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Archaeologists investigate what life was like after dark in the ancient world

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Re: Archaeologists investigate what life was like after dark in the ancient world

#11

Post by imjustsaying »

jbattle wrote: post #4

I've never understood why this topic is being studied primarily through archaeology. There are plenty of humans alive today that live far from much artificial light and could tell you exactly what their life is like right now, what they did last night . Shouldn't have to be so hard / so mysterious

How are you going to contact people who live far from artificial light? Typically that's concomitant with not having electricity needed for internet communications, as that typically prevents powered cell phone internet communication as well.

You could fly then drive there, but the costs are going to add up quickly. You're going to have to find them, get someone to communicate with them, and have liabilities covered. This quickly becomes very expensive with even just a few people.

Re: Archaeologists investigate what life was like after dark in the ancient world

#12

Post by jbattle »

imjustsaying wrote: post #11
jbattle wrote: post #4

I've never understood why this topic is being studied primarily through archaeology. There are plenty of humans alive today that live far from much artificial light and could tell you exactly what their life is like right now, what they did last night . Shouldn't have to be so hard / so mysterious

How are you going to contact people who live far from artificial light? Typically that's concomitant with not having electricity needed for internet communications, as that typically prevents powered cell phone internet communication as well. You could fly then drive there, but the costs are going to add up quickly. You're going to have to find them, get someone to communicate with them, and have liabilities covered.…

Yeah it might add up to a few thousand dollars. Maybe 10. Oh and a week or three of time. No need to send a sizable team of people. I'm being a little flippant but really - it's not an insurmountable expense. Contrast that with how much time and effort tracking down obscure sources across all of western pre-industrial history?

Re: Archaeologists investigate what life was like after dark in the ancient world

#13

Post by jcranmer »

jbattle wrote: post #4

I've never understood why this topic is being studied primarily through archaeology. There are plenty of humans alive today that live far from much artificial light and could tell you exactly what their life is like right now, what they did last night . Shouldn't have to be so hard / so mysterious

Who is alive today who is representative of life 500, 1000, 10000 years ago?

Re: Archaeologists investigate what life was like after dark in the ancient world

#14

Post by jhbadger »

irrational wrote: post #9
matte_black wrote: post #3

The concept of night mayors is interesting, and I’d love to see the concept extended further into other sectors of government.

As I recall from the 1980s sitcom Night Court, there are night judges (though I have no idea if that is a real thing, I doubt my town has night judges).

Night Court's a real thing in NYC at least, although obviously the show wasn't completely accurate as to how it works.

Re: Archaeologists investigate what life was like after dark in the ancient world

#15

Post by dvtv75 »

jcranmer wrote: post #13
jbattle wrote: post #4

I've never understood why this topic is being studied primarily through archaeology. There are plenty of humans alive today that live far from much artificial light and could tell you exactly what their life is like right now, what they did last night . Shouldn't have to be so hard / so mysterious

Who is alive today who is representative of life 500, 1000, 10000 years ago?

Aren't there tribes in the Amazon who have lived the same way for tens of thousands of years?

Re: Archaeologists investigate what life was like after dark in the ancient world

#16

Post by bane »

imjustsaying wrote: post #11
jbattle wrote: post #4

I've never understood why this topic is being studied primarily through archaeology. There are plenty of humans alive today that live far from much artificial light and could tell you exactly what their life is like right now, what they did last night . Shouldn't have to be so hard / so mysterious

How are you going to contact people who live far from artificial light? Typically that's concomitant with not having electricity needed for internet communications, as that typically prevents powered cell phone internet communication as well. You could fly then drive there, but the costs are going to add up quickly. You're going to have to find them, get someone to communicate with them, and have liabilities covered.…

It's funny, just came back from a trip into the American South West. Stayed at a cabin in the middle of nowhere on a 500 acre ranch surrounded by only the wilderness and other giant ranches...on a new moon.

I've never seen so many stars in my life, even in places I thought of as raw wilderness and I've spent quite a bit of time camping in national parks and so on.

Those places seemed like light filled cities in comparison. It was about a 4 hour drive from the nearest major population center.

I suspect there's plenty of these places still left even in relatively developed areas.

Re: Archaeologists investigate what life was like after dark in the ancient world

#17

Post by derwiki »

bane wrote: post #16
imjustsaying wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are you going to contact people who live far from artificial light? Typically that's concomitant with not having electricity needed for internet communications, as that typically prevents powered cell phone internet communication as well. You could fly then drive there, but the costs are going to add up quickly. You're going to have to find them, get someone to communicate with them, and have liabilities covered.…

It's funny, just came back from a trip into the American South West. Stayed at a cabin in the middle of nowhere on a 500 acre ranch surrounded by only the wilderness and other giant ranches...on a new moon. I've never seen so many stars in my life, even in places I thought of as raw wilderness and I've spent quite a bit of time camping in national parks and so on. Those places seemed like light filled cities in compa…

I felt that way at Capitol Reef. Where were you?

Re: Archaeologists investigate what life was like after dark in the ancient world

#18

Post by adrianratnapala »

irrational wrote: post #9
matte_black wrote: post #3

The concept of night mayors is interesting, and I’d love to see the concept extended further into other sectors of government.

As I recall from the 1980s sitcom Night Court, there are night judges (though I have no idea if that is a real thing, I doubt my town has night judges).

Night Court was a great show.

The TV Tropes (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/NightCourt) page says that "many legal professionals confide that Night Court is far ''more'' realistic than most straight Law Procedurals." I can't vouch for that, but my father is a lawyer, and it was one of his favourite shows too. His other favourite was Rumpole of the Bailey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumpole_of_the_Bailey.

The common thread here that both shows are both (a) funny, and (b) portray defense lawyers as more-or-less good guys. (My father worked for the Attorney General's department).

I can't think of a law procedural from the last two and a half decades that has either of those features. Why is that?

Re: Archaeologists investigate what life was like after dark in the ancient world

#19

Post by adrianratnapala »

> From that point on, most people have had access to some form of "artificial" light, at least occasionally.

The scare quotes are silly. It seems to come from the mentality that any technology that Hobbits can understand is "natural" but anything else isn't.

Re: Archaeologists investigate what life was like after dark in the ancient world

#20

Post by jhallenworld »

An associated topic is the history of artificial lighting. A good exhibit is the one at Old Sturbridge Village. Here are some pictures of it:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mytravelphotos/14693172893/in/...

It's crazy to me that no so long ago people had to make do with rushlights which were far more primitive than the oil lamps of the ancient world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rushlight

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