Note DR — Chapter XXIII · SEXUAL MORALITY
Reading edition
The author will follow here the discoveries of Morgan as described in his “Ancient Society.”
Morgan divides the human history into three periods—savagery, barbarism and civilization. He then subdivides the first two epochs into three stages each.
In the lower stage of savagery man lived on trees and in caves. His food consisted of fruits, thus being compelled to live in warm climates where his food was always to be had. In this stage men lived in a kind of monogamy.
The middle stage of savagery begins with the discovery of fire. Fish was added to man’s food. In this way men were able to move in hordes in colder climates.
The upper stage of savagery dates back from the invention of the bow wherewith man could hunt his prey.
The lower stage of barbarism begins with introduction of pottery, the middle stage with the introduction of agriculture and the upper stage with the discovery of metals. The last is the stage wherein the Homeric Greeks live.
Simultaneously with humanity’s advance from the lower to the higher stages, the relations of the sexes also changed.