The Beginnings of Human Culture2

The Beginnings of Human Culture2
The evidence on early human culture is uneven; man s customs, cannot be dug out of the river terraces or cave sites of prehistoric man. Culture patterns leave no direct physical traces- Some material culture survives in. the form of tools weapons and utensils- Nonmaterial culture must be surmised by indirection. For example, if a Neanderthal skeleton is unearthed with the limbs composed in a regular fashion and with artifacts (culture objects) by its side, we may conclude that this was a regular burial, with possible evidence of a belief in an after-life. Similarly, the discovery of a number of human bones charred and cracked - open (seemingly for- the – marrow) suggests cannibalism. Major structural aspects of culture, such as the-family system, status and religious beliefs, can only be guessed at with some small help from the contemporary primitives who carry on cultures believed to be somewhat like those of prehistory.
Furthermore, not all material culture has the same survival rate; bone, horn, and pottery do not stand up to the buffetings of time as well as does stone. Wooden objects animal hides, basketry, and fabrics disappear. Finally, it is simply good fortune if cultural remains are stumbled on at all. Only fortuitous geological conditions and lucky discoveries present us with these stepping stones to prehistoric knowledge . Europe has been reasonably well combed by the archaeologist; Africa, Asia,
the Americas have of late received their share trained attention. But it is only in relatively recent times that sophisticated peoples have recognized finds of prehistoric materials for what they are and have made some rational attempts to preserve them and fathom their meaning.
Prehistoric chronology is thus based primarily on geology. The first definitive evidence of human culture coincides, roughly, with the middle of the Pleistocene Age, some 600,000 years ago. The evidence upon which our knowledge of prehistoric cultures is based is relatively slight and, comes mainly from Europe, with more recent additions from other continents. This evidence.is heavily weighted on the side of material Culture and. in the initial stages of cultural evolution almost entirely on stone artifacts. The .patterned responses of organized social relationships must be laboriously pieced together from fragmentary and inconclusive physical remains.