FRIDAY OCTOBER 11th carta.anthropogeny.org/events/how-humans-came-construct-their-worlds a big symposia on how humans construct their world, from brain evolution to Gobekli Tepe and the neolithic revolution all the way down to AI and the future of the built landscape. CARTA are doing some very cool things. Not a paid ad just something I think you'll find interesting! ATTEND REMOTELY TOO
just a short silly question Stefan. Did they do this kind of atomic profiling at doggerland ? Great video as always! So cool that once again geology explaining history with some DNA mouse magic trick. Same kind as history of vikings and their mouses :D
@@uncletiggermclaren7592 Sorry if you're just being cheeky, if not, I thought you'd like to know, its from the philosopher Albert Camus. the full quote is as follows: “I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain. One always finds one's burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night-filled mountain, in itself, forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”
@@funkbungus137 Hahaha, no I knew that, I was quite sincere. I try to be a good person, but I know I am not, because, for example, of how much pleasure I get from the misfortune of others, and how envy can consume me like a touch-paper. I was already going "ARRRRGH @!#@$$#, I wish that had been me making that erudite and witty joke !" when I got to the third word.
My dad was a geologist at the University of Texas at Austin who specialized in isotopic decay analysis. I remember one time when I was in college doing homework in his office when he had a meeting a with an grad student from the anthropology department. My dad was helping him with his dissertation where by analyzing isotope ratios in lead shot that was found, they were able to rewrite the narrative of how some battle in the Texas Revolution was fought. They were able to trace bullets to mines and use the patterns of which bullets were found where on the battlefield to reconstruct the battle. That was cool.
Great chatting to you, Stefan 😀 Geology is fascinating and has a huge overlap with archaeology. We have ideas to test glacial transport of the Altar Stone using these same techniques...exciting and nerdy times ahead! Shoutout to the Orkney vole! 🙌
@@bobkoroua Its an old joke about English people not washing very often. In the 1950's my parents got married in England. Only one person in the street had a shower and people in the street would que up. Most people only bathed washed weekly. In Australia every home had a shower and or bath, most people washed daily. The joke was that Britts hid their money under the soap because nobody ever looked there.
Just a pedantic clarification: Radiometric dates do not tell you the age of the sandstone. Instead, they tell you the age of the rock that formed the individual sand grains. That’s why there is a range of ages for the altar stone.
Thank you for clarifying! It can't tell you when it was lithified or eroded from its parent rock. Rocks are cool 😎 But during college I grew to appreciate my double major because even scientific papers have geologic inaccuracies in them. The general information didn't change, more the fine details. And depending on what you were looking for, those fine details mattered. Don't expect a zoology paper when you're reading a paleontolgy one, for example. Or a geology one if you're reading an archeology study. I'd like to see that gap disappear.
In other countries geologists agree that such enormous rocks have been moved by glaciers, but in the UK the folklore around Stonehenge and people carrying huge stones on their backs seems too entrenched to let go. I'm not a geologist, but I"d like to hear the opinion of continental geologists on this.
Good point to consider, but better to say "nah, yeah, nah". As an amateur, I'd say the rock would be smooth and polished if it had been under or through glaciers. I've worked extensively in a garden in the highlands on Seattle's east side where the ground is pure moraine, made of beautiful, polished, roundish, oval-ish rocks that mostly all dry a whitish colour when washed. Rarely bigger than your head but maybe that's locational or because these ones are near the surface. Different types of stone - blue, red and green - are in there too. Absolutely beautiful and ideal for landscaping. Some neighbourhood homes cleverly use them to create Japanese-style moss gardens. Having never been to Japan, I'm wondering if this is why the style stems from there and maybe they too have a lot of polished moraine rocks. If Bunnings here in Oz could easily get their hands easily on white, roundish rocks like those in Seattle, they would be selling them for $16 EACH, given that's what they charge for smallish landscaping rocks meant as stepping stones last I looked.
@@ronald3836 The guy in the interview also agreed that such enormous rocks have been moved by glaciers. He had other reasons for dismissing that possibility, if you paid attention.
@@varana Yes, that they moved in the wrong direction. But there have been many ice ages. My country has plenty of erratics but was not covered at all by the last ice age.
There is even a Bluey episode about how removing a stump from the yard was play for the men. A community coming together to do the impossible would have been dangerous but very rewarding physically, psychologically, and socially.
Yeh that's exactly how blokes act here in Australia! Even when they're Germans. Some sort of tribal thing I noticed when I lived on a small acreage, among other "treechangers". The only role for women is to stand back, provide the food and beers, and keep the children out of the way. It's THAT kind of experience for men, recalling when men were men and women were subservient. In western society, I guess it's only the past 100 years or so that we've been able to see this from a feminist perspective. That whole scene was sickening really because it went on in that vein, day after day, with "good blokes" building houses and sharing skills all around the local hills and valleys. Now I have my own house and garden elsewhere and have successfully removed a few of my own tree stumps. One bloke came and looked at one, told me it would be very difficult and require a special chainsaw. While we were talking, I grabbed the base to see if it was firm and it broke right off, rotted out. No chainsaws required.
@@VanillaMacaron551the idea that it’s always been a 'patriarchy' is not based on archaeology. There’s a series of letter’s between a Roman noblewoman and her equivalent in British Celtic society where the differences between a more egalitarian society and the expansionist imperial one who allowed rich men to have their women killed and kids sold off to slavery. Celtic British women could hold power, wealth and even divorce their husband because’he wasn’t good in bed’. In many places, the ‘gatherers’ in many societies kept their tribe in food more than the hunters, and violent expansionist cultures tended to be ruthlessly male dominate because their culture believed in ‘might is right’. Particularly in the western world, the oppression of genders, other races, lower class etc is part of the power mechanics of their culture and law. A gender ‘war’ is stupid. It relys on stereotyping whole genders in childish and unscientific terms. We certainly live in a hyper masculine dominated culture, but it’s also favours the rich and already powerful. The patriarchs of Rome had the power many seem to demand in modern times, but it was institutionally kept with the nobles, and everyday opinions just aspired to have what their leaders had. Both the Magna Carta & uS constitution were written by a powerful minority to create an environment for their benefit - as in both cases they were the only ones who actually had rights and authority. We have allowed the worst aspects of culture to be perpetuated by generational wealth to ensure their advantage continues. The gender conflict just ensures the majority are divided and conquered. Why would our species thrive in gender relationships if it was all so oppressive and unbalanced? We live in a world influenced by selfish individuals and flawed systems. We should be striving for better for many, but we only seem to support an ancient status quo. The problem with (and for) men is usually other men. We’ve been suckered into a selfish ideology who lacks community, emotional intelligence and fairness. It ain’t just a gender issue, it’s a human issue and we are on a trajectory that doesn’t favour our species survival
As a male creature I can verify that once we set a task we are reluctant to admit defeat, particularly if in concert or competition with other male creatures. If female creatures are watching, there is no limit to our determination- even if giving up would be smart thing to do.
@@VanillaMacaron551im sure for the men to get that done they would have had to have a lot of women voicing their opinions on how to do it and even rolling up their sleeves and helping themselves. Just speaking on experience of how stuff gets done around my yard.
Strange comment: I just realized I always end up binge watching your channel when I’m depressed. I know this doesn’t sound very flattering, but to me it is! First is the type of content, I don’t know, something about long dead people and how their lives could have been makes me not think about my problems. Secondly, your delivery, editing and soothing voice is always top notch. So thank you, I appreciate your work.
Strong opinion from someone who studies mid-to-late Neolithic stone circles at PhD level. If people want to get to the bottom of Stonehenge, and the reasons people moved stones over great distances - we need to study the other stone circles across the UK. They are simply ignored by the vast majority of Stonehenge researchers - including the big names. I'm talking sites larger than Stonehenge, never once excavated. Stonehenge is a funding vacuum, that continually throws up more mysteries than answers - because we lack context. Geologists are great and very useful - but in context, the archaeology doesn't support these magical megalith shifters across the Isles. There are Stonehenges all over the UK, hundreds in between Stonehenge and Orkney - why are they so regularly excluded from this geology bonanza? Did the stone trade places from somewhere less far than Scotland? Did it bounce to Ireland first, where the Stonehenge culture likely derives?
@@bryanthesmith4441 I was at the Stonehenge museum only last week. It’s amazing how there’s no comparisons to the megalithic stone circles of Britain, but several to the Carnac Stones, France. Considering they from totally different periods, on other sides of the channel, it’s a strange focus. As far as I’m concerned, Stonehenge has its greatest parallels with the big megalithic circles of northern England like Swinside & Long Meg, as well as the Rollright Stones in Oxfordshire.
@@StefanMilo do you ever watch Expedition Unknown? I find it decent at promoting awareness for us lay folk. S5 E3 1/10/18 Origins of Stonehenge Josh travels to his ancestral home of Great Britain to explore the origins of Stonehenge. From high in the air to deep under the sea, he finds an unexpected network of monuments that could have inspired one of history's most mystical locations.
One of the things I love about this channel is you bring in the exerts who are actively working in these fields who don't normally do public outreach work. It's a great insight into a world most of us only ever catch glimpses of
Stunned you didn't approach me for a pixelated photo and traumatic first hand account of excavating around Stonehenge in miserable sideways rain. Great vid! Pete
It's always funny to me how people today always assume that ancient people couldn't have done a big thing when those humans are exactly the same species as us.
Watching your grandfather in his seventies moving ton weight machinery with levers, slides, and simple ropes. Our ancestors of that time were stone experts. Of course they could move big rocks.
Well, obviously they couldn't do lots of things that we can do today, the fact that we're the same species doesn't make millennia of technological and sociological development an irrelevancy.
Agree, there are lots of practical things people could do 1,000s years ago the average person today wouldn't have a clue how to do. Take somebody from a town now and put them in a wild landscape and tell them to survive and they would be dead a week later. Yes we are super clever today with sophisticated industrial technology but that doesn't mean ancient people were totally stupid. They were brilliant with rocks, we know that from sites all over the world. They had manpower, practical knowledge and time. They were also clever with boats as they got to various locations around the world's coasts. So if, if it did come from afar, it is perfectly possible. They believed rocks had special meaning, they may have moved them from site to site over many decades or much longer. It doesn't strike me as particularly surprising at all if that was the case.
@@forestdweller5581so you're saying that the pyramids wasn't just a huge exercise in moving rocks? Like it or not, that comment is pretty solid: humans have moved rocks as a pastime for thousands of years and almost every culture on Earth did it.
@@lenabreijer1311I collect rocks from my vacations/trips. I have an example from my trip through Colorado (red rock from the Red Rocks arena area). I have quartz from along the highway in Arkansas (visiting my father). I have a piece of granite from Norway. It ain't gonna rot. It won't decay. The paint won't fade. It will always be there. Hard to go wrong with a stone.
What gets me is that I just did a road trip and drove @500 miles in the western US and in one day; yet it must have been weeks or months to move a stone @that distant. These videos are always humbling to me.
@@Jason1975ism tbf they didn't have to go over deep ocean, they could just hug the coast. and they could unload the rock *at worst* in modern day southampton but probably they could have taken the boat to salisbury if not even closer to the final destination, which is super convenient.
I don't know why but i think this might be favourite video you've ever made. You just seem so happy and excited throughout, and as someone who absolutely loves neolithic Britain and archaeology, it was like hearing all this information from a friend. Great guest too! Brilliant idea to interview him, i hope hes really proud of his work 💕
@@AncientArchitects I deleted that comment, and thanks to you for personally clearing that up. I’m a long time subscriber of yours! And sorry to Stefan for wrongly accusing him!! 🙏
Thank you!!! I've been watching Nick Zentner who teaches geology at Central Washington University talk about the huge movement of tectonic plates along the west coast of North America for years and they often use the information about dating of rocks. It's remarkably useful and now I finally understand how the dates are calculated. This episode was wonderful.
PNW surely has some of the globe's most fascinating geology - more so because it's all so recent, geologically speaking, and visibly is still in flux. Professor Zentner got me hooked - his lectures and vids are here on YT.
Shawn Willsey's channel is great too. He's doing Geology 101 at the moment, and did a 2-hour interview/discussion with Nick Zentner earlier this year, for example.
Shout out to Nick Zentnter. I moved to Washington and I came across his Nick on the rock’s series while trying learn about PNW geology, which is fascinating BTW. Great guy. Great videos. Great educator. Check him out.
You don't load the boulder into a boat, you sling it submerged on ropes between two boats - it can double as an anchor. The Egyptians transported stone blocks on the Nile in the same way.
The most astounding thing about this is that I listened to it on Manning Rd, driving past Curtin University. I'm on the opposite side of the world to Stefan, I'm a 20 hour flight from a three hour bus ride to stonehenge, and I'm driving past Tony's office.
Man, this video is so well put together. Your short intermissions that tie each segment together, is s brilliant idea. Somehow the information feels easier to absorb.
A thought crossed my mind while watching this video. What if Stonehenge was intended as a unifying symbol for all of the people of the Island? As such, stones were intentionally brought from different regions for that reason? Prior to this video I would have assumed that glaciers were responsible for the stone traveling that distance. Good video.
@@AncientWildTV Perhaps. I know I'm merely speculating, but I think people have always been mostly the same. Symbols are important in creating harmony among disparate people. What the site was used for, is a harder thing to speculate about. I am only guessing why there are rocks from diverse areas.
I love the fresh eyes you bring to things Stefan! It's so easy to take for granted the stuff that's bread and butter of an area of knowledge (like that geologists can know about random rocks they find), really appreciate the joyful wonder about the world around us that you invoke/invite us to have 😊 ...and, as a geologist, also totally nerding out about this chat. Nice one!
As a non-geolist too, I found the study into the geochemistry, establishing the exact location of the larger Sarsens source a fascinating one. A little differnt from the methodology of this one, but fascinating all the same.
Another great episode! I've always wanted to see an in-depth episode on the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture. I know there isnt a lot out there on that culture, but know it wouldn't disappoint.
I wonder if the alter stone was originally part of an even older ritual place in Scotland, and when that community moved south for whatever reason, they wanted to take their alter with them to be the center piece of the new henge they would build.
I wonder if your brain is even capable of any hypothesis? Why don't you start with spelling the words correctly. The correct term is altar and not alter.
like other ancient "monuments" it might not of necessarily been the same "community" who moved this stone, might have been a trophy of war like the Victory Stele of Naram-Sin
I've heard a few different people say that Stonehenge had to be constructed precisely where it is at that latitude. It couldn't have been built in Orkney. Howard Crowhurst knows more about this if you're interested. ua-cam.com/video/bVL_Vgl58qY/v-deo.htmlsi=DB4U_q_8tLKAXd6B
That was my thought exactly - I had the Ness of Brodgar down as my no. 1 candidate - sadly, my theory now lies in tatters :-( - unless the altar stone was originally brought to the Ness from somewhere else in Scotland !
One thing i speculate about is over the assumption this stone was brought in a single, purpose driven trip. I think like the stone of scone it could have been "stolen" multiple times and just as likely made it's journey in leaps and bounds to Stonehenge over an extended period of time.
as a pnw native I am delighted to see familiar things in your backround. Love the videos too! It gets my imagination going... Hey how about everybody bring a good rock from home and we will build it together. People from much further away brought one big rock, as people that lived closer could bring more than one big rock. then everyboy working together to put them up in a pattern that we are not sure about. Lovely puzzle! Keepup the wonderful videos!
I love the growing evidence that neolithic Orkney was more of a cultural and technological hub than the south of England back then. We ascribe importance to the south because it's currently the focus of British civilisation, but there's no reason it would be back in the Stonehenge days
How very interesting! Assuming the results are correct, how it got there isn't the most interesting question as we can never know for sure - best guess would be by sea, but who knows? But "Why?" and from exactly "Where?" are most intriguing questions. Why? Did the 'Alter Stone' come from a place of significance, or was it donated to a place of significance from the people who lived at it's source? Where? It may be possible to locate the exact outcropping. Will that location have a known significance? Will we find one? Will it remain a mystery?
Love your videos Stefan! One video idea: the Papar Irish Monks of Iceland. I feel like there is a dearth of information out there about whether or not they really existed, and I'd love to hear your take.
Thanks! I'm just a casual lover of History and I second the _glacial erratic_ theory. What if Stonehenge and similar Neolithic monumental sites had their beginnings with communities admiring _Glacial erratics;_ that is lone stones originating hundreds of kilometretres away of remarkable size deposited naturally on a field by melting glaciers? Then, communities come upon erratics, they are communally awe struck, and they set upon imitating and improving what began as a natural phenomenon that goes on to evolve into a group human endeavor resulting in Stonehenge and similar Neolithic sites like it.
A lot of the hypotheses surrounding Stonehenge revolve around it being an area of congregation, where people would come together perhaps on Solstices (particularly the Winter Solstice if I recall) With that, perhaps the stone coming from the northern UK was brought as a symbol of coming together. Even the rock being a tie that binded them. I think even back then we could have had some idea of how eternal rocks are compared to anything else; and what better representation of long term unity is that. Than moving the ground to another’s foot.
Maybe they lived a semi-nomadic lifestyle? idk. It's a solid trek from northern Scotland to the Wiltshire Plain. But carrying a big rock on a bullock or horse-pulled cart as a gift for their hosts would give the whole journey some extra significance or purpose.
@@VanillaMacaron551 I believe most, maybe almost everyone was nomadic at the time; also, I’m uncertain of whether horses had made it to the isles by then
Great video! Its so fascinating to hear about how we piece together the story of ancient history through small clues, like the presence of these voles.
Elagabal us moved the baetyl from Emesa to Rome in 218CE. I have a lovely little denarius depicting the stone being transported on a quadriga. Moving stuff about on the surface of the Earth is what people do.
But, Milo, there is evidence of glaciation on Salisbury Plain. The scouring underlying the Avenue is glacial. Also the geologist Professor Johns suggests that the blue stones were transported by glaciation from SW Wales. There are verified Scottish pink granite eratics on the north coast of Devon and there is no dispute that their transportation was glacial. The main problem here is, I think, that archæologists are not geologists and geologists are not archæologists. One thing is certain, that the builders of Stonehenge were good petrologists and knew that the sarsen, blue stones and altar stones were different and were used by them differently.
The blue stones from Wales were transported from there to Stonehenge. Archaeologists have even found their original ring site in Wales. There was a recent documentary on this on UK TV (sorry I've forgotten the name of the doc but it might be on YT).
@@scotlander545 I'm afraid it's not that recent but you may have seen it recently as it's probably still televised. Check out Mike Parker Pearson lectures. Sorry I can't point to exact talk but it's on UA-cam somewhere. They pretty much accept now that it wasn't transported en block from Waun Mawn to Stonehenge as was suggested in the documentary.
@@abisu5273 Yes, I saw the documentary relatively recent, I'm sure it was in the past 12 months, but I'd seen it before when it was probably originally shown. Didn't know it has been discredited, it was quite a convincing case. Thanks for updating my knowledge.
Low-key wishing the regions of the UK were named after those geological "terrains". I mean come on, how cool are "East Avalonia", "Megumia", "Laurentia" and "Orcadia"?
I love that Stonehenge may have been the happening rave spot of the Neolithic. One of the best things about the sites from Orkney is that we get to connect with the people by visiting their actual houses at Skara Brae. Now we get to connect with them by finding that they traveled hundreds of kilometers for a fun time, just as we do now for concerts or festivals or conventions. It makes you wonder what kind of music and dances they had. And I just love that the Orcadians (or northern islanders in general) brought their coolest rock to contribute to the party location. A true representation of what was most important to their megalithic culture! Here in the USA, one of our founding documents promotes the fundamental values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It's wonderful to find evidence of how basic the pursuit of happiness really is to humanity. It gives a whole new meaning to getting your rocks off!
Not much point in being alive if you can't have a little fun now and then. I think it would do us good to stop thinking about ancient people as somehow different to modern people. They were the same as us, they had the same fears and hopes, and enjoyed many of the same things we still do today.
Because of where I live I was thinking glacial transport right off the bat. In our woods there are boulders the size of cars, garages and even houses, all left by melting glaciers from hundreds and even thousands of miles away I am told.
Being an avid collector of folk tales and myths, I have to mention the one in the Greek collection that talks about Apollo traveling to the Hebrides to build a temple. In those ancient time all of Britain was called Hebrides, not just the island of Hebrides. It has been a while since reading it but I believe it was out of Bullfinches' Mythology. It also mentioned that women from the Pythoness' temple traveled there every 5 years to talk and have a cultural exchange with priestesses at Apollos temple.
Are you sure Bulfinch (one 'l') wasn't talking about Hyperborea? Apollo was certainly associated with Hyperborea, and it was said that his mother Leto was born there, but although to the Greeks it lay 'beyond the North Wind' (the literal meaning of the name), it was generally understood to lie north of the Swiss Alps. This was certainly a Celtic area, but still far from modern Scotland, which the Celts likely did not reach much before 700 BCE, and no-one (as far as I can tell) has suggested that the names of 'Hebrides' and 'Hyperborera' are etymologically connected.
@@terryhunt2659 Yes, your right. I am struggling with Covid today and my brain swapped the H-names. Even with the name swap my brain has stored it as thinking it is a high possibility that it is a reference to Stonehenge. I need to reread Bullfinches'. I used to have years of notecards that I had gleaned over 30 years of research all annotated with sources. It disappeared with the last move I made. Damn moving gremlins.
If you are interested in geology I would suggest the channel Nick Zentner. He does the amazing job and his short videos he does with our local PBS stations Nick on the Rocks are top tier. He is one of those passionate professors that enraptures you with his lectures.
Check out Shawn Willsey too, he's out of Idaho. He produces a lot of videos that get into the concepts of geology, he's also in the middle of doing a 'Geology 101' set of videos that tracks with his regular class.
So what I'm basing off of absolutely nothing else but this video is that there were 2 bigger groups of humans: One living up north, the other living down south. South-guys were really friendly and good at partying, so they had a vigorous exchange. When North-guys heard about South-guys building a giant stone structure, they thought it was pretty cool. So the next time they came around for a good ol' party, they brought a gift with them - the altar stone. This is my canon now. Prove me wrong.
As an aside, Re the Orkney vole, check out the Skomer vole too. Only found on the Welsh island of Skomer. Its huge! I love island isolation species. Galapogos etc.
I think I am right in saying that anthropologists think ancient peoples worked around 20 hours a week on average, to support themselves. That leaves an awful lot of time available for hobbies and projects. And if there is one thing we know about humans, its they love to do things considered impossible by their peers. It practically defines our humanity!
My only negative criticism for this presentation is that it did not come anywhere near to lasting my entire ten hour shift. Otherwise, I loved this. The Buddo quickly made its way into my favorite Neolithic Artifacts, which is a mental list that I am sure everyone has.
Moving rocks is one of our favourite things to do. :) Feeling that. Dude, I love your videos . I accept your nice apologies with grins and nods and wishes for you to keep going. I'm a physicist and like you, I wish I knew more geology man. Rock on
FRIDAY OCTOBER 11th carta.anthropogeny.org/events/how-humans-came-construct-their-worlds a big symposia on how humans construct their world, from brain evolution to Gobekli Tepe and the neolithic revolution all the way down to AI and the future of the built landscape. CARTA are doing some very cool things. Not a paid ad just something I think you'll find interesting! ATTEND REMOTELY TOO
Always appreciated big man. Great video.
I wish I could attend.
Can we attend remotely? I would love to but I live in Brazil.
just a short silly question Stefan. Did they do this kind of atomic profiling at doggerland ?
Great video as always! So cool that once again geology explaining history with some DNA mouse magic trick. Same kind as history of vikings and their mouses :D
@@Madferreiroyes!
13:58 "Moving rocks is honestly one of our favorite things to do."
We must imagine Sisyphus happy.
Oh. I BURN with envy of your wit. If I had thought of that I might have cried with joy.
:)
@@uncletiggermclaren7592 Sorry if you're just being cheeky, if not, I thought you'd like to know, its from the philosopher Albert Camus. the full quote is as follows:
“I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain. One always finds one's burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night-filled mountain, in itself, forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”
@@funkbungus137 Hahaha, no I knew that, I was quite sincere.
I try to be a good person, but I know I am not, because, for example, of how much pleasure I get from the misfortune of others, and how envy can consume me like a touch-paper.
I was already going "ARRRRGH @!#@$$#, I wish that had been me making that erudite and witty joke !" when I got to the third word.
How absurd!
Touche. You win today.
My dad was a geologist at the University of Texas at Austin who specialized in isotopic decay analysis. I remember one time when I was in college doing homework in his office when he had a meeting a with an grad student from the anthropology department. My dad was helping him with his dissertation where by analyzing isotope ratios in lead shot that was found, they were able to rewrite the narrative of how some battle in the Texas Revolution was fought. They were able to trace bullets to mines and use the patterns of which bullets were found where on the battlefield to reconstruct the battle. That was cool.
I like when sciences help each other out
How was the narrative changed? Which battle?
Man, I wish my step-dad wasn't an abusive alcoholic, so I could have started learning at a younger age. lol
Great chatting to you, Stefan 😀 Geology is fascinating and has a huge overlap with archaeology. We have ideas to test glacial transport of the Altar Stone using these same techniques...exciting and nerdy times ahead!
Shoutout to the Orkney vole! 🙌
Thanks for being on the video. Very interesting.
Do you know if they have ever looked under the rock?
@@bobkoroua Its England so, probably soap under there :)
@@Reginaldesq
Soap ?
🤔
@@bobkoroua Its an old joke about English people not washing very often. In the 1950's my parents got married in England. Only one person in the street had a shower and people in the street would que up. Most people only bathed washed weekly. In Australia every home had a shower and or bath, most people washed daily. The joke was that Britts hid their money under the soap because nobody ever looked there.
Just a pedantic clarification: Radiometric dates do not tell you the age of the sandstone. Instead, they tell you the age of the rock that formed the individual sand grains. That’s why there is a range of ages for the altar stone.
Oh that’s kind of interesting, thank you
Thank you for clarifying! It can't tell you when it was lithified or eroded from its parent rock. Rocks are cool 😎
But during college I grew to appreciate my double major because even scientific papers have geologic inaccuracies in them. The general information didn't change, more the fine details. And depending on what you were looking for, those fine details mattered. Don't expect a zoology paper when you're reading a paleontolgy one, for example. Or a geology one if you're reading an archeology study. I'd like to see that gap disappear.
yeah this distinction is crucial for accurately interpreting geological history.
Yeah I tried to convey that but probably did a poor job. Thanks for the clarification though!
@@StefanMilo you were clear, even I understood
Proud of myself for wondering if transport could have been glacial. Humbled by the ease with which the geologists says, "We thought of that and...no."
In other countries geologists agree that such enormous rocks have been moved by glaciers, but in the UK the folklore around Stonehenge and people carrying huge stones on their backs seems too entrenched to let go.
I'm not a geologist, but I"d like to hear the opinion of continental geologists on this.
Me too, as I've seen a lot of erratics and moraines in various places.
Good point to consider, but better to say "nah, yeah, nah". As an amateur, I'd say the rock would be smooth and polished if it had been under or through glaciers. I've worked extensively in a garden in the highlands on Seattle's east side where the ground is pure moraine, made of beautiful, polished, roundish, oval-ish rocks that mostly all dry a whitish colour when washed. Rarely bigger than your head but maybe that's locational or because these ones are near the surface. Different types of stone - blue, red and green - are in there too. Absolutely beautiful and ideal for landscaping. Some neighbourhood homes cleverly use them to create Japanese-style moss gardens. Having never been to Japan, I'm wondering if this is why the style stems from there and maybe they too have a lot of polished moraine rocks.
If Bunnings here in Oz could easily get their hands easily on white, roundish rocks like those in Seattle, they would be selling them for $16 EACH, given that's what they charge for smallish landscaping rocks meant as stepping stones last I looked.
@@ronald3836 The guy in the interview also agreed that such enormous rocks have been moved by glaciers. He had other reasons for dismissing that possibility, if you paid attention.
@@varana Yes, that they moved in the wrong direction. But there have been many ice ages. My country has plenty of erratics but was not covered at all by the last ice age.
There is even a Bluey episode about how removing a stump from the yard was play for the men. A community coming together to do the impossible would have been dangerous but very rewarding physically, psychologically, and socially.
BLUEY FOR THE WIN
Yeh that's exactly how blokes act here in Australia! Even when they're Germans. Some sort of tribal thing I noticed when I lived on a small acreage, among other "treechangers". The only role for women is to stand back, provide the food and beers, and keep the children out of the way. It's THAT kind of experience for men, recalling when men were men and women were subservient. In western society, I guess it's only the past 100 years or so that we've been able to see this from a feminist perspective.
That whole scene was sickening really because it went on in that vein, day after day, with "good blokes" building houses and sharing skills all around the local hills and valleys. Now I have my own house and garden elsewhere and have successfully removed a few of my own tree stumps. One bloke came and looked at one, told me it would be very difficult and require a special chainsaw. While we were talking, I grabbed the base to see if it was firm and it broke right off, rotted out. No chainsaws required.
@@VanillaMacaron551the idea that it’s always been a 'patriarchy' is not based on archaeology.
There’s a series of letter’s between a Roman noblewoman and her equivalent in British Celtic society where the differences between a more egalitarian society and the expansionist imperial one who allowed rich men to have their women killed and kids sold off to slavery.
Celtic British women could hold power, wealth and even divorce their husband because’he wasn’t good in bed’.
In many places, the ‘gatherers’ in many societies kept their tribe in food more than the hunters, and violent expansionist cultures tended to be ruthlessly male dominate because their culture believed in ‘might is right’.
Particularly in the western world, the oppression of genders, other races, lower class etc is part of the power mechanics of their culture and law.
A gender ‘war’ is stupid.
It relys on stereotyping whole genders in childish and unscientific terms.
We certainly live in a hyper masculine dominated culture, but it’s also favours the rich and already powerful.
The patriarchs of Rome had the power many seem to demand in modern times, but it was institutionally kept with the nobles, and everyday opinions just aspired to have what their leaders had.
Both the Magna Carta & uS constitution were written by a powerful minority to create an environment for their benefit - as in both cases they were the only ones who actually had rights and authority.
We have allowed the worst aspects of culture to be perpetuated by generational wealth to ensure their advantage continues.
The gender conflict just ensures the majority are divided and conquered.
Why would our species thrive in gender relationships if it was all so oppressive and unbalanced?
We live in a world influenced by selfish individuals and flawed systems.
We should be striving for better for many, but we only seem to support an ancient status quo.
The problem with (and for) men is usually other men.
We’ve been suckered into a selfish ideology who lacks community, emotional intelligence and fairness.
It ain’t just a gender issue, it’s a human issue and we are on a trajectory that doesn’t favour our species survival
As a male creature I can verify that once we set a task we are reluctant to admit defeat, particularly if in concert or competition with other male creatures. If female creatures are watching, there is no limit to our determination- even if giving up would be smart thing to do.
@@VanillaMacaron551im sure for the men to get that done they would have had to have a lot of women voicing their opinions on how to do it and even rolling up their sleeves and helping themselves. Just speaking on experience of how stuff gets done around my yard.
Strange comment: I just realized I always end up binge watching your channel when I’m depressed. I know this doesn’t sound very flattering, but to me it is!
First is the type of content, I don’t know, something about long dead people and how their lives could have been makes me not think about my problems. Secondly, your delivery, editing and soothing voice is always top notch.
So thank you, I appreciate your work.
Strong opinion from someone who studies mid-to-late Neolithic stone circles at PhD level. If people want to get to the bottom of Stonehenge, and the reasons people moved stones over great distances - we need to study the other stone circles across the UK. They are simply ignored by the vast majority of Stonehenge researchers - including the big names. I'm talking sites larger than Stonehenge, never once excavated.
Stonehenge is a funding vacuum, that continually throws up more mysteries than answers - because we lack context.
Geologists are great and very useful - but in context, the archaeology doesn't support these magical megalith shifters across the Isles. There are Stonehenges all over the UK, hundreds in between Stonehenge and Orkney - why are they so regularly excluded from this geology bonanza? Did the stone trade places from somewhere less far than Scotland? Did it bounce to Ireland first, where the Stonehenge culture likely derives?
good point, also the stone monuments found on the continent should maybe takken into consideration as well and their connections.
Sites possibly larger than Stonehenge remaining untouched? Now that's a shame, there's so much to learn if they were properly studied
@@bryanthesmith4441 I was at the Stonehenge museum only last week. It’s amazing how there’s no comparisons to the megalithic stone circles of Britain, but several to the Carnac Stones, France. Considering they from totally different periods, on other sides of the channel, it’s a strange focus.
As far as I’m concerned, Stonehenge has its greatest parallels with the big megalithic circles of northern England like Swinside & Long Meg, as well as the Rollright Stones in Oxfordshire.
These are all great points. Until those other sites are studied we can’t say sadly
@@StefanMilo do you ever watch Expedition Unknown? I find it decent at promoting awareness for us lay folk.
S5 E3 1/10/18
Origins of Stonehenge
Josh travels to his ancestral home of Great Britain to explore the origins of Stonehenge. From high in the air to deep under the sea, he finds an unexpected network of monuments that could have inspired one of history's most mystical locations.
One of the things I love about this channel is you bring in the exerts who are actively working in these fields who don't normally do public outreach work. It's a great insight into a world most of us only ever catch glimpses of
Stunned you didn't approach me for a pixelated photo and traumatic first hand account of excavating around Stonehenge in miserable sideways rain.
Great vid!
Pete
It's always funny to me how people today always assume that ancient people couldn't have done a big thing when those humans are exactly the same species as us.
The musflood/Tartarian people don't believe that builders 130 years ago had access to a block and tackle or steam shovel.
Watching your grandfather in his seventies moving ton weight machinery with levers, slides, and simple ropes. Our ancestors of that time were stone experts. Of course they could move big rocks.
Well, obviously they couldn't do lots of things that we can do today, the fact that we're the same species doesn't make millennia of technological and sociological development an irrelevancy.
They tend to think everybody has become much smarter, instead of understanding that human progress is based on amassing knowledge.
Agree, there are lots of practical things people could do 1,000s years ago the average person today wouldn't have a clue how to do. Take somebody from a town now and put them in a wild landscape and tell them to survive and they would be dead a week later. Yes we are super clever today with sophisticated industrial technology but that doesn't mean ancient people were totally stupid. They were brilliant with rocks, we know that from sites all over the world. They had manpower, practical knowledge and time. They were also clever with boats as they got to various locations around the world's coasts. So if, if it did come from afar, it is perfectly possible. They believed rocks had special meaning, they may have moved them from site to site over many decades or much longer. It doesn't strike me as particularly surprising at all if that was the case.
I do absolutely love your videos. Like you I also love to ask "how we know what we know! excellent work.
"moving rocks is one of our favourite things to do" i love it!
And it is total bullshit.
@@forestdweller5581so you're saying that the pyramids wasn't just a huge exercise in moving rocks? Like it or not, that comment is pretty solid: humans have moved rocks as a pastime for thousands of years and almost every culture on Earth did it.
@@forestdweller5581 ehh buildings !
@@forestdweller5581every two year old picks up rocks to take home. Bigger you get, the bigger to stone gets, unless you are talking gemstones.
@@lenabreijer1311I collect rocks from my vacations/trips. I have an example from my trip through Colorado (red rock from the Red Rocks arena area). I have quartz from along the highway in Arkansas (visiting my father). I have a piece of granite from Norway.
It ain't gonna rot. It won't decay. The paint won't fade. It will always be there. Hard to go wrong with a stone.
"Moving rocks is one of our favorite things to do" got me lol, so true.
Thank you, keep up the great work!
What gets me is that I just did a road trip and drove @500 miles in the western US and in one day; yet it must have been weeks or months to move a stone @that distant. These videos are always humbling to me.
@@thelostone6981 I just did 2244 miles from Oregon to Ohio. I thought about similar things. Covered wagons and horses. Brave people!
They went by sea, not land
@@samnrob1 that's even more terrifying.
@@Jason1975ism tbf they didn't have to go over deep ocean, they could just hug the coast.
and they could unload the rock *at worst* in modern day southampton but probably they could have taken the boat to salisbury if not even closer to the final destination, which is super convenient.
Boulders were moved south by advancing glaciers... & dumped in current sites when glaciers retreated. Simple.
I don't know why but i think this might be favourite video you've ever made. You just seem so happy and excited throughout, and as someone who absolutely loves neolithic Britain and archaeology, it was like hearing all this information from a friend.
Great guest too! Brilliant idea to interview him, i hope hes really proud of his work 💕
1:58 Matt from Ancient Architects channel. Absolute legend
i know right! big deal he used him for the quote @AncientArchitects
@@cougar2013no - I recorded it for him - Stefan is a friend! 👍
@@AncientArchitects I deleted that comment, and thanks to you for personally clearing that up. I’m a long time subscriber of yours!
And sorry to Stefan for wrongly accusing him!! 🙏
@@cougar2013It’s cool I’m sure - don’t worry! 👍
Ngl that was a mini jumpscare, I was like “Ancient Architects?!?!?!?!” 😂
So fascinating! You had great questions Stefan and Anthony did a wonderful job breaking down some complex topics.
Woo! A new Stefan video! My day just got better!!
same :)
Thank you!!! I've been watching Nick Zentner who teaches geology at Central Washington University talk about the huge movement of tectonic plates along the west coast of North America for years and they often use the information about dating of rocks. It's remarkably useful and now I finally understand how the dates are calculated.
This episode was wonderful.
PNW surely has some of the globe's most fascinating geology - more so because it's all so recent, geologically speaking, and visibly is still in flux. Professor Zentner got me hooked - his lectures and vids are here on YT.
Shawn Willsey's channel is great too. He's doing Geology 101 at the moment, and did a 2-hour interview/discussion with Nick Zentner earlier this year, for example.
Shout out to Nick Zentnter. I moved to Washington and I came across his Nick on the rock’s series while trying learn about PNW geology, which is fascinating BTW. Great guy. Great videos. Great educator. Check him out.
Your passion is contagious ❤
1:58 ... almost spit my lunch hearing Matt's voice..!!! Nice one Stefan 😂😂
Beat me too it!!!! All us nerds must watch the same channels! 😂😂😂 Shout out to North 02, ancient Americas and Nathaniel fossen!
😂😂😂
yeah he got me there too! 🤣 perfect cameo 🤗
Love your channel. I have a passion for ancient world and your channel are some how so enjoyable no matter when or how many video I’ve watch!
Great episode Stefan. Thanks for always being so enthusiastic, which brings so much life to these questions and stories.
Cheers
Never go to a party empty handed.
I'd love to know what kind of boat tech they could have had. Boating with a boulder would take serious skill
Exactly what I thought. It might have even been a sort of status thing to contribute a boulder brought from so far away.
You don't load the boulder into a boat, you sling it submerged on ropes between two boats - it can double as an anchor. The Egyptians transported stone blocks on the Nile in the same way.
@@terryhunt2659 But would that work in stormy seas?
Sitting between 2 sewn boats should handle it with no problem.
@@RennrogueA couple of coracles maybe?
The most astounding thing about this is that I listened to it on Manning Rd, driving past Curtin University.
I'm on the opposite side of the world to Stefan, I'm a 20 hour flight from a three hour bus ride to stonehenge, and I'm driving past Tony's office.
I thought exactly the same! So cool to see WA academics getting their moment on such an amazing channel
Thanks Milo. Clearly, Britain has been rocking and rolling across the length of the island since way back in prehistory.
Basically the Stonedhangers said Dude, we're so gonna rock out and the other guys said we're in for a pound each.
Man, this video is so well put together. Your short intermissions that tie each segment together, is s brilliant idea. Somehow the information feels easier to absorb.
A thought crossed my mind while watching this video. What if Stonehenge was intended as a unifying symbol for all of the people of the Island? As such, stones were intentionally brought from different regions for that reason?
Prior to this video I would have assumed that glaciers were responsible for the stone traveling that distance. Good video.
Perhaps it served as a site for gatherings, rituals, or negotiations, helping to forge alliances and strengthen communal ties.
@@AncientWildTV Perhaps. I know I'm merely speculating, but I think people have always been mostly the same. Symbols are important in creating harmony among disparate people. What the site was used for, is a harder thing to speculate about. I am only guessing why there are rocks from diverse areas.
@@janerkenbrack3373 thats pretty cool, im curious too
I love the fresh eyes you bring to things Stefan! It's so easy to take for granted the stuff that's bread and butter of an area of knowledge (like that geologists can know about random rocks they find), really appreciate the joyful wonder about the world around us that you invoke/invite us to have 😊
...and, as a geologist, also totally nerding out about this chat. Nice one!
As a non-geolist too, I found the study into the geochemistry, establishing the exact location of the larger Sarsens source a fascinating one. A little differnt from the methodology of this one, but fascinating all the same.
Great video, well presented, engaging, high information density and no fluff. Thanks!
Thanks for the cameo 😂 Great Video as always!
Thought I recognised that voice 😂😂
its 700 odd miles
I am sooooo happy you did an episode on this!
One thing is never debated isthat Scotland is forever🏴
Duh
Oooh new Stefan vid! Hell yes
Another great episode!
I've always wanted to see an in-depth episode on the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture. I know there isnt a lot out there on that culture, but know it wouldn't disappoint.
I second that suggestion!
I really enjoy your videos. Thanks for the enthusiasm and passion you bring to the subject.
As a geologist I love geology getting some love on one of my favorite UA-cam channels ❤
3:32 When doing videocalls do you pivot your bookcase into the background to sure up your expertise?
I wonder if the alter stone was originally part of an even older ritual place in Scotland, and when that community moved south for whatever reason, they wanted to take their alter with them to be the center piece of the new henge they would build.
I wonder if your brain is even capable of any hypothesis? Why don't you start with spelling the words correctly. The correct term is altar and not alter.
like other ancient "monuments" it might not of necessarily been the same "community" who moved this stone, might have been a trophy of war like the Victory Stele of Naram-Sin
I've heard a few different people say that Stonehenge had to be constructed precisely where it is at that latitude. It couldn't have been built in Orkney. Howard Crowhurst knows more about this if you're interested.
ua-cam.com/video/bVL_Vgl58qY/v-deo.htmlsi=DB4U_q_8tLKAXd6B
Possible, but a whole community just up and moving all the way from the Orkneys to Wiltshire seems a bit unlikely
That was my thought exactly - I had the Ness of Brodgar down as my no. 1 candidate - sadly, my theory now lies in tatters :-( - unless the altar stone was originally brought to the Ness from somewhere else in Scotland !
One thing i speculate about is over the assumption this stone was brought in a single, purpose driven trip. I think like the stone of scone it could have been "stolen" multiple times and just as likely made it's journey in leaps and bounds to Stonehenge over an extended period of time.
it is possible 👍
yay! perfect to put on at work, thanks stefan!
as a pnw native I am delighted to see familiar things in your backround. Love the videos too!
It gets my imagination going... Hey how about everybody bring a good rock from home and we will build it together. People from much further away brought one big rock, as people that lived closer could bring more than one big rock. then everyboy working together to put them up in a pattern that we are not sure about. Lovely puzzle!
Keepup the wonderful videos!
Brilliant that you got this interview.
Partying in Neolithic Stonehenge is definitely on my time-travel bucket list 😉
Great video Stefan and it's wonderful to see you again!
I love the growing evidence that neolithic Orkney was more of a cultural and technological hub than the south of England back then. We ascribe importance to the south because it's currently the focus of British civilisation, but there's no reason it would be back in the Stonehenge days
Just discovered, and love your work Stephan. Thanks
Very nearly got caught in a detailed discussion about lead.
Reminds me of the Eddie Izzard bit about building Stone Henge. "400 miles?! In this day and age?! .. I don't even know where I live now..."
I love that special ❤
Tea and cake or death!
Super interesting. And thanks for the explanation about dating rocks.
I dated a rock.
Been married to him for 24 years
A very interesting video/documentary, thanks for uploading this.
How very interesting! Assuming the results are correct, how it got there isn't the most interesting question as we can never know for sure - best guess would be by sea, but who knows? But "Why?" and from exactly "Where?" are most intriguing questions.
Why? Did the 'Alter Stone' come from a place of significance, or was it donated to a place of significance from the people who lived at it's source?
Where? It may be possible to locate the exact outcropping. Will that location have a known significance? Will we find one? Will it remain a mystery?
Love your stuff and how you artfully explain complex archeological topics! Thanks ☺
Did I hear the Ancient Architects channel host's voice?
Yep me too
Yup
Totally Matt Stebson's voice. Unmistakable!
Look at these UA-cam anthropology fans! Yay!
Speaking of which, UA-cam needs more anthropology channels...
We love the crossovers!
fascinating. I love your enthusiasm, as exemplified by the vole story. Keep up the great work.
Love your videos Stefan! One video idea: the Papar Irish Monks of Iceland. I feel like there is a dearth of information out there about whether or not they really existed, and I'd love to hear your take.
So Interesting, thanks for putting this video out there.
Surely the most debated rock of Britain is Oasis
Wonder if they'll ever use it for a wall
I thought we'd all agreed they were rubbish years ago.
@@clint-webb Definitely maybe, some might say
I think the only people still debating Oasis are Noel and Liam. Most people know better.
Boooo!
Your videos are always a treat, just so fascinating.
Recognized Matt Stibney's voice there....also a great recommendation for Ancient Architecture and stuff like that. Cheerio
Thanks!
I'm just a casual lover of History and I second the _glacial erratic_ theory.
What if Stonehenge and similar Neolithic monumental sites had their beginnings with communities admiring _Glacial erratics;_ that is lone stones originating hundreds of kilometretres away of remarkable size deposited naturally on a field by melting glaciers?
Then, communities come upon erratics, they are communally awe struck, and they set upon imitating and improving what began as a natural phenomenon that goes on to evolve into a group human endeavor resulting in Stonehenge and similar Neolithic sites like it.
A lot of the hypotheses surrounding Stonehenge revolve around it being an area of congregation, where people would come together perhaps on Solstices (particularly the Winter Solstice if I recall)
With that, perhaps the stone coming from the northern UK was brought as a symbol of coming together. Even the rock being a tie that binded them.
I think even back then we could have had some idea of how eternal rocks are compared to anything else; and what better representation of long term unity is that.
Than moving the ground to another’s foot.
Maybe they lived a semi-nomadic lifestyle? idk. It's a solid trek from northern Scotland to the Wiltshire Plain. But carrying a big rock on a bullock or horse-pulled cart as a gift for their hosts would give the whole journey some extra significance or purpose.
@@VanillaMacaron551 I believe most, maybe almost everyone was nomadic at the time; also, I’m uncertain of whether horses had made it to the isles by then
Great video! Its so fascinating to hear about how we piece together the story of ancient history through small clues, like the presence of these voles.
Elagabal us moved the baetyl from Emesa to Rome in 218CE. I have a lovely little denarius depicting the stone being transported on a quadriga. Moving stuff about on the surface of the Earth is what people do.
Love your stuff mate!
You should have your own docu series on TV.
But, Milo, there is evidence of glaciation on Salisbury Plain. The scouring underlying the Avenue is glacial. Also the geologist Professor Johns suggests that the blue stones were transported by glaciation from SW Wales. There are verified Scottish pink granite eratics on the north coast of Devon and there is no dispute that their transportation was glacial. The main problem here is, I think, that archæologists are not geologists and geologists are not archæologists. One thing is certain, that the builders of Stonehenge were good petrologists and knew that the sarsen, blue stones and altar stones were different and were used by them differently.
The blue stones from Wales were transported from there to Stonehenge. Archaeologists have even found their original ring site in Wales. There was a recent documentary on this on UK TV (sorry I've forgotten the name of the doc but it might be on YT).
@@scotlander545 I'm afraid it's not that recent but you may have seen it recently as it's probably still televised. Check out Mike Parker Pearson lectures. Sorry I can't point to exact talk but it's on UA-cam somewhere. They pretty much accept now that it wasn't transported en block from Waun Mawn to Stonehenge as was suggested in the documentary.
@@abisu5273 Yes, I saw the documentary relatively recent, I'm sure it was in the past 12 months, but I'd seen it before when it was probably originally shown. Didn't know it has been discredited, it was quite a convincing case. Thanks for updating my knowledge.
Thanks,Stefan,top quality reporting yet again. A retired archaeologist from Norfolk, England salutes you!
Low-key wishing the regions of the UK were named after those geological "terrains". I mean come on, how cool are "East Avalonia", "Megumia", "Laurentia" and "Orcadia"?
Yes! Also Cascadia in the US.
@@VanillaMacaron551 Oh yes that one's a banger too. Certainly cooler than "Washington State" or "British Columbia"
I love your videos Stefan! So clear and well explained
I love that Stonehenge may have been the happening rave spot of the Neolithic. One of the best things about the sites from Orkney is that we get to connect with the people by visiting their actual houses at Skara Brae. Now we get to connect with them by finding that they traveled hundreds of kilometers for a fun time, just as we do now for concerts or festivals or conventions. It makes you wonder what kind of music and dances they had. And I just love that the Orcadians (or northern islanders in general) brought their coolest rock to contribute to the party location. A true representation of what was most important to their megalithic culture!
Here in the USA, one of our founding documents promotes the fundamental values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It's wonderful to find evidence of how basic the pursuit of happiness really is to humanity. It gives a whole new meaning to getting your rocks off!
Not much point in being alive if you can't have a little fun now and then. I think it would do us good to stop thinking about ancient people as somehow different to modern people. They were the same as us, they had the same fears and hopes, and enjoyed many of the same things we still do today.
Perhaps it was a souvenir brought back frae Scotland like the rock from Blackpool
"Moving rocks is one lf our favourite things to do."
So wonderfully and so simply broken down to the crux of it all!
"Moving rocks is honestly one of our favorite things to do"
Stefan is ready for a PhD
He would fail miserably. Easier to be a vlogger and just skirt along every topic.
@@forestdweller5581 why you hanging around being a hater? Buzz off
@@cedaremberr why you calling me a hater? A PhD is a lot harder to achieve than a vlog. Buzz off yourself. Go get yourself one :)
Because of where I live I was thinking glacial transport right off the bat.
In our woods there are boulders the size of cars, garages and even houses, all left by melting glaciers from hundreds and even thousands of miles away I am told.
Being an avid collector of folk tales and myths, I have to mention the one in the Greek collection that talks about Apollo traveling to the Hebrides to build a temple. In those ancient time all of Britain was called Hebrides, not just the island of Hebrides. It has been a while since reading it but I believe it was out of Bullfinches' Mythology. It also mentioned that women from the Pythoness' temple traveled there every 5 years to talk and have a cultural exchange with priestesses at Apollos temple.
Are you sure Bulfinch (one 'l') wasn't talking about Hyperborea? Apollo was certainly associated with Hyperborea, and it was said that his mother Leto was born there, but although to the Greeks it lay 'beyond the North Wind' (the literal meaning of the name), it was generally understood to lie north of the Swiss Alps. This was certainly a Celtic area, but still far from modern Scotland, which the Celts likely did not reach much before 700 BCE, and no-one (as far as I can tell) has suggested that the names of 'Hebrides' and 'Hyperborera' are etymologically connected.
@@terryhunt2659 Yes, your right. I am struggling with Covid today and my brain swapped the H-names. Even with the name swap my brain has stored it as thinking it is a high possibility that it is a reference to Stonehenge. I need to reread Bullfinches'. I used to have years of notecards that I had gleaned over 30 years of research all annotated with sources. It disappeared with the last move I made. Damn moving gremlins.
Always perk up when I see you upload
stonhenge was an ancient rave festival and the stone was a party gift
Stefan, Tony and Matt kick flipping arse dude!
If you are interested in geology I would suggest the channel Nick Zentner. He does the amazing job and his short videos he does with our local PBS stations Nick on the Rocks are top tier. He is one of those passionate professors that enraptures you with his lectures.
Check out Shawn Willsey too, he's out of Idaho. He produces a lot of videos that get into the concepts of geology, he's also in the middle of doing a 'Geology 101' set of videos that tracks with his regular class.
@@nothanks3236 and they've worked together to some extent - Nick's recent Idaho series was inspired/encouraged by Shawn.
I never once thought I'd watch a video on a rock, let alone really enjoy it from start to finish. Great job 👍
BYOB (Bring your own boulder)
Always astonished by the quality of your videos
So what I'm basing off of absolutely nothing else but this video is that there were 2 bigger groups of humans: One living up north, the other living down south. South-guys were really friendly and good at partying, so they had a vigorous exchange. When North-guys heard about South-guys building a giant stone structure, they thought it was pretty cool. So the next time they came around for a good ol' party, they brought a gift with them - the altar stone. This is my canon now. Prove me wrong.
Great video! Cool that you got the actual Ancient Architect!
👋
Britain's second biggest rock debate is The Beatles vs. The Rolling Stones
As an aside, Re the Orkney vole, check out the Skomer vole too. Only found on the Welsh island of Skomer. Its huge! I love island isolation species. Galapogos etc.
Please have Anthony as a recurring character going forward.
I think I am right in saying that anthropologists think ancient peoples worked around 20 hours a week on average, to support themselves.
That leaves an awful lot of time available for hobbies and projects.
And if there is one thing we know about humans, its they love to do things considered impossible by their peers.
It practically defines our humanity!
2:54 this guy is great 😆
They're basically doing geoguessr but with rocks.
10:54 I dont forgive you, I cheer you actually
Gneiss! Two of my favorite topics together 🙃 Thanks Stephan!
8:30 - geology bonanzer lol
currently watching this in my AP Chem class, love ya Stef
My only negative criticism for this presentation is that it did not come anywhere near to lasting my entire ten hour shift.
Otherwise, I loved this. The Buddo quickly made its way into my favorite Neolithic Artifacts, which is a mental list that I am sure everyone has.
Moving rocks is one of our favourite things to do. :) Feeling that. Dude, I love your videos . I accept your nice apologies with grins and nods and wishes for you to keep going. I'm a physicist and like you, I wish I knew more geology man. Rock on
Excellent video Stefan. Thanks for making geological archeology accessible to everyone!
So damned interesting and fun.
Thanks for this entertaining episode.