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To: plusone
....these people were simple nomads, then where did the manpower come from to build such things?

Again, there was more than 2,000 years between those simple nomads and the pyramids. Even cattle herder populations grow over time.

Where did the surplus food come from to feed the army of workers?

Farming appeared at some point, in the Nile valley, and probably early. Farmers in the Nile valley grew tremendously large crops without the benefit of technology. With the regular flooding of the Nile River they didn't need it. You have to have a well organized state to produce the surplus needed to feed work crews.

Egypt had a very well organized state, even before the first dynasty. People do not invent writing, as the Egyptians did, without great organization and beauracracy, apparently.

Watch the news. Those regions of the world have hardly evolved over the centuries. You still have nomads and cattle herders roaming thru the desert etc. They haven't changed. Can you imagine these people creating the culture needed to build pyramids?

Don't just watch television. Read a book. Read some history. Those regions led the world in many ways until the 15th century. I could go on and on about the basic technology that was invented in "those regions".

Trigonometry and geometry, for example, were invented in the middle east. The greeks and romans got it from them. A temple school has been dug up in Babylon. There were clay tablets there which appeared to be work books for geometry students.

Two thousand year old jewelry has been found that appears to have been electro-plated with gold. You need electricity for that. Well, it appears that primitive electric batteries have been found in Babylon that would have done the job.

Nomads? Shoot, there are nomads in the USA. Yes, I can imagine that these people created a culture capable of building the pyramids, and much else besides. I don't have your low opinion of people. People all over the world have built tremendous structures, and none of them needed space aliens or Atlantis to do it.

5 posted on 04/06/2003 7:43:44 AM PDT by jimtorr
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To: jimtorr
Yes, you bring up excellent examples, but it is exactly what I am debating. Electro plating, the Bagdad batteries, advanced math, the engineering of the pyramids, the examples go on and on. But that is the point. Where did the technology come from to do these things? Egyptian civilization seems to have sprung up about 4000 BC. What spark happened to them to allow such development? There are alternative, fascinating theories about the pyramids, and their time frames. This guy is just pedalling the same old ideas, goat herders settled down and developed a culture that for some reason deicided to build pyramids, nothing new here. And no, we couldn't build the pyramids today. There are stones that are too heavy for modern equipment to lift. So how did primitive people with copper tools and palm rope do this? We can debate this forever and never solve it. But this middle eastern culture circa 4000 BC is fascinating. On a similar topic, there is the Dogon people of Africa who have this strange ritual dance that they perform every 56 years IIRC that mimicks the Star Sirus A and its companion B. This is a remote tribe, with no contact with outsiders, yet they knew about the existence of Sirus B, eventhough it is an 'invisible' star that can only be seen with an x-ray telescope. And yes, Sirus B orbits aboput A every 56 years or so. How did the Dogon know this? Their legends tell of how they were given this knowledge by a 'lizard-like' god which came from Sirus in the distant past. This is similar to some of the ancient Egyptian gods. Is there a tie in here? A fascinating idea. I think there was a spark that started the whole civilization of this region. Thanks for the debate.
7 posted on 04/06/2003 10:04:10 AM PDT by plusone
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