Exhibition

Presentation Of Exhibits By Section

The Exhibition

The exhibition is divided into 7 ethnological sections concerned with the evolution of human activities. These sections are not mutually exclusive: from some point in their development onwards, they interact and operate in harmony.

The classification of the 7 sections is based on human beings’ biological need to survive and adapt, and the methods they use to do so successfully. The 7 sections are presented in order as follows:

Food

Food is the primary necessity for the survival of every living being. Humans meet this need in many different ways and using increasingly complex methods. Nutritional choices provide particularly important information on the social organisation and adaptation of every human group.

Architecture

This general term covers the basic human need to construct a safe shelter for the night, for each person and family. It must be stressed that in traditional societies there are no architects, but specialist craftsmen called mastores (from the Latin magister, meaning master)

Weaving

Humans combated the cold with permanent shelters (caves, huts) which allow the use of a hearth for cooking and heating. At first they wore animal skins, later followed by clothing of woven plant and animal tissue. This process is used for all types of thread except silk.

Other Exhibits

Handicrafts - manufacture - trade

The production of tools and vessels created a new environment of artefacts and specialised craftsmen who served the increasing demands of the human group. When circumstances allow, humans move on to surplus production. This is traded for other products which are locally unavailable or which the group cannot make for themselves. This is the beginning of trade and commerce, storage and counting.

Transport

These facilitate trade, a factor which is particularly beneficial to the producer and the middleman, and imposes the need for various means of transport for people and products. Contacts are simultaneously created between different social groups. Trade facilitates cultural expansion and influences.

Customs and traditions

These are the primeval expressions of the social organisation of human groups, providing greater cohesion among members and a form of psychological support against direct or indirect threats.

Social organisation

This is imposed from the level of the immediate family to that of the whole group or groups (races, nations). It includes legislation and control of the operation of all the previous sections, as well as new fields derived from the Social Organisation section, including art, justice, religion, property and war.