cultural colors

[John A Richards]

Don Larsson sez:
>Some have even suggested that the ability to distinguish the two is a 
>relatively recent evolutionary development!

There is a quick but good analysis of this very possibility in one of Cecil 
Adams' "Straight Dope" books.  (Great pick-up reading--educational and funny,
too.)  He points out that there is a glaring lack of color in any early epic 
works, e.g., the Iliad and Odyssey, and suggests that perhaps people in these
cultures were able to distinguish only two or three regions in the entire
spectrum.

John Richards
johnrich at mit.edu