Here are more key points from one of the first books I read about Ancient Civilizations, "Dead Men's Secrets," by Jonathan Gray. What of these points have you heard of and which ones are new to you? Do you find any of these fascinating?
11. Astronomy: Originally, constellations took the form of
animals, making it easier to remember and identify them;
however, as civilization retrogressed, they actually became
animals, heroes or gods.
12. Scientific compasses, which pointed due north and south,
were later preserved as magic, through which Chinese
necromancers told fortunes.
13. Crete: The earliest Cretan empire was more culturally
advanced than the empire which followed it (featuring running
water, the most modern bathroom facilities, tinted-glass
goblets, glazed dinnerware and elaborate dress styles).
14. Canary Islands: Considerable cultural deterioration
operated until (by the time the Spaniards discovered them in
the fourteenth century) warfare was being waged with stones
and wooden weapons. They preserved the memory of a great
civilization of cities, but were no longer capable of
constructing anything more than simple huts.
15. The Pacific: On most islands of Polynesia and
Micronesia are remains of cities, temples, harbors and
statues, whose size and elaborate architecture indicate a
civilization incomparably more advanced than exists there
today.
16. Pakistan: The lowest strata of the remains of
layers. Later the quality of the commercial seals fell off
sadly. The soapstone was replaced by common clay; and crude
geometric shapes replaced the lifelike engravings. Highly
glazed ceramics were supplanted by plain clumsy pots. The
city’s systematic plan gave way to shabby structures and
mere hovels at the topmost stratum. From a high early peak
of technology, it then progressed no further. Everything
was done in imitation of the old techniques. Even the bricks
were inferior.
17. Central America: The present-day descendants of what
was once the greatest empire in the Americas (the Maya) are
mere jungle savages, unable to read or write their ancestors’
hieroglyphics; unable to construct large buildings, much less
whole cities.
18. Egypt declined from technical sophistication to a vague
shadow of its former glory. Earliest pyramid construction was
superior to later pyramid construction; succeeding pyramids
are clumsy imitations. Even construction methods changed
(from levitation science to build the Great Pyramid in the
Fourth Dynasty, to a balance of levers and pulleys a thousand
years later in the Twelfth Dynasty). The workmanship level of
jewelry as well as architecture was higher in earlier periods
(everything being more perfectly made and more beautiful). On
top of that, later generations suffered a decline in
lifestyle.
19. Sumeria, extensive and all-encompassing, was in many
respects more advanced than the cultures which followed it.
20. Greece: A city of the third millennium B.C. now at the
bottom of Lake Copias (the legendary Copae destroyed by
Hercules?) possesses a titanic complex of rock-hewn passages
said to be beyond the capabilities of either classical or
modern Greece.
Bonus...Three More!!!
21. Bulgaria: Grave excavations at Karanova have revealed
an extraordinarily rich and complex technology of 3000 B.C.
far in advance of later achievements in Europe.
22. Peru: Pre-Inca buildings and art were of a much higher
level than those of the Incas. Furthermore, while more recent
Spanish buildings collapse today in earthquakes, both the Inca
and pre-Inca constructions survive them intact.
23. Easter Island statues of more recent times appear to be
imperfect copies of the first creations. (And they have
suffered most from erosion, whereas those from the archaic
period have remained intact.) Again, the earliest settlement
on the island was more remarkably developed than its two
later successors.
an extraordinarily rich and complex technology of 3000 B.C.
far in advance of later achievements in Europe.
22. Peru: Pre-Inca buildings and art were of a much higher
level than those of the Incas. Furthermore, while more recent
Spanish buildings collapse today in earthquakes, both the Inca
and pre-Inca constructions survive them intact.
23. Easter Island statues of more recent times appear to be
imperfect copies of the first creations. (And they have
suffered most from erosion, whereas those from the archaic
period have remained intact.) Again, the earliest settlement
on the island was more remarkably developed than its two
later successors.
