Fields Recordings From The Sea

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FourWinds F
FourWinds Apr 19, 2004 23:12:55
Replying to Hob

"... but I don't see any reason why megaliths would have to require settlement or farming as a pre-cursor."

One of the initial factors was 'spare time'. When farming you have broader communities and can share the workload. Then occasionally you can all chip in and build a megalithic structure while the women are doing the weeding :-)

T TomBo
TomBo Apr 19, 2004 23:15:56
Replying to FourWinds

Of course, the abundant food supply that AQ mentions would provide exactly that spare time. I feel ignorant now, though, because I've no idea when those abundant conditions began and ended. Perhaps it was the onset of this period of abundance which resulted in a shift in people's consciousness? Having time to sit down and think?

H Hob
Hob Apr 19, 2004 23:21:11
Replying to FourWinds

How much spare time would it need, I wonder?
That would probably depend on the monument. Maybe smaller ones could have been built by a handful of people, groups of hunter-gatherers as you say. Slowly moving stones a bit every time they pass, taking years and tears to complete the building. Adding bits, altering the plans that had been told to them by previous generations.

W wideford
wideford Apr 19, 2004 23:43:08
Replying to FourWinds

Speaking of spare time it is actually hunter-gatherers that have plenty of it rather than the agriculturalists who replace them

F fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo Apr 20, 2004 09:37:53
Replying to FourWinds

Hunter-gathers often have far more free time than farmers.
The bushmen of south west africa can attend to all their needs - food gathering, shelter etc in about 12 hrs a week.