Lost Cities(touropia.com)
touropia.com
Lost Cities
http://www.touropia.com/lost-cities/
15 comments
> Because there were no trees on the island, furniture had to be made of stone and thus also survived.
Kind of makes me think how they cooked? Also in other regions where there is no wood available like in Petra.
Kind of makes me think how they cooked? Also in other regions where there is no wood available like in Petra.
That's a very good question, and I'm also quite curious. A quick look at the Wikipedia article for Skara Brae mentions that pottery, flint and ashes have been found at the site which certainly suggests they had fire.
What other fuel sources could they have used?
What other fuel sources could they have used?
Maybe they didn't have durable woods but had access to shrubs and seaweed, possibly flotsam as sources of organic fuels? Perh guano as well?
I'm not sure what they could have used that would leave behind ashes but it is possible to use animal fat as a fuel source. If you could get enough there to be useful I'm not sure though.
some people in the developing world use animal dung.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_animal_dung_fuel
(This isn't a good article. I'm going to try editing it over the next couple of days.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_animal_dung_fuel
(This isn't a good article. I'm going to try editing it over the next couple of days.)
I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that they used dried seaweed and dried animal dung. Maybe peat as well - it's still a fairly common fuel in the wilder parts of Scotland.
Skara Brae is in an amazing part of the world for neolithic monuments - Maeshowe, the Ring of Brodgar and lots of others.
Edit: The Viking graffiti in Maeshowe is pretty special too...
Skara Brae is in an amazing part of the world for neolithic monuments - Maeshowe, the Ring of Brodgar and lots of others.
Edit: The Viking graffiti in Maeshowe is pretty special too...
It is 16km to the coast of Scotland. While probably not economical for burning, I find it hard to imagine that they had no access to wood.
Skara Brae is amazing: it's a very freaky feeling standing in something still recognisable as a home after four thousand years.
But it is in no way a city. The article admits as much, calling it 'one of the best preserved Stone Age villages in Europe'. Even the word 'village' is generous; it's a hamlet.
I guess '34 Lost Settlements' wouldn't have the same snap as a title.
But it is in no way a city. The article admits as much, calling it 'one of the best preserved Stone Age villages in Europe'. Even the word 'village' is generous; it's a hamlet.
I guess '34 Lost Settlements' wouldn't have the same snap as a title.
Made me think of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Cities.
Vijayanagara is better known as Hampi, and it is amazing, the picture doesn't do it justice. The whole city was carved out of enormous boulders, which make up most of the surrounding landscape. It is incredible to behold the scale of it. Highlights include a camera obscura, elephant stables, a water-cooled palace, a tuned 'musical temple' and miles upon miles of grand, ruined streets.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijayanagara
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijayanagara
"Like sands through the hourglass..."
Angkor (now central Cambodia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor Hugely significant for the language and culture of mainland Southeast Asia.
Dali, Nanzhao (now Yunnan, China) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanzhao Important as a highly developed kingdom with influence over a large area that acted as an early crossroads between China, India, Tibet, and non-state peoples of Zomia.
Various cities, Shu kingdom (now Sichuan, China) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shu_%28state%29 Rediscovered in the 1980s, purely only known by literary reference in ancient Chinese texts, this civilization is known to have had highly developed bronze working far beyond the capacity of any other known in human history. We really know little about them as they did not have a written language, other than they had some form of ritual or belief system involving masks, large and ornate metallic trees and bird figures.
Various cities, Champa (now central and southern Vietnam) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champa Champa was the pre-Chinese Indian kingdom of Vietnam. It was finally conquered in the 15th century, though its descendents remain. Huge Hindu temple complexes remain which are spectacular.
Jambi, Srivijaya (now eastern Sumatra, Indonesia) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melayu_Kingdom Interesting because it's huge and mostly unexcavated - potentially a second Angkor.
... and probably at least 3 or 4 early (eg. Mon) sites in Burma.