Showing posts with label Civilization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Civilization. Show all posts
2.07.2010
2.03.2010
Emergence of Civilization and Fall into Patriarchal Dominion
http://www.dhushara.com/paradoxhtm/fall.htm
[Dolni Vestonice, in Czech Republic, is a site of an encampment
of mammoth hunters dating from about 30,000 years ago.]
of mammoth hunters dating from about 30,000 years ago.]
There are two sexually polarized theories of human cultural origins, both of which have failed to stand the test of empirical evidence. The first is 'man the hunter' suggesting that male strength and hunting prowess led both to male dominance, and intelligence and culture, through skills of hunting, such as tool-making.
Man the hunter theories are prone to stress male violence and treat women as mere possessions and tradeable items. While they do fit well with our cultural paradigm of male dominance, they do not well-explain the origin of intelligence, nor do they fit well with what we know of so-called primal cultures, where women bring in the majority of the diet by gathering, making them more autonomous as child-rearers than the theory would allow. As a natural successor of the 'killer-ape' theory it gives a pessimistic view of humanity's violence and viability.
The counterpoised matriarchal origin theory is the 'mother-right' proposed by Johan Jakob Bachofen - an evolutionary 'advance' in which an intervening stage of matriarchy led society out of barbarism into modern patriarchy, which he deemed the triumph of superior political and religious thought and organization, despite advocating the incorporation of the 'feminine principle' of nurturance and altruism in modern society. The Swiss philologist proposed an era of 'unregulated hetaerism' in which women were sexually degraded and defenseless, followed by an 'Amazon' revolt that inaugurated an era of matriarchy. In this stage, women created marriage to tame the male. This supposedly still-animalistic and 'backward' era was superseded by a 'higher' stage of human development: patriarchy. He never used the term matriarchy but 'mutterricht' and gynecocracy, for 'rule by women'.
Read more...
Man the hunter theories are prone to stress male violence and treat women as mere possessions and tradeable items. While they do fit well with our cultural paradigm of male dominance, they do not well-explain the origin of intelligence, nor do they fit well with what we know of so-called primal cultures, where women bring in the majority of the diet by gathering, making them more autonomous as child-rearers than the theory would allow. As a natural successor of the 'killer-ape' theory it gives a pessimistic view of humanity's violence and viability.
The counterpoised matriarchal origin theory is the 'mother-right' proposed by Johan Jakob Bachofen - an evolutionary 'advance' in which an intervening stage of matriarchy led society out of barbarism into modern patriarchy, which he deemed the triumph of superior political and religious thought and organization, despite advocating the incorporation of the 'feminine principle' of nurturance and altruism in modern society. The Swiss philologist proposed an era of 'unregulated hetaerism' in which women were sexually degraded and defenseless, followed by an 'Amazon' revolt that inaugurated an era of matriarchy. In this stage, women created marriage to tame the male. This supposedly still-animalistic and 'backward' era was superseded by a 'higher' stage of human development: patriarchy. He never used the term matriarchy but 'mutterricht' and gynecocracy, for 'rule by women'.
1.19.2010
Çatalhöyük
http://www.catalhoyuk.com/
Read more...
[As additional information, be aware that two of the main sponsors for this project are Boeing and Shell. Yes, that Boeing and that Shell. 'Finders, keepers...']
The Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük was first discovered in the late 1950s and excavated by James Mellaart between 1961 and 1965. The site rapidly became famous internationally due to the large size and dense occupation of the settlement, as well as the spectacular wall paintings and other art that was uncovered inside the houses.
Since 1993 an international team of archaeologists, led by Ian Hodder, has been carrying out new excavations and research, in order to shed more light on the people that inhabited the site.
Since 1993 an international team of archaeologists, led by Ian Hodder, has been carrying out new excavations and research, in order to shed more light on the people that inhabited the site.
"This year we received the results of a set of AMS radiocarbon dates undertaken at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit. The dates were concerned with the areas excavated in 1999 and are particularly important as they cover the earliest archaeological deposits excavated so far. This produced dates centring around the period c.7,300 to 7,150 calibrated BC for the earliest known archaeological activity at the site (below). [...] We can now estimate that Çatalhöyük was occupied for between 950 and 1,150 years and that individual buildings were typically occupied for between fifty and eighty years, although it appears that they were actually of longer duration earlier on and that this decreased through time." [Radiocarbon Dating, Newsletter 8 of The Çatalhöyük Research Project, Dec 2001]
Read more...
[As additional information, be aware that two of the main sponsors for this project are Boeing and Shell. Yes, that Boeing and that Shell. 'Finders, keepers...']
7.02.2009
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