The same triumphs and frustrations

With the launch of ANU’s Research Centre for Deep History and Australian researchers finding the birthplace of modern humans in southern Africa deep history has been on my mind. This reminded me how much I enjoyed Frank Welsh’s take on understanding the deep past in his book The History of the World. Sharing it here for you to enjoy as well.

Attempts to understand our forebears, in any other than an aridly intellectual fashion, are best made by emulating them. So simple an activity as gardening, picking wild fruit or fishing, produces the same triumphs and frustrations as those experienced by the earliest hunter-gathers. Every mother has shared in the same prime human experience and death is mourned and commemorated today as it was in the earliest days of humanity. Moving onwards in time, the most modern stock breeder congratulating himself on a successful calving, or the rabbiter inspecting his snares, is re-enacting the experience of his Neolithic predecessors. Riding a pony in the Himalayas or any wild region, sailing a small boat out of sight of land, all serve to remove oneself from the present and to share, in less extreme circumstance, the fears of pioneers and explorers: while do-it-yourself, I am told, or camping with small children repeats the discomforts and satisfactions of the first hut builders. More seriously, anyone with basic sensitivities is still impressed by the spirituality of any ancient religious site, from cave to cathedral.
— Frank Welsh

Acknowledgement: The image above is Woman Picking Fruit [picture] (1940) by Victorian Railways, photographer. It is inspired by Frank Welsh’s idea that simple acts like picking fruit are timeless and help us understand our ancient ancestors. It comes from the State Library of Victoria. Note this image is out of copyright. See acknowledgement page for full details.

Please share. Let’s get the past and present talking.