5,400 yr old canals in Peru

Rokcet Scientist · Post by **Rokcet Scientist** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 1:09 pm

Archaeologists have found what they say is evidence for the earliest known irrigated agriculture in the Americas.

An analysis of four derelict canals, filled with silt and buried deep under sediments, showed that they were used to water cultivated fields 5,400 years ago, in one case possibly as early as 6,700 years ago.

http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=1/213583798.jpg&s=x11

Post by **Minimalist** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 2:04 pm

I heard about that. There was also someone trying to show that a major civilization once existed in the Amazon basin and had done a great deal of terra-forming, (for want of a better word). Nonetheless, I'm sure mainstream archaeologists will declare these to be natural formations or cult objects.

Rokcet Scientist · Post by **Rokcet Scientist** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 2:26 pm

[quote="Minimalist"]I heard about that. There was also someone trying to show that a major civilization once existed in the Amazon basin and had done a great deal of terra-forming, (for want of a better word). Nonetheless, I'm sure mainstream archaeologists will declare these to be natural formations or cult objects.[/quote]

WHOA! Hold your horses! Not so cynical please. Give 'm a couple years.
I'm not convinced either way as long as their are no further substantiations. But these apparently are new finds, so give it a few years for everyone to sniff at, and piss on, and wait for some 'formal' standpoints.

Post by **Minimalist** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 4:06 pm

Sorry. Wanted to get in on the ground floor!

Leona Conner · Post by **Leona Conner** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 7:53 am

They the Nazca plains have all sorts of irrigation cannels burried underground. So it wouldn't surprise me if they found evidence of others. Don't you guys think that the civilizations of the early America's are terribly underrated? As the technology used by archaeologists improves, they are going to find a lot of stuff nobody ever thought people over here could do.

Rokcet Scientist · Post by **Rokcet Scientist** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 8:51 am

[quote="Leona Conner"]They the Nazca plains have all sorts of irrigation cannels burried underground. So it wouldn't surprise me if they found evidence of others. Don't you guys think that the civilizations of the early America's are terribly underrated? As the technology used by archaeologists improves, they are going to find a lot of stuff nobody ever thought people over here could do.[/quote]

Let's hope so.
But sofar the signs are not very encouraging. There's still not a clue that the Inca and/or their predecessors had any sort of written language. Also, in the last 10 yrs a lot of Moche artifacts have been recovered (one of the pre-Inca 'civilisations'), all decidedly less developed – or more primitive if you will – than Inca stuff. Which – if you really look at it – wasn't such a highly developed civilisation itself when discovered in the 16th century!
The Egyptians and Sumerians – Caucasians! – developed 'writing' 3,500 years B.C. A full 51 centuries later, the Indians – mongoloids – still had not...!
So I'm not holding my breath, Leona.

Post by **Minimalist** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 11:31 am

I have yet to see a satisfactory explanation for the Nazca Plains, Leona.

Until someone comes up with an explanation for "how" they were able to create those pictures without being able to fly they will remain a mystery.

HeavyDuty · Post by **HeavyDuty** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 12:38 pm

The Nazca Lines were probably done by grids:
1) draw a grid pattern on the ground that is, maybe, mural size (3x3 meters, or so), and create a drawing in the grid work.

2) draw an enormous grid pattern on the ground and transfer the appropriate lines and curves.

Can't see the complete, larger work while standing on the ground, but you can have a really good idea (if everything went well) that it looks like the smaller diagram.

It could be the locals were trying to impress their gods (in the heavens), or they were doing it because they could (impressing or competing with others nearby).

Best guess! javascript:emoticon(':D')
Very Happy

Post by **Minimalist** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 1:19 pm

Strains credulity. Logical but not on the scale of the drawings themselves.

Egyptologists have theorized a large ramp to build the pyramids, too. Completely logical except for the fact that the ramp would have had to have been at least a mile long in order to provide a gentle enough slope to push/pull the stones to the pyramid. Such a ramp would have been a bigger engineering project than the pyramid itself.

Frank Harrist · Post by **Frank Harrist** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 1:29 pm

They done it so the dang old aliens could see 'em!

Rokcet Scientist · Post by **Rokcet Scientist** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 8:36 pm

Here's some interesting background reading on the major cultures of pre-Columbian America:

http://s38.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=12DZ ... HZ6Z4P7IWS

Leona Conner · Post by **Leona Conner** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 5:53 am

Sorry I haven't posted this sooner but I didn't beat the lightening to my computer New Year's Day and had to get my modem replaced, again.

Anyway, I wasn't talking about the Nazca lines, rather that running UNDER the lines are canals used for bringing water from the mountains to the plains for irrigation. Scientists have wondered how the people who made the lines were able to live in such a dry environment, since that annual rainfall, I believe, is under an inch.

Rokcet Scientist · Post by **Rokcet Scientist** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 7:20 am

[quote="Leona Conner"][...] Scientists have wondered how the people who made the lines were able to live in such a dry environment, since that annual rainfall, I believe, is under an inch.[/quote]

Well, they didn't, Leona!
They didn't "live in in such a dry environment".
Annual rainfall then was quite different!
Climates change. Continuously.

stan gilliam · Post by **stan gilliam** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 1:16 pm

Leona, sorry to hear about your computer. That happened to mine a
couple years ago.

I have often wondered about those pale straight lines"under" the Nazca
images. Are you saying that a long time ago someone dug these
canals to carry water from the mountains for irrigation, and then
they were covered up with a layer of light colored dirt...and then a layer of
dark gravel was deposited on top of this, and then the Nazcas made those
great pictures by pushing the black gravel aside?
Do you know the time frame?

To: Rokcet Scientist...do you know about this climatic change you refer to?
When was it?

Frank Harrist · Post by **Frank Harrist** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 2:06 pm

Many of the lines are straight and go seemingly nowhere, but under some of these straight lines are underground canals which lead from underground springs and aquifers and man-made wells and bring water to the settlements. The dark gravel over the light colored soil was already there. They used it to mark the channels, at least that's part of what they were for. As for the figures of creatures and designs...who knows why they did them.

Maybe it was...(gritting my teeth as I say this) some religious thing.

Here are some links I found about it: http://www.rumbosonline.com/articles/11-50-nazca.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/science/ar ... -nazca.htm