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II

THE FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIES

THE FIFTEENTH and sixteenth centuries constitute the era of the rise ' commercial capitalism. One of its products was the Renaissance, which in " the fields under discussion was characterized by a naturalistic empiricis .••.. opposed to the theological and authoritarian world view of the preceding epoch .: , Also, the great number of accounts written by the explorers of the time exhibited, a diversity of customs which struck the attention of many scholars. This resulted in two other important developments in the contemporary social anthropology: a cosmopolitan outlook and the use of the comparative method in the development' ' of generalizations about social phenomena.

In physical anthropology the breakdown of the theological point of view permitted human dissections and the drawing of comparisons between man and' other animals, while the newly discovered races forced a re-examination of the problem of monogenesis versus polygenesis. And as far back as 1463, a Jew by the name of Samuel Sarsa (d. 1463) had been burned at the stake for heresy "because he asserted the great antiquity of the world."!

, PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo cia Vinci (1452-1519) was as remarkable in this field as in all the others which claimed his attention; one is tempted to exclaim with Delacroix, «He discovered everything."2

He appreciated the relations between. man and other animals, and made important contributions to comparative anatomy.

It is an easy matter for whoever knows how to represent man to afterwards acquire ... universality, for all the animals which live upon the earth resemble each other in their limbs, that is in the muscles, sinews and bones, and they do not vary at ali, except in length or thickness as will be shown in the Anatomy/'

Show a man on tiptoe so that you may compare a man better with other animals. Represent the knee of a man bent like that of the horse.

To compare the bone structure of the horse with that of the man you must show the man on tiptoe in representing the legs.

Of the relationship that exists between the arrangemen.t of the bones and muscles of the animals and that of the bones and muscles of the man."

... represent the legs of frogs, for these have a great resemblance to the legs of the man, both in the bones and in the muscles. ~

38

NTURIES

! era of the rise of aissance, which in :alistic empiricism preceding epoch. he time exhibited

ars, This resulted 1 anthropology: a

the development

,. -int of view e, "" een man and tmination of the

1463, a Jew by : for heresy "be-

in all the others icrois, "He dis-

and made im-

:erwards acquire de each other in try at all, except

ther animals.

must show the

and muscles of

-: 'egs of the

\

THE FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIES

39

description of man, in which is contained those who are almost of the same as the baboon, the ape and others like these which are many. II

of the varieties of the intestines of the human species, apes and such like," man does not vary from the animals except in what is accidental, and it is in this

shows himself to be a divine thing; for where nature finishes producing its species .

man begins with natural things to make with the aid of this nature an infinite .of species; and as these are not necessary to those who govern themselves rightly

. other animals it is not in their disposition to seek after them,"

. remark on race shows insight:

. black races in Ethiopia are not the product of the sun; for if black gets black with """,o:m,,·n Scythia, the offspring is black; but if a black gets a white woman with child the :'_spx:tng is grey. And this shows that the seed of the mother has power in the embryo .:M,,~ill,,· with that of the father,"

even tried his hand at historical reconstruction.

the first picture was nothing but a line which surrounded the shadow of a man by the sun upon a wall.IO

order to discover the ideal proportions of the human figure, Albrecht dlirer 71-1528) made a painstaking study of the proportions of the human figure and angles.H

..•. ··.··It was customary for early writers on animals to exclude man as a creature apart. '.' .' ~'~~~' Conrad Gesner (1516-65) has no place for man in his Historia animalium.12 In work the various animals are listed alphabetically; the lower primates and some

• ....,U.~<L~L"'- creatures thought to be related to them are described.P

, ······Wotton

A notable exception to this omission of man from discussions of animals is to >befound in a work by Edward Wotton (1492-1555). In fact, he devotes a whole

. <book of his De dijJereutiis ani1JJalium14 to man.P

·.·Pereira

...•.•..•.•.•.•........... Gomez Pereira (fl. 1554) anticipated Descartes by asserting that the difference < .• i·between man and other animals lay in the fact that, while man has reason, beasts \:1re mere machines.w

Rorario

Girolamo Rorario (1485-1556), on the other hand, formulated the paradoxical thesis that "beasts often reason better than man.?"

Vesalius

The great Vesalius in the beginning of the sixteenth century, was the first that taught physicians to study nature in dissecting human bodies; which was then considered by the church as a kind of sacrilege.l''

40

READINGS IN EARLY ANTHROPOLOGY

·THE··

Andreas Vesalius (1514-64), as the founder of modern anatomy.P placed cal anthropology on a precise basis. Besides, he made tentative beginnings in comparative anatcmy=' and noticed the relationship between the shape of the skull and race.

It seems that certain nations have something peculiar in the shape of their head. The heads of Genoese, and more particularly of Greeks and Turks, almost exhibit a round •• shape. To this also (which not a few of them think elegant and consider to be well adapted ... to the turbans which they use in various ways) the midwives sometimes contribute at the. urgent request of the mother. The Germans, indeed, have a very flattened occiput and a broad head, because the boys always lie on their backs in their cradles. . . . More oblong: . heads are reserved to the Belgians . . . because their mothers permit their little boys to sleep turned over in their beds, and as much as possible on their sides.21

e~d,_ ~ibe likens .~~ b~.fioma·,fc-4

,~='m"ls, zndre

~;L~~m;m:

~ re:i:Sv~. Have

mJ· .. ·c..~ .ritb..i:bei:r :~ ~~~'.~-:,i* ~~-¥o~ O:'heracim'ls,

Belon

Pierre Belon (1517-64) investigated the comparative anatomy of man and bird.22

Montaigne

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-92) was not sure of man's relations with other animals.

As to that cousinship between the animals and ourselves, I do not take much account of it.23

But when, among the most moderate opinions, I meet with arguments which endeavour to demonstrate the close resemblance between us and the animals, and to show how large a share they have in our greatest privileges, and with how much reason they have been likened to us, truly, I abate a great deal of our presumption, and willingly renounce that imaginary kingship which we are supposed to have over the other creatures.P

IT we are to believe Pliny and Herodotus, there are, in certain regions, species of men who have very litde resemblnce to our kind.

And there are hybrid and ambiguous forms between the human and brute nature.25

However, he applied his relativisitc standards to the whole animal kingdom and therefore refused to make man predominant.

Let him explain to me, by the force of his reason, on what foundation he has built those great advantages he thinks he has over the other creatures. What has induced him to believe that wonderful motion of the heavenly vault, the eternal light of those torches rolling so proudly over his head, the awe-inspiring agitations of that infinite sea, were established, and endured through so many centuries, for his service and convenience.s"

With this same vanity of imagination he makes himself the equal of God, assumes to himself divine qualities, selects and separates himself from among the multitude of other creatures, carves out their shares to each of his fellows and comrades, the animals, and allots to them their portion of faculties and powers according as it seems good to him. How can he know, by the force of his understanding, the secret and internal motions of the animals? By what comparison between them and himself does he suppose them to be as stupid as he thinks?

When I play with my cat, who knows but that she regards me more as a plaything than I do her?2?

In short, whatever is not as we are, is not worth a rap. And God himself, to be any

~9 placed physitnrungs in compe of the skull

. their head. The exhibit a round be well adapted :ontribute at the d occiput and a . Moreoblong :heir li ttle boys

s.2l .

Ian and bird. 22

'elations with

m- -It account

vhich endeavto show how on they have gly renounce :reatures.24

lecies of men

.lte nature.25 ngdomand

he has built nduced him lOse torches te sea, Were lvenience.26

assumes to

ide of other limals, and rod to him • .aI motions -se them to

thing than

: any

THE FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIES

must be like us •.•. From which it is clear that it is not upon any true ground of but from a foolish arrogance and stubbornness, that we put ourselves before the ";'i'{)01er animals, and remove ourselves from their condition and fellowahip.P

[1. Other animals have intelligence like man.] Why do we deny them a soul, and life reason? Have we discovered in them any stubborn, senseless stupidity, we who have concern with them but to obey them? Shall we say that we have seen no other creature man in possession of a reasoning mind?29

[a. Other animals exhibit intelligence's and imagination. *] After all, which of our arts we not see in the activities of animals? Is there any organization regulated with more with a better distribution of charges and functions, and more consistently mainthan that of the bees? Can we imagine that so well-ordered a disposition of activand occupations could be carried on without reason and foresight?32

We may see well enough, in most of their works, how much the animals surpass us, much we fall short in the art of imitating them. And yet, in our ruder performances, we are sensible of what faculties we employ, and we know that our mind applies them its utmost powers; why do we not conclude the same of the animals? Why do ascribe to I know not what slavish instinct of nature those works that excel anything can do by nature or art?33

I say then. . . that there is no reason to imagine that the beasts do, through a natural ,'"''''''~''' enforced instinct, the same things that we do by choice and skill. From like results must infer like faculties; and we must consequently confess that the same reason, the method, that we employ in working are also employed by the animals.34

[b. Man's "inborn reason"35 has many flaws.36] We have strangely overrated this

VL';LH>UO reason we so much glory in, this faculty of knowing and judging.S?

[Even if one were to assume that animal activity is "instinctive," similar phenomena . be found in man;] we make many movements which are not the effect of will. . . . A who is faIling shoots out his arms in front of him, by a natural impulse which makes limbs lend each other their services, and stirs them quite apart from our reason.s"

We possess by a natural instinct and teaching the skill to fortify our bodies and protect by acquired means.P

[2. Animals have means of communication as well as man.40] That defect which hinders commurucation between us and them, why may it not as well be in ourselves as in them? a matter of conjecture with whom the fault lies that we do not understand one ''''''t'"If-hp,c' for we understand them no more than they do us. By the same reasoning they regard us as beasts, as we do them. . . .

We must observe the parity there is between us, We have some halfway understanding their meaning, as the animals have of ours, in about the same degree. They cajole they threaten us, they entreat us, as we do them. Moreover, it is very evident to that are able fully and completely to communicate with one another, that they uncersranc one another, and not only those of the same species, but also those of different

[He comes to the following conclusion:] I have said all this to establish the resemblance to human conditions, and to bring us back and join us to the majority. We are neither "U'J'-J.lVJ. nor inferior to the rest. All that is under heaven, says the sage [in Ecclesiastes],

"Even animals are like ourselves subject to the force of imagination, witness those dogs that die of the loss of theft masters. We see them bark and tremble in their dreams, and horses will aeigh

41

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i

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READINGS IN EARLY ANTHROPOLOGY

is subject to one law and one fate .... Some difference there is; there are orders and degrees, but under the aspect of one same Nature. . . .

Man must be forced and lined up within the barriers of this organization. The poor wretch has no mind really to step over them. He is shackled and entangled, he is subjected to the same obligation as the other creatures of his order, and is of a very mediocre condition, without any real and essential prerogative and pre-eminence.w

Bellarmine

Roberto Francesco Romolo Bellarmine (15421-1621) wrote 00 the chain of being. 48

...... Paracelsus

Paracelsus, i.e., Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (1493-1541), was particularly preoccupied with the problem of monogenesis versus polygenesis. Though he accepted the biblical version of man's creation,44 the newly discovered

races inclined him in favor of polygenesis. .

[He argues against the thesis] that all people came from one father, though from one god who gives-the soul to all. The same god, who gives and has given everything, and who is known by philosophy, did not allow such forms and so many kinds of people to come from one father but from many, and neither did he order anything unnatural or monstrous, but given all an equal soul. though not similar forms, for quite manifold forms have been born through the father. It might also seem proper ... to tell who was the first father of the bipeds, if we could calculate back; however, this is not philosophical, but would be an amusing joke. In order to know the first father from whom all children are born, we must have been there; therefore, what philosopy will tell us how he was born?4.>

However this may be, we are all descended from Adam, and we are all those that ought to be called men, and our first father was made by god with his hands. . . . That is the creation of man. But still another thing has to be considered, namely, that the children of Adam did not inhabit the whole world. That is why some hidden countries have not been populated by Adam's children, but through another creature, created like men outside of Adam's creation. For god did not intend to leave them empty, but has populated the miraculously hidden countries with other men ... that is why it is not necessary to prove that the people in the hidden countries are descended from Adam.*48

An anonymous follower of Paracelsus was even more heretical, doubting the creation narrative itself, as given in the Old Testament.

Moses understood no physics, but writes particularly as a theologian . . . therefore he had the gift of understanding the creation in a particular way, and not entirely, as the necessity of the case required it to be described. Perhaps he did not know any better . . . for he was not a physicist from youth on. . . . Therefore his description is quite

* " . . . we are all descended from Adam. And I cannot refrain from making a brief mention of those who have been found in hidden islands and are still little known. To believe that they have descended from Adam is difficult to conceive-that Adam's children have gone to the hidden islands. But one should well consider, that these people are from a different Adam. It will be difficult to maintain, that they are related on the basis of flesh and blood."~6

"It cannot be believed that such newly found people in the islands are of Adam's blood."47

here are orders and

.nization. The poor atangled, he is sub, of a very mediocre lence.42

on the chain of

1493-1541), was sus polygen~sis. ewly discovered

though from one l everything, and kinds of people 19 unnatural 1 '"illite manifold

.. to tell who ver, this is not irsr father from t philosopy will

e all those that us hands .... d, namely, that e hidden coun'eature, created em empty, but aar is why it is :scended from

:loubting the

. . therefore ntirdy, as the IW any better )tion is quite

!1ltion of those ,ave descended 3ut one should . that they are

;\. ..... ,

THE FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIES

43

' ... u.tllllILCLll)!;11.11C to laymen. For it would be a weak ground for a physicist, ifhe were to give u.<;uo;;m.:o;; to the text on creation according to Moses.49

Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) also had a polygenetic theory of man.

For of many colors

Are the species of men, and the black race

Of the Ethiopians, and the yellow offspring of America, And that which lies hidden in the caves of Neptune, And the Pygmies always shut up in the hills,

Inhabitants of the veins of the earth, and custodians

Of the mines, and the Gigantic monsters of the South, Cannot be traced to the same descent, nor are they sprung From the generative force of a single progenitor.

Every island everywhere can give a beginning to things, Although the same form is not preserved everywhere the same, Fo~ one species flourishes in one place, another in another.P?

It is said in the prophets, and is well known among the same people [i.e., the Jews[, all races ot men are to be traced to one first father, or to three, as we learn and firmly from the Hebrew remains, of which some trace the only superior race, that is, the

to one protoplast, and the other races to the two first, which were created two days :·' .... ".L'.L"'. The religion of the recently discovered Chinese enumerate three differently named twenty thousand years ago. No one of sound judgement can refer the race to that protoplast. 51

The regions of the heavens are three; three of air; the water Is divided into three; the earth is divided into three parts. And the three races had three Patriarchs,

When mother Earth produced animals, first

. Enoch, Leviathan, and the third of which is Adam; According to the belief of most of the Jews,

From whom alone was descended the sacred race. 52

Bodin (1530-96) attempted to classify mankind.

the people of the South are of a contrarie humour and disposition to them of these are great and strong, they are little and weak: they of the north hot the others cold and dry; the one hath a big voyce and greene eyes, the other .::." .... ,:~_._a weake voyce and black eyes; the one hath a flaxen haire and a fake skin, the other haire and skin black; the one feareth cold, and the other heate.53

difficult for him to explain these differences .

would not do] to observe the climate alone, for we see in climates that be alike .. "","-,-,,,. the same elevation foure notable differences of people in colour, without speaking ,U~: UW.l<;)' qualities, for that the West Indians are generallie of a duskish colour like unto a roasted quinze, unlesse it be a handful! of men that are black, whom the tempest carried from the coast of M'rike: and in Sivill of Spaine the men are white, at Cape Bonne . Esperance black, at the river of Plate of a chestnut colour, all being in like latitude, and

like climates, as we reade in the histories of the Indies which the Spaniards have left in writing: the cause may be the change from one countrie to another, and that the Sunne

/

44

READINGS IN EARLY ANTHROPOLOGY

in Capricorne is neerer unto the earth by all the eccentricall latitude, the which are above .: foure hundred thousand leagues. M

ARCHEOLOGY

The Renaissance humanists derived their inspiration from ancient Greece and Rome, and particularly in Italy the archeological remains were studied by fifteenthand sixteenth-century scholars. 55 One of the earliest classical archeologists was Ciriaco de' Pizzicolli (1391-1457?), who avidly, though carelessly, recorded and collected much material. 56

Paleolithic and neolithic artefacts found scattered throughout western Europe had puzzled scholars for centuries. and even in the sixteenth century they were a problem. Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522-1605?) said that they were natural accretions developed by geological processes;" Conrad Gesner (1516--65), that they were thunderbolts. 58 Stone projectile points were usually called "elf arrows" or "thunderbolts" by laymen, the latter interpretation still has contemporary currency.59 However, Michele Mercati(1541-93), in his Metallotheca vaticana,60 stated that these stones were the weapons of a primitive people unacquainted with the use of metals. 61

Interest in more recent archeological remains increased, and solid works of scholarship were produced, such as William Camden's (1551-1623) Britannia (1586).62

HISTORY AND ETHNOGRAPHY

The first genetic history in western Europe was the MCJlJoires (ca. 1498)63 of Philippe de Comines (1445-1509). In the sixteenth century the genetic tradition was carried on by Thomas More (1478-1535), The History of King Richard the Tbirde (ca. 1513),64 and Michel de Casrelnau (1520?-92), Les JlJfJlJoires.65

Some attention was paid to the customs of western European countries, particularly folklore; a good example of the work of the period is that by William Camden (1551-1623).66

The humanists were interested in the depiction of the Greek and Roman cultures and the tracing of western European customs from those of Greece and RomeY

Reports on the exotic cultures appeared in the accounts of pilgrims,68 diplomats,69 and traders,"? but their importance was overshadowed by a new source of information, that of the maritime explorers.

The Mediterranean Sea was the main sea route of international trade before the fifteenth century. Italian merchants were ... the chief tradesmen of the Mediterranean. At one time they defeated all their rivals but already in the fourteenth century the importance of Italian trade was on the wane. In the middle of the fourteenth century the Italian merchants suffered a heavy blow-the Turks, alreadyin possession of Asia Minor, occupied Constantinople and the Black Sea. These conquests of the Turks finally cut off Italian towns from those of the Near East. But the worst of it was that the Turks made even more difficult all travel to far-away India. Formerly trading caravans found it difficult

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