
Huge ritual arena discovered near Stonehenge - situationista
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/07/stonehenge-archaeology-ritual-arena-neolithic-monument
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drumdance
Whenever I hear about things like this, it reminds me of how superstitious
humans are and the lengths they will go to validate their beliefs. At the time
this was created, moving these giant stones around was the technological
equivalent of a moon shot, requiring a great deal of very hard work.

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wahsd
I don't know. I am not totally sure of course, but there are rather
significant examples where it was discovered that past civilizations were far
more advanced than they were given credit for based on the scraps that were
the most obvious evidence and remains. I am sure that certain events like
invading hordes and economic / ecological collapses have destroyed way more
than humanity has achieved. 5 steps forward 4 steps back. Jut take the
invasion of the Americas as a rather perfect example, it is now seen as a type
of progress, but all the skill, knowledge, and capacity of the Mesoamerican
cultures was totally and utterly vanquished and had to essentially be
restarted by the people that came to the Americas. Who knows what all was
lost. Just imagine what all was lost when the Library of Alexandria burned, I
believe that single event set back humanity at least 1,000 years if not more
considering opportunity cost and compounding advances. Imagine if humanity had
discovered electricity and computation 1,000 years ago.

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DanBC
See the book _Ancient Inventions_ for some descriptions of stuff the ancients
had.

[http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0345401026/](http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0345401026/)

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BetaCygni
> house of the dead where defleshing was performed as a burial ritual

Ah yes... spooky enough.

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crocal
Well, some of our own practices are quite spooky. Consider all the boneyards
and catacombs in France and I wonder what people will think about it in a few
thousand years...

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trentlott
Many of us use toxic chemicals to ensure that our loved ones look alive, and
then preserve them by burying their body in dirt with the rest of our family.

This is based on the idea that a long-dead Palestinian malcontent will be
floating down from heaven and ruling the Earth, and we'll need our bodies for
the after-party.

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netcraft
nice to see the detail in the article, many times these sort of things are
light on information.

