These questions signal a marked break from then-current ideas about human diversity, which assumed that some people have a history, evident in a historical (or written) record, while other people, lacking writing, also lack history.
这些问题标示着一个与当时流行的人类多样性思想的明显决裂，后者假定某些人群具有歷史，明显记載於历史（或书写）记录中，然而其他人群欠缺文字记录，也就欠缺历史。