▪ Primitive humans were very knowledgeable concerning nature.
▪ Despite their abundant first-hand contact with and knowledge of nature, early humans had little explanatory knowledge; they could give no naturalistic explanation if floods or droughts came or if the hunting or fishing was poor.
▪ Paleolithic technology, however, was not productive enough to support anything approaching a hierarchy of priests, so no cohesive theology could be developed.
▪ The discovery of Aegean culture is a great achievement of modern archaeology.
▪ In 1870 the German amateur archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann began excavating Hissarlik, a mound in Turkey, and found what are believed to be the ruins of Troy. In 1900 the British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans discovered a huge palace complex at Knossos, Crete, that he associated with King Minos and the labyrinth.
▪ The termination of the Neolithic period is marked by such innovations as the rise of urban civilization or the introduction of metal tools or writing.
2.2 The Minoan Culture: the Island of Crete
▪ The Minoan culture was an ancient culture that survived on the island of Crete of what is now Greece for almost 2000 years until about 1450 BC. There are a number of powerful reasons for studying the Minoan culture. The best reason relates to the powerful influence that the Minoan culture had on the later classical Greek culture. Another reason relates to the myth of a peaceful culture that occurred in the prehistoric past and was later swallowed up by the sea.
2. The Aegean Culture(爱琴文化)
▪ 2.1 The Discovery of Aegean Culture ▪ 2.2 The Minoan Culture(克里特文化):
the Island of Crete ▪ 2.3 The Mycenaean Culture（迈锡尼文
1.2 Cultural Modality and Features
of Neolithic Period
▪ The Neolithic period or the new Stone Age designates a stage of cultural evolution or technological development characterized by the use of stone tools, the existence of settled villages largely dependent on domesticated plants and animals, and the presence of such crafts as pottery and weaving.
▪ The basic social unit of the Neolithic village customarily was the household consisting of two or more married couples and their children.
▪ The distinctive feature of the Neolithic village was social homogeneity.
▪ Neolithic village life was a time when peoplenitely more rapid rate than in the preceding Paleolithic period.
▪ Living conditions were hard and the nature was cruel to human being.
▪ By far the most outstanding feature of the Paleolithic period was the evolution of the human species from an apelike creature, or near human, to true Homo sapiens.
▪ The Myth of the Minotaur may provide a clue to the suppression of the Minoan Civilization.
▪ An important feature of the Minoan culture is the status afforded to women.
▪ Not only was there sex equality among the food gatherers but there were also strong kinship ties gatherers.
▪ Primitive humans were basically ahistorical and nonevolutionary in their attitudes toward themselves and their society.
Chapter 1 The Origin of Western Culture
1 The Prehistoric Culture of Europe
▪ 1.1 Cultural Modality and Features of Paleolithic Period(旧石器时代)
▪ 1.2 Cultural Modality and Features of Neolithic Period（新石器时代）
▪ This development was exceedingly slow and continued through the three successive divisions of the period, the Lower, Middle, and Upper Paleolithic.
▪ Social organization necessarily was as simple as political organization, if indeed the two can be distinguished at this stage.
1.1 Cultural Modality and Features
of Paleolithic Period
▪ The Paleolithic period, or Old Stone Age, was the first period in the development of human technology of the Stone Age. It was the longest phase of human history. It began with the introduction of the first stone tools by Homo sapiens and lasted until the introduction of agriculture.
化） ▪ 2.4 Achievements of Aegean Culture
2.1 The Discovery of Aegean Culture
▪ The Aegean Sea is the branch of the Mediterranean between Greece and Turkey, extending as far south as Crete; the Dardanelles connects it with the Sea of Marmara, in turn linked with the Black Sea via the Bosporus.
▪ The existence of a civilization that had connections with both the mainland and Crete is indicated by artifacts found in the Cyclades.
▪ Because of the discovery of Aegean culture, the history of ancient Greek can trace to a further age, which makes Greek one of the most important birthplaces.