Democritus › Altamira » Ancient origins
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- Democritus › Who Was
- Altamira › Antique Origins
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Democritus › Who Was
Definition and Origins
Democritus (c. 460 - c. 370 BCE) was a Greek philosopher and younger contemporary of Socrates, born in Abdera (though other sources cite Miletus) who, with his teacher Leucippus, was the first to propose an atomic universe. Very little is known of Leucippus and none of his work has survived but he is known by ancient writers as Democritus' teacher, and apparently wrote on many subjects besides atomism.
Known as the 'laughing philosopher' because of the importance he placed on 'cheerfulness', Democritus was the first philosopher to posit that what we refer to as the 'Milky Way' was the light of stars reaching our perception and that the universe may in fact be a multi-verse with other planets sustaining life (a theory which Physicists today are increasingly recognizing as mathematically probable).
Known as the 'laughing philosopher' because of the importance he placed on 'cheerfulness', Democritus was the first philosopher to posit that what we refer to as the 'Milky Way' was the light of stars reaching our perception and that the universe may in fact be a multi-verse with other planets sustaining life (a theory which Physicists today are increasingly recognizing as mathematically probable).
DEMOCRITUS ARGUED THAT THE WORLD, INCLUDING HUMAN BEINGS, IS COMPOSED OF VERY SMALL PARTICLES WHICH HE CALLED 'ATOMOS'.
In response to Parmenides ' claim that change is impossible and all is One, Democritus, among others, tried to find a way to show how change and motion can be while still maintaining the unity of the physical world. With Leucippus, Democritus argued that the world, including human beings, is composed of very small particles which he called 'atomos' (“un-cutables” in Greek) and that these atoms make up everything we see and are. When we are born, our atoms are held together by a body-shape with a soul inside, also composed of atoms and, while we live, we perceive all that we do by an apprehension of atoms outside of the body being received and interpreted by the soul inside of the body. So when atoms have been combined into one certain form we look at that form and say “That is a book” and when they have been combined in another we say, “That is a tree” but, however these atoms combine, they are all One, 'un-cutable', and indestructible. When we die our body-shape loses energy and our atoms disperse as there is no longer a soul inside the corpse to generate the heat which holds the body-shape atoms together.
According to Aristotle, Democritus claimed the soul was composed of fire-atoms while the body was of earth-atoms and the earth-atoms needed the energy of the fire for cohesion. Still, Aristotle also asserts, this did not mean these atoms were different atoms, rather that they were like letters of the alphabet which, though they are all letters, stand for different sounds and, combined in various ways, spell different words. To use a very simple example, the letters 'N', 'D' 'A' can be combined to spell the word 'and' or, with a different combination, spell the name 'Dan' which, while it has a different and distinct meaning from 'and' is still made up of the same letters.
According to Aristotle, Democritus claimed the soul was composed of fire-atoms while the body was of earth-atoms and the earth-atoms needed the energy of the fire for cohesion. Still, Aristotle also asserts, this did not mean these atoms were different atoms, rather that they were like letters of the alphabet which, though they are all letters, stand for different sounds and, combined in various ways, spell different words. To use a very simple example, the letters 'N', 'D' 'A' can be combined to spell the word 'and' or, with a different combination, spell the name 'Dan' which, while it has a different and distinct meaning from 'and' is still made up of the same letters.
Though there have been some claims made by materialists that Democritus' atomic view of human life denies the possibility of an afterlife, this is not necessarily true. As Democritus seems to have viewed the soul as the causing motion and 'life' and that 'thought' was the physical movement of indestructible, 'un-cutable' atoms, it is possible such a soul would survive bodily death.
The famous line by Leucippus that “Nothing happens at random; everything happens out of reason and by necessity” is a thought which informs a great deal of Democritus' own writing especially his claim that “Everything happens according to necessity” in that atoms operate in one certain way and so, of course, that which happens in life does so out of the necessity of this operation. While this claim would seem to deny the possibility of human free-will, Democritus wrote extensively on Ethics and clearly believed one could make free-will choices within the parameters of atomic determinism.
The famous line by Leucippus that “Nothing happens at random; everything happens out of reason and by necessity” is a thought which informs a great deal of Democritus' own writing especially his claim that “Everything happens according to necessity” in that atoms operate in one certain way and so, of course, that which happens in life does so out of the necessity of this operation. While this claim would seem to deny the possibility of human free-will, Democritus wrote extensively on Ethics and clearly believed one could make free-will choices within the parameters of atomic determinism.
Altamira › Antique Origins
Definition and Origins
Altamira is a Paleolithic cave located in Santillana del Mar (Cantabria region), in the north of Spain, and was declared World Heritage Site by the UNESCO in 1985. The cave was inhabited for millennia and, so it contains remains of the daily activities of the population. Nowadays, the cave is 270 m long and the archaeological site can be found inside the cave, near the entrance, however, there are also remains in the outside since the original entrance fell down. The cave can be divided into three sections: the entrance, the great room or polychrome room and the gallery. First, the entrance is the part where people used to live; archaeologists found there remains of animals bones, ashes belonging to continuous fireplaces and flint objects such as knives, axes, and flint fragments, indicating human activity in this part of the cave. Given the fact that archaeologists have found this type of remains located in different layers of sediments, it seems reasonable to assume that the cave was inhabited for long periods of time. The so-called polychrome or great room, painted in several colors, can be found in the inner part of the cave, where there is no natural light. The entrance and the polychrome room form a great hall, but since the cave is a narrow gallery there is little room for large spaces, except for the larger chamber. The end of the cave is a narrow gallery with difficult access, but it also contains paintings and engravings.
HISTORY OF THE CAVE
The cave was discovered in 1868 by a hunter, Modesto Cubillas, who told Marcelino Sanz de Sautola, a nobleman in the region, about it. However, Sanz de Sautola did not visit the cave until 1875 and started the first excavation works on the site in 1879, when he found objects made with flint, bones and horns, as well as colourants, fauna, and shells that allowed the cave paintings' dating. These works only took place at the entrance of the cave. Sanz de Sautola published his Breves apuntessobre algunos objetos prehistóricos de la provincia de Santander ("Notes on some prehistoric objects in the Santander region") a year later. At the time of the discovery, the main research on Prehistory was carried out in France by scholars who did not accept the authenticity of the paintings since they did not show the same patterns and features of those caves studied in France. Hence, Sanz de Sautola was considered a liar and Altamira was forgotten. In 1902, E. de Cartailach, a French prehistorian, published Les cavernes ornées de dessins . La grotte d'Altamira, Espagne. «Mea culpa» d'un sceptique ("The caves decorated with drawings. The cave of Altamira, Spain. «Mea culpa» of a sceptical") and, from that moment, the cave gained a key role in the international prehistoric research.
THE CAVE, WITH EIGHT DISTINGUISHED LEVELS OF HUMAN OCCUPATION DATING FROM MIDDLE MAGDALENIAN TO GRAVETTIAN, WAS INHABITED FOR MILLENNIA.
Later, in 1903, H. Alcalde del Río continued the excavations and discovered two consecutive levels: one from the Upper Solutrean and other from the Lower Magdalenian, both of them belonging to the Paleolithic. These data were confirmed in the excavations made by Hugo Obermaier in 1924 and 1925, and J. González Echegaray and LG Freeman in 1980 and 1981, where they discovered a bigger complexity of the archaeological register. The studies and dating of the C14-AMS made in 2006 showed the different stages of human occupation of the cave. Eight levels were distinguished, from Middle Magdalenian (15,000-10,000 BCE) to Gravettian (25,000-20,000 BCE).
PAINTINGS
Based on the archaeological research, experts assume that the paintings and engravings of the cave were made by the people who inhabited the cave during the different periods. Most of the paintings and engravings of Altamira, ranging from animals to hands, are located in the polychrome room. The oldest paintings are located on the right of the roof and they include horses, positive and negative images of hands, and a series of dots; mostly drawn by using charcoal. There are also 'masks' created by drawing eyes and mouth to the bumps on the walls, which have been dated to the Lower Magdalenian period. However, the majority of the paintings from this period represent deer.
On the right of the roof, we can find the 25 coloured images of the cave (mostly in red and black): big representations of horses and bisons, as well as a female deer that measures more than two meters. The drawing technique employed was engraving the wall with a flint object and, then, drawing a black line using charcoal. Afterwards, it was coloured with red or yellow. The details, such as hair, were made with a charcoal pencil while elements like eyes or horns were engraved. Although they may seem simple figures, bumps and cracks on the roof were purposely used to give volume to the animals.
Paleolithic Cave Painting in Altamira Cave
The narrow gallery contains a special set of masks representing animal faces, for instance, deer and bison. The technique employed is simple and astonishing at the same time. The artist took advantage of the walls bumps and the perspective to create a whole face with simple elements such as ayes and lines representing the mouth or the nose.
ALTAMIRA TODAY
Nowadays, Altamira cave is closed to the public due to its preservation problems. As said before, the entrance fell over and covered the cave, creating a stable climate inside that ensured the preservation of the paintings, but when it was discovered, the air started entering form the outside and caused changes in humidity and temperature. Furthermore, during the 20th century, walls and paths were built inside the cave to accept hundreds of thousands of visitors. All these changes affected the paintings, as well as the human presence. Between 1997 and 2001, measures were taken to control the state of the cave. In 2002, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) started an exhaustive conservation plan and, from 2011, an international committee of experts studies the feasibility of giving access to a restricted number of visitors without affecting the preservation of the paintings.
Even though the original cave cannot be visited, archaeological studies and experts made possible a recreation of the cave that can be visited as well as its museum which contains a permanent collection of objects from Altamira and other surrounding caves.
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