From: Billy Brown (bbrown@conemsco.com)
Date: Wed May 05 1999 - 15:16:09 MDT
Ishmael Abd-er-Rahman wrote:
> I don't think that with the technology we have now we can
> construct the massive pyramids, temples, and stadiums the
> ancients built.
Why on Earth not? We can build as big a pile of rock as you want - you just
have to be prepared to pay for it. By modern standards there is nothing
especially challenging about any of these 'great wonders'. Stone
construction is a somewhat neglected art (because it isn't cost effective),
but there is nothing magical about it.
> They had no cranes, bulldozers, or CAD, but
> they were able to position stones-transported from quarries,
> to heights one would think might have been impossible.
> We still don't know who built Stonehenge or how they transported
> those massive stones.
Actually, we know exactly how most of the famous cases were built.
Archaeologists have duplicated in great detail the methods used by Egyptians
to build the pyramids and temples. They've also done a good job on the
methods used in Greece, England and on Easter Island. In every case there
is no magic or advanced technology involved - just old-fashioned
craftsmanship and a massive amount of human labor.
> We still can't construct Crystal Skulls without tool markings.
Don't be silly. We can shape and polish just about anything to near-atomic
precision using the same techniques currently used for making telescope
mirrors. The result will have no tool marks at all.
> Hewlitt-Packard, I was told but can't verify yet, did a
> rigorous analysis of the Crystal Skulls but didn't reveal
> their findings. HP says this was to prevent the leaking of
> trade secrets.
Sound like conspiracy theory nonsense to me. Didn't the Skeptical Enquirer
people debunk that whole crystal skulls thing a few years ago?
> There are also pyramids in China, Mexico/Middle America,
> Japan, and Sudan.
And your point is?
> Easter Islands stone heads also make
> mincemeat of our preconceived notions that the ancients were
> technologically primitive
I understand that a few years back a team of grad students, working
alongside a couple of local craftsmen, were able to quarry, work, transport
and erect another statue using nothing but hand tools and manual labor.
Easter Island is a tribute to the ability of relatively small groups of
primitive humans to accomplish impressive feats. It is not indicative of
the presence of advanced technology.
> In Egypt there are underground corridors with paintings and
> bas-reliefs on the walls. No evidence of torchmarks on the
> ceilings.
So? Again, the professionals say they've got a pretty good idea how
everything in Egypt was built, and I've seen enough of the details to be
convinced.
> Imhotep calculated the circumference of the earth
> to about 25,000 miles, pretty impressive for some primitives.
> About 1000 years before Imhotep, Berossus(if I got his name
> right), a Sumerian priest, did the same.
Yes, and the Greeks calculated both the size of the Earth and the distance
to the Moon. Big deal. All you need to do that is a basic knowledge of
geometry, a good eye, and some imagination. Again, I see this as a tribute
to the human ability to work wonders with the most feeble of tools.
> The Dogon tribe in
> Mali knew of the existence of Sirius A&B before western
> astronomy did, so do the Hopi tribe in the US.
Last I heard, this whole idea had been thoroughly discredited. Do you have
new evidence?
Billy Brown, MCSE+I
bbrown@conemsco.com
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