Primitive Man In A Modern World (1969)

[Music] inspire. Inside of a vast accumulation of knowledge in our modern sophisticated world, there persists here and there a strange phenomenon. In countries otherwise prospering and advancing in technology, there are isolated groups of people living lives virtually untouched by the progress and civilization all around them. They use simple tools handed down through the generations. They feed animals mouth to mouth, even nurse them at the breast. They almost live as animals and it's revolting to us accustomed as we are to different standards of behavior. The brutal binding of babies heads to flatten them, to change their shape, would be an unspeakable crime in our society, as would the crude sharpening of teeth or the tattooing of infants faces. And yet these things are being done today for reasons incomprehensible to us. Nor do we understand open flirtation with disease in areas where diseases are epidemic. By chewing the starchy roots of certain plants and spitting the mash into a vat, a fermentation process is started which results in a contaminated but potent brew. These things are common in many parts of the world. But why? Why these strange cultural phenomena in a day of scientific discovery and advancement? To the scientists, these things invite inquiry and explanation. And we at the Moody Institute of Science have journeyed to remote areas of the Earth by almost every available means to look for answers, to study the so-called primitive peoples, and to record evidence of their strange ways of life. of their spiritual nightmares, of lives dominated by witch doctors, of lives that hang by a slender thread because of tribal and family feuds, because of malnutrition, because of disease. And the more we have studied these people, the more thoughtful we have become as to what to call them. What would you call these people? Is this the noble savage? This the idyllic pastoral scene? Would you call these people primitives? It's a popular concept, has been since the 18th century. But think of the implications. Calling these people primitives implies that what they are, we once were. and what we are today. These people given enough time will inevitably become. It further implies they have been held back by some environmental factor such as climate, poverty, disease. In other words, to call these people primitives suggests they have been caught to one side in an eddi and temporarily held back from the progress that is thought by many to always accompany the passage of time. But is this true? How will such a belief stand up under investigation? Well, let's put it to the test. In the jungles of southern Mexico in the Chiapa state, an area approximately the size of Massachusetts, there is a tribe of people known as the Lock and Dones. The Lock and Dones are regarded by some anthropologists as being among the most primitive peoples on Earth. So, we pose the question, are these people starting their long upward climb toward civilization? Has their environment held them back? Fortunately, information now is available concerning these people. Their language has been studied, their customs, their physical characteristics, and authorities are agreed that the Lock and Dones are direct descendants of the once great and glorious Maya civilization. They live now where their ancestors lived centuries ago. They speak the same language. Their religion is obviously distorted and twisted, but they still hold sacred the ruins of ancient Mayan cities. They make pilgrimages to the few they know about to those in their immediate area. But there was a time when hundreds of these cities were spread throughout Central America along with thousands of smaller villages. cities such as Tikall, cities which were flourishing when Pompei was buried. According to historians, the great Maya civilization was forming between the years 1,000 BC and 300 AD. Then the culture lasted another 1200 years. It spread across the Yucatan Peninsula. It included areas now known as the Tabasco and Chia states, Guatemala, British Honduras, and parts of Honduras and El Salvador. Mayan ruins have been discovered throughout this entire area. But even at their best, ruins are similar to the last pages of a history book. They tell us nothing as to how it all began and they give us only a glimmer, only a hint of the glory which once must have been. The Mayans produced an architecture that ranks high in human achievement. They understood well the use of the arch. And centuries before Galileo studied the heavens, the Mayans were making careful astronomical observations from observatories which closely resembled those of our own today. In the ruins of Mayan cities, we also find monuments often recorded dates of important events. And here we come to the startling realization that the Mayans had the concept of the zero long before the middle ages when it became known in Europe. The Mayan zero had the appearance of an elongated O with two lines in the center. In the Mayan math table, the zero was used to express 20 rather than 10. Dots were ones, bars were fives. The number here is 8. This is 13. This number 48,03. Putting to good use their knowledge of astronomy and mathematics, the Mayans devised a calendar even more accurate than our own today. Yes, the Mayans possessed a highly advanced civilization, but among the ruins there is also evidence of moral decay. These pictures adorn the walls of an ancient Mayan temple at Bonamp. And here we find the oft repeated story of disregard for the value of human life. These are captives pleading for mercy, but they plead in vain. The Mayan ruler tells them they must die. Human sacrifice. Hearts were torn from people's bodies and offered still pulsating to the Mayan gods. Stone gods such as Chakmul, the Mayan god of rain. Idols thought by the Mayans to have insatiable appetites for human blood. In the final days of Mayan culture, these became the faces of doom. People were slaughtered by the tens of thousands. In the year 1527, when Cortez rode into Yucatan, he found a decadent society. With a handful of men, Cortez conquered a vast number of people, a nation that had crumbled from within. And today, as we study these last pages, which tell us not only of achievement, but also of corruption and decay, we can only imagine the orderliness of the society as it rose to greatness. But we no longer ponder the question, is the lock and don a primitive? We now know he's a decadent, a dropout of another day, of a once proud people. The evidence indicates the lock and don is on his way down, not up. And it's been a long tragic descent. Another tribe, the Chimulas, living in the same general area as the Lockand are also descendants of the Mayans. Once a year, these people gather together for a festival. They try to recapture moments of glory from a dim and distant past. But for some reason, the glory never comes. They seek for, but never seem to find the Mayan greatness of another age. Drunkenness and the use of drugs were strictly forbidden at the height of the Mayan civilization. These were serious offenses, often punishable by death. The rulers knew that no restraint meant an unruly people. A numbing of the senses meant a loss of any feeling of responsibility. But today the chimula will tell you that such release is a good thing. It helps him break free of his inhibitions to become appropriately involved in ceremonies such as the Mayan fire dance, an ancient purification ceremony of which little is actually remembered. Even less is remembered concerning architectural achievements, agricultural prowess, astronomical observations or mathematical computations. So once again we question the philosophy of ever onward and upward because here again we find the remnants of a culture people at the bottom of a long descent. But now, let us leave the jungles of southern Mexico and fly across the equator into South America to the country of Peru, to the land of the Andes Mountains. Here in this forbidding landscape of glaciated rock, in valleys that rise to rarified heights just below the mountaintops, we find another group of so-called primitive people. These are the Ketuas who for the most part are content to spend their lives in servitude caring for the possessions of others. There are some 5 million of these people, the majority of whom are addicted to the narcotic cocaine. This is one drug about which there is no question. It destroys the body and the mind. It traps the user in a cycle which cannot be broken. But there seems to be no desire on the part of the catchwood to do anything but remain numb, anesthetized to life. So we ask again, are these primitive people? Or could these two be decadent? For the city of Cusco now stands in this same country of Peru. The ancestors of the Ketwa established the center of an empire which was to become legend, the realm of the Inca, one of the greatest civilizations the world has ever known. It is said that this valley once was a dazzling spectacle. Rooftops of gold reflected the sun in the thin clear mountain air. The city itself was connected to other parts of the empire by a complex network of roads, one of which, the royal road of the Inca, was 3,250 mi long, longer than the Roman road, which ran from Scotland to Jerusalem. All of this, despite the fact there were no wheels, no horses, the common denominator was the hoof of the llama and the feet of the Indian. And these account for much of the traffic even today. In fact, much of modern-day Cusco is built on Incan remains because the Inca built almost entirely of stone and with such precision mortar was unnecessary. Even the massive boulders of Saksuan were so perfectly fitted together, not so much as a thin knife blade can be forced between them. This despite the many earthquakes that have twisted and heaved the ground beneath. Satsuaman was a fortress designed by the builders to guard and control an important mountain pass leading to the city of Cusco. And in the center of the fortress is a stone reservoir still collecting water as it did those hundreds of years ago. Additional evidence of engineering genius, a water system that has lasted for centuries and is still intact. We may think of brain surgery as a rather recent accomplishment, but skulls have been found in ancient Peruvian burial grounds, which yield astonishing evidence not only of brain surgery, but of bone regeneration following surgery. In other words, successful brain surgery was realized even before the time of Christ. Trapanning was amazingly welldeveloped as a surgical technique allowing bone removal from the skull in a number of different ways. The bronze instruments used were welld designed even by today's standards. Recently, these ancient instruments were used by a South American surgeon. The patient died some four years later. an unrelated disease. Then the skull was carefully examined. It was found the operation had been successful, as had been many operations performed with similar instruments thousands of years ago. Seashell trumpets echo through the mountains here as they must have during ancient religious festivals. They remind us of the close of another era, a mysterious chapter in the history of the Incas. For this is the city of Machap Picchu. Built by the Incas to serve as a fortress sanctuary, a hideaway on the top of a mountain. Because Machu Picchu was to remain isolated from the rest of the world, it was carefully planned to be self-sufficient. Terrace fields were built for the growing of needed food. Rain was plentiful. Stone flumes carried spring water to every home. In fact, Machu Picchu was a city of stone. Stone that was quarried a considerable distance away up the Yurabomba gorge and then somehow taken to the top of the mountain. There it was generously used for building palaces, temples, gabled houses, stairways, and at least in those last days, there were torture chambers and altars for human sacrifices. Stone was also used for building parapits and towers, towers from which to guard the city, towers from which to sound the alarm. [Music] Even though the Incas were almost certain to have had enemies, it is doubtful the alarm sounded often for Machu Picchu because the location of the fortress virtually guaranteed security. On three sides, access was denied by sheer cliffs plunging 2,000 ft down to the Yurabomba River. On the one remaining side, there was a mountain. But all this security merely destined Machapicu to become a symbol of a last retreat. Because in spite of its intelligent organization and great military strength, the Inca civilization was unable to guard itself from corruption within. There was no security against lust for power among the rulers or hatred and violence among the people themselves. And in the early 1500s, a divided kingdom collapsed, falling into the hands of the Spanish. All the realm that is except Machapicu. The Spanish never knew it existed. A group of chosen women called the virgins of the sun lived out their lives here in utter seclusion after the empire had fallen. Then for centuries the city remained as you see it silent and empty to be discovered by accident in the year 193. Machu Picchu a mysterious monument to architectural genius. A building accomplishment never duplicated by another civilization. So what of the Ketuba, this descendant of such an accomplished people? Which way is he traveling? Again, the evidence points to down, not up. What of other civilizations? What of the Aztecs and their many accomplishments? Their calendar, for example, which with the use of the zero computed time back as far as 23 billion days. Their highly developed aesthetic sense is evidenced by their sculpture work, their intricate carvings. Where is the Aztec civilization today? Aside from the bits and pieces found in museums, only ruins remain. The same may be said of the Totenox, the Olme, the Mistex, cultures which rose and fell in America centuries before Columbus discovered the new world. What of the Egyptians and their once highly advanced civilization, their united form of government, their great genies for building? What of ancient Greece, the birthplace of democracy? And what of the Roman Empire? In spite of all the glory and the achievements, something happened from within. Moral decay resulted from a change in what man was and what he did. A departure from moral principles so necessary for a civilization's greatness. Is it possible for us to really get the message to grasp the warning inherent in these ruins? Or do we think we are much too intelligent to come to an end such as this? That somehow our great cities and our wealth, our scientific knowhow, our thriving economy, our computerized existence. that somehow all these things will save us from a chaotic end, from the moral decay that is here to for cause civilizations to crumble and collapse. Is this your thinking? It may very well be. But these accomplishments in technology have come about because man has recognized and complied with the physical laws of the universe. What about the moral and spiritual realm? In this area, things seem to be going wrong everywhere we look. There is widespread discontent. Riots are common place. There is disrespect for law and order. If we continue on our present course, refusing to heed the warnings so readable in the ruins of other cultures. We may have to ask as we look at the so-called primitive peoples of the earth, is this our future? Is it our turn next? [Music]