Found: Europe's oldest civilization
By David Keys, Archaeology Correspondent
11 June 2005
Found: Europe's oldest civilisation
How 7,000-year-old temples reveal the elaborate culture of Europe
Archaeologists have discovered Europe's oldest civilisation, a network of dozens of temples, 2,000 years older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids.
More than 150 gigantic monuments have been located beneath the fields and cities of modern-day Germany, Austria and Slovakia. They were built 7,000 years ago, between 4800BC and 4600BC. Their discovery, revealed today by The Independent, will revolutionise the study of prehistoric Europe, where an appetite for monumental architecture
This work has been on-going for several years. There is still precious little information coming out.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
234 miles from Cazin, Bosnia to Bratislava, Slovakia.
(According to Travelpost.com)
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
Actually Leonna, for a group of people at that time (pre-historic) to build a complex of connected temple structures in three different countries, Bosnia is probably not too far away for them.
Why exactly do they think they are "temple" complexes?
Did they find any statues or other religious nonsense?
Or did they simply decide that anything they can't immediately identify must have a religious basis?
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
The most complex excavated so far - located inside the city of Dresden - consisted of an apparently sacred internal space surrounded by two palisades, three earthen banks and four ditches.
I really don't know Mini, there has been scant news coming out of there. Every early civilization has has its' gods & deities. It's interesting though that the description in the above quote sounds so much like other ancient temples, i.e. Egyptian, Israelite, and even Babylonian, in that there was an "inner sanctum" enclosed by two or more surrounding rooms.
Every night they shortened their march and built a temporary camp with a ditch and palisade. Their winter encampments were more formidable and their permanent forts were even more so.
This description sounds like a defensive fortification to me....unless they can find the ruins of 'altars' or evidence of sacrifice within their so-called 'sacred space.'
The tendency of archaeologists to immediately look for religious reasons for all human behavior just pisses me off.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
You may be right. Unfortunately we'll have to wait 'till the scientists on site decide to give us more info.
I'm hoping they find a form of writing or other evidence of their history. The fact that they lived in very long lodges makes me think they might be refugees from the Black Sea inundation.
But it would be nice if they were a bit more forthcoming.
Who is running this dig? The National Security Agency??
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
thanks beagle for doing this. printed out the link and am readingit now
Why exactly do they think they are "temple" complexes
i have to agree with this question and why do people automatically go for a religious conclusion? spydor martinos' daughter feels the same way. is it not possible that some asessments of buildings are just wrong and that some people were atheistic/
have there been any artifacts found that confirm that these are in fact temples and not community halls? in reading some of the conclusions there i have a hard time accepting these structures as temples, but that is just my initial reaction.
They don't have to be atheists, arch, but from the apparent lack of discernable sacrificial or devotional structures they could be. This line:
They were built by a religious people who lived in communal longhouses up to 50 metres long, grouped around substantial villages. Evidence suggests their economy was based on cattle, sheep, goat and pig farming.
is the most telling. Generally, it was agriculture which permitted the creation of food surpluses which allowed labor to be diverted from subsistence issues to monumental building projects. Herders do not have that kind of luxury...not in an area when the herds have to be guarded night and day.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
