Introduction
Definition: humanistic tradition = humankind’s cultural legacy
I. Prehistory
A. Study of history of written records originated around 1860 in France
1. looking at documents, archives, family histories
2. keeping close account of government records
B. Prehistorians
1. geology, paleontology, anthropology, archeology,
2. ethnography
3. preliterate societies
C. Old Stone Cultures
1. tool making
2. fire
3. burial of their dead [respect for, fear of dead?]
4. memory and foresight
5. verbal methods of communication [replace non-verbal]
6. 4 large glacial advances north of the equator
7. hunters and gatherers
D. Cave Paintings
1. SW France, SE France, southern Spain
2. visual records of extinct mammals
a. used ochre
b. mineral pigments, burnt coal
3. probably hunting rituals
4. “The Story of Rock Picture Research”
1. arts of the ancient world not intended as decoration or entertainment
2. arts were integrated: pictures, spoken word, dance, music
F. Expressions of Humankind’s Control over Nature
1. lunar calendars: Stonehenge
2. procreation: female statuetttes: Venus of Willendorf
1. planters, food producers, nomads becoming settlers
2. Southwest Asia [see Key Map, p. xi] = Middle East
a. Jericho – oldest inhabited city ??
b. Iraq, Iran, China, Japan, Meso-America
3. pottery, fired clay vessels for storage of grains
4. megaliths, dolmens
5. post-and-lintel construction
6. stele
II. The Birth of Civilization
A. Sumer, Egypt, India, China -- circa 4000 B.C.E.
1. wheel, plow, solar calendar, irrigation
2. based on river regions: Tigris, Euphrates, Nile, Indus, Yangzi, Yellow
B. Birth of Accounting and Writing
1. records on wet clay, balls → pictograph
2. cunieform writing
3. hieroglyphs: Rosetta Stone, discovered 1799, translation finished about 1822
C. Other Complex Cultures without Writing Systems
1. Pueblo societies
2. Nasca cultures in Andes of South America
D. Metallurgy
1. metal began to replace stone and bone tools
2. copper, tin led to trading and travel
3. bronze casting using lost-wax technique
4. manufacture of jewelry, musical instruments, toys,
horse gear
E. People and Nature
1. attempts to understand, control forces of nature
2. belief forces of nature inhabited by living spirits
3. animism
4. myths: stories explaining workings of nature
5. gods and goddesses immortal
6. prayer, enactment of myth, ritual sacrifice
E. Myth and the Quest for Beginnings
1. evidence of the senses
2. reflects people’s moral system rituals, values, sacred
3. remarkable similarities
a. Rig Veda -- India
b. African Creation Tale – African tribal people
c. Popol Vuh – Mayan peoples
d. Native American Creation Tale – Mohawk of Iroquois Nation