h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

There is no doubt that the quarrying of stone is far far beyond what is done today.

One thing I find difficult about the construction of many of the anchient monuments is the disdain which some of our age view them with.

I find the theories about alien construction the most anoying.

Now dont take me wrong I am a big big fan of stargate SG 1 but it's an interesting fictional tale. I feel that atributing the construction of stone henge and the pyramids to aliens just suggests an arogance of some in the modern era who seem to believe that our anscestors were too stupid to have achieved the extra-ordinary feats of engineering they did.

I confess I am interested in the development of ideas and clearly quarrying and shaping stone made building anything easier in some respects, but having once been a dry stone waller I also know that working with unshaped stone to build a wall requires skills far in excess of those required by the average brickie. I feel it is important not to confuse technological development with skillfullness I feel they are two different issues which may well at times overlap but are different non-the-less.

yes, YES....*chuckles* Holker Road! Lived at Slyvan Cliff

They pulled the cinema down.... I went to see Star Wars there in 1977 (I think) by myself when it came out! There was also a snooker hall that was right next to it, and we used to peer in thro the windows at the players down below...

Anyway...I digress....better get back on topic

l.t.p.:

>....it therefore seems logical to me it must of been a lot colder then than now.
>when the stone circles were built.(8-10 thousand years or 16+)

The (more than one thousand) prehistoric stone circles in Britain were all erected within a period 3,200 to 5,200 years ago. The evidence clearly points to the climate (in Britain) being warmer and drier than it is now, at that time. At the end of this period, i.e. approx. 3,200 years ago, there was a dramatic change in the climate, resulting in it becoming colder and wetter.


stoneageman

az

Are you ok?

Haven't heard from you recently?

Jez

Hi Jez! Not much to add to the most recent topic drift, that's all.



az

i last sawaz on the thread about the bombing of mf madrid in the ask h2g2 section

speak of el diablo

You mean little !

Anyhow, it's nice to be missed.

az

your m8 justin just showed up as well

It's just awful! What do they (whoever the perpetrators turn out to be) hope to achieve?

Judging from the way the attacks were carried out, the maximum possible casualties would seem to be the answer to that one.

Noggin

See BBC News @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3503676.stm


Alji

If it was Eta then they have just sealed their own fate. Even the leader of the outlawed Batasuna separatist party had condemned this attack, and he has never said a word against Eta before. The vigils held last night, especially in Basque cities like Vitoria, Bilbao and San Sebastian, show that there is no public support for Eta.

However, if it was al-Qaeda, or a combined effort between al-Qaeda and Eta, how long before Bush & Co become involved? What will it all mean for Spain, and the rest of the world? And so, what now? (¿y ahora qué?)

az

kinda makes ye miss auld francissimo .eh

Not really, crazyhorse. Guernica was just as much a terrorist atrocity as Madrid.

Noggin

az, nothing is off topic on this thead! For pantheists god is everything and for atheists god is nothing! The rest fit in-between.


Alji

crazyhorse,

Franco was instrumental in the formation of Eta by horribly oppressing the Basques. Franco was a homicidal maniac. Franco has left a horrible legacy and nobody would ever wish for his return.

I know you were just making a joke but, sorry, it wasn't funny.

az

Alji,

I only mentioned that I had nothing to say about the last topic drift (about standing stones, etc). I wasn't being critical about the topic. I know there is nothing really 'off-topic' here.



az
(part-time pantheist)

well field marshall tito was the same in yugoslvia i hope you didn't think i was making such a morbid joke however had i been alive at the time i'm sure that i would feel some notion of nostaltalgia one way or the other no offence intended

Those who benefit from oppression are always going to be nostalgic about "the good old days" when that oppression ends.

It was still oppression, though.

Noggin