The Sunday News
SO far, we have been dealing with megalithic structures such as Nabta Playa, Stonehenge and Gobekle in Turkey.
Emphasis has been on the language of stone, including the geology of stone, its lithography, position in relation to the surface of Mother Earth and other considerations. What we see as the essence is the desire by the ancients to preserve their knowledge, worldview, their cosmology and beliefs so that future generations did not fail to access knowledge generated by their ancestors.
In this article, we seek to review the minds of the ancients as far as they managed to share their knowledge during contemporary times but more importantly how the shared knowledge was transmitted to future generations. When both these processes were not executed, there would be no heritage about which to pride ourselves and avoid reinventing the wheel. During each generation all the knowledge, ideas, beliefs and cosmologies would be lost.
Knowledge translates to lived experiences during which people interact with the environment in its broadest sense. The cosmos, the atmosphere, the terrestrial and the geological environments. Also included are the pedosphere and the hydrosphere. Acquired knowledge helps humankind to survive through the application of the acquired knowledge and information derived from the numerous environmental interactions.
It is not all the members of human society that glean knowledge that will assist them both at individual and group levels. Endlessness of human life very much depends on the sharing of that knowledge, more so when it is acknowledged that individuals perish whereas humanity is forever. As a result, there have to be instituted measures that will ensure that the knowledge so generated is shared. Just how is knowledge shared? Our interest is more on the cosmological side.
These will be quite numerous. However, our initial port of call will be the arts. It is generally agreed that the arts in their various genres are expressive forms of culture. They underpin and inform a community’s culture, be it tangible or intangible.
Through what the arts express, we get some glimpse of the substance of culture. If we seek to understand the messages expressed by and through the arts, we are in a stronger position to have some more lucid and more objective understanding of the culture that is being expressed. The language of stones has to be understood and shared prior to transmission.
Where knowledge and broadly ideas are not shared, the victim is intergenerational transmission of cultural heritage.
There will inevitably be elements within communities of future generations that did not imbibe the requisite knowledge. The community, which in reality does not qualify to be so called is disjointed and will unavoidably pull in different directions. Centrifugal forces set it in and social cohesion becomes a pipe-dream.
Stone, because of its solidity, has been resorted to as an expression of knowledge, beliefs, ideas and worldview, inter alia. The megalithic structures are an immortalised language that must always be provided with some Rosetta Stone.
The language of stone should not be taken for granted. It has to be learnt and understood. That is possible when the Rosetta Stone has been passed down the generations. Stone speaks and communicates the clearest; unequivocal provided its language be acquired.
Where this has not taken place, we are left with conjecture, speculation and speculation. Where this is the case, the tendency is for us to wear our cultural lenses to view and interpret a cultural landscape whose creators and builders never shared our ideas, information and knowledge.
The ancients, in addition to applying architectural principles, also resorted to drawing, painting and engraving on rock surfaces. The resulting petroglyphs are protected from the elements of weather. Petroglyphs sometimes complement megalithic structures. On other occasions, they occur on rock caves that occur naturally.
Only if we were adequately schooled in the language of rock art would we be in a better position to consume the messages embraced in the drawings, engravings, mouldings and drawings. As it turns out, we engage in surmise and wild guesswork sometimes informed by prejudice, preconception, bigotry and bias.
Before dealing with other artistic forms, it is important that we look more closely at sharing of information. Intergenerational transmission will come later. There is nothing to transmit when the information or knowledge has not been generated. Many things take place during gatherings. Sometimes people gather during rites of passage during which historical and ritual information is shared. The initiates are taught the traditions of their communities.
They are introduced to their roles in adult life as men and women. The teachers are known doyens in the community’s culture.
Songs are introduced to the initiates. Songs have lyrics or messages that tell historical information which initiates imbibe. Songs are not just about entertainment and aesthetics. Yes, the movement, rhythm, polyrhythm, and otter artistic elements are pleasurable and gratifying. In addition, we glean through songs and music a lot of historical information and knowledge.
The community, through song, expresses its feelings, comments and ideas.
Ceremonies and festive events are arrangements during which information and knowledge are shared. There may be singing and dancing. Attire may also express gender differentiation and biological stages of human development.
Painted faces and bodies have their languages that are shared by attendees. In the process, community is created, a community that shares a common culture, art forms and heritage. Marriage and death ceremonies serve as cases in point.
There are rituals that provide information that relates to astronomy. Knowledge of cosmic bodies and their significance is shared. It is also true of spirituality, which is important in informing community members with regard to ethics, morals, integrity and veracity.
The language of symbols and icons is shared for purposes of attaining uniformity in understanding. These that symbols preceded writing, as we know it today. Both cuneiform and hieroglyphics were more of symbols and icons with attached meanings that were shared by the community members.
Later we shall turn to Stonehenge to interrogate her artistic expressions and see what we may glean from them.
Already, we have dealt with some artistic expressions resident at Stonehenge and it has been our view that the various art forms pointed to ritual expressions as overall and overarching themes at the enigmatic monumental site, which was declared a World Heritage Site (WHS) by Unesco. There are several other artistic expressions that we shall interrogate and see what they reveal about the community’s worldview and the purposes of Stonehenge.
However, there were ways of sharing knowledge that the ancients believed in. Mental eyes see beyond the physical ones. Here spirituality played a role. The people who possessed such knowledge were called by different names in different societies and languages. Among the San, for example, outsiders called them shamans. Alternatively, among the Bantu for example they were spiritual mediums, traditional doctors, seers and clairvoyants, etc.
In some European societies, they were referred to as priests. There was that close link among these spiritual beings and Astronomy. What we call Physics emerged out of Spirituality. Their pursuits are the same. What are the origins of humankind? What is the genesis of the universe? What is the destiny of the human race and the universe? Both professions are engaged in the pursuit of these questions.
The spiritual or religious figures were regarded as the doyens of knowledge. Universities were connected to religious pursuits. The very old universities were related to religious and philosophical pursuits. Where knowledge and information were shared, how were these transmitted to future generations?
