Knives of stone (left and right), finely schematized with serrated edges, used for subincision, worn by the indigenous Boorungoo of Kimberley, northwestern Australia; in the center, sharp lithic flakes used for circumcision, collected among the Peedong, Upper Murchison, western Australia — Rome, Museo preistorico etno-grafico — L. Pigorini.
(du. A. Zanelli)
De quibusdam praelatis Romanae Curiae, in Apollinaris, 8 (1935), pp. 64-67; A. van Hove, De rescripsi, Malines-Roma 1936, pp. 13-15, nn. 9-11; H. Leclercq, Primicier, in DACL, XIV, coll. 1179-81. Giuseppe Palazzini
PRIMITIVES — Around 1860 the question of “regression” or “degeneration” was still alive, namely whether the primitive peoples—then called “savages,” of whom abundant documentation was already available—were to be considered as remnants of decadent peoples (theory of degeneration) or as peoples whose cultural development had come to a standstill (theory of stasis).
Summary:
I. Primitive cultures
II. Original culture
III. Primary cultures
IV. Secondary cultures
V. Tertiary cultures
VI. The diffusion of cultures in different parts of the world.I. Primitive cultures
For several decades J. Boucher de Perthes had been excavating in the Somme Valley, where he found remains of lithic artifacts (knives, axes, and other tools) predating any written record of the inhabitants of those regions. He considered these remains to belong to prehistoric man.Finding his attempts to convince French geologists of the importance of his findings futile, in the spring of 1859 he invited Sir Charles Lyell—then the greatest authority in geology—to visit his excavations. Lyell recognized the significance of Boucher de Perthes’ results and took his side. Such authoritative support decided the scientific acceptance of Boucher de Perthes’ findings and spurred numerous excavations across Europe, which increasingly confirmed the existence of prehistoric man. Thus the question of primitives was resolved: they were to be regarded as peoples who had experienced a stasis in their development. To further confirm this conclusion, in numerous excavations—with rare exceptions—no traces of higher cultures have been found among primitives. Nor could it be admitted that these were civilizations that had regressed due to an unfavorable geographical environment, such as the lack of metals, suitable plants for making fabrics, or domesticated animals, since often the environment would have been favorable to development.
Later, archaeology and linguistics would further confirm the existence of prehistoric man. Even under the best conditions, remains of ancient civilizations do not go back beyond the 5th millennium B.C., and almost always date from the 3rd to the 1st millennium B.C. or later. Beyond these chronological limits, excavations provide only prehistoric documentation.
The developmental phases of the languages of peoples who had reached a high level of civilization (Indo-Europeans, Semites, Hamites, Ural-Altaic peoples, and others) are now known at least from the earliest written records; yet no point in this development can serve as a basis for the languages of primitive peoples. Even when a secure kinship can be established between the languages of primitives and those of highly civilized peoples—as with the Hamitic languages of North and East Africa in relation to ancient Egyptian, or the languages of the peoples of Tibet and Burma in relation to Chinese—the languages of primitives always display more archaic forms than the oldest forms of the languages of highly civilized peoples, or the two forms are such that they can only be derived from a common form older than either. Thus it is seen that even in these cases the point of origin of related languages predates the formation of great cultures. The hypothesis of degeneration becomes even more untenable when one considers the many languages of primitive peoples that bear no distant relation to the languages of peoples who have attained great civilization.
Primitive peoples are therefore peoples who have experienced a stasis in their development. But this does not mean that they have not had development or are entirely without history. They too possess cultural elements (tools, weapons, use of fire, language, family, social, ethical, and religious institutions) that demonstrate intelligence, thought, development, creative power—in short, civilization. Primitives are peoples of scant civilization, poor in history, relatively primitive, but not without civilization, without history, absolutely primitive. No people exists in a purely natural state; all have had creative power and formed a certain civilization, but at a given point they halted in their development (for the conditions that favored such arrest, V. ETNOLOGY. For a deeper treatment of the progress and regression of primitives, cf. W. Schmidt and W. Koppers, Völker und Kulturen, Ratisbona 1924, p. 41 ff.).
The concept of primitives thus assumes a very different value from that commonly attributed to II. It is not easy, indeed impossible, to formulate an absolute criterion by which a population or a culture may be included in the concept of primitives. Yet perhaps no invention has had a deeper influence on human thought and the development of civilization than writing (v.). This invention decisively influenced the history of humanity and elevated cultures still poor to the level of great cultures. Hence writing is the most comprehensive division of human civilization. The first period comprises peoples without writing, whom we call “primitives,” characterized by ancient and reflective thought (v. ETNOLOGY).
Before outlining the characteristics of the various cultures, it should be recalled that the basic concept of modern ethnology is the historical method, which first seeks to gather the greatest possible amount of information about primitives, then groups populations sharing a common cultural background into areas or cultural cycles called cultures, and finally asks whether populations often separated by great distances but sharing a similar cultural background may not once have been united. Similarities are no longer explained simply by accepting convergence, whereby identical objects or institutions would have arisen independently in different parts of the world, but rather by investigating whether there may not have been migrations of different peoples or at least of cultural elements that display similarities. Indeed, the historical method has shown that even in primitive societies many changes have occurred as a result of immigration rather than intrinsic development. Contact between different tribes has given rise to various mixtures of cultures (v. ETNOLOGY).
II. ORIGINAL CULTURE — The term “original culture” is to be understood not in the absolute sense of a primordial culture—one that is not directly accessible but only inferred—but in the sense of the most archaic culture ethnologically ascertainable. This includes peoples who mostly live in hard-to-reach regions, such as the Pygmies who inhabit the margins of the Congo forests.
They live in small, widely scattered groups, subsisting on what nature provides: hunting and gathering. They do not practice agriculture or animal husbandry; they protect themselves from the elements by building huts or simple windbreaks and shelters of branches. Clothing is reduced to
PRIMITIVES — Initiates with painted faces — Yamaná.
A breech-cloth. The bow with a round cross-section is their weapon; living in the forest, they use wood to make the tools necessary for their daily life, so one can speak of a wood age preceding the stone age. They recognize a Supreme Being as creator of the world, conceived as father and protector of morality. This God generally dwells in the sky and receives first-fruit sacrifices. Magic, animism, and the cult of the dead are little developed. The family is founded on monogamy, with equal rights between man and woman. They recognize private property in tools, weapons, ornaments, and implements—that is, everything that is the fruit of individual labor. The land on which they hunt, fish, and gather, however, belongs to the group. They have no tribal chiefs, no tyranny; the true authority is that of the father of the family; there is already a form of state, but still very weak, so that in the case of murder, if the families do not reach an agreement, blood vengeance falls to the relatives of the slain and not to the state.
According to the historical-cultural school, the Negritos, the Bushmen, and the inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego may still be included in this culture, even though they already have a more complex social organization, in that young men and girls, before entering society, must undergo an initiation, which has a pedagogical and moral character, during which the initiates are taught the precepts they must observe (v. INIZIAZIONE DELLA GIOVENTÙ). The Tasmanians, now extinct, the Indians of central California, the most primitive populations of Australia, and the Eskimos of ancient regions represent a further development because, although living by gathering, hunting, and fishing, they begin to use stone as a tool, and indeed the populations of Australia and Tasmania work II. The beginning of the spear also belongs to this period; this weapon is at first very simple; in the most primitive cultures of Australia the boomerang, a throwing weapon, and the shield, of very rough form, called a stick-shield because, more than a true shield, it is a simple stick used to parry club blows, are used. The first manifestations of tattooing made with scars begin; the huts have the form of a round beehive. Polygamy also begins.
III. PRIMARY CULTURES
From the original cultures more complex cultures arise, known by the name of primary cultures. This development occurs in two very different forms that differ especially in sociological aspect: if the woman has the most important role in society, matriarchy arises; if she takes second place to the man, patriarchy arises. The first form is characteristic of populations that pass from the primitive state to agriculture, the second develops among peoples whose economy is based on hunting and livestock.One of the oldest manifestations of matriarchy, from a sociological point of view, is the system of two marriage classes among which exogamy prevails. The woman begins to work the land with a hoe, the house is rectangular, the club, in its most varied forms, is the characteristic weapon of this culture, the shield assumes larger dimensions. Pottery with rims is made by women and the first mats are woven in the same way. Fabrics are of tree bark, boats of planks, drums of split wood. Other characteristics of this culture are the panpipe and the musical bow. In addition to the division of the tribe into two exogamous marriage classes, other characteristics of this culture include descent in the female line and, perhaps, cannibalism. In religion there develops
(1. F. Fetici) — Stone fetishes depicting the divinity of the hunt: Kalive the Little Hunter — Franciscan Mission of Lulua-Katanga, Belgian Congo.
lunar mythology, the cult of skulls and the dead, dances in which masks are worn, and two-stage burial. From the original cultures there also develop two other cultures in which patriarchy predominates.
In totemism the essential sociological characteristic is that the tribe derives from an animal (this is the most common case) or from a plant, sometimes even from a body (moon, water), which therefore becomes taboo. In totemic tribes hunting is much more developed than in the original cultures; large hunts are organized in which the whole tribe participates, and weapons are much more refined. They are especially pointed weapons (spears, swords, daggers). The spear is thrown with a spear-thrower, the house is round with a chimney-like roof. Clothing consists of a wide, hard belt and a sheath around the penis. Totemists color their whole body or at least some parts red and wear many ornaments, especially necklaces, earrings, and round disks. The axe is characterized by the fact that the blade is inserted directly into the thicker end of a branch. Totemists work wood extensively, making oval dishes, ladles, on which they carve figures, especially of animals. Ornamentation is rectilinear, arranged in bands; the canoe is made by hollowing out a tree trunk, and the paddles are lancet-shaped. The simple flute should be mentioned as a musical instrument. The sociology of totemic populations is characterized by social ties with the totem and by initiation in the tribes reserved only for young men and accompanied by painful practices. Descent is regulated only in the male line; members of the same clan, who therefore have the same totem, cannot marry. Religion is above all solar mythology with a strong development of magic. It seems that the dead are not buried but exposed to the sun; with totemism mummification perhaps begins.
Also in the culture of nomadic shepherds the house originally has a round form. Stone is little used, and objects are mainly of wood and bone. The economy is based on livestock raising; milk and blood constitute the essential nourishment of these populations. Containers, and originally also boats, are mostly of leather; the bow is reflex, and is also called, from its origin, the Asian bow; the spear with a bone tip and barbs is also used. Large families form in which the authority of the chief is increasingly strengthened. The monotheism of the original cultures remains relatively pure.
IV. SECONDARY CULTURES
A third group, resulting from the mixing of primary cultures, includes secondary cultures.The economy, sociology, and religion develop and change. In matriarchy, in contact with other cultures, large families arise, but descent remains in the female line. The house is still rectangular but assumes larger dimensions to accommodate the whole descent group; often it is supported on poles (stilt houses). The weapons of this culture are the flat-section bow and the shield, which is slung from the shoulder; small bows and arrows are also used to draw blood from animals. The use of tobacco and betel begins. The canoe, still made of planks, is improved; paddles resembling crutches are used; to move from one place to another in the stilt houses, suspension bridges are built. Characteristic of this culture are small wooden drums shaped like hourglasses, and combs; tattooing uses colored substances. Regular gynaecocracies form. At the first menstruation girls are initiated by their mother. Magic and fetishism develop further; ancestors and spirits are represented in a crouched position.
Patriarchal cultures seem more inclined toward specialization and, at least in their material culture, are often distinct. One recalls especially the Austro-Ussian or Malay-Polynesian cultural cycle and the Sudanese. They share the formation of social classes, a tendency toward absolute monarchy, and polytheism. Material culture, however, is very different since the Malay-Polynesian peoples inhabit islands and are therefore seafarers, while the Sudanese dwell within a continent.
Nomadic pastoralists tend to overlap other peoples and dominate them.