the ethnological notebooks of karl marx - Marxists Internet Archive

i Lewis H . Morganr1 “ Ancient Society” . London i8 jy .Part /.2 Ch. I.A) I) Growth of intelligence through inventions anddiscoveries.I) Period of Savagery.i) Lower Status. Infancy of human race; lives in its original restrictedhabitat; subsists upon fruits and nuts; in this period commencement ofarticulate speech; ends with acquisition of fish subsistence and knowledge ofuse of fire. No tribes in this condition to be found in historical periodof mankind.z) Middle Status: commences mit fish subsistence and use of fire. Mankindspreads from original habitat over greater portion of earth’s surface.Such tribes existing still, f.i. the Australians and greater part of thePolynesians, when discovered.3) Upper Status: commences with invention of bow and arrow, ends withinvention of art of pottery. In this state the Athapascan tribes of the Hudson'sBay Territory, the tribes of the valley of Columbia u. certain coast3tribes of North and South America; with relation to the time of theirdiscovery.II) Period of Barbarism1) Lower Status begins with art of Pottery. Für d. flgde status (middle)comes in Betracht the unequal endowment of the 2 hemispheres, western andeastern; aber to adopt equivalents. In Eastern hemisphere the domesticationof animals, in the Western the cultivation of Mai^e and plants by irrigation,zugleich mit use of adobe-brick and stone in house building. Im lower statusz.B. the Indian tribes of the U.St. east of the Missouri river, and such tribesof Europe and A sia practising pottery, but were without domesticatedanimals.2) Middle Status. Commences in Eastern sphere with domestication ofanimals, in the Western with cultivation by irrigation and the use ofadobe-brick and stone in architecture; ends with the process of smeltingiron ore. In this state f.i. the village Indians of New Mexico, Mexico,Central America, Peru u. tribes in the Eastern hemisphere possessingdomestic animals, but without knowledge of iron. Ancient Britons belonghierhin; they knew the use of iron and other arts of life - far beyondthe state of development of their domestic institutions - thanks to thevicinity of more advanced continental tribes.3) Upper Status. Commences with the smelting of Iron Ore, use of irontools etc, ends with the invention of a phonetic alphabet, and the use ofwriting in literary composition. In the upper Status of Barbarism theGrecian tribes of homeric ages, Italian tribes before the founding of Rome (?).the German tribes of Caesar's time.97