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gnit2 t1_j6vn599 wrote

Reply to comment by Raudskeggr in Discovery of embalming workshop reveals how ancient Egyptians mummified the dead by Magister_Xehanort

Well, one of the first civilizations thats recent enough to still have relics left standing. There must have been plenty of prehistoric civilizations who used much more temporary materials like wood for most of their structures and they left little to nothing to show for their great achievements.

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Raudskeggr t1_j6vnya8 wrote

Maybe? Like I said, the "Formal" definition of civilization, which is a fairly specific and biased towards western style civilizations; we know virtually nothing of a civilization if it left behind no relics.

Almost any place where human lives will leave behind some traces though, even if at first they are not obvious. Things like pottery last forever; bone fragments and tools are almost ubiquitous. And of course, the hallmark of homo sapiens vs. pre-modern hominins, art. Beads, figurines, musical instruments, and drawings/carvings.

Though there do exist some cases where we have identified ancient human presence due to a lack of something being there; remains of wooden post-holes in neolithic sites at europe suggested wooden henges and large buildings. In stone-age China, we find remarkably few stone tools. It is believed that this is because they were using bamboo instead, which was easier to obtain and to work. But also left behind little in the way of evidence.

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Remainderking t1_j6wa0to wrote

Facts. Civilizations are supply chains, not the race based structures that Western definitions use to promote Western cultures to the detriment of others. A quick read of Herodotus would show that at the beginning of what we call ‘Western Civilization’, the Greeks learned philosophy and religion from Kemet.

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Sensitive_File6582 t1_j6x2op2 wrote

It’s not just the west. Humans are trible to a somewhat arbitrary degree. It is a struggle for the species not just a society.

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WhatsHupp t1_j6whm9z wrote

Just read an article about some archaeology on California’s Channel islands, one thing that stood out was their mention of the islands’ lack of burrowing rodents. Over decades and centuries those things can really churn up the soil, making it impossible to find less permanent physical evidence that would otherwise tell us a lot about who used to live there.

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