result was more important. The resulting ochre powder was smeared on the body. However, even today the opinions of scientists about the use of ochre differ. The book examines all hypotheses and focuses on the most probable, from the author’s point of view, the reason for the use of ochre in antiquity.
Historical and archaeological evidence shows that tattooing has been practiced since the depths of centuries, since the Upper Paleolithic period, and we still see echoes of this phenomenon today. Why did people put tattoos on their bodies? The author has his own opinion on this issue.
What were the combs and mirrors found in numerous excavations used for? Was their appearance caused by the desire of their ancestors for beauty or by social necessity? Or maybe they served the observance of the simplest hygiene? The reader learns the author’s position from the book.
How did a person learn to melt metals and what prompted him to do this?
The book tells about the history of their production and use, as well as about why humanity switched to completely new smelting technologies and mastered metals such as copper, bronze, iron.
But the Bronze Age ended in a real disaster for many countries. At the end of it there is the collapse of the Mycenaean kingdoms, the Hittite kingdom in Anatolia, Syria, Egypt is falling into decline. The collapse of culture throughout the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean is accompanied by a political and economic collapse, in which, in parallel with the decline of some civilizations, new civilizations and new ideologies were born. Scientists cannot come to a general conclusion about the causes of the «Bronze Age catastrophe».
It was at the same time (XIII century BC) that the transition of mankind from polytheism to monotheism took place. Why is the change in the religious views of our ancestors associated with the crisis period?
Glass producing has opened up new opportunities for humans. Of course, it all started