The Rush To Ancient Construction This year and last seem to be great ones for archaeologists. I say this because a number of important finds were made. I believe one of the reasons for this besides luck, is the fact we are using better detection devices. We can see through jungle canopies, under the ground and even dive deeper than ever to find submerged ruins. Once a find is made then an incredible amount of patience is needed. Some of these digs go on for decades or even longer. In 1963 archaeologists discovered a temple complex in Turkey known as Gobekli Tepe, and are still digging there today. They have been digging for 59 years from the date this article was written. This discovery changed the world. No one is exactly sure how old this site is, but it is at least 12,000 years old and should not exist. The reason for this is this was built at a time when we were all said to be hunter gatherers, which meant we wouldn’t have stayed in one spot long enough to build this complex. The craftsmanship is far beyond anything else from that period and large rocks weighing several tons were moved. Some believe this site could be at least 20,000 years old. A site was found in North America known as Norte Chico. It is considered the oldest urban settlement in North America. It has been dated back to 3,600 B.C. It seems ancient people were busy building structures. Many of these structures were temples, which means our ancestors were very religious in their own way. There is a long history of humans believing in gods, but not necessarily the same ones. Did they build all these temples as a way of assuring their assent into heaven after they died? I don’t know if it is just a coincidence or not, but it seems many ancient temples date back to the same time period which is around 3,600 B.C. Here is a list of some of them. The Ggantija Temples of Gozo on Malta were discovered in 1827. Heavy stones would have had to be moved to create the multiple doorways, and also to create the walls. Hagar Qim is another temple from that period found on Malta. Limestone was used in its construction and heavy stones were somehow stood up and also used to create a roof over the entrance. The temple was discovered in 1839. It is amazing how all the temples I am mentioning were on Malta and said to have been built at the same time. Another group of temples built on Malta at the time were the Mnajdra Temples. These were built in Qrendi, Malta. Again, the temple was built out of stone which should have been far too heavy for humans to move. Next are the Tarxien Temples on Malta. This is the largest megalithic site on the island. It consists of four temples. Malta has an even older site which includes a temple among other structures and it is the Hypogeum. It is said to have been built around 5,000 B.C., and consists of cave chambers, a temple, funeral hall and cemetery and is said to be one of the best preserved sites in Malta. When we talk about Malta there is evidence of ancient ruts which run across some areas which look like they were made by wheeled vehicles, but the time period is far too early for that to be true according to scientists. Could they be connected somehow to the construction of these structures? Some people say the oldest structures are in Egypt and are the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid. There are experts which do not agree with the dates given for their construction and date them as far back as 20,000 years or more. This could mean there was a race in Egypt before the Egyptians. The Egyptians are very sensitive to this idea and say it is ridiculous, but some experts state the water damage on the pyramid and Sphinx could have only happened when the plateau at Gaza was flooded and the time period for that was around the 20,000 year ago period. If this is true, there could still be unfound structures under the sand which could be much older than those above it. Experts admit they believe there are far more undiscovered structures buried under the sand than have already been discovered. One thing we have found out is the ancients seem to have been fascinated by circles and there are circles built from stones all over the world, the most famous being Stonehenge, in England. Another less elegant circle exists in Swinside, England. It is said most of the circles in Britain were built around 3,000 B.C. Stone circles have also been found in many different places, even in the United States. There has also been evidence found of ancient wood circles. Not much is left of them except for the post holes and such. There is a stone circle in the United States in a very unlikely place and that is at the top of the Superstition Mountains in Arizona. Another appears at the bottom of Lake Michigan. It consists of standing stones with an animal carved on one. One reason for all these circles might have been religious, but we can not be sure. Could the circles be somehow related to a vortex? One of the things which really fascinates me are the ancient caves our ancestors lived in. I am especially interested in the ancient caves we lived in for thousands of years and even shared with Neanderthals. Some people believe modern humans and Neanderthals did communicate with each other and might even have gotten along. We don’t know why the Neanderthals disappeared. There is one expert who believes modern humans showed Neanderthals how to use a bow and arrow. He believes they hunted with modern humans but suddenly disappeared. Maybe they were wiped out by some disease modern humans were immune to? One theory states modern humans were much more violent and murdered the Neanderthals eventually wiping out all of them. This seems impossible to me, because if this happened, there would have had to be very few Neanderthals at the time. One of our biggest mysteries is what happened to the Neanderthals? It seems the Neanderthals who shared the Grotte Mandrin disappeared and were never seen again. It is said the cave has collapsed making it harder to investigate. Why were our ancestors on such an ancient building binge? Clearly, it took many thousands of people to accomplish this. The answer might be a lot simpler than we suspect. Maybe the rulers wanted to keep the people busy and convincing them they were doing this building for religious reasons might have done the trick.
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