Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

smithsonianmag.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–138 of 138 posts

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

#131

Post by afterburner »

Talanes wrote: post #122
afterburner wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like you didn't read the comment I was actually replying to. It links to this article, different from OP, that does not mention what you claim it mentions: https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/MAGAZINE-2-000-year-old-...

They didn't miss the article you were referring to, they were just assuming you had read the topic article as well. The article your read refers to 2,000 year old sculptures because it was written years before the research that added 6,000 years, not because they're different camels.

I read both, and they have different pictures. The original article, with the older time estimate, had a much more worn camel pic than the other one with the 2000 year estimate. Hence my wondering if that maybe means something.

Unfortunately it's vague whether or not the different pictures are from different time periods, different sites, or what exactly.

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

#132

Post by nr152522 »

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-...

They’re not camels, they’re AT-AT’s.

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

#133

Post by cmrdporcupine »

8note wrote: post #89
ducktective wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The theory parent is mentioning, doesn't just talk about "less hot and less arid" but a lush green and very favorable for agriculture. If these people went as far as to carve camels in stones, that would mean these animals were prevalent in their areas and way of life which is in direct conflict with assuming their land were anything but hot and arid. I have heard of the theory about different climate of Egypt and Ir…

Why not both? More lush by the rivers, and still arid away from water. But they could still only have camels as their pack animals, since that's all they'd domesticated. It's not like camels will die in non-arid locations

The camel in the region (dromedary) was not domesticated until about ~2000BCE. Long after agriculture, and long after this sculpture.

Likely the animal was venerated as a meat source.

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

#135

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #34
toyg wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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

Sigh ... Lighten up. Life's too short!

If you haven’t read Sir Terry, you don’t know what you’re missing.

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

#136

Post by Tagbert »

irrational wrote: post #93
delecti wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As evidenced by the amount of grafitti in public places, people just really like leaving their mark wherever they can. There's grafitti in ancient ruins that (aside from the language) could be mistaken for grafitti in a bathroom stall. People are just gonna people.

This is exactly why I doubt all the expert opinions on cave art. "This undoubtedly had ritual significance." BS. It was probably just some teenagers screwing around.

Much of the cave art required people to go deep into hard to access areas of caves. People created the art over long periods of time. Many of the pieces incorporated elements of the cave wall to enhance the 3D realism of the figures. These were not simple scratching done at random, they were done with care and intent by people with skill.

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

#138

Post by Grustaf »

BeetleB wrote: post #111
Grustaf wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's insane, one would have thought that would have been protected at least since the early 1900s.

Add another one to the list: In the 1950's, the Dalles Dam was built and submerged one of North America's longest continuously populated settlement (over 10,000 years). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celilo_Falls

Awful. Seems to be a common denominator when building dams. The people responsible should be put in jail, but it can’t be blamed on “White Americans” in general, that’s just absurd.
Post reply on HN