Life-size camel sculptures in Saudi Arabia are older than Stonehenge, pyramids • Hacker News Board

Re: Life-size camel sculptures in Saudi Arabia are older than Stonehenge, pyramids

#31

Post by ceejayoz » Fri, Sep 17, 2021, 12:32 PM UTC

smoyer wrote: post #21

tokai wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Preposterous. Creativity has never been more unbounded and flourishing than it is now.

I'd agreed that's true for a small percentage of the population and that the rest are consumers. For these projects, you probably had a "visionary" but it's stated that the creations were likely a community effort and maintained over time.

> I'd agreed that's true for a small percentage of the population and that the rest are consumers.

This has likely been the case throughout history.

"Look, Bob's useless at hunting, but those cave paintings are pretty neat. Let him stay home."

Re: Life-size camel sculptures in Saudi Arabia are older than Stonehenge, pyramids

#32

Post by donohoe » Fri, Sep 17, 2021, 12:50 PM UTC

And older than Ireland's Newgrange - which was built around 3200 BC and is also older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids.

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

Re: Life-size camel sculptures in Saudi Arabia are older than Stonehenge, pyramids

#33

Post by ornornor » Fri, Sep 17, 2021, 12:52 PM UTC

2rsf wrote: post #27

illwrks wrote: post #22

I was about to say they have a powerful imagination to see camels in that eroded rock... however after a quick search, there are better photos online: https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/MAGAZINE-2-000-year-old-...

Wow, this is amazing

Even more amazing is that some people inject Botox into camels to make them look better… https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-42802901

Re: Life-size camel sculptures in Saudi Arabia are older than Stonehenge, pyramids

#34

Post by ChrisMarshallNY » Fri, Sep 17, 2021, 12:53 PM UTC

toyg wrote: post #24

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They had more impact on human lives. Hunter-gatherer groups tend to be small and disparate. They don’t really have much impact on each other. But they deal with animals, on a daily. It’s not just primitive societies, either. Modern tribal groups tend to concentrate on animals and crops. When your very survival depends on knowing as much as possible about prey and draft animals, weather, etc., these topics occupy your…

> They had more impact on human lives. Yeah, we should remember also that permanent or periodic nomadism was the norm on large swaths of the planet. Animals were obviously key to move significant numbers of people (women, children...), as well as to produce food on the go. If the camel-god says no, you're stuck in the middle of the desert, so you better keep him happy.

Also, camels are very smart, and bad-tempered: https://wiki.lspace.org/You_Bastard

Re: Life-size camel sculptures in Saudi Arabia are older than Stonehenge, pyramids

#35

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Sep 17, 2021, 12:54 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Life-size camel sculptures in Saudi Arabia are older than Stonehenge, pyramids

#36

Post by dublin » Fri, Sep 17, 2021, 12:55 PM UTC

illwrks wrote: post #22

I was about to say they have a powerful imagination to see camels in that eroded rock... however after a quick search, there are better photos online: https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/MAGAZINE-2-000-year-old-...

Camel? Or Star Wars walker machine? Inquiring minds want to know... :-)

Re: Life-size camel sculptures in Saudi Arabia are older than Stonehenge, pyramids

#37

Post by Oarch » Fri, Sep 17, 2021, 1:00 PM UTC

Not to be a pedant, but are these really life-size? It's hard to get a sense of scale from the images but they look significantly larger than life size.

Re: Life-size camel sculptures in Saudi Arabia are older than Stonehenge, pyramids

#38

Post by dublin » Fri, Sep 17, 2021, 1:00 PM UTC

ornornor wrote: post #33

2rsf wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, this is amazing

Even more amazing is that some people inject Botox into camels to make them look better… https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-42802901

Wow, that sounds like something right out of the Babylon Bee. I really don't envy the folks at the Bee - it's hard to make up satire that's weirder and more outrageous than the actual truth!

Re: Life-size camel sculptures in Saudi Arabia are older than Stonehenge, pyramids

#39

Post by mef » Fri, Sep 17, 2021, 1:01 PM UTC

location of site https://goo.gl/maps/gVb5wbKBn44CKdpX9

Re: Life-size camel sculptures in Saudi Arabia are older than Stonehenge, pyramids

#40

Post by teleforce » Fri, Sep 17, 2021, 1:04 PM UTC

The northern part of saudi Arabia is actually part of the Fertile Crescent also known as 'The Cradle of Civilization' extending from Iraq where human first started cultivating and herding animals [1]. Yes it's now mostly desert but it used to be greener than it's today.

This is an excellent documentary where teams of archeological experts from around the world trying to unravel the mystery of one of the earliest man made monuments in northern Saudi Arabia [2].

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertile_Crescent

[2]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8A0LpX7_yM