New ideas

Thursday, March 29th., Cadogan Square, London.

Dorothy is now more or less recovered from her operation and life is returning to normal. I have been doing a good deal of walking about, and bus riding, to get ideas. And I have got some! Weather is still rather cool and rain intermittently, but spring flowers in the parks and I feel my spirits rising. Only a couple of weeks until I start my Mediterranean cruise with Otto Kahn et al.

Vere Gordon Childe

Tea with the Webbs a couple of days ago. I sat next to an interesting man by the name of Gordon Childe. Australian. An archaeologist. Bit of an odd looking chap. Linked to the Webbs by a devotion to socialism and tells me he had to leave Australia because his political views prevented him getting a decent academic post. Currently Librarian at the Royal Anthropological Institute and has published a book about how civilisation arose from the Middle East. Fascinating talker once you get used to the accent. 

His idea is that farming started in the Middle East, the Fertile Crescent, and then spread westwards, eventually arriving in Britain. Until then people had been wanderers, hunting and gathering food where they could, no settled base. So it was becoming settled in stable communities that led to structured societies, religion, and eventually 'civilisation'. Not something I had thought about before. Must get a copy of his book and go into it more. I should think somebody with the right sort of imagination could set a novel with the transition to farming as the background. Must have been the women behind it! You can imagine the scene: Man - "We must go hunting as our fathers have done from time immemorial." Woman - "Well you can go without me and the children. I have heard about farming. This is a good place and I'm going to plant some crops and make a hut which will be our home. See you when you get back." 

Nothing much has changed since!