Great Pyramid & Sphinx

Very recently archaeologists and others have realized that we haven’t given people of the ancient world enough credit for what they were able to do and how they were able to do it. Everything happened earlier than we like to believe. It becomes increasingly clear that most ancient people were more advanced than we had been taught. They were capable of so much more than we give them credit for. So many things happened earlier than we think or were developed earlier than we like to think. Even for relatively recent ancient times. For example, for hundreds of years it was thought that just 5400 years ago the Ancient Egyptians built their pyramids with slave labor. This is despite the fact that the Egyptians had writings that told this was not the case. But, still many experts believed only slave labor could have produced such an architectural work. How could they be so wrong on a recent work? 

For decades it was scientific doctrine and mantra and it was thought only the brutal enslavement of tens of thousands for many decades could have produced the Great Pyramids of Giza. Books and movies supported the view and there are many books and movies depicting the slaves toiling under the cruel lash of Ancient Egyptians and begging for a drink of water or a crust of bread before they expired from weakness and starvation. They would have needed and endless supply of slaves arriving each week to replace those who had died each week from the cruel treatment of the Egyptians.

Today we know the opposite is the truth. The Great Pyramids of Giza were built by the Egyptians themselves. There are long term settlements that have been discovered near to the pyramids where thousands of skilled artisans and workers lived while they were building the pyramids. Not only did they live and work and grow families there—many were buried there in tombs that were very well crafted. Slaves? It appears they were very well paid and provided for to do their work.

We now know there were very organized crews or gangs that competed against each other to prove who could do the most work or move the most stones. They happily carved their bragging rights into stone. Would slaves do that? No. In short—they took pride in their work and were well paid by Pharaoh. The same went for temporary workers who were farmers and would come and work seasonally when they were not busy farming. Rather than slavery—the building of the pyramids was a giant public works project funded by the Pharaoh or king of Egypt. This continued throughout The Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms for many building projects. Even in The Valley of The Kings, where the tombs of Pharaohs of the New Kingdom were entombed there is a massive village nearby with all the amenities of the time. 

 Plakias--view from the east. Providence College

Everywhere one turns we find new digs and new information from today’s modern archaeologists disputing time worn inaccuracies. Usually we find that many things happened much earlier than they were supposed to. A little over a year ago a couple archaeologists were digging on the island of Crete seeking human artifacts that were approximately 10,000 years old. The belief was that it was not until 10,000 years ago the island had been settled by humans, since it was far from land and not easily accessible by raft or primitive boat. If you look at Crete on a map you can easily see it is far from the Libyan coastline in North Africa and also far from the coastline of Asia Minor to the east.

The archaeologists found exactly what they were not expecting to find. They found stone tools radio carbon dated to over 120,000 years ago. I think the most recent dating put the tools at 110,000 years ago. Our ancient ancestors were certainly better sailors than anyone had imagined.  I can only think that they built rafts or very primitive boats to reach this island over 200 miles off the coast of North Africa. I am sure they didn't swim the Mediterranean Sea.

I don’t really know how they got to Crete or where they sailed from. The easiest answer is that they left from North Africa and by luck or skill or both reached Crete. Were they feeling lucky paddling into the unknown? The next easiest answer is that they departed from Turkey or Syria, though that is also a very long distance in the open sea. Or they could have walked down to the Southern Greek coastline and island hopped from there since there are countless islands in the Aegean Sea—and finally made it to Crete 110,000 years ago. Take your pick.

Probably more interesting are the various stone tools found on Crete and on several islands near to Crete which date from 300,000 to 700,000 years ago. The older appear to be Mousterian or Neanderthal stone tools, while more recent stone tools seem to be of more recent origin. Clearly we must look at our ancient ancestors in a new light and wonder how both Neanderthals and early Homo Sapiens made their sea voyages so long ago. Even more interesting is why? Was it a drive for discovery that inspired them to take to the sea in their rafts or small boats? Was there climatic or geological stress? What drove them to the sea?

I am going to take a wild guess that these successful sea voyages all probably occurred at different periods of glacial maximum when the sea level was 300 or 400 feet lower than present and some scattered islands existed which are submerged today. Even if that is the case these ancient sea voyages are remarkable to consider from such primitive people. I have a feeling these voyages were not isolated events and some groups would become skilled at island hopping and exploring the countless islands in the Aegean Sea. 

It is remarkable to think that early Homo Sapiens made those voyages 120,000 years ago, but it is amazing to think that they were following previous primitive people like the Austrolopithicenes or Neanderthals.  

I get a picture in my mind of our ancient Early Modern Homo Sapien ancestors setting off to sea on a small 

craft or a few logs lashed together paddling like crazy. There is no land looming on the horizon and they are 

paddling in the unknown.

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Here Is A Larger Version

This is an Ice Age Map of Southern France created by Don Hitchcock which shown the topography, rivers, mountains, glaciers and valleys. The green areas show how far further out the ocean and seas projected from France due to there being less water available. Much was locked-up in the northern glaciers resulting in the sea level being over 400 feet lower than it is today. These coastlines are now 30 miles out under the seas. I am sure there were Cro-Magnon inhabitants there 25,000 years ago. Unfortunately I doubt we will ever find evidence of them. The red dots indicate settlements in Southern France, though all were not inhabited at the same time. CRO-MAGNON  25,000 BP takes place in this area and both the Lion and Bear Tribes live in a river valley protected from the winds out on the plains. This is their neighborhood. Note the glaciers on the surrounding mountains.

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Thank you for your emails and my apologies for being late to begin this blog. Thank you for your questions too and I will try to answer a few of them here and now.

It is really difficult for us to understand what life was like 25,000 years ago and in CRO-MAGNON  25,000 BP I have tried my best at trying to understand our ancient ancestors and what their lives may have been like.  Of course my story is fictional, but I have tried to keep as near to what may be accurate in most instances. Unfortunately, so much about these people is lost and we have really little concrete knowledge about them. Archaeologists have bones, stone tools, carvings and paintings which theories and inferences are made and there are many experts who have very different theories, which they defend.

We have to imagine a world where there were very few humans and the land was teeming with herds of herbivores, various deer species, horses, bison, aurochs, woolly mammoth, ibex, woolly rhinoceros, and many other grazers and browsers. They were the prey animals, although both the mammoths and rhinoceros would have been very difficult prey. The predators would have included lions, saber-cats, bears, wolves, panthers, hyenas, and humans. Neanderthals who had populated Europe for a couple hundred thousand years seem to have all but vanished by 25,000 years ago, with the last of them living in Southern Spain.

In our setting in Southern France in which today millions of people live there may have only been a couple thousand humans living at the time at the most. Understanding their world and the climate and weather helps us to understand their life, at a time when most only lived until they were thirty-five.

Answer for Deb in CA: Yes, I do mention cloth a few times in CRO-MAGNON and there is evidence of it in Czechoslovakia dating to 30,000 years ago. Don't confuse it with a fine cotton shirt of today though. They probably used twisted vegetable fibers on a small hand loom and would have had the softness of burlap.

Answer for Megan in VA: Dogs in CRO-MAGNON?  Yes. I am sure they did have dogs, although many experts argue people did not have dogs until 15,000 years ago. I think that is old and out-dated information, like much information about the period. There are the two graves of a dog which have been found and they were very large dogs. The one is Russia had a mammoth bone place in its mouth. The dog found in Belgium was also found in a grave inside a cave and they both date to 30,000 years ago.

Answer for Owen in FL: Animal migrations? They would have migrated much like modern day animals do in Africa. Usually seeking the best combination of food, water, and grasses. Depending on the seasons, climate, and food availability. They would have ranged far and wide probably heading north for the summer and south for the winter. Yes, the animals could outstrip available food rather quickly in a given area. Like a modern day elephant a mammoth also probably needed 400 lbs of food per day. That is an awful lot of grass and leaves.

I will get to some of the other questions I've received this week and continue building this site and blog so please do stop back soon. If you have a question you may post it here or email me at JackRourk@gmail.com