World Public Forum "Dialogue of Civilizations"

In the beginning was the Word. Then came fire and water. Then came tin and bronze. Then the simple ox and plough. And then culture appeared.

Your first thought may be of the most ancient forms of cultural expression, primitive cave paintings, the svirel or cuneiform, but there is a form of culture which goes back even further. The word culture comes from the Latin word colo and has a number of different meanings. In the first place, culture has the meaning of cultivating plants, the ways of caring for the soil, seeding, looking after plants. That's why we speak of cultivated plants, that is those plants that grow because of human endeavor. The second meaning of the word is the human capacity to classify, codify and communicate their experiences materially and symbolically. The two together equals civilization.