Ancient technologies and education - Part II

May 7, 2010

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Actually, the basic technology used everyday by a hunters' and /or gatherers' society was the impressive result of thousands of years of incremental improvements transmitted generation after generation. Evidently even in the earliest dawn of prehistory men had to use a system of symbols to transmit ideas and impressions and to "teach" what they knew.

There was no writing system; therefore the only way to transmit knowledge was verbally, and the places where knowledge could be stored were the human brains. The amount of knowledge that could be accumulated by prehistoric people was therefore limited by the size of the memory of human brains. The transmission of knowledge was based on their ability to take the time to verbally transfer information from older brains to younger brains. There was, no doubt, a form of &#&"elementary education" &#&.

During the Neolithic period the prehistoric men began a transition from hunting and gathering communities and bands, to agriculture and settlement. Agriculture originated and spread in several different areas including the Middle East, Asia, Mesoamerica, and the Andes beginning as early as 10,000 years ago, originating the so called "Neolithic Revolution".

It was the first agricultural revolution-Archaeological data indicate that various forms of domestication of plants and animals arose independently in at least seven or eight separate locales worldwide, with the earliest known developments taking place in the Middle East around 10,000 BC or earlier.

The Neolithic period began at different times for different places. The earliest evidence for a farming community can be found in Jericho dating around 9500 B.C. It is believed farming began first with wild and domesticated plants and then around 8000 B.C, it includes domesticated animals.

Because of many factors, generalized agriculture apparently first arose in the Fertile Crescent. This region had a large area of varied geographical settings and altitudes, this conditions added to the Mediterranean climate made it suitable for agriculture and domestication.


Hunter-gatherers had roamed this region of the Middle East, and they had planted gardens. By 7000 BCE the crops they planted became a major source of food. They had begun farming, which required permanent settlement. Farming represents a significant change in human sociology in the sense that it enables significantly higher human population densities and it's one of the reasons why farming represents the beginnings of civilization. Farming indicates the massive use of new technologies to survive, the development of new skills.


What about &#&elementary education&#& or at least training the young people in these skills? The technology they had to use was language and oral transmission of knowledge.


Oral tradition was an important mechanism for transmission of knowledge in prehistoric societies where memory had an outstanding role. Different investigations have demonstrated that diverse cultural practices were maintained through social memory.