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Made in us
5th God of Chaos! (Yea'rly!)




The Great State of Texas

mattyrm wrote:
Albatross wrote:Did you know that there are are Aboriginal rock paintings in Australia that date back more than 40,000 years? Think about that for a second.

Regarding ancient civilisations, did you also know that the settlements in Skara Brae in Orkney, Scotland, feature some of the earliest stone houses ever found? They even have sophisticated drainage systems and toilets!

I love stuff like that - I was like a kid in a sweet-shop when I went to the British Museum in London. My missus didn't get it at all. I was all like 'See these jade amulets? they're 7000 years old! 7000 years!!' and 'These clay tablets have the Epic of Gilgamesh on them - they're older than Christianity! Twice as old, in fact! THEY'RE SUMERIAN!!'

Her response? 'That's nice'.


Bloody women.




That is all lies, how can there be 40,000 year old cave paintings when God made us all in his image 600 years ago, and then we all got off the ark, and then Chinese and Black and White people all came from Noah and his sons and then we used to ride dinosaurs to school and Stephen Hawkin is a liar and an idiot too.

Thats what my momma taught me at home school..
OT, not relevant and time for a Tbone teaching moment.


-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
 
   
Made in us
Wicked Warp Spider





Knoxville, TN

mattyrm wrote:Oh yeah sorry, i typed a zero. They say its 6000 years old, and 4400 years ago we had a flood.

Makes way more sense!


Oh, ok, I just thought you were using hyperbole and I was being a wise guy by being over literal. My appologies
   
Made in gb
Noble of the Alter Kindred




United Kingdom

Somewhere in the South of France, deep within a labyrinthine cave system there is an 35,000 year old image painted high upon the roof of the main gallery



 
   
Made in jp
[MOD]
Anti-piracy Officer






Somewhere in south-central England.

mal wrote:Just a footnote re. the 'civilisation' debate:

(Pre-European) There is strong evidence of small localised pockets of organised agriculture (throughout Australia); permanent fish farms and traps (mainly in coastal NSW); permanent stone dwellings (again NSW); and a rich materialistic culture (mainly VIC).

But of course these are seemingly isolated sites.

.


If you look at neolithic Europe, the number of localised pockets of organised agriculture was small compared to the land area despite the much more productive climate and soils than exist in Australia.

Most of Australia is pretty much desert. Even the lush bits round coast have benefitted from a recent (in geological terms) damper climate, and are now reverting to drier conditions resulting in distress for the European settlers.

I'm writing a load of fiction. My latest story starts here... This is the index of all the stories...

We're not very big on official rules. Rules lead to people looking for loopholes. What's here is about it. 
   
Made in jp
Enigmatic Sorcerer of Chaos






Albatross wrote:Did you know that there are are Aboriginal rock paintings in Australia that date back more than 40,000 years? Think about that for a second.

Regarding ancient civilisations, did you also know that the settlements in Skara Brae in Orkney, Scotland, feature some of the earliest stone houses ever found? They even have sophisticated drainage systems and toilets!

I love stuff like that - I was like a kid in a sweet-shop when I went to the British Museum in London. My missus didn't get it at all. I was all like 'See these jade amulets? they're 7000 years old! 7000 years!!' and 'These clay tablets have the Epic of Gilgamesh on them - they're older than Christianity! Twice as old, in fact! THEY'RE SUMERIAN!!'

Her response? 'That's nice'.


Bloody women.


I second this.

Me and the old lady went to the Louvre in Paris. I was freaking out at the stuff there. They had the tops of columns that once stood in Ninveh, Babylon like 5000 years ago amongst other things. She just wanted to go to the gift shop and a get a Mona Lisa fridge magnet.

At least a 500ml bottle of wine was cheaper than a coke.
   
Made in au
Gore-Soaked Lunatic Witchhunter






Australia (Recently ravaged by the Hive Fleet Ginger Overlord)

mattyrm wrote: 4400 years ago we had a flood.

Makes way more sense!


Interestingly, many cultures based in various different continents all have a huge flood as instrumental in their peoples history. These could be seperate floods occuring at different times affecting these ancient civilisations spread throughout the world in completely unconnected manners, but it's not entirely unfounded to suggest that they all refer to the same event.


Chibi Bodge-Battle wrote:Somewhere in the South of France, deep within a labyrinthine cave system there is an 35,000 year old image painted high upon the roof of the main gallery




/thread.

Smacks wrote:
After the game, pack up all your miniatures, then slap the guy next to you on the ass and say.

"Good game guys, now lets hit the showers"
 
   
Made in ca
Mounted Kroot Tracker





Ontario, Canada

Frazzled wrote:
I would suggest checking out the library in your area. An excellent resource.


An excellent suggestion. Unfortunately, the library system in my parts is generally unconcerned with Ancient times, and has focused their collection on the voyages of Mr. J. Cook and further on from that time period. Alas, I need ancient Oceania, as in before the colonization by the Brits.

Maori: Would you all say that they have a larger selection of history to cover?

Night Watch SM
Kroot Mercenaries W 2 - D 3 - L 1
Manchu wrote: This is simply a self-fulfilling prophecy. Everyone says, "it won't change so why should I bother to try?" and then it doesn't change so people feel validated in their bad behavior.

Nightwatch's Kroot Blog

DQ:90-S++G++M-B++I+Pw40k08#+D+A--/cWD-R+T(S)DM+
 
   
Made in au
Gore-Soaked Lunatic Witchhunter






Australia (Recently ravaged by the Hive Fleet Ginger Overlord)

Maori is plenty by itself, I wouldn't strecth you essay or whatever to cover both the Aboriginal aspect and the Maori areas.

Smacks wrote:
After the game, pack up all your miniatures, then slap the guy next to you on the ass and say.

"Good game guys, now lets hit the showers"
 
   
Made in gb
Noble of the Alter Kindred




United Kingdom

Hi Nightwatch

Once again I am looking at your explaination of the project, and am still uncertain of the wording as has been discussed by others regarding civilisation.

Do you have the brief/question that was set by the teacher at all please?

Sorry Emporer don't understand "/thread"

 
   
Made in au
Anti-Armour Swiss Guard






Newcastle, OZ

Nightwatch wrote:
Alas, I need ancient Oceania, as in before the colonization by the Brits.


Unfortunately, here you would need the earlier Dutch or Portuguese journals - but even these don't go back far enough.

The indigenous peoples had no written language (they did have a form of pictographics which were used on tribal markers and such, but they didn't write down their history.) It is primarily an oral tradition passed down from generation to generation.

This is the main reason there is no written history of Australia pre 'discovery'.
No one unified language and conflicting viewpoints of events doesn't help matters.

My wife's family used to be rather close to a local Kadaitcha man - but he's been dead for a few years now (and nobody talks about him anymore - local tradition.).




This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2010/05/29 02:03:37


I'm OVER 50 (and so far over everyone's BS, too).
Old enough to know better, young enough to not give a ****.

That is not dead which can eternal lie ...

... and yet, with strange aeons, even death may die.
 
   
Made in au
Gore-Soaked Lunatic Witchhunter






Australia (Recently ravaged by the Hive Fleet Ginger Overlord)

Chibi Bodge-Battle wrote:

Sorry Emporer don't understand "/thread"


Your pic. So full of win, it wins the thread. /thread = end of thread, nothing can top this.

Smacks wrote:
After the game, pack up all your miniatures, then slap the guy next to you on the ass and say.

"Good game guys, now lets hit the showers"
 
   
Made in ca
Mounted Kroot Tracker





Ontario, Canada

Chibi Bodge-Battle wrote:Hi Nightwatch

Once again I am looking at your explaination of the project, and am still uncertain of the wording as has been discussed by others regarding civilisation.

Do you have the brief/question that was set by the teacher at all please?

Sorry Emporer don't understand "/thread"

Ah. I see.

Well, the assignment was to research an ancient civilization. In my paper and presentation, I must discuss 3 aspects of the civilization that set them apart from other civilizations of their time, and still distinguishes them today. This could be anywhere from technological advancements such as crop rotation, political advancements like democracy, or even ways of thought.

As little is known about the ancient Australian aboriginal culture, I will depend on traditions that the aboriginals still use today, as they are likely the end result of cultural evolution from earlier times. I will also use archaeological research, where I can find it.

So far, it looks like I will focus on:

1) Integration of all parts of life (westerners tend to treat paths of life as separate, like work, entertainment, spirituality, etc, while the aborigines took all these things as part of one whole, and fused all aspects of life together)

2) Economical survival, self-sustaining system
Wikipedia wrote:
The degree to which Aboriginal people on the Australian continent practiced agriculture has long been debated by archaeologists. Earlier it was believed that Aboriginal people were ignorant of the principles of agriculture, but this has since been disproven. For instance, Aboriginal women in traditional societies often transplanted immature "bush tucker" plants found growing in unfavourable locations to more favourable spots. There were also a number of plants (particularly seeds and roots) that could have lent themselves to cultivation, and were used in making such foods as damper. Charles Sturt in his exploration of the Murray River reports seeing large hay stacks built by Aboriginal people of seed crops harvested at the beginning of summer. Firestick farming has also always been a technique used by Aboriginal people to open the canopy of closed canopy forests, introducing sunlight to the ground, and prompting germination of a number of foodstuffs known to attract kangaroo and other marsupials. This would encourage a more intensive landuse than otherwise. But the main reason for the lack of agriculture in Australia is the extreme variability of the climate. Australia is the only continent on Earth, which, as a result of the El Nino Southern Oscillation, experiences greater variability between years than it does between the seasons. Such climatic variability makes farming very difficult, especially for incipient farmers, unable to be supported from outside of their community. Australian Aboriginal people found, by maintaining stable populations below the effective carrying capacity of the environment, would enable an adequate supply of food, even in drought years, so maintaining a stable culture. This made hunting and gathering a more sustainable activity on the Australian continent than neolithic farming.


3) Not sure yet. I may talk about the boomerang, but that seems like a bit of a cop out. An alternative is the explanation of the Dreamtime, but I'm not too sure on that either.

Thoughts?

Night Watch SM
Kroot Mercenaries W 2 - D 3 - L 1
Manchu wrote: This is simply a self-fulfilling prophecy. Everyone says, "it won't change so why should I bother to try?" and then it doesn't change so people feel validated in their bad behavior.

Nightwatch's Kroot Blog

DQ:90-S++G++M-B++I+Pw40k08#+D+A--/cWD-R+T(S)DM+
 
   
Made in us
Dwarf High King with New Book of Grudges




United States

Well, I'm going to go ahead and say that your teacher gave you the shaft by assigning a region that lacks both a written language, and a contiguous civilization.

One thing you might want to discuss is the whakawahine (the third Maori gender), if you don't consider it taboo in the context of the class.

It may also be a good idea to look at Samoan (the third gender is especially interesting in this context, hence that is the focus of the wiki article), or Tongan culture. They are offshoots of the Maori who benefit from significant exposure in academia due to the large immigrant presence in the States.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2010/05/29 02:55:09


Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh. 
   
Made in gb
Noble of the Alter Kindred




United Kingdom

Why thank you Emperor!
I thought I had done something wrong and was expecting to remove the pic

Nightwatch
Okay thanks

That makes a lot more sense, as there is no emphasis on progress or comparison with modern culture which was inferred from your OP.

1. sounds good
2.also sounds good
Early agriculture depended on river deposits to replenish the soil (Euphrates and Tigris rivers in Mesopotamia, where Albatross's Sumerian tablets came from)
Similarly early selection of grass seeds and simple cultivation is reckoned to be a tranistional phase from hunter gather to agricultural economies in the Middle East where it started.
3.Dreamtime is afaik very specific to Aboriginal Australians.

or possibly Songlines which is also very specific

Cultural practices continued for a long time despite European settlement and there have been plenty of anthrolopological studies.
hth

 
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka




Manchester UK

mattyrm wrote:
Albatross wrote:Did you know that there are are Aboriginal rock paintings in Australia that date back more than 40,000 years? Think about that for a second.

Regarding ancient civilisations, did you also know that the settlements in Skara Brae in Orkney, Scotland, feature some of the earliest stone houses ever found? They even have sophisticated drainage systems and toilets!

I love stuff like that - I was like a kid in a sweet-shop when I went to the British Museum in London. My missus didn't get it at all. I was all like 'See these jade amulets? they're 7000 years old! 7000 years!!' and 'These clay tablets have the Epic of Gilgamesh on them - they're older than Christianity! Twice as old, in fact! THEY'RE SUMERIAN!!'

Her response? 'That's nice'.


Bloody women.


That is all lies, how can there be 40,000 year old cave paintings when God made us all in his image 600 years ago, and then we all got off the ark, and then Chinese and Black and White people all came from Noah and his sons and then we used to ride dinosaurs to school and Stephen Hawkin is a liar and an idiot too.

Thats what my momma taught me at home school..

Mate, even I'M thinking '(sigh) not THIS again...'

 Cheesecat wrote:
 purplefood wrote:
I find myself agreeing with Albatross far too often these days...

I almost always agree with Albatross, I can't see why anyone wouldn't.


 Crazy_Carnifex wrote:

Okay, so the male version of "Cougar" is now officially "Albatross".
 
   
 
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