Культурная эволюция Homo sapiens - страница 2

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.