Neolithic to Iron Age dice and combs found on 3 continents – sign of one culture? - Page 2 - Historum

paulmarcw · February 28th, 2010, 02:11 AM

Below is an example of pyramidal tumulus found worldwide:

http://www.beforebc.de/all_africa/20...15-100-10.html

**Sargon of Akkad** · February 28th, 2010, 03:08 AM

Again, there's a perfectly logical explanation.

A pyramid is a very stable form of building. If you wanted to build something very large, a pyramid is not liable to collapse or be blown over, and therefore will last for a long time. Ultimately, if you lived with low technology and you want to build a grand monument, a pyramid is practically your only option.

You'll notice the individual styles of all those pyramids are very different. No sign of shared culture at all.

paulmarcw · February 28th, 2010, 03:11 AM

Was iconography a prehistoric shorthand (like the neolithic water sign - the sequence of "W"s) or its own symbolic "writing" as is found in Chinese characters?

http://www.beforebc.de/Made.by.Human...-00-04-06.html

paulmarcw · February 28th, 2010, 11:05 AM

The above page,

http://www.beforebc.de/Made.by.Human...-00-04-06.html

concerning cosmogenic worldview, is another example of one aspect of culture widespread in the ancient world that is either the result of demic movement or parallel evolution.

What views could be extended to give support to either one view or the other?

**Lucius** · February 28th, 2010, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sargon of Akkad

Again, there's a perfectly logical explanation.

A pyramid is a very stable form of building. If you wanted to build something very large, a pyramid is not liable to collapse or be blown over, and therefore will last for a long time. Ultimately, if you lived with low technology and you want to build a grand monument, a pyramid is practically your only option.

You'll notice the individual styles of all those pyramids are very different. No sign of shared culture at all.

Yep.

**Richard Stanbery** · March 2nd, 2010, 08:47 PM

A curious oddity that I learned of only recently is that of the "beaker people" from the bronze age. In fact, they are attributed with bringing bronze technology, as well as woven fabrics, to Britain and ending the Celts lingering in stone age.
http://ukirishhistory.suite101.com/a...ple_in_britain

They didnt discover the bronze of Britain, but they taught the Celts how to use it.
Little is known of the beaker people, who are known only by thier distinctive burial pottery, which is sort of shaped like a beaker. They are thought to have originated in the warmer parts of the Med/Spain area, though no one is sure.
They do not seem to have actually invaded Britain, but they did achieve high status akin to type of ruling class.
In other words, an unknown group came from obscure origins with a bunch of perfected technology and began to rapidly modernize the Celts of Britain, possibly as a result of trade interaction.
And so another mystery of sudden, deliberate technology transfer. They lifted the Celts out of the stone age almost overnight.
But who were they?

Nikator · March 2nd, 2010, 09:54 PM

I thought the Beaker people arrived to join the existing people from after the last Ice Age in Britain and established themselves in that culture. Didn't the Celtic culture (not sure if it was actually a migration) come later in the Iron Age rather than being before the Bronze Age (arrival of the Beaker people).

**Richard Stanbery** · March 3rd, 2010, 07:14 AM

Well, archeology does not know for certain. Since the 1960s, British and American archeologist have become skeptical about prehistoric migration from the Iberian penninsula, though that seems to be from where the oldest pottery shards of this type are found. Here are some links...

Beaker_culture

and, they had enough clout to modify Stonehenge without getting killed by the rest of Celtic society. So they had a priest class among them. They were sun worshippers..
http://www.themystica.com/mystica/ar...er_people.html
and...www.britainexpress.com/History/Bronze_Age.htm

and...www.comp-archaeology.org/Bellbeaker.htm

And so, there are trends in archeological thoughts and hypothesis. So we do not know for sure. It remains a mystery. But it is interesting, isnt it?

Nikator · March 3rd, 2010, 09:05 AM

It is indeed interesting, the whole origins of the English and British people are rather confusing with no one knowing for sure you came when with the current popular theory that a lot of the cultural changes were caused by changes in elites (such as the rather unique wagon burials in Yorkshire similiar to an area along the Rhine I think?) rather than the widespread immigration ideas (an indigineous wave, a Celtic wave and a Saxon wave). However the point I was raising was your phrasing that the pre-Beaker people as it were are Celtic which I'm not sure is generally accepted, or is it just personal terminology?

**Richard Stanbery** · March 3rd, 2010, 09:36 AM

I think it was an unfortunate phrase on my part, and I did it unawares. I appologize for that. When I used the phrase "the rest of Celtic society" I was assuming that assimilation had occured by a certain time. But you are correct that we may not know even that.

It might well be an elite group, rather than a people, or even a priest class which is responsible for the great technology leap. Maybe these were the precursers to the druids? Perhaps these were the priest sent over by a pre-Phoenecian people?

Or maybe they were just the product of an ancient Celtic "think tank", a kind of Mensa of that day, if they were even Celtic at all. We could go on and on with speculations of the wildest sort. What is the correct account?
I have absolutely no idea.
But I just hope that archeology can give us some more answers some day.

And it might not be British archeology where the answers come from. The answers might come from an unexpected quarter.