Early Civilization

Résumé : In treating of the development of civilization many writers have stressed some single factor to the exclusion of all others, but Goldenweiser presents several basic formative factors of all civilization as: creativeness of the individual, psychological and sociological inertia, and the historic relations between human groups. Culture contact, according to the author, must be given a proeminent place in any historic development. In the growth on any civilization the rôle of borrowing is an important factor, for by this means a group, primitive or modern, may profit by the cultural opportunities of its neighbors. (William C. Smith)