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Symbolic culture, ornon-material culture, is the ability to learn and transmit behavioral traditions from one generation to the next by the invention of things that exist entirely in thesymbolic realm. Symbolic culture is usually conceived[by whom?] as the cultural realm constructed and inhabited uniquely byHomo sapiens and is differentiated from ordinary culture, which many other animals possess. Symbolic culture is studied byarchaeologists,[1][2][3]social anthropologists[4][5] andsociologists.[6] From 2018, however, some evidence of aNeanderthal origin of symbolic culture emerged.[7][8] Symbolic culture contrasts withmaterial culture, which involves physical entities of cultural value and includes the usage, consumption, creation, and trade of objects.
Examples of symbolic culture includeconcepts (such asgood and evil),mythical constructs (such asgods andunderworlds), andsocial constructs (such aspromises andfootball games).[9]Symbolic culture is a domain of objective facts whose existence depends, paradoxically, oncollective belief. Acurrency system, for example, exists only for as long as people continue to have faith in it. When confidence in monetary facts collapses, the "facts" themselves suddenly disappear. Much the same applies tocitizenship,government,marriage and many other things that people in our own culture consider to be "real". The concept ofsymbolic culture draws fromsemiotics, and emphasises the way in which distinctivelyhuman culture is mediated throughsigns and concepts. Insociology,Emile Durkheim,Claude Lévi-Strauss,Clifford Geertz and many others have emphasised the symbolic aspect of distinctively human culture.
It was once thought that art and symbolic culture first emerged in Europe some 40,000 years ago, during the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic transition – often termed the 'symbolic explosion' or 'Upper Palaeolithic revolution'. Some archaeologists still adhere to this view. Others now accept that symbolic culture probably emerged in sub-Saharan Africa at a much earlier date, during the period known as the Middle Stone Age.[10] The evidence consists of traditions of groundochre with strong selection for the colour red, examples of so-called ochre 'crayons' which appear to have been used for purposes of design, probably on the body, and geometric engravings on blocks of ochre. All this apparently formed part of a cosmetics industry dated to between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago.[11] One theory is that this constitutes evidence for a ritual tradition.[12] A bone apparently engraved with six lines from~120 kya is one of the oldest deliberate abstract manifestations produced hominins.[13] In addition, from about 100,000 years ago, there are pierced shells which appear to show signs of wear, suggesting that they were strung together to make necklaces. The controversial theory offemale cosmetic coalitions interprets the ochre tradition as evidence that the world's first art, as an aspect of symbolic culture, took the form of personal ornamentation and body-painting.[14] It was initially countered that pigment-only decorative systems are merely individualistic display, not necessarily indicative of ritual, whereas the bead traditions testify to language, institutionalised relationships and full-scale ritual and symbolic culture.[15][16] More recently, however, those making this criticism have conceded that the evidence for ochre pigment use, stretching back towards 300,000 years ago, must indeed be recognised as the earliest durable media testifying to a collective ritual tradition.[17]
