The Origin of Man and of His SuperstitionsRead, Carveth
Philosophy
The Origin of Man and of His Superstitions
Read, Carveth
Animism; Human beings -- Origin; Magic; Superstition; Totemism
The moral of all this is that there was abundant time before the
rise of Neolithic culture (which may be called the beginning of
civilisation) for the complete adaptation of mankind everywhere, by
natural selection, to the life of hunters; and that, since then, there
has not been time for the biological adaptation of any race to the
civilised state. We shall see that natural selection has probably had
some civilising influence; but any approach to complete adaptation has
been impossible, not only for want of time, but also because of rapid
changes in the structure of civilisation, the social protection of some
eccentrics, the persistence of the hunting-life as a second resource
or as a pastime, and by the frequent recurrence of warfare—that
is to say, man-hunting. To civilisation we are, for the most part,
merely accommodated by experience, education, tradition and social
pressure. A few people seem to be adapted to civilised life from their
birth, and others to the slavish life; but all inherit, more or less
manifestly, the nature of the hunter and warrior. This is a necessary
basis of general and social psychology; and perhaps tribal or national
characters (so far as distinguishable) may be understood by assigning
the conditions under which they have, in various directions, been
modified from this type.
To avoid the appearance of overlooking an obvious objection, I may add
that the life of the hunter does not imply an exclusively carnivorous
diet, but merely that hunting is the activity upon which his faculties
are bent and upon which his livelihood chiefly depends. It is most
unlikely that a cousin of the frugivorous anthropoids should entirely
give up his ancestral food, immediately, or perhaps at any time. Even
the diet of the wolf, in North-East Canada, includes “much fruit,
especially the uva-ursi”; and the coyote there also eats berries;[57]
so does the jackal in India. Savage women everywhere subsist largely
on roots and fruits. Dr. Keith says the teeth and jaws of the
Neanderthal species were adapted to a coarse vegetable diet.[58] Yet
the Neanderthal burials at La Ferrasie, La Chapelle aux Saints, Jersey
and Krapina, with their implements and animal remains, leave no doubt
that the species hunted the biggest game. At Krapina, besides mammoth
and rhinoceros, “the cave-bear occurred abundantly, it was evidently
a favourite article of diet”: the inhabitants were not fanatical
vegetarians.
§ 6. SOME FURTHER CONSEQUENCES OF THE HUNTING-LIFE
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