Robert Arp - 1001-Ideas-That-Changed-the-Way-We-Think

for the first time.

“Every man thus lives by exchanging, or becomes in some measure a merchant …”

Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations (1776)

Trade is an engine that drives economies, facilitates social interactions, spurs political change, and leads to the spread of ideas, languages, goods, cultures, religions, wealth, people, and diseases. Through trading, humans acquired goods from far off lands, shared news of events, and pushed themselves to seek out corners of the world unknown to them in search of new opportunities. Trade has both stabilized relationships between potential enemies and led to conflicts, wars, and the subjugation, murder, and enslavement of millions. Over the course of history, empires have arisen, fallen, and been reborn as basic human desires have driven the need for trade. MT

c. 135,000 BCE

Jewelry

Paleolithic Middle East

Personal adornment, often made from precious or valuable materials

Jewelry found at a burial site at the Balzi Rossi Caves in Liguria, Italy, which dates back 25,000 years.

The earliest known jewelry comes from the Paleolithic Middle East, where people used sea snail shells to make beads as early as 135,000 years ago. Jewelry is not an art form confined to Homo sapiens, however, because evidence exists to show that Homo neanderthalensis created and used jewelry in Spain at least 50,000 years ago. It is believed that these early forms of jewelry were most probably worn as a form of protection from evil or as a mark of status or rank.

Over the millennia, humans have fashioned jewelry from bone, stone, wood, shells, feathers, teeth, and other natural materials, with metallic jewelry first appearing around 5000 BCE. By about 3000 BCE the ancient Egyptians had begun crafting gold and silver jewelry, sometimes incorporating glass and precious gems into their designs. The Egyptians believed that every gemstone carried certain mystical powers, which would be transferred to the owner when worn as jewelry. This association of jewelry with the spiritual and mystical extended to burying jewelry with the dead to take with them to the afterlife—a practice that was a common feature of many ancient cultures. Much of the ancient jewelry that is held in archaeological collections today was discovered in tombs.

“Rich and rare were the gems she wore, And a bright gold ring on her hand she bore …”

Thomas Moore, “Rich and Rare …” (1808)

The development of jewelry provided humankind with both a new form of beautification and another method of communication. It is an art that lets the wearer feel more attractive, powerful, or important, while at the same time conveying a symbolic message that here is a person of wealth, piety, or influence, or even one who is available—or unavailable—for romance. MT

c. 40,000 BCE

Shamanism

Unknown

A magico-religious tradition built around a practitioner who contacts the spirits

A wooden figure representing a shaman associated with the Inuit spirit Taqhisim. The shaman relied on the spirits with whom he was associated for help in his duties.

Shamanism is the general magico-religious tradition built around the figure of the shaman, and is a phenomenon both ancient (dating back to at least 40,000 BCE) and global. Most of the oldest art in the world—“The Sorcerer” cave painting in France, for example—is shamanistic, and most of the oldest texts in the world—Mesopotamian and biblical texts, for example—allude to shamanistic practices such as necromancy (contacting the spirits of the dead). The word “shaman” is derived from the Tungus word saman, which refers to a “priest” or person—either male or female—who, in an altered state (such as a trance or a drug-induced hallucination), contacts the spirit world for help.

“It was not I who cured. It was the power from the other world, and the visions and ceremonies had only made me like a hole through which the power could come to the two-legged.”

Black Elk, Oglala Sioux shaman

Although the specific features of shamanism vary depending on the culture in which it is practiced (Japanese Shinto is different from African shamanism, for example), all shamanistic traditions share four basic characteristics. First, the shaman is seen as the intermediary between the human world and the spirit world. Second, the shaman only becomes such an intermediary by being chosen by the spirits and by performing certain rituals, such as the banging of a drum. Third, in their altered state of mind, the shaman is able to ask the spirits about how to cure certain diseases or to question what the future holds (fortune-telling). And fourth, the shaman is responsible for perpetuating the magico-religious tradition by recounting sacred myths and stories.

Some later religions, such as the Abrahamic ones, opposed shamanistic practices. This was not so much done because of the practices themselves (the shaman figure is very similar to a prophet or priest), but because the shaman was said to attain his knowledge in the wrong ways, through both good and bad spirits. Nevertheless, shamanism still endures today, making it one of the world’s oldest religious traditions. AB

c. 40,000 BCE

Anthropomorphism

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Attributing human characteristics to nonhuman entities

This lion-headed figurine, found in Hohlenstein Stadel, Germany, is one of the oldest sculptures in the world. It is made of mammoth ivory and dates back to c. 28,000 BCE.

Anthropomorphism—from the Greek words for “human” (anthropos) and “form” (morphe)—refers to the ancient activity of attributing human characteristics to nonhuman beings, such as deities, animals, vegetation, or the elements. Some of the oldest art—the Lion-Man of Hohlenstein Stadel (Germany), for example—depicts animals with human characteristics. Shamanistic traditions, which are connected with this type of art, tend to see spirits in all things, meaning that when they attribute human characteristics to trees—calling them “dryads,” for example—they believe that a tree spirit, much like a human spirit, is the principle that helps the tree to grow and act like a human. The same applies to all, or most, of nature.

“We acquire certain opinions of several animals and think of some as royal, others as silly, others as witty, and others as innocent.”

Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana (c. 200)

A subcategory of anthropomorphism is anthropotheism, in which higher nonhuman entities—the gods or God—are depicted with human characteristics. Plato (c. 424–348 BCE) charged the Greek poets with “telling lies about the gods” because they depicted gods such as Zeus acting with petty human motives, and certain biblical passages, such as those describing God’s “right hand,” have often been seen as examples of anthropotheism.

In psychological terms, anthropomorphism has a number of implications. Ascribing human characteristics to a nonhuman entity can alter our views of and feelings toward that entity—it can make it seem more worthy of moral care and consideration, for example. The process of anthropomorphism can also be viewed as the mind’s way of simplifying complicated entities to enable us to understand them.

Today, anthropomorphism continues to be an important idea in shamanistic religions such as Taoism and

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