Posted on 05/12/2009 5:05:01 AM PDT by decimon
Stone Age humans were adept chemists who whipped up a sophisticated kind of natural glue, a new study says.
They knowingly tweaked the chemical and physical properties of an iron-containing pigment known as red ochre with the gum of acacia trees to create adhesives for their shafted tools.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalgeographic.com ...
Absolutely. The nomenclature problem (big words!) exists because government enshrined into law the term "marriage" when no viable alternative to traditional marriage existed. Now that we are investigating the notion of "alternative" unions we need new vocabulary, but the inefficient govt bureaucracy isn't about to redefine all the tax regulations, etc. in this political climate. There are other issues at play.
And in the end you are absolutely right as I said above, the govt should never has stuck its nose into these things.
That whole lesson about rendering unto Caesar seems very appropriate here.
Cultures that tolerated certain behaviors were less likely to survive than cultures that suppressed certain behaviors. After millennia, the traditions of surviving cultures represent a large amount of institutionalized wisdom on how to conduct a lasting society.
Yes. And the Founding Fathers did a pretty great job codifying the lessons learned through the ages, and through the judeo/christian principles of the Bible, into a cohesive philosophy of governing provided in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, Federalist Papers, etc.
It is the greatest "plan" humans have ever made, IMO, and it is based on the best understanding and selective use of that institutionalized wisdom you speak of.
Great ideas have been disappearing for a long time...
“Hey, Ungaunga, Hold ma club and watch this!”
Dare we mention the Darwin Awards on this thread? Oh, no!
More accurately, western Europe went thru this collapse and rebirth.
Chinese and Indian civilizations, among others, were unaffected, although they had their own problems.
The classical world also had some truly amazing blind spots from our perspective. There was very little actual technological advancement (except in architecture) from 300 BC to 300 AD, roughly when the slide started.
In fact, you can make a very good case that art and literature went downhill dramatically over this period.
A major reason for this stagnation is likely the ancient world's dependence on slavery and the resultant isolation of educated men from the world of "stuff." Gentlemen and scholars just didn't muck around with glassware and bits of string, or they lost caste. This made the development of anything like true science impossible.
The authoritarian and increasingly totalitarian Roman state was also highly suspicious of anything that might lead to change. Ironic, sincee the development of true science might have allowed their civilization to survive by providing better weapons.
Stone age superglue? No. Now if they'd found evidence of stone age duct tape....
My thinking also.
Great post!
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Thanks decimon. |
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· Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · Google · · The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists · |
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All this proves is they are smarter than me. Big deal.
One doesn't need to be as smart to live in a civilized society, even if one isn't living on welfare...
I think we’ve already lost considerable continuity, too.
As recently as 50 years ago (or even less?), we had the serial family under one roof.
Mom and Dad had kids, the sons brought their wives home and either lived under the same roof or built a house on the same property as Mom and Dad. The daughters went to live in their husbands’ serial homes.
You had a knowledgebase onsite in the elders and cross-pollination too. The daughters both took skills with them and shared skills back to the birth family.
Now, both my mother and FrogDad’s have said that they “don’t want to be a burden on their children” and refuse to move in with anyone. So I can’t datamine either of them in any meaningful way for canning info, quilting info, wives remedies, family history, etc. All that will be lost soon.
Where/when did the burden thing happen? I’d have loved to be able to go for a walk alone with my husband and had a grandmother or two in the house to watch the children.
C'mon, I'll bet you've glued yourself to something.
......It also means that humans have solved these issues.....
The whole reason for being liberal is to throw off those outmoded restrictions and live in the enlightened new age
Like concrete. The Romans had it, a Brit rediscovered it 1200 years later.
If all you have are sticks and rocks, you’ll figure out ways to use them in ways that would astound us enlightened folks. Nothing new under the sun. Human ingenuity abides.
You're not very enlightened if you throw the baby out with the bath water or you kill the golden goose. But only a conservative would know that (or say it using old wisdom.)
You're not very enlightened if you throw the baby out with the bath water or you kill the golden goose. But only a conservative would know that (or say it using old wisdom.)
Things that are considered old-fashioned, traditional or religious like family structure, morality and work ethic survived because they worked. It’s a shame that every few generations we have learn that all over again.
Yep. We've been reinventing civilization's wheel since the 60s. I hope we learn our lesson, again.
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