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I guess the real question is where did the pyramid idea come from?
They got along without that symbolism for some time.

If you start piling up anything it will, of necessity, be wider at the bottom than at the top. This is for stability not symbolism.

Once you get the idea to do it subsequent kings will look to out do their predecessors in their devotion to "the gods." That's human nature and especially kingly-nature.

I reckon you've got a logic gene Min.
You need to start breeding to spread it mate!

Roy.

I'm getting too old for that shit now, Dig.

Minimalist wrote:If you start piling up anything it will, of necessity, be wider at the bottom than at the top. This is for stability not symbolism.

Once you get the idea to do it subsequent kings will look to out do their predecessors in their devotion to "the gods." That's human nature and especially kingly-nature.

"Kingly"?
Every stupid goat wants to be the king of the hill!

But there is a big difference between a pile of rocks and a pyramid.

One is pretty informal.
The other is designed.

Rokcet Scientist wrote:

Minimalist wrote:If you start piling up anything it will, of necessity, be wider at the bottom than at the top. This is for stability not symbolism.

Once you get the idea to do it subsequent kings will look to out do their predecessors in their devotion to "the gods." That's human nature and especially kingly-nature.

"Kingly"?
Every stupid goat wants to be the king of the hill!

Imagine what it would be like to stand under that tree? Sometimes, I feel as if I park my car under it every day.

kbs2244 wrote:But there is a big difference between a pile of rocks and a pyramid.

One is pretty informal.
The other is designed.

Agreed but the basic principle remains the same.

Yes,
Bit my question is why, when they seemed to be happy with the pile of rocks concept, did they make the sudden shift to designed pyramids?

It just seems like there had to be some kind of outside influence.

kbs2244 wrote:Yes,
Bit my question is why, when they seemed to be happy with the pile of rocks concept, did they make the sudden shift to designed pyramids?

It just seems like there had to be some kind of outside influence.

How about competition from the Joneses?
The neighboring fiefdom mimicked you and got their own pile of rubble.
So you make yours different, better than theirs. By making it higher. Or flattening its sides. Or both. Just to be different, and therefore better, than the neighbors.

Throw in a handful of astrologer shaman Jedis jabbering mystical BS about aligning stars, press the button and out rolls your building plan!

And everybody ends up building totally absurd piles of rubble: the pyramids. Or totally absurd (stock)piles of nukes...
Apparently humankind has the innate need to build piles. Phallic symbols. When there is no sensible reason for it.

I was thinking of possible interaction with some remnants of the Nan Madol culture.
It supposedly collapsed around AD1500

kbs2244 wrote:I was thinking of possible interaction with some remnants of the Nan Madol culture.
It supposedly collapsed around AD1500

Min's right, KB. Check Caral.

As for Nan Madol, it almost certainly was destroyed by an impact mega-tsunami sometime before 1464, when the Inka of the Incas set sail to find out what had happened.

The Chinese commercial fleet probably was hit pretty hard by this as well, but no one has searched the Chinese records yet.

This impact mega-tsunami was remembered on Tonga and in Australia.

Pyramids may well have come about from the simple understanding that the pyramid and the cone are the only structurally stable shapes of any great height that can be produced with unsecured building materials.

Roy.

Would this discussion include the flat-topped 'pyramids' of Peru – on top of which the king's palace, court, stables, and all nobility resided – as pyramids?
Or the low countries' man-made hills – 'terp' or 'wierd' (singular) – on top of which the community's place of worship, farms, and stables were built, i.o.w.: a village, to be safe from high water?
Or the as yet unexplained underwater, flat-topped Yonaguni 'pyramid'?

Very much so RS.

As I understand it these pyramids had a temple or altar of some sort on the summit.

No where near the scale of the ones in Peru,
but then they didn't have the resources at hand that they did in Peru.