As such systems became more complex over time, a class of specialists in the art
of writing, typically working as scribes, record-keepers, poets, and others, par-
layed their advanced skills into a new, elite class in society. Writing and reading
would remain the purview of specialists for several thousand years, and it would
not be until the 19th century that any society would claim a literacy rate exceeding
50 percent. Many modern states reached this milestone only in the 20th century.
But the birth of this element of culture in the hearth regions would completely
transform human interaction, and language would ultimately become one of the
most important factors distinguishing one culture from another.
The culture hearths also allowed for more detailed, stylized, and elaborate reli-
gious expression. There is no question that humans possessed certain beliefs about
their surroundings that were “religious” in character prior to the establishment of
the hearth regions. These beliefs were not expressed through the construction of
permanent religious structures in most instances, however. Natural features like
mountains, rivers, etc., might be assigned supernatural qualities, but because
humans were mostly nomadic prior to the foundation of the hearths, there was little
utility in building large monuments, temples, shrines or similar symbols to deities.
But in the hearth regions, humans felt compelled to raise buildings that reflected
the power of the gods, the might of those ruling the societies, and the wealth and
skill of the culture itself. Religious officials also derived much of their authority
from the creation of a religious landscape, and since in most hearth areas the heav-
ens played a central role in the local religious system, monuments that approached
the sky in the form of pyramids or great temples often appeared. This was especially
the case in the hearth in Mesopotamia in the form of the ziggurat, and the huge pyra-
mids built by the Egyptians in the Nile Valley and the Maya in Central America.
Over a long period of time, the many innovations in culture and technology
spread outward from the hearths into surrounding regions, influencing the peoples
who resided there. This process is known ascultural diffusion. As these groups
encountered the new influences, they of course modified them to meet the stan-
dards, requirements, and expectations of their own societies, resulting in new var-
iations of language, religion, and other aspects of culture. This in turn led to the
development of the various expressions ofcultural identityfound across the spec-
trum of human existence today. In today’s era ofglobalization, one may identify
new cultural hearths, especially those of Western culture, which has diffused to
every part of the Earth over the last century. It was in the original handful of
hearths, however, that we find the first evidence of human beings starkly defining
and differentiating themselves in terms of the set of attributes scholars collectively
describe as culture. These locations set the basic pattern that subsequent civiliza-
tions would follow in molding the global cultural landscape.
Culture Hearth 89