Does ancient = primitive ?

Question:

Does ancient = primitive ?

Does being ancient always equal primitiveness?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

Let's note that primitive does NOT equal unsophisticated. If it did, Thomas Kinkade would be a primitive.

It comes from the word "primal" which means at the beginning. Any society or art that is similar to that of the earliest humans (the Hunter-Gatherer cultures, or the very first agricultural communities) is primitive.

Ancient, on the other hand, can refer to the Greeks, Egyptians, Sumerians, Azteks, Han Dynasty, etc. Those peoples were not primitive (the Greeks and Chinese were far from!).