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ON THE DIFFUSION OF CULTURE An invitation to share your experience and knowledge in a forthcoming issue of EXPRESSION quarterly journal. Dear friends and colleagues, How are human abilities, concepts, and traditions born, and how do they travel and have their course? This question arises in almost every study or research in anthropology and archaeology. It may arise in every event, conversation, thought or daily habit. It 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. 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? 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? But we could also ask how and why did Magellan, Cook, Vasco da Gama, Bougainville and others want to discover new unknown lands. More recently explorations of Antarctica were followed by the explorations of the moon which may soon be followed by explorations of the planet Mars. Human colonies are not yet present there, but plans for colonization may come and culture may expand beyond any previously conceived limits. Human colonization never stopped. High mountain ranges, regions of thick forest and faraway islands were reached and settled much before the invention of wheeled vehicles and motor boats. Islands, like Crete, have traces of 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 populated 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 Madagascar or Greenland, became populated by different waves of migrants. The history of man is made of many stories, many events, many adventures, many acts of daring and courage that reveal the marvelous human adventure of curiosity and inquisitiveness. They reveal your heritage, whoever you are, the identity of your ancestors: explorers, discoverers, conquerors pushed by the biggest fault and the biggest gift of our species: curiosity. The diffusion of cultures never stopped. Clamorous 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 were no longer the same. The diffusion of culture imposes new patterns and eliminates previous ones. The diffusion of cultures, the colonization of new living spaces, in deserts, isolated islands, in 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 may find space in a forthcoming issue of EXPRESSION. Small details may inspire big thoughts. Culture marks the destiny of humankind. Near Eastern Neolithic peasants penetrated into Europe, it 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 submitted pastoralists and hunters and created the Chinese identity and civilization and the biggest nation on earth. The Roman empire submitted “Barbarians”, conquered people from Iberia, Gallia, North Africa and the Near East, and created a new cultural and social pattern: it was the bases of a conceptual background that favored the birth and growth of Christianity. Many other events defined the diffusion of culture. Every story, every tradition, every archeological testimonial find is relevant. Even small events of tribal migrations, of cultural influence, are part of global history. Queries like the roots of Aboriginal arrival in Australia, the diffusion of colonization of Polynesia, the colonization and subsequent abandon 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 in that of the Congo, the process of colonizing some tough regions like the Tibet high range or the Kalahari, the Rub el-Khali or the Gobi deserts, are significant events revealing the spirit of man. Every story, every myth, like every archeological find, tells us a chapter of the diffusion of culture. 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 or of influence, or of cultural diffusion. Colleagues and friends having stories, ideas, documents to share are cordially invited to join and propose their papers. Please consider that EXPRESSION is not a periodical specialized in a specific sector or area of archeology, it is a journal on 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 report. Tell your story to a world of culture. This forthcoming issue on “Cultural Diffusion” is planned for 2020. Deadline for submission of final texts is December 10, 2019. Early 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 which may be requested for free to [log in to unmask] Cordial regards and best wishes, Emmanuel Anati, (General editor of EXPRESSION) ************************************************************* * Anthropology-Matters Mailing List * http://www.anthropologymatters.com * * A postgraduate project comprising online journal, * * online discussions, teaching and research resources * * and international contacts directory. * * To join this list or to look at the archived previous * * messages visit: * * https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/Anthropology-Matters * * If you have ALREADY subscribed: to send a message to all * * those currently subscribed to the list,just send mail to: * * [log in to unmask] * * * * Enjoyed the mailing list? 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