02-23-2011, 04:48 PM
It is amazing what archaeologists discover. They have found the skeleton of a Copper Age school attendance officer; the report is here, and an English translation would be something like this (thanks Google Translate).
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In eastern Kenya, British archaeologists have discovered the 6,000 years old skeleton of an ancient school attendance officer. The discovery sheds new light on the history of the profession. Until now it was assumed that the first attendance officers lived after the invention of parchment, about 2700 years BC.
Archaeologist and leader of the research team Ron Waterbridge: "Because of this skeleton, we now know that attendance officers are much older than previously known. For years we thought that all officials had left the African continent shortly after the last ice age, but that assumption now appears incorrect. "
According to Meindert Verweij, archaeologist at Leiden University, the school attendance officers were then more independent than now: "In the fourth millennium BC, officials still had to show some initiative. There was no trade union, no inspectorate and compulsory education had in the Neolithic period not even been invented. Responsibility therefore still lay with the officials themselves. Cave paintings from later periods also show that school attendance officers operated independently."
For archaeologists, it is still a mystery how the attendance officer has managed to survive in the unruly circumstances of Kenya, in the year 4000 BC. Waterbridge: "In large parts of East Africa there were civilizations that lived by agriculture and livestock, but valuable education did not exist. It is hard to imagine how bureaucrats may have survived, so the big question now is how officials have adapted to their environment. Possibly they moved like nomads from area to area, looking for water and primary schools."
***
In eastern Kenya, British archaeologists have discovered the 6,000 years old skeleton of an ancient school attendance officer. The discovery sheds new light on the history of the profession. Until now it was assumed that the first attendance officers lived after the invention of parchment, about 2700 years BC.
Archaeologist and leader of the research team Ron Waterbridge: "Because of this skeleton, we now know that attendance officers are much older than previously known. For years we thought that all officials had left the African continent shortly after the last ice age, but that assumption now appears incorrect. "
According to Meindert Verweij, archaeologist at Leiden University, the school attendance officers were then more independent than now: "In the fourth millennium BC, officials still had to show some initiative. There was no trade union, no inspectorate and compulsory education had in the Neolithic period not even been invented. Responsibility therefore still lay with the officials themselves. Cave paintings from later periods also show that school attendance officers operated independently."
For archaeologists, it is still a mystery how the attendance officer has managed to survive in the unruly circumstances of Kenya, in the year 4000 BC. Waterbridge: "In large parts of East Africa there were civilizations that lived by agriculture and livestock, but valuable education did not exist. It is hard to imagine how bureaucrats may have survived, so the big question now is how officials have adapted to their environment. Possibly they moved like nomads from area to area, looking for water and primary schools."
