Vere Gordon Childe > Quotes

“Guardando y preservando las llamas, el hombre hizo acopio de conocimientos. Los fuegos sagrados que nunca se apagaban, como el fuego de Vesta en Roma, fueron mantenidos como ritos por muchos pueblos antiguos y por los modernos salvajes. Es de presumir que se trata de supervivencias y reminiscencias de la época en la cual el hombre todavía no aprendía a producir el fuego a voluntad.”
― V. Gordon Childe, Man Makes Himself

“En la historia humana, los vestidos, herramientas, armas y tradiciones, toman el lugar de las pieles, garras, colmillos e instintos, para la búsqueda de alimento y abrigo. Las costumbres y prohibiciones, condensando siglos de experiencia acumulada y transmitida por la tradición social, ocupan el lugar de los instintos heredados, facilitando la supervivencia de nuestra especie.”
― V. Gordon Childe, Man Makes Himself

“The wild sheep is fitted for survival in a cold mountain climate by its heavy coat of hair and down. Men can adapt themselves to life in the same environment by making coats out of sheeps' skins or of wool. With claws and snouts rabbits can dig themselves burrows to provide shelter against cold and enemies. With picks and shovels men can excavate similar refuges, and even build better ones out of brick, stone, and timber. Lions have claws and teeth with which to secure the meat they need. Man makes arrows and spears for slaying his game. An innate instinct, an inherited adjustment of its rudimentary nervous system, enables even the lowly jelly-fish to grasp prey that is actually within its reach. Men learn more efficient and discriminating methods of obtaining nourishment through the precept and example of their elders.”
― Vere Gordon Childe, Man Makes Himself