The term "culture" originated in the era of Ancient Rome. Initially, he had a very definite meaning, characterizing the actions associated with the cultivation of land, cultivation and harvesting. Subsequently, especially during the Renaissance, he began to be interpreted in a much broader sense.
Examples of cultural activities among primitive people
The term “culture” is understood as the spiritual life of a person, his work, the desire for education, enlightenment, creation, as well as the system of his moral assessments, views, traditions and customs.
The life of our distant ancestors during the Stone Age was extremely difficult and very dangerous. For a long time they did not know how to use fire, they had only the most primitive tools of labor. The average life span then was only about 22 years. But even in that harsh era there were people who left traces of their cultural activities, some moral values to their distant descendants. Scientists-archaeologists have found many rock paintings depicting scenes of hunting or everyday life. Of course, most of them are very primitive, but the very fact of their presence is important.
In subsequent times, as people learned to use fire, make more advanced tools, and also mastered agriculture, their life became much easier. Now they didn’t have to spend almost all the time and effort to get food. Accordingly, traces of their cultural activities dating back to this period come across much more often. And these are not only rock paintings, moreover, executed at a much higher level, but also all kinds of crafts - figurines, ornaments.
A lot of such drawings and decorations have been found in the caves of Cro-Magnon, Combarrel, Altamira and a number of others.
The flourishing of culture in ancient states
With the further development of society and the replacement of the primitive communal system with slaveholding, the level of culture of people also grew noticeably. Spacious, beautiful buildings were built both for residential purposes and for the administration of religious cults. Temples were decorated with statues of gods, wall paintings.
Master jewelers created jewelry from precious metals and stones. The priests of Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia studied the movement of celestial bodies, creating astronomical calendars. The culture in Ancient Greece reached an exceptionally high level.
Many works of ancient Greek architects, sculptors, masters of the artistic word entered the golden fund of the culture of mankind.
The Romans, who conquered many countries, including the Greek city states, preserved and augmented their cultural heritage. This is how culture came into being.
