C H A P T E R 5
The Respectful Mind
THE ORIGINAL BEAD GAME
AS FAR BACK as a hundred thousand years ago, predecessors of homo sapiens were already decorating themselves with colored beads. In the view of scholars, members of one humanoid group were distinguishing themselves from other groups through a conscious decision to beautify (beadify!) themselves in a prescribed manner.1 We cannot know for sure whether such decoration was carried out exclusively or primarily for a group-marking purpose; nor whether our ancestors were already conversing with one another in some kind of language or protolanguage; nor how such marking related to other early forms of symbolization, ranging from funerary rites to cave paintings of animals. It does seem clear ...
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