Culture of primitive peoples

Originality is the childhood of all mankind. It is on the primitive epoch that most of the history of mankind falls. Despite this, our knowledge of these far-off times is very scarce.

One of the most striking events of that time was the transition of man from the stage of the skillful (Homo habilis) to the stage of the rational (Homosapiens). This transition did not happen overnight, he had to overcome a long and difficult path. Until now, scientists are arguing about how it all happened when a reasonable person appeared, as he settled around the globe.

Many people tend to think that a man came from the African monkeys 8-5 million years ago, because the monkeys were divided into two branches. In one there were great apes, such as chimpanzees; in the other – Australopithecus, the ancestral form of man.

How did a man differ from a monkey? The whole point is that for a person the world around him is the object of his thought and speech. The formation of communities with certain goals led to the formation of mankind. As a result – the emergence of art.

The vast period of the primitive epoch makes it logical to periodize it. Periods of the primitive world:

1. Stone Age (2 million – 6 thousand years ago). It is in turn divided into:
   1. ancient, another name – Paleolithic, it consists of the lower, middle and upper (late);
   2. medium (mesolite);
   3. New (Neolithic);
2. the copper age (4-3 thousand years BC);
3. the Bronze Age (the beginning of the first millennium BC);
4. Iron Age (from the beginning of the 1st millennium BC).

One of the most striking achievements of the primitive man is his mastery of such skills as farming and cattle breeding. It happened about ten thousand years ago. How did people feed themselves before that? Their extraction of food at that time was not very different from animal habits.

There were three ways to get food:

1. gathering;
2. hunting;
3. fishing.

It is interesting that in the Paleolithic people of that time can follow reasonable solutions to problems. For example, despite the fact that the hunting tools were very primitive, a brilliant tactic helped them to starve, with the help of which they hunted animals. Only at the beginning of the Mesolithic bow and arrows appear, and hence the main quality of the hunter is now not the strength and tactics of action, but accuracy. At the same time, the fishing technique was improved, such devices as hooks and nets appeared, which are still in use.

In the era of the Mesolithic, there are first signs that people are moving from appropriation to agriculture. This is evidenced by such finds related to the Mesolithic epoch, such as sickles, grains of barley, wheat, etc.

In addition to farming, people began to develop and another type of farming – livestock. Scientists tend to argue that it was the farmers who first began to tame animals.

All this contributed to the alleviation of human life and, as a consequence, the growth of the human race.

Now man is not just part of nature. He himself is able to change the world around him, in particular, through art.

Already in the Stone Age, the first signs of the fact that a person begins to express himself through various kinds of art were discovered. In 1836 a French geologist, archaeologist Edouard Parte (1801-1871), in the Schaffthau grotto in the department of Vienne, discovered a plate on which engraving was made. E. Larthe was the founder of paleontology, he discovered the Aurignacian culture. This is the name of the culture of the late Paleolithic in Western Europe. A variety of female figurines of bone and stone have survived. These figurines, talking about the cult of the mother-ancestor, are called Venus. It is interesting that in different remote regions of the globe (Italy, Austria, Russia, France), similar Venes are found.

But still the main thing in art was the topic of hunting. And the main object of creativity were animals. Various found images of animals of primitive epoch indicate that hunters have very thoroughly studied various habits of animals. Comprehending the world around him, a man very accurately managed to depict animals on engravings, in sculptures made of stone, wood or clay. But the images of people were incomparably few, since the man himself did not enjoy such great attention as the world around him.

In the primeval epoch, people begin to use all sorts of symbols to convey their feelings and visions. The symbols of that time can be not only realistic and understandable, but also extremely conditional. These symbols bear a great aesthetic load, which conveys the feelings and opinions of the author.