This Fleeting World

Recommendations

Info

Beginnings: The Era of Foragers The plate shows a variety of early stabbing tools. Tools 1–2 are made from flaked stone, 2 from antler, 3 from animal bone, 4 from antler, 5 through 7 from chipped stone. tunately, as studies of closely related species have become more sophisticated, we have learned that many of these qualities can be found to some degree in closely related species such as chimpanzees. For example, Jane Goodall, the first modern researcher to study chimpanzees in their native
This Fleeting World environments, learned very soon that Topics for Further Study chimpanzees can make and use tools Animism and can also hunt. Creation Myths At the moment the most powerful Development of Language marker, the feature that distinguishes our species most decisively from closely related species, appears to be symbolic language. Many animals can communicate with each other and share information in rudimentary ways. But humans are the only creatures who can communicate using symbolic language: a system of arbitrary symbols that can be linked by formal grammars to create a nearly limitless variety of precise utterances. Symbolic language greatly enhanced the precision of human communication and the range of ideas that humans can exchange. Symbolic language allowed people for the first time to talk about entities that were not immediately present (including experiences and events in the past and future) as well as entities whose existence was not certain (such as souls, demons, and dreams). The result of this sudden increase in the precision, efficiency, and range of human communication systems was that people could share much more of what they learned with others; thus, knowledge began to accumulate more rapidly than it was lost. Instead of dying with each person or generation, the insights of individuals could be preserved for future generations. As a result, each generation inherited the accumulated knowledge of previous generations, and, as this store of knowledge grew, later generations could use it to adapt to their environment in new ways. Unlike all other living species on Earth, whose behaviors change in significant ways only when the genetic makeup of the entire species changes, humans can change their behaviors significantly without waiting for their genes to change. This cumulative process of “collective learning” explains the exceptional ability of humans to adapt to changing environments and changing circumstances. It also explains the unique dynamism of human history. In human history culture has overtaken natural selection as the primary motor of change. These conclusions suggest that we should seek the beginnings of human history not only in the anatomical details of early human remains, but also in any evidence that hints at the presence of symbolic language and the accumulation of technical skills. The findings of McBrearty and Brooks link the earliest evidence of symbolic activity (including hints of the grinding
Page 2 and 3: Praise for This Fleeting World Davi
Page 4: This Fleeting World • A Short His
Page 7 and 8: Copyright © 2008 by Berkshire Publ
Page 10 and 11: Contents Preface ix Publisher’s N
Page 12 and 13: Preface This Fleeting World: A Teac
Page 14 and 15: Preface xi That is why we are so en
Page 16 and 17: Preface xiii That is not to say eve
Page 18 and 19: Preface xv influence and consequenc
Page 20 and 21: Introduction As Henry Ford is suppo
Page 22 and 23: Introduction xix me clarify my own
Page 24 and 25: Prequel xxi we can tell a story tha
Page 26 and 27: Prequel xxiii sion known as a “su
Page 28 and 29: Prequel xxv more successfully, pass
Page 30 and 31: Prequel xxvii the appearance of a l
Page 32: This Fleeting World • A Short His
Page 35 and 36: This Fleeting World • Key Events
Page 37 and 38: This Fleeting World interpretations
Page 39: This Fleeting World or Homo erectus
Page 43 and 44: 10 This Fleeting World Low producti
Page 45 and 46: 12 This Fleeting World other specie
Page 47 and 48: 14 This Fleeting World Thought Expe
Page 49 and 50: 16 This Fleeting World eras of huma
Page 53 and 54: 20 This Fleeting World less comfort
Page 55 and 56: 22 This Fleeting World some of the
Page 57 and 58: 24 This Fleeting World civilization
Page 59 and 60: 26 This Fleeting World • Key Even
Page 61 and 62: 28 This Fleeting World of particula
Page 63 and 64: 30 This Fleeting World communities
Page 65 and 66: 32 This Fleeting World General Char
Page 67 and 68: 34 This Fleeting World The “Secon
Page 69 and 70: 36 This Fleeting World other world
Page 71 and 72: 38 This Fleeting World important in
Page 73 and 74: 40 This Fleeting World expectations
Page 75 and 76: 42 This Fleeting World complexity a
Page 77 and 78: 44 This Fleeting World Topics for F
Page 81 and 82: 48 This Fleeting World
Page 83 and 84: 50 This Fleeting World Worth Debati
Page 85 and 86: 52 This Fleeting World A sixteenth-
Page 89 and 90: 56 This Fleeting World Spanish ship
Page 91 and 92:
Our World: The Modern Era The moder
Page 93 and 94:
60 This Fleeting World Worth Debati
Page 95 and 96:
62 This Fleeting World communities
Page 97 and 98:
64 This Fleeting World men more con
Page 99 and 100:
66 This Fleeting World the modern e
Page 101 and 102:
68 This Fleeting World of new ideas
Page 103 and 104:
70 This Fleeting World and track st
Page 105 and 106:
72 This Fleeting World industrializ
Page 107 and 108:
74 This Fleeting World By 1900 many
Page 109 and 110:
76 This Fleeting World Modern indus
Page 111 and 112:
78 This Fleeting World comparisons
Page 113 and 114:
80 This Fleeting World production,
Page 115 and 116:
82 This Fleeting World Key Events i
Page 117 and 118:
84 This Fleeting World and politica
Page 119 and 120:
86 This Fleeting World of the econo
Page 121 and 122:
88 This Fleeting World and radio be
Page 123 and 124:
90 This Fleeting World relationship
Page 125 and 126:
92 This Fleeting World revolution i
Page 127 and 128:
94 This Fleeting World Davies, R. W
Page 129 and 130:
96 This Fleeting World Taagepera, R
Page 131 and 132:
98 This Fleeting World Problems of
Page 133 and 134:
100 This Fleeting World of the firs
Page 135 and 136:
102 This Fleeting World imply easy
Page 137 and 138:
104 This Fleeting World adopted her
Page 139 and 140:
Index A Abbasid caliphate, 47 Achae
Page 141 and 142:
108 Index E Easter Island, 38 Econo
Page 143 and 144:
110 Index Mesopotamia (southwest As
Page 145 and 146:
112 Index Trade agrarian era, 37, 4
Page 147 and 148:
Berkshire Encyclopedia of World His
Page 149 and 150:
Patterns of Global Terrorism 1985-2
Page 151 and 152:
Order multiple copies of Ideal for
show all

This Fleeting World

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?