Early Times
The Primitive Community System in Our Country
Primeval Human Society
The Birth of Human Society
The first traces of human life in Europe date back to that distant penod when the climate was warm and humid. The luxununt, eveie»ee*i fo ests coiitoisled of laiuel, box, yew and othei species of trees. The and nveibanks abounded
in animals which today aie either extinct (as the pi e-hjstoiic elephant, and a peouluit genus, ut ihuiooeios) or xvh ch now occur in bouthern lands (as the h ppopotaimis and leopaid).
Human beings lived in small giuups (‘‘primitive hordes”). The hrst implements used by man ueie lough-ch^ppca stones. People obtained their food in common by gulh. nng snails insects, fiuit and edible roots. The hunting of small animals was still a casual pursuil . Because of the warm climate man had no need for the protection of special shelters or clothing.
Gradually the climate hardened and grew still more humid. Large glaciers formed in the north, and moved down the mountains. The luxuriant forests receded farther south, and the warm-climate animals either went south with them, or vanished completely. Vast areas were under ice.
Man however remained and adapted himself to the harsher climatic conditions inasmuch as he had learned the use of fire. At first he learned how to keep up a fire, and then how to obtain it by rubbing dry sticks together and by striking sparks out of stone. Fire kept man warm, protected him against wild beasts, and allowed him to eat his meat and fish cooked.
The earliest squatting places of man in our country are those discov- ered in the Caucasus (near Sukhumi) and in the Crimea. A large number of split animal bones and rude stone implements have been found in oaves not far from Simferopol. These were the dwellings of primitive hunters who used natural caves as protection against beasts and as shelter in time of bad weather.
When the Glacial Age was at its height, a large cap of ice covered the European territory of our country, extending to the Middle Don and the Southern Dnieper (almost to Dniepropetrovsk). The ice cap over Siberia was less considerable.
The beginning of the first millennium B.C. witnessed the birth of a class society in the southern mountains of Transcaucasia and in Asia Minor. The iron ploughshare and the iron ax brought about the decline of ^he primitive commimity system.
This blanket of ice cjovered our land for many tens of thousands of years. The glaciers melted slowly and the ice gradually receded to the north, leaving behind it ridges of boulders.
At first the land freed from the glaciers was covered with tundra. Torrents of thawing ice out channels into the soil and formed the liver systems. The abundance of moisture stimulated the rapid growth of grass and forests. The plains, woods, riverbanks, lake shores, etc., became the abode of large animals — ^the mammoth and rhinoceros, as well as the reindeer and other specimens of the northern and Arctic animal world, Man’s most dangerous enemies — the cave lion, cave bear and cave hyena— inhabited the hills and caves. Man followed the retreating glaciers to the north.
The Primitive Community
Equipped only with the wooden club, the wooden spear and the crudest stone implements man was unable to combat the ri- gorous conditions of nature and the wild beasts singlehanded.
Danger dogged him at every step. Only by helping each other could men protect themselves against the attacks of beasts and obtain the food they needed. This co-opeiation was especially necessary when hunting big game like the mammoth, rhinoceros, the wild bull and other beasts. In appearance the mammoth resembled the elephant, but was much larger and stronger. The mammoth chief means o£ defence were his enormous upcurving tusks-
The mammoth was a herbivorous animal and dangerous only when being pursued. To capture such a strong beast people had to set traps or to lie in wait for their quarry near watering places or steep cli&.
Collective life led to the formation of the primitive commumty. Everything, with the exception of some insignificant articles, be- longed to the community; private property did not yet exist. In the primitive community there were no rich and poor, no exploitation of man by man. Productive forces were very poorly developed.
People learned to make mud-huts and hovels as a shelter from the cold. Not long ago the remains of such a dwelling place were discov- ered on the Don, near the village of Gagarino. The bottom of t e hut was a shallow, oval pit the sides of which were lined with bould^ and large bones, to which poles were affixed, joined together at e top and forming a roof covered with twigs and hides. The bones ^ ^ mammoth, rhinoceros, bull and various small animals were found scattered inside the hut. Ornaments were also discovered there — the teeth of small beasts of prey, shells, and several carved bone figures of women. With the development of Soviet archeology as many as 200 habitats of ancient human society have been discovered on Soviet land, They are scattered in various places in the southern half of the European territory, in the Altai Mountains and in Western and l^astem Siberia, and are evidence of the profound antiquity of human society in our country.
The Matriarchal Clan
Origin of the Matriarchal Clan
Origin of the Matriarchal Clan, As the climate changed, the vast glaciers vanished. They remained only in the extreme north and on mountain peaks. Gradually the conditions of nature became more like what they are today. The animal world changed; many large beasts, such as the mammoth and the cave lion, became extinct. Man*s struggle for existence was considerably mitigated.
The primitive community had had no definite social organization and readily disintegrated. On the other hand, the existence of a common economy called for a more stable and permanent social organization.
In the course of many thousands of years people handed down from generation to generation acquired labour habits. They learned to make implements of various sizes and shape from flint and bone, such as axes, hammers, knives, celts, picks, spear points, etc. They started polishing the surfaces of the stone implements, making them easier to handle. People learned to sharpen and pierce stones and fix them onto handles. Of great importance was the appearance of the bow and arrow which enabled the hunter to kill his quarry from afar.
His new production technique enabled man to rise to a higher stage of human civilization, that of barbarism. Man began to make earthenware, which was necessary for storing water, especially in dry regions. At ‘first, the utensils were made of wood, twigs and skins. Then, to make them more durable, the walls of the wooden vessels were lined with clay. Still later the entire vessel was made of clay alone. Finally, the potter's wheel appeared, and with it pottery pro- duction. The “plaiting of baskets from twigs and rushes anticipated the weaving of the fibre of wild plants. This was the beginning of textile production. Coarse, hand- woven fabric w^as used for clothing, bags, and the like, !Man’s vocations became more intricate and diverse. He began to use nets woven of fibre for fishing. His chief hunting weapons were the spear, the harpoon, and the bow and arrow. Dming their excavations archeologists sometimes find the bones of large beasts .of prey with flint arrowheads deeply imbedded in them. At first women gathered fmit and berries; then they began planting grain, tubers and edible roots. For this purpose a plot of'fertile land, usually in a river valley, was loosened by means of a pointed stick — ^the hoo. Barley, millet and wheat were sown. In this way arose the primitive form of hoe agriculture.
Primitive agriculture, which was carried on chiefly by the women, provided mankind with a more stable economic basis. Gradually, in the course of centuries, primitive people began to revere woman as the s^rmbol of fertility. Realizing the importance of maternity, they also honoured woman as the ancestral Mother. And woman, as the Mother, tiller of the soil, and guardian of the collective life of the group, became head of the primitive matriarchal clan.
When a man took a wife, he went to live with her clan, where he was subordinate to his wife’s mother. At clan meetings, woman, the Mother, was in command, and members of the clan honoured only their female ancestors. For the murder of or insult to one of their kin, the entire clan sought revenge. Inter-olan blood feuds beeamo endless wars. For purposes of war several clans Joined to form tribes. Clans consisted of several hundred people, and were united chiefly for work. A tribe combined a number of clans comprising several thousand people, who primarily formed a military group. At tribal meabings the armed people — ^men and women— elected leaders and elders, and decided questions of war and peace. Women were also tribal chieftains.
The men, who were hunters, tamed wild animals. This laid the foundation for animal herding. The flrst domestic animal was the dog. In northern regions man tamed the reindeer.
Habitations of Clan Communities
Many dwelling places of clan communities have been found all over our country, from the shores of the Black Sea and the valleys of the Transcaucasian Mountains to the Far North, and from Byelorussia to Eastern Siberia. Tais material has enabled scientists to determine how people lived in that remote epoch
In the forest belt people lived along riverbanks and lake shores. Each settlement belonged to a single clan and consisted of a few hovels. The dwellers ’ chief occupation was fishing, and to somo extent hunting. In some places elan settlements were located in g/oups, a fact that points to the rise of a tribal union of clans.
In the south, where the country consisted of mixed forest and steppeland, and especially in the fertile river valleys, the chief occu- pation of the population was tilling the ground with the hoe. As an example of a primitive agricultural society we have the Tripolye civilization, relics of which were first discovered near the village of Tripolye (not far from Kiev). Numerous settlements of the Tripolye civilization have been found on Ukrainian territory, west of the Dnie- per; they are said to be about 6,000 years old. Settlements were located on high banks or on the slopes of ravines at the bottom of which streams flowed. The site selected for a dwelling was spread with clay which was baked hard with the help of bonfires. The walls were built of piles and sticks coated with clay. The result was a fairly spacious dwelling with several heai*ths inside. These crudely constructed houses accommodated up to a hundred and more people. The people planted wheat, barley and millet not far from their place of abode. Wooden flint-tipped hoes were used to turn up the soil. The grain was ground between large stone slabs.
A large number of clay statuettes of animals have been found; a magical power was presumably ascribed to these statuettes which were supposed to protect the domestic herd and help it to multiply. Pictures of domestic animals are also to be found on vessels.
Occasionally articles made of copper are found in the villages of the Tripolyo civilization. Little casting moulds have been unearthed, pointing to the fact that some of these articles were made at the place whore they were found. The frequent occurrence of metallic objects coincides with the period when the matriarchal clan system began to decline.
The Patriarchal Clan
The Development of Herding
The domestication of wild animals was of gieat importance in the life of the clan communities. Possessing domestic animals, people had a constant supply of food and were no longer dependent on the outcome of their hunt, which was not always a success. The taming of dogs and reindeer (in the north) was followed by the dom^ stication of otb r animals such as cattle, goats, sheep, swine and horses. Gradually herding became the chief pursuit of the community- At first the cattle lived all year by grazing near the set- tlement. Later the people began to make hay as fodder for the winter; in the north thin leafy twigs were dried and shredded for this purpose. During the winter domestic animals lived in the same houses with the people. Later special sheds were put up for the animals. Large herds of cattle could not remain in one place for a great length of time. People therefore began to migrate with their cattle in search of fresh pasturage. Thus, nomad herding originated in the vast steppe land- Dairy farming, and the making of cheese and butter appeared with the development of cattle raising. Man learned to treat the wool of animals and to spin thread from it; then he began to make warm fabrics which were a good protection against the cold. Later the weav- ing loom was invented.
The breeding of domestic animals enabled man to use them in turning up the soil. This led to the appearance of the first tilling implement —the wooden plough. The first primitive plough was probably a tree limb with a bent, pointed bough or rhizome.
Origin of the Patriarchal Clan
Herding was the chief occupation of the man. It greatly enhanced his importance in the community. Man, the livestock breeder, replaced woman in agriculture: he tilled the land with the aid of animals (the bull, deer and horse) and freed woman from heavy physical labour with the hoe or plough. By using draft animals, man transformed hoe agriculture into plough farming. Kinship began to be traced from the male line, and no longer from the female -The matriarchal clan, which had existed heretofore, disappeared, and was replaced by the patriarchal clan, that is, a union of relatives who originated from a common male ancestor.
It became the established custom for a man’s children to inherit their father’s property, and this led to the accumulation of wealth in the family. Rich families began to withdraw from the clan. This accelerated the disintegration of the primitive community system.
Development of Copper and Bronze Age Culture
The development of the patriarchal clan was coeval with the period when stone imple- ments began to give way to copper and bronze tools. Native copper was worked in the cold state. However, implements made of pure copper were too soft, they easily bent and soon got blunt. The dis- covery of bronze, a copper and tin alloy, was of great importance in improving the quality of metal implements. Bronze melts at a lower temperature than copper. This facilitated the smelting and manu- facture of bronze implements. The use of bronze, which is much harder than copper, permitted of a considerable improvement in tools and weapons, with the result that man’s labour became more productive and his weapons stronger.
The most ancient copper articles found on the territory of the U.S.S.R. date back to 3,000 B.C. They were originally introduced from southern and eastern lands. Local production came into being no later than 2,000 B.C, The mountains of the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Altai and the Urals became seats of the Bronze Age civili- zation. From here the use of bronze implements spread to the steppe and forest regions.
In early times, when himting was man’s chief occupation, life in the different primitive communities was practically unvaried. Later occupations became more diversified. In forest localities which abounded in wild animals, hunting was still an impoi-tant pursuit. Near rivers and lakes people turned chiefly to fishing, while in fertile river valleys they tilled the soil. The grassy steppe served as pasturage for their herds.
The inhabitants of the European forest belts and the vast wooded areas of Siberia remained preeminently hunters and fishermen. They lived in small villages far removed from each other. The primitive community system still prevailed there.
In the grassy plains of Southern Siberia, Central Asia and the Black Sea region, herding became the basic occupation. Agriculture predominated in the fertile valleys. Here the disintegration of the primitive community proceeded more rapidly. Communities of hus- bandmen and herders developed more quickly than communities of hunters. Sea steppes, which, when excavated, revealed human skeletons dyed a red colour. During burial, the dead body was covered with ochre or minium (red lead), which later settled in the bones. The dead man’s weapons and various household chattels were placed beside him. Sometimes the skeletons of a man and a woman were found together in the same burial mound. It is to be presumed that' when a man, the head of a family, died, his wife was killed and buried with him. The barrows reveal hat there were rich and poor burials, and testify to the incidence of inequality in property status. An example of an especially lavish burial— that of a clan or a tribal chief —is the tumulus discovered near the city of Maikop. The mound was about 30 feet high. The main section of the sepulchre contained a skeleton which had been coloured a bright red with minium. The deceased was dressed in clothing ornamented with golden images of bulls, rings, rosettes, and also with gold, cornelian and turquoise beads, and other small objects. Gold and silver vessels lay beside him. A canopy had been erected above the body, and was supported on gold and silver tubular piles decorated with solid gold and silver figures of bulls. The grave contained two other skeletons in special sections; the chieftain’s nearest relatives had to die with him. The Bronze Age flourished during the second millennium and the beginning of the first milleimium B C. in the mountains of the Cau- casus, Transcaucasia and the Altai. Ancient mines from which ore was obtained for the local production of bronze, have been discovered in many places.
Beginning of the Iron Age
Iron objects appeared on the territory .of the U.S.S.R. at the end of the second millennium B.C. At first iron was used to ornament bronze articles. In tbe first half of the first millennium B.C. the production of iron implements had already originated in various places, and these articles began to replace bronze weapons and tools. By the middle of the first millennium B.C, iron had firmly established itself in the life of the population of our country. It increased the productivity of labour tremendously, especially in agriculture and the crafts. “Iron made possible agriculture on a larger scale and the clearing of extensive forest tracts for cultivation; it gave the ciaftsman a tool of such hardness and sharpness that no stone, no other known metal, could withstand it/’*
The beginning of the first millennium B.C. witnessed the birth of a class society in the southern mountains of Transcaucasia and in Asia Minor. The iron ploughshare and the iron ax brought about the decline of ^he primitive commimity system.