Cultural diffusion in prehistory Last Post 05 Aug 2006 04:57 PM by jfort. 4 Replies. | Sort: |
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jfort
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Posts:1
 | | 05 Aug 2006 04:57 PM | | The speed in km/yr of prehistoric cultural diffusion has never been estimated for any example, as far as I know.
Can anyone prepare a list with the earliest example of a cultural trait (e.g. technology) in each region?
E.g. for the potter's wheel:
Mesopotamia-3500 yr BP
Egypt- ? yr BP
Persia- ? yr BP
Greece- ? yr BP
Balcans- ? yr PB
Rome- ? yr BP
If you can help, please write me at joaquim.fort@udg.es with the subject "Prehistoric cultural diffusion." Thanks! | | | |
| | C.S.I.
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Posts:42
| | 05 Sep 2006 03:11 AM | | | Hello Jfort.
There is a member here named chacha333 that may help in the pre-clovis aspect of early tech.
Though I Don't think I can help with your search to your satisfaction,but may I pose a query overtop or underneath your request?
In the sense of cultural diffusion itself.
that would require a 'culture'...
as either progenitor or recipient of the infusion.
I assume we must differentiate between the concurrent extant civilization(s)/nomads of that time and the present B.P. type of classification.
Who,here,could identifiy the earliest cultures who were self-aware inasfar as that 'they' concluded they,themselves,were actually a "Culture".
wether self-styled/mythic/ or a biased local enemy analysis.
A man in the field today must be astute in retrospect that a lot of the confusion in the diffusion could merely be serendipity.
Not everything has to be passed down father to son.
Independant achievement of what are basal technology should not be ruled out.
I always like to believe that unless a patriarch or great warrrior was severely unstable,they were all just mamma's boys.
"Follow the Momma"
Men can campaign across half a continent,if suitably equipped, in the time it takes for a woman to bring a child to term.Where is a man From?
There you'll invariably find ...His mother.
I never claimed that I could walk on water... | | | |
| Paul
New Member
Posts:12
| | 05 Sep 2006 11:40 AM | | | Hi, not sure I can help with your info but to see a similar approach see Ammerman and Cavalli-Sforza's work on the transition to agriculture in Europe, they worked out that domesticated plants and animals spread at a rate of about 1km/yr from a centre in Jericho (presumed). They also had to work out the correllation coefficent in order to account for different rates of spread in different areas, in this case it came out well at 0.89.
All the best
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| fugue
New Member
Posts:70
| | 25 Apr 2008 09:01 PM | | | I'm not sue this is what you are suggesting, but I don't think it is possible to estimate a general speed of cultural diffusion: surely every artifact, technology, ethnic group and idea would spread at a different rate depending on it's usefulness, population movement, trade and the conservative nature of the possible recipient? In this fashion, a speed could only be given in specific instances with regard to specific cultural traits.
Unfortunately I cannot provide you with a list of defining cultural traits as my knowledge is far from complete.
Jonathon Smith
http://www.geocities.com/archchaos1/index.htm | | | |
| Paul
New Member
Posts:12
| | 25 Apr 2008 09:01 PM | | | Got to agree Fugue, diffusion has many, many variables that affect the speed of its spread, whatever is it that is spreading. How useful is this approach in understanding prehistoric societies anyway? It offers a chronological framework but not an interpretative one. It is desirable to know when an innovation spread but ultimately we should be looking at why it spread; why communities situated in contingent historical and social circumstances chose to deploy such innovations. I think this is one of the really big issues in prehistoric archaeology and one that deserves debate... | | | |
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