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?
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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