ON CULTURAL DIFFUSION
Proposals of papers for EXPRESSION quarterly journal
Dear colleague and friend,
The finding of a few manmade stone tools suddenly reveals that 40,000
years ago humans stepped on an island. How and why did they arrive
there? What else did these people bring with them? Their knowledge and
their beliefs, their traditions, their language, what else? And then
what happened? How come that beliefs, traditions, and languages were
modified and acquired regional and local patterns? How come that
different cultures came to give specific identities to different human
groups? How come that humans expanded all over the planet? How are
human abilities, concepts, and traditions born, and how do they travel
and have their course?
These questions arise in almost all study and research in anthropology
and archaeology. They may arise in every event, conversation, thought
or daily habit. They may arise even when you think about your meal:
how was this dish invented, where is it from? After fire was mastered,
grilled meat became the most widespread dish, and did not need a
plate. When the first cooking pot was invented, boiled food allowed
for a much more diversified diet. Food today, apart from fire or heat,
requires a plate and a cooking pot. How, why, and where did such
habits become part of culture? How did these habits diffuse?
The first homeland of humankind is believed to be a corner of Africa.
Other primates grew there as well and they are still there. Over 2
million years ago, the ancestors of man produced the first tools to
enhance the abilities of their hands, and expanded their territory,
reaching Asia and Europe. How? Why?
Human colonization never stopped. High mountain ranges and regions of
thick forest and faraway islands were reached and settled much before
the invention of wheeled vehicles and motor boats. Islands, like
Crete, which have never been connected to continental land, have
traces of the human presence already over 100,000 years ago. By then
seafaring had developed enough to allow the landing of entire clans on
islands where they settled down for generations.
From what we know, Australia was first peopled some 60,000 years ago.
Some 40,000 years ago humans had crossed Beringia and were present
already in five continents. How and why did this diffusion take place?
In the course of a few millennia, hundreds of islands were populated
in the Pacific and seafaring people introduced and developed different
habits and patterns of culture. Major islands, like Greenland or
Madagascar, became populated by different waves of migrants.
The history of man is made up of many stories, many events, many
adventures, many acts of daring and courage that reveal the marvelous
human experiences of curiosity and inquisitiveness. They reveal your
heritage, whoever you are, the identity of your ancestors: explorers,
discoverers, and conquerors pushed by the biggest fault and the
biggest gift of our species: curiosity.
The diffusion of cultures never stopped. Famous events like the
diffusion of European culture in Australia totally changed its ethnic
identity; the diffusion of Christianity in Latin America or of Islam
in Asia and Africa introduced new values and changed beliefs, cult
practices, behavior, concepts, and social traditions. Society and
human relations altered too.
The diffusion of culture imposes new patterns and eliminates previous
ones. The diffusion of cultures and the colonization of new living
spaces in deserts, isolated islands, and almost inaccessible mountain
ranges, the expansion of cultural patterns, the elimination of other
cultural patterns, and the meeting and mingling of cultures and
traditions resulted in modern humanity. This reality is made up of an
infinity of adventures.
Some of these may find space in a forthcoming issue of EXPRESSION.
Small details may inspire big thoughts. Even specific and local cases
of colonization or changing cultural patterns may contribute to a more
general overview.
What is the story behind the diffusion of a certain kind of pottery or
a type of sailing boat? How come wheeled vehicles reached the four
corners of the world? Culture marks the destiny of humankind.
Near Eastern Neolithic peasants penetrated into Europe, was an
“illegal invasion of extra-communitarians” that changed the ethnic
identity of Europe and created a new European identity and
civilization which in the course of time conquered the rest of the
world. The spread and conquests of the Chan agricultural people
suppressed pastoralists and hunters and created the Chinese identity
and civilization and the biggest nation on earth. The Roman empire
suppressed the barbarians, conquered people in Iberia, Gallia, the
Balkans, North Africa, and the Near East, and created a new cultural
and social pattern. This was the basis of a conceptual background that
favored the birth and growth of Christianity.
Many other events defined the diffusion of culture. Every story, every
tradition, and every archaeological testimonial find is relevant. Even
small events of tribal migrations and cultural influences are part of
global history. Questions about the roots of Aboriginal arrival in
Australia, the diffusion of man in Micronesia, Melanesia, and
Polynesia, the colonization and subsequent abandonment of early
cultural adventures in the Tassili and other areas of the Sahara
Desert, the early penetration of peoples in the tropical forest of
Amazonia or the Congo, the process of colonizing some tough regions
like the Tibet high ranges or the Kalahari, the Rub el-Khali or the
Gobi deserts, are significant events revealing the spirit of man.
Every story and every myth, like every archaeological find, provides a
chapter on the diffusion of culture.
Much still remains to be discovered or even understood. The Azores
Archipelago is considered to have been first inhabited some 700 years
ago, but when the first recorded visitors arrived there, they found
domestic goats pasturing on one of the islands. Somebody had been
there before.
Sometimes a piece of pottery, a rock painting, the introduction of a
domestic animal or plant, or other relics of human action may reveal a
story of migration influence, or cultural diffusion.
Colleagues and friends having stories, ideas, or documents to share
are cordially invited to join and propose their papers. Please
consider that EXPRESSION is not a periodical specializing in a
specific sector or area of archaeology, but a quarterly e-journal in
conceptual anthropology, addressed to institutions and individual
readers in 80 countries around the world. Make your text appealing to
this kind of audience. Avoid dry technical reports. Tell your story to
a world of culture, make it interesting to people eager to learn from
you.
A forthcoming issue on cultural diffusion is planned for 2020.
Proposals or drafts of texts are welcome. Do not leave it to the last
minute. Details on how to present your paper are specified in the last
issue of EXPRESSION.
Cordial regards and best wishes for an inspiring new year,
Emmanuel Anati,
General editor of EXPRESSION
EXPRESSION ISSUE 26
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1GlVter9urOxK6qejlS3ybD_FLRYtzki8
ATELIER CATALOGUE
https://drive.google.com/open?id=15jzmQfDYeYU7CEsYLu6fVmCkhljxC1tT
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