Question Of The Day, Wednesday, February 7, 2018

[Mamanyt1953]

What ancient civilization really captures your imagination?


Look, no one knows their name, or if they even had one. No one knows where they came from, or where they went. No one knows how many of them there were, or exactly where they lived, but some 12,000 years ago a group of people came together and built a rather marvelous place called Gobekli Tepi...or at least, called that by us. These people lived so long ago that until this place was found, we had no clue that they were capable of something like this...we thought of hunter-gatherers. And actually, since there is no indication that Gobekli Tepi was every inhabited, they may have been hunter-gatherers who erected this as a place of worship, perhaps. Regardless of why, the when is astounding. As is the fact that they used only the most rudimentary tools. Good grief, the wheel hadn't even been thought of at that point!

This captures my imagination:

TWELVE THOUSAND YEARS AGO! 6,000 years before Stonehenge. About 7,000 years before the first pyramids were built. It staggers me.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I have always been fascinated by ancient architecture; but especially ancient Roman architecture. The culture to some extent; but really it's the buildings that get me.

 

[Katie M]

It's so difficult to pick just one. I suppose I would say whoever built Catalhoyuk. I wonder what it would've been like to live there, since it was one of the first known attempts at city living.

Honestly though, they all fascinate me

 

[Margret]

Wow! I've just been Googling Gobekli Tepi, which I had never heard of before; thanks for bringing it to my attention, Mamanyt1953 . That's really something!

I'm fascinated by all of them. I was recently watching a special on Egyptian archaeology; where they were using ultrasound to examine The Great Pyramid and found another passageway inside. I remember reading Stonehenge Decoded decades ago, and Kon Tiki, and research about how the stone heads on Easter Island were carved, moved, and set up, and research about what killed one of the races on Easter Island, and how the ecology of Easter Island was destroyed.

I've read about and looked at pictures of fascinating cave paintings, read about pre-human burials that included grave offerings, read genetic and archaeological evidence about early humans interbreeding with neanderthals, and it's all utterly entrancing. But if you want me to pick just one, I'd have to go to a more recent culture. I've read the Sister Fidelma mysteries, by Peter Tremayne, which are set in 7th century C.E. Ireland, and I'm fascinated by their society. It was literate; women were respected, and their rights were protected, including inheritance and the right to be members of respected professions; Ireland was a torch of literacy and order in a chaotic and barbaric world (and this isn't just from the fiction; Tremayne carefully documents the difference between fact and fiction in his books). The thing is, this is a society we actually know things about. Yes, we're still doing archaeology there and there are things we don't know, but there's a lot that we do know, which makes it easier to imagine what it was like, to imagine living then, and I find that this is one of the few places and times in the past when I could have been comfortable. I like these people, and, ultimately, that's what it's all about for me, the people and the society they built.

Margret

 

[denice]

It would be a toss up between ancient Greece and Rome before it became a decadent empire and began the decline. I have always been a history buff and Western Civilization's roots are in ancient Greece and Rome.

 

[Winchester]

The Anasazi people or "the Ancient People". Fascinating.

 

[di and bob]

ancient Egyptian culture. They seemed so 'refined', and they worshiped the cat!

 

[Katie M]

ancient Egyptian culture. They seemed so 'refined', and they worshiped the cat!

And cats have never forgotten that

 

[Boris Diamond]

I am fascinated by Petra. By how they did the cliff face carvings and how beautiful and interesting they are. Also their flash flood control and the methods that they used to bring so much water to a desert civilization! It's on my bucket list!

 

[neely]

Aegean civilization - in the area surrounding the Aegean sea with elegant palaces and magnificent artistry.

 

[Kreatorcat]

The ancient Fukawi tribe.

Long time ago, their tribe wandered the wilderness. For many years, they wandered looking for land to call our own. Their chief led his people through mountains, valleys, seashores and plains.

People were born wandering. People died wandering. After an entire generation of wanderers were born and died, the chief, then very old, led them to top of great mountain. He stood atop mountain summit and faced his people. He looked around. He looked far and wide. He then shouted to the gods....

"We're the Fukawi! We're the Fukawi!"

 

[margecat]

I'm into ancient history of all time periods, but Ancient Egypt fascinates me, and, perhaps even more, the cave paintings. Even though they are considered primitive, they are wonders of ancient art.

 

[Willowy]

The ancient Fukawi tribe.

Long time ago, their tribe wandered the wilderness. For many years, they wandered looking for land to call our own. Their chief led his people through mountains, valleys, seashores and plains.

People were born wandering. People died wandering. After an entire generation of wanderers were born and died, the chief, then very old, led them to top of great mountain. He stood atop mountain summit and faced his people. He looked around. He looked far and wide. He then shouted to the gods....

"We're the Fukawi! We're the Fukawi!"

Lol. Naughty!

It's all fascinating. I love reasearching about history and how people lived back then. They were just like us! But without technology. So it's interesting (and sometimes frightening) to think about what it would have been like if I had been born in times past.

 

[Columbine]

No WAY can I pick just one. I find all of them equally fascinating!

I guess I draw inspiration most from ancient Egypt, the Vikings, and the Celts. The more I learn about different civilisations, though, the more fascinated I am!

 

[amysuen]

I really can't pick one either, I love history, from the ancient to more recent, like pre-1970s. In some ways I prefer recent history because there's more information about it so I can picture myself in that era. It's harder to understand day-to-day life in ancient civilizations.

 

[cassiopea]

Tricky choice!

I always thought the Minoans quite intriguing.

Easter Island is really really eerie to me. Something about this tiny little civilization on a tiny little completely isolated island off into the middle of a massive ocean, unbeknownst to the world then imagine being alive towards the end during a time of dying off/disappearing on that same island. Like what happened in Greenland too.

The Celts of course! Studied them quite heavily in Uni.

I read a lot on the Aztecs and the Mongols too. Not to generalize, definitely more complex than a simple forum comment, but it would be a scary time to either live as an enemy of a Mongol or worse to be an enemy AND member of the Aztecs...life under the latter sounds gruesome

Çatalhöyük and Gobekli are hard not to mention too!

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

Stonehenge fascinates me, as does Easter Island. i'm really fascinated by American history, the real lives of early Americans. there are quite a good number of books written by Americans in the 1800's, about their lives, their travels, that are still available to read.

 

[Mother Dragon]

I'm watching a special on the Mayan Snake Kings. They were the most advanced of the Mayan dynasties. It seems they were as advanced as the Chinese and Egyptians and had a much larger civilization than we first thought. Using LADAR to see through the jungle, archaeologists have discovered huge cities and pyramids. They conquered much of Central and South America.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I LOVE LIDAR! We're able to find so much more, and without utterly destroying the surrounding areas now!