Thursday, January 20, 2011

Pyramids and other ancient burial sites



photo source.
Silbury Hill in the UK "The largest man-made mound in Europe, mysterious Silbury Hill compares in height and volume to the roughly contemporary Egyptian pyramids. Probably completed in around 2400 BC, it apparently contains no burial. Though clearly important in itself, its purpose and significance remain unknown. There is no access to the hill itself. "

If the UFO guys helped build the pyramids, then they were pretty busy.

I always thought that the pyramids in Egypt and the Mayan pyramids were the only big burial sites around, but as I study more, it seems that mounds and pyramids are all over the place and many date back to the Neolithic times, some even in areas where agriculture wasn't yet practiced.

So here's a few links.

Most folks now know about the megalomaniac first emperor of China had a huge burial mound, but he dates to only 200 bc and we know why he built it (not prehistoric)

even the Egyptian pyramids, although constructed in 2500 bc, belong to the age of writing.

But what can we make of these prehistoric mounds/megaliths/hedges?

the Bosnian Pyramid of Visoko
...natural geological formations, or man made? LINK

and what do we make of Newgrange mound in Ireland, a place dating to 3000 bc?

or Silbury Hill, dating back to 2400 bc

Stonehenge is the most famous British megalithic monument, but not the only one...

even in North America, the Native Americans had mounds for their cities, dating to 800 AD.

and now that India and China are doing their own excavations, expect a lot of news from those areas.

The Indus Valley civilizations are fascinating,2500 bc dates. and local scholars are busy arguing how the archeological discoveries fit into the ancient legends...similar to the arguments about the bible and Homer in the west.

as for China, one wonders what they will find in the next century...

so what I learned in history in college is being rewritten...

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