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An Analogy Of Civilized Man To Primitive Man Essay, Research Paper

Primitive Man and Civilized Man are Alike in Many Areas

An Analogy

Early civilizations are credited with introducing government, art, and religion,

among other things to the modern world. Does the credit actually belong to the people

who created these early civilizations or to those that came before? The final product may

be considered greater and certainly more polished than the product created by early man.

All things found in an ancient civilization were actually brought to them by the collective

memories of the people that came before.

Little is known about human life during the Paleolithic Period, 35,000 to 10,000

BC. Cave paintings and a few clay statuettes are the sum total of what has survived the

years for modern archeologists to study. (Arts and Culture, An Introduction to the

Humanities, p. 14,15 ) Anything made of wood or bone has long since turned to dust.

( Everyday Life Through The Ages, p 13 ) Other evidence has come to light in recent

times. Burial sites that have been discovered allow us to peek into the remote past. These

discoveries support the idea of an awareness of and homage paid to the spirits and natural

forces that shaped the world that these prehistoric people lived in. Several remote tribes

have been discovered this century . Prior to their discovery, these remote tribes, some

numbering in the many thousands, believed that they were the only people on the earth.

( The Third Chimpanzee, p 223 ) We can relate the life styles of these remote people, who

have lived many thousands of years cut off from the rest of civilization, to our ancestors

who lived in prehistoric times.

Humans all over the world, since the beginning of recorded times have followed

along the same path. That is the path of creativity, worship, and organization. Many of

the things we attribute to early civilizations had its beginnings in our common prehistoric

past. Ancient civilizations and early man are alike in many ways, some of them being,

religion, government and organization.

God-kings, that is kings who took on the mantle of a God, ruled early civilizations.

They were worshipped by the masses, and acted as intermediary between the forces that

controlled nature and the human subjects that lived on earth. Early man also had an

intermediary to act as go-between on behalf of the people. He or she would have been a

shaman, or priest. This person would have been someone who would be counted on to

advise the chief of the tribe or community on matters relating to the ?Gods.? ( The Third

Chimpanzee, p 287 )

Every force of nature was a mystery to early man, as it was to those that lived in

the first, early civilizations, and therefore a belief developed that those forces needed to be

controlled. These questions that have troubled mankind from its earliest days: Who are

we? Where are we? How did we get here? They have all been answered through the

ages in one way or another. ( The Book Of The Ancient World, p 8 )

Cave paintings in Lascaux, France that date to 17,000 BC, have been found that

show graphic presentations of animals. Spearheads have been driven into some of these

animal representations. These rites by early man were held to either bring success to the

hunt, or to thank the Gods for their success at a recent hunt. We see that animal worship

made its way into early civilizations also. Animal representations have been found in

tombs from the earliest days of civilized Mesopotamia. Animal representations are present

also in religious symbols from the earliest civilizations. Early man would have had to live

in harmony with nature. Civilized man, took this harmonious coexistence one step further,

and incorporated animals into their worship of Gods. An early example of this is

demonstrated on the Palette of Narmer, the Egyptian king who is credited with beginning

Egyptian history. On it, Hathor, the cow-headed goddess who protects the city of the

dead is present. Also present is a hawk or falcon, symbol of the god Horus. Another

example of animal worship in ancient Egypt was the ?family God,? Bes. This was a

grotesque creature, part dwarf and part lion. His job was to protect the family, and was

found in many homes. On judgment day, an Egyptian believed he would face the Jackal

Judge. A heart heavy with sin would tip the scales and a terrible monster would devour

the sinner. If someone lived a virtuous life, the scales would balance, and the person

would have eternal bliss. ( Arts and Culture, An Introduction to The Humanities, p 8

Fertility and a renewal of things, birth of people and animals, the seasons, and of

vegetation used for food sources were also very important to early man, as it was to

early-civilized man. What is believed to be a fertility figure, the Venus of Willendorf, was

found that dates to 30,000 years ago. (Quest For The Past, p 12 ) Also, the cave paintings

represent what is thought to be a ?mother earth? theory. That is, by painting the animals

so close to the center, or womb of the earth, more animals would be born. ( Everyday Life

Through The Ages, p 17 ) Early civilizations also focused on fertility, and created Gods to

ensure continued fertility of the population. In early Mesopotamia, the Sumarians

worshipped Ninhursag, or Mother Earth. She was the source of all life, and from her

came the birth of plants. Daily

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