13,000 Year old temple,

[HillBill]

I have never had any clue as to the spark that started life. I would like to believe in abiogenesis but it does seem like a hell of a leap. Life from other planets seems even bigger.

They are both just as likely to be true to be honest. I advocate neither. Nor do i dismiss either. Although my thinking goes more the opposite of yours. Life from elsewhere or life from nothing.

Well, life from elsewhere makes more sense to me out of the two. But i do not believe either yet.

 

[Draven]

They are both just as likely to be true to be honest. I advocate neither. Nor do i dismiss either. Although my thinking goes more the opposite of yours. Life from elsewhere or life from nothing.

Well, life from elsewhere makes more sense to me out of the two. But i do not believe either yet.

I disagree that life from somewhere else makes more sense, because it doesn't actually answer the problem as has been stated, it just moves it There's still the question of how did life begin.

Unless you take my time travel theory

 

[firecrest]

800 years in the wilderness? That Adam fella must have know a LOT about bushcraft...

 

[HillBill]

800 years in the wilderness? That Adam fella must have know a LOT about bushcraft...

He must have been the one to design the flint knife and bow drill

 

[Belfastman1958]

I remember once listening to one of the old tradesmen who worked in the Belfast shipyards and he told me that "in his day" they used to cut sandstone with a saw. The saw had the teeth splayed wider open than a normal saw to accomodate the sandstone dust and they used lots of water to prevent the dust clogging up the teeth and the groove.

I dare say that some of the softer stones that are found in the desert areas could be gouged out to shape using some of the harder flints available in their day.

Any of you past-time crafts people fancy taking on a project this summer at basic masonry skills?

Alan.

 

[Toddy]

You can drill stone using wood, and you can saw it the same way.

Basically the wood is softer than the grit that you use. The grit beds itself into the wood and it's that the bores or cuts the other stone.
Easy.

The pyramids were built using copper tools, but the soft copper picks up granite grit and then gets work hardened around the bits hanging onto them just as the wood does.

See humans? see inventiveness? clever, huh ?

cheers,
Toddy

 

[BigShot]

The other bonus over at the pyramids is a HUGE workforce (not slaves, I believe, but well fed workers) which involved production-line sharpening of the copper chisels (always a sharp one ready for when the current one gets too rounded) and a large number of labourers to lug the stones to the site and into place.

It always makes me laugh when people (including the "experts" who find themselves in front of cameras for documentaries) say "we've got no idea how they did it, we couldn't do it now with all the technology we have". Classic case of modern technology making people dumb I think.

I've never met a brickie who couldn't give an explanation of "how" in just five words.
"Manpower and a pulmb bob."

 

[Toddy]

Ever watched professional piano or safe shifters at work ? They know exactly just where to kedge, where to put pressure, how to manipulate a weight that they ought not even be able to move, into exactly where they want it to go. Skill and the application of practical manpower, it can move mountains........literally

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Draven]

Ever watched professional piano or safe shifters at work ? They know exactly just where to kedge, where to put pressure, how to manipulate a weight that they ought not even be able to move, into exactly where they want it to go. Skill and the application of practical manpower, it can move mountains........literally

cheers,
Toddy

Quite true, most people nowadays think that if they can't just randomly shove something into place then they need a tow cable or crane

 

[BigShot]

Toddy - I've not, but I think I can picture what you mean.
Tis pretty amazing when you see the application of a little force achieve something that can't be achieved with a lot.

Didn't someone make a stone-henge type thing a while back to test some theories about how it was built. Wedging each end of the capstone up a log at a time until it was high enough to slide into place I seem to remember.


"But we don't know how they did it, most modern cranes couldn't lift one of those things."
"Maybe it was aliens."

 

[firecrest]

The egyptian work force didnt own their tools either, they were rented property, I suspect this caused them to be kept in very good condition, probably had the ancient version of some godawful council employee who inspected them and handed out fines!

 

[BigShot]

Something like :twak: ?

firecrest - how do we know that? Written records or something?

 

[firecrest]

Yes, the tools were registered on entry to the site and on exit. Infact everything was documented to avoid theft.
The workers also had rationed candle wick (sedge grass I think) these were cut to specific length and time was measured by the wicks burning out. when the first burned it was dinner, when the second burned out it was home time, something like that. Id be tempted to cut them a bit shorter miself!

 

[Belfastman1958]

If they worked weekends did they burn two candle wicks and get double time??

 

[BigShot]

If they worked weekends did they burn two candle wicks and get double time??

Maybe they "burned the candle at both ends" for that.



Firecrest - interesting stuff - that's all brand new to me.
So where are the recodrs we know that from? Some sort of painting or a document that survived or something?

 

[demographic]

Ever watched professional piano or safe shifters at work ? They know exactly just where to kedge, where to put pressure, how to manipulate a weight that they ought not even be able to move, into exactly where they want it to go. Skill and the application of practical manpower, it can move mountains........literally

cheers,
Toddy

Like THIS BLOKE.

 

[Draven]

Like THIS BLOKE.

Seen that fella's work before, and it never ceases to amaze me. The most shocking thing is how incredibly simple it is - once someone explains it

 

[BigShot]

They had hosepipes in the stone age???
WOW!



All joking aside though, that's incredible and pretty close to what I had in mind too.

Smart guy - in fact, exactly the kind of smart guy that I think was behind the tools and methods that allowed "primitve" people to achieve things that we'd struggle with using anything other than primitive technology.

 

[HillBill]

That is bloody brilliant.

Well i've always wanted to move to the country but couldnt afford the prices.

Now i'm buying a bag of pebbles. I'll take my own house with me.

If anyone sees a 3 bed house plodding accross a field come and say hello.

 

[Cobweb]

Thanks for the vid, it seems so simple and easy now that it's been explained.
I recok he's right, they probally did use his methods to build the standing stones.

We forget that in prehistoric times, they were much more inventive than us. They had more time on their hands to think of stuff like that and practise it. They didn't need to wait until after the 9-5 or for the weekend. They didn't have to find a friendly farmer who would allow them yto use their land, it was their waiting for them.

I lament the loss of our freedom to pursue weird ideas, we are bound by convention and the instantaneous information we can get whether something will work or not, from libraries or the internet.

They didn't have scientists telling them that something would work or not, they had a go and the experiments either worked or they gave people ideas for other things.

It's sad now that we can't experiment freely.