Module 2 - Prehistory

Chapter 2

Introduction

  The progressive notion places the beginning of History from the development of writing around 4000 BC, stating that all previous civilizations and societies lived in a Prehistory. This ethnocentric view inferiorizes oral societies, which did have and still have their own way of telling History: through speech. Currently, in academic circles, the term is rejected. However, for the sake of didactic ease, it is used in teaching.

  Prehistory is the period of development of agricultural and urban societies, which did not have writing, in addition to being the period of the process of hominization - a process of adaptation and constitution of homo sapiens, lasting around 200,000 years.

 Here is a consideration by Claude Levi-Strauss on the use of the term “Prehistory” and its evolutionary character:

Due to the state of its civilizations, pre-Columbian America, on the eve of discovery, resembles the European Neolithic Period. But this assimilation does not stand up to scrutiny any longer: in Europe, agriculture and animal domestication marched in parallel, while in America an exceptionally powerful development of the former was followed by an almost complete ignorance (or, in any case, extreme limitation) of the latter. In America, lithic instruments were perpetuated in an agricultural economy that, in Europe, was associated with the beginnings of metallurgy. 

COMAS, Juan; LITTLE, Kenneth I; SHAPIRO, Harry; LEIRIS, Michel; LÉVI-STRAUSS, Claude. Race and Science I.

Paleolithic

  This phase dates back to a slow period of hominization until around 10,000 BC. Australopithecus afarensis was the starting point of hominization, but archaeologists have recorded earlier hominids. This, along with Homo habilis and Homo erectus, created rudimentary tools and developed the cranium. Their survival was difficult, as they had no religion or family structure. Homo erectus was responsible for the geographic dispersion of hominids across the Earth. Due to natural selection, these beings ended up dying out because they did not have the necessary conditions for adaptation. 

  Homo sapiens emerged around 200,000 BC, with a skull about 6 times larger than that of Australopithecus afarensis. Homo sapiens developed the opposable thumb, allowing them to build more efficient tools. But, most strikingly, Homo sapiens was the first to develop self-awareness, allowing them to create culture, that is, at this stage, the human being officially became sociocultural. In this context, we can see the development of art, such as the famous cave paintings and the Venus of Willendorf - believed to be a representation of a goddess. 

  This period can also be called the Stone Age, as they had rudimentary tools made of chipped stone. Humans at this time were hunters, gatherers and fishermen, and did not have homes (this is not a consensus among historians), taking shelter in caves for periods of time. They were nomads, taking advantage of the resources of a place for a certain period, until they ran out, and then they moved. In addition, fire became dominant at this time, allowing them to control the environment.

Neolithic

  The so-called Agricultural Revolution (or Neolithic Revolution) marked the transition from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic period, between 30,000 and 10,000 BC. During this period, humans began to domesticate animals, which helped in hunting and were used as food, and they also developed agriculture, beginning production. This process made humans sedentary, creating homes around their crops. The Neolithic can also be called the Polished Stone Age, as tools became better developed, polishing them. 

  From this moment on, organization became more complex, with division of labor, hierarchies, etc. This was fulfilled with the Urban Revolution, when human settlements (cities) and exchanges, monetary or otherwise, emerged. The culture was complex, with the development of institutions: the family is the initial one, constituting stability around the patriarch or matriarch. In this sense, the State emerged to be the means of communication between gods and humans and to establish rules of coexistence. 

Path to the Metal Age

  New explorations of nature took place, metals began to be used as tools, and societies became more complex and stable at the end of the Neolithic period. The development of writing was a slow process, but it was necessary to preserve collectively acquired knowledge. Writing was an ordering and hierarchical element. The first known records of writing were from the Fertile Crescent, a place where theocratic States emerged, with compulsory labor and irrigated societies. 

Beginnings of Magic

  Magic is as natural as water, earth, air and fire. It has existed since the beginning of the world, just as its users appeared with the first hominids. According to magihistorian Augustus Rascoal, magic is

…nature’s ability to provide humans with the power to manipulate and modify conditions accordingly. It is a gift blessed to witches and wizards alone for they hold the knowledge and wisdom to use it to aid and not to destroy.

RASCOAL, Augustus.

  Magic shapes societies and cultures in ways that are completely different from the Muggle world. Humans, as sociocultural beings, create culture to define the world through work: an exclusively human activity that modifies nature. However, magic, as the ability to control nature, makes work easier, almost useless. Thus, wizards create a sociocultural role that is different from that of Muggles. Nature's tendency to force different habits on Muggles and wizards is called natural progression. Many theories have been created to explain the emergence of magic (which is uncertain), but of these, three stand out. 

  The Uno Mas Theory is the most popular of all theories, created by the positivist magical archaeologist William Maranque. Based on documents in the ancient Aramaic language (from which the name Uno Mas, meaning “First Wizard”, comes), Maranque claims that magic arose with a first wizard, called “Uno Mas”, who lived in the Jurassic period, before the appearance of the first hominids. He is said to be the father of all wizards and the creator of the first wand. This theory is currently heavily questioned and rejected by academics due to its theoretical flaws. It is claimed that there were no humans during the time of the dinosaurs' existence, in addition to contradicting the known theory that magic arose naturally.

  The Migration Theory was formulated by archaeologist Ho Mao Tseng in 1553, after discovering magical artifacts buried in the Alps. Tseng claimed that, during the migration routes that led Homo erectus to spread across the globe, wizards were unaware of their magical powers and lived alongside Muggles. During the Descent of Blizz (Ice Age), these wizards separated from the Muggles and set up their own settlements. This theory does not explain the emergence of magic itself; it focuses more on the separation of magical and non-magical communities. However, it is well accepted by theorists in this regard. 

  The Hocus Pocus Theory is the most widely accepted among magic theorists, even though it is not very popular. Josiah Loppet, an Anti-Uno Mas Marxist magihistorian, defended this theory through drawings found on tree bark that point to a natural ability of women to persuade. This theory states that magic arises naturally, focusing on the first uses of magic, and is the only one that presents the natural progression of magic as a thesis. Read an excerpt from Josiah Loppet's work.

There is no way to attribute something present in all of nature, including plants and animals, as an exclusively human creation, as the Uno Mas Theory points out. Therefore, magic appears with the rest of the Earth, and becomes part of the biological characteristics of certain beings.

LOPPET, Josiah, The Anti Uno Mas Theory.

  From this perspective, the fact is that human beings, particularly witches, have used magic since the dawn of their existence. The magic of the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras, in particular, was focused on ritualism. Magic was more abstract, being performed in shamanic rituals, and cave paintings were used to invoke desires; they were enchantments of manifestation. When humans drew an animal, they intended to attract it. Prehistoric wizards also possessed an arsenal of advanced magical knowledge, building monuments for magical purposes. Magic at this time was very focused on deities; witches were considered divine beings by non-magicians, attributing to them higher levels of the social hierarchy, which continued throughout almost all of Antiquity.