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Showing posts from January, 2024

The Paleolithic: A Shamanic Dance

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    Language and Spiritual Cutulture in Old Stone Age     Timetable    First Ancestors  Our first ancestors lived  7 million  years ago Bipedal, upright walking  Ability to walk emerged long before humankind developed big brains. Even though they walked they were still tree climbers. No hominins has been found during this period yet. ----------------------  Homonins Hominins continued to develop  4 million  years ago grasping feet were lost. Multiple hominin species lived simultaneously.  They may have met ------------ Homo habilis 3 million  years ago hominins lived in Southern Africa. Tools allowed hominins to adapt to new environments. The first known stone tools were produced in Ethiopia. The tools may have been produced by  Homo habilis . The  Homo habilis  is a member of our own genus group, the genus  Homo ------------------- Homo erectus  2 million  years ago  Homo erectus  became the first hominin to migrate out of Africa. Homo erectus  had human-like traits such as:  large br

The Dancer / The Labyrinth Dance

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  I Introduction   According to Kassing (2007), from its origins dance served as a medium for magic and religion through rituals and ceremonies. For early societies, a ritual was a series of acts established through tradition. Ceremonies, on the other hand, signify or celebrate an important event.Ceremonies are performed by enacting strictly prescribed rituals. II Learning Objectives   Understand the outer and inner aspects of dance in non-literate societies during prehistory. Explain the importance of dance ornaments Gain an awareness of the role of the mind's eye in the development of art Discuss the role of the shaman in these early societies Articulate what cave art suggest in reference to dance  Experience the labyrinth III Main Lesson 1 The Dancer Take a look at the diagram on page 29 of Kassing (2007)   Source: Kassing, Gayle (2007). History of Dance:  An Interactive Arts Approach. Human Kinetics   Question 1 Which are the outer and inner aspects of the dance in non-lit

Homonins: Oldest Human Rituals

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    I Unit: Homonins Theme: The Oldest Human Rituals Introduction   Human evolution is the lengthy process of change by which people originated from apelike ancestors. Scientific evidence shows that the physical and behavioral traits shared by all people originated from apelike ancestors and evolved over a period of approximately seven million years. II Learning Objectives   Understand the influence homonins had on human's abilities to dance Explain the importance of bipedality for dance development in the paleolithic Gain an awareness of the significance the construction of early shelters, burials and art objects had for human evolution Experience finger dexterity through choreography of hand gestures  III   Main Lesson   1   First Ancestors   2  N O T E S First Ancestors  Our first ancestors lived  7 million  years ago Bipedal, upright walking  Ability to walk emerged long before humankind developed big brains. Even though they walked they were still tree climbers. No hominin