Chapter 28 



EARLY MAN AND HIS RECORDS 



HISTORY OF MANKIND AND HUMAN SOCIETY 



Our knowledge of the gradual evolution of mankind from its early 

 ancestry has been obtained in the last hundred years from fossils of an- 

 cient human beings, from their habitations, weapons, tools, records 

 carved on stones, from sculpture and paintings. Early man probably 

 gathered wild plants, roots, fruits, and seeds for his various needs and 

 hunted wild animals for food, shelter, clothing, and crude implements. 

 Domestication of animals and the cultivation of plants by man occurred 

 many centuries ago. The cultivation of wheat and barley occurred in 

 Egypt between 5,000 and 4,000 e.g. Cattle for milk production and 

 horses for transportation probably were used in western Asia before 3,000 

 B.C. Sheep and asses were used by man in early Egypt. Early man 

 probably ate raw foods, as the use of fire is associated with the Peking 

 man. Today, the human being is the only living organism which utilizes 

 cooked foods for a greater or lesser part of his diet. The human race 

 is thought to have originated in Central Asia and to have migrated slowly 

 in various directions. Man is thought to have arrived in America from 

 Asia across Bering Strait, whose waters are shallow and sometimes solidly 

 frozen in winters. Before Columbus discovered America in 1492, two 

 great human cultures were present: the Incas in the Andes Mountains 

 of South America, whose culture rests on earlier cultures dating back 

 to before the Christian era, and the Mayas and Aztecs of Central Amer- 

 ica. The Mayas culture began before 3,000 B.C. None of these early 

 American civilizations had Old World domestic animals, except dogs, 

 but they had such New World plants as maize (corn), cotton, sweet po- 

 tatoes, beans, tomatoes, peppers, squashes, peanuts, etc. These early 

 accounts of ancient men are so interesting and extensive that the reader 

 is referred to the many excellent sources now available. 



All records of man in the past suggest that he has been a social ani- 

 mal, parents and children living in groups rather instinctively. Because 



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