Krimel said:
History, by definition means during the period after people started writing
things down. That would be about 12,000 years ago, about the time that
agriculture developed and group population sizes began to exceed what we are
biologically equipped to deal with.
dmb says:
Actually, Herodotus is considered the father of history. (5th century B.C.)
He was the first one to systematically record events and the first to be
concerned with historical accuracy. We can't take this too literally as I'm
sure he didn't just invent history out of nothing and others must have come
before, but the basic idea is that myths and legends and self-serving tales
of glory became distinquishable from an impartial record of event. In that
sense, the prehistoric era ended only 2 centuries ago.
And by the way, its true that 12,000 years means very little in terms of our
biological evolution, but in terms of cultural evolution the changes can
hardly be overestimated. 12,000 years ago what we were basically highly
advanced cave men. The bronze age was still in the future and we've since
entered the space age or the information age or whatever. And that is just a
technological indication of the evolution that occured. The cultural changes
are just as stark. Think about how much religion has changed. Or fashion.
Today people would laugh out loud if you dressed your mummy in linen.
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