Jake Young, over at Pure Pedantry, posts today about a fascinating archaeological find: 82,000 year old beads.
One of the most compelling pieces of evidence used to prove modernity in human thought is ornamentation. Ornamentation implies a human psyche that not only understands symbols but possesses a desire to decorate -- a desire to make things appear beautiful. This trait is decidedly human.
The find is fascinating, not only because 82,000 is greater than 6,000, but also because it is so much greater than 12,000—the time of the first civilizations. I've argued elsewhere that we too often conflate the ideas of human culture and human civilization.
The earliest civilizations were based on the development of an upper class, which reaped the profits, and a lower class which provided the labor. This allowed them to create cities, and leave impressive artifacts, but we shouldn't make the mistake of believing that civilization was a prerequisite to culture. In fact, it was the other way around.
Finds like this one make it clear that humans had art, social culture, tools, and possibly trade (the find was 40 kilometers from the nearest source at the time) for centuries before the advent of civilization or organized religion.
We humans need to own a heritage and tradition that began long before kings and priests—much longer than our time with them.
But then, maybe I'm just too conservative.
