5,000 to 3,000 BCE
5,000 to 3,000 BCE
The Age of Travel and Trade
So we now have World wide trade, agriculture and social organisation, with villages and cities and kings and priests and myths and stories handed down from our ancestors. We are skilled artisans with everything going for us.
This is the time of the Neolithic Revolution.
During this early period, our settlements are not yet fortified and nomadic tribes still roam vast tracts of sparsely inhabited land mass. We are quite able to travel thousands of miles in any direction along well established and ancient trade routes, cross the oceans by boat and produce surplus by organising our industry, even to the point where we can support specialists for the benefit of everyone.
Our ancestors were keen observers of the World around them, trading freely with each other and travelling and interacting across the world. The trade with Egypt and Afganistan for Lapis Lazuli and with China for Jade along the routes we now call the Silk Road and the Spice Route were well established at this time. The Amber Road was also very important at this time.
Cultural ideas followed these trade routes, for example the Gallery Graves and changing pottery styles, for example Grooved ware, the use of animals for traction and the use of the plough, wheeled vehicles, arrangements of large standing megaliths, ritual complexes of stone circles, alignments and menhirs. The western British Isles, Brittany and the Pyrenees were particularly prolific at this time and represent a gene flow throughout these territories at this time as the European population expanded along the Atlantic coast.
Maes Howe tomb dates to about 3,930 BCE, and the Stenness Standing Stones date to a few years later. Newgrange and Knowth in Ireland are combined as the centre of large impressive early culture dating from about 3,500 BCE. The Tuatha De Dan peoples come to Ireland at this time. As with all these sites in the British Isles, they are the end result of sophisticated cultures and do not spring into being overnight. They represent the ultimate grand expression of culture and not the beginnings of culture. This pattern also becomes increasingly evident World wide.
This passage of ideas and culture flowed both ways and does not always imply the movement of people in either direction, though there is definitely movement of people as well during this time. Indeed the evidence suggests that the original Mesolithic populations are still present in our modern World, up to 97% maternal mitochondrial Eve markers from this time are seen in the modern DNA of the British Isles for example. This figure is supplemented by 75% of the male Y chromosome in the modern British populations being in place by the Neolithic. It does look as if the genetic markers for the British Isles show that the east/west, Celtic/English split was in place at this time due to the two main trade routes in operation since antiquity. The Atlantic Coast trade route, mostly a sea trade route operated into the west, and the Rhine trade river route operated into the east. This was influential to cultural and language influences over a vast amount of time and has set the pattern throughout history and is still a force to be reckoned with today. The northern sea routes from Scandinavia are also ancient and the genetic markers show the influence of Scandinavian markers in the northern British and Scottish populations that are today interpreted as ‘Viking’ but they are obviously millenia older. We can also imply from this sea route pattern that the Irish and the Scottish gene markers show diffusion from this time as well. So much for modern historians and their theories!
Stonehenge began its long development from those early wooden posts put in place in about 8,000 BCE, with new radio carbon dating of antler tools from the site showing 4,000 BCE. There are suggestions that Stonehenge was a healing sanctuary for Apollo in his Northern, winter residence at about 4,600 BCE, and if this is so then later Greek references to the Hyperboreans must be very early indeed. The Brythons living in Britain at this time were trading extensively with the rest of Europe, once again suggesting extensive travel and trade contacts from the earliest times. This ability must surely be World wide across all cultures. Surrounding Stonehenge, the Windmill Hill Culture was in full swing by 3,500 BCE. Healing and Oracular sites must surely belong to the Stone Age world and probably arise from Ancestor Worship which is in evidence across the World at this time.
In Britain, the West Kennet Long Barrow was in full use at this time for communal burials. There is ample evidence of causeway enclosures at Maiden Castle and Knapp Hill, with construction of Henges also noted. These early settlements were probably not permanent and most probably used as Ceremonial sites for seasonal fairs and ritual gatherings, which serviced the local Tribal trade networks, or even trade from far further afield? These seasonal gatherings are millennia old at this time and World wide across all cultures. How else could our ancestors meet and greet one another?
Causewayed enclosures, Cursus monuments, Long mounds, Avenues, timber circles and Henges flourish along the central European trade route which followed the Rhine. These fashions were developed by indigenous peoples (according to current theory) about 3,000 BCE by Round Barrows as individual burials replace communal burials which are associated with the Battle Axe Culture as the Bronze Age really kicks in. This could have been greatly assisted by the cultural influence from the Kurgan Culture along the trade routes (as ‘migration’ is no longer in vogue academically, although it may have represented as much as 25% real migration of peoples!) as the domestication of the horse expands rapidly from the Russian Steppes, which will have very far reaching implications, especially for traveling, trade and warfare. The horse goddess Epona begins her inexorable journey across Europe from the Steppes as the use of the horse spreads throughout the vast tribal areas of Eurasia and Northern Europe.
The European Campignion Culture emerges as trade routes strengthen across vast areas. The European Beaker Culture travels across the European continent leaving megaliths and copper production evidence in its wake. Ross Island in Ireland is the earliest copper mine found in the British Isles and this trade is also particularly well attested in Britain with the recent archaeological discoveries of the Amesbury Archer who had some Beaker pottery grave goods as well as some impressive copper knives, (grave dates to 2,400 BCE). The Archer may have been buried in the British Isles but he came from north west Europe, his copper knife came from Spain and his ideas may have come from all over Europe. The evidence reveals a Neolithic Globalisation, which proves there is nothing new under our sun!
Sacred Landscape has been venerated since the Dawn of Time. The Mound of the Hostages in Ireland is built at this time. In China it is reported that Emperor Qin burned all the books on Feng Shi in the 3rd century BCE, a period much later than this time period, but we can assume these are very old beliefs, as evidence for Sacred Landscapes are World wide at this time.
We can determine that a power elite was in place to direct the manpower and organisation necessary for such building projects as Stonehenge, and that these people were well aware of ‘geomancy‘ and what we now call Pythagorean geometry, as this is clearly demonstrated in the layout of many early sites from this period, as is complex astrological ability. Sites in Armenia may date to about this time, and it is possible that such complex knowledge was common place in the Northern Europe at this time, as the Golan may also show. Is this knowledge coming from China along the Silk Road or going to China along the Silk Road? The earliest archaeological remains for astrology in China only date to 3,000 BCE. The remains of Caucasian Mummies from Northern Europe have been found all along the Silk Road and date from 3,000 BCE to recent times.
Copper smelting was being discovered all over the World by many different peoples, but it is not yet widespread. Many different sites have been claimed as the ‘first’, but as always, new discoveries keep pushing the date back further and further. The Ice Man of Europe was found with a splendid copper axe which has been dated to 3,000 BCE. New finds in the future are bound to give us a more and more detailed understanding. Current theories suggest a good deal of people movement at this time on the back of the copper trade which will explode in the coming millenia.
People are moving around all the time, but there is still enough room for everyone. We have more evidence for warfare from this time, as humans must have always fought each other over something or other. There is evidence for increasing sophistication of weapons at this time, though it will be a while before armies develop. Menes (or Namer as he is sometimes called) organised battles and armies to unify Upper and Lower Egypt. Warfare is always a big spur to the development of new shiny brass weaponry!
This is the sixth lesson in history. Humans will always go to war.
The Chalcolithic Copper Age Culture in the Indus Valley is in full flower, and possibly trading across the sea with coastal communities and the Bantu Culture in Africa, and most probably with all the other Euasian cultures at this time. Yemen, Eritrea and Ethiopia may have been coastal connections at this time as trading boats followed the coast backwards and forwards between these important Cultures. The trade at this time appears to have been agricultural seeds and knowledge, which travelled inland into the Sudan. We must await further archaeology to fill in the details.In Madagascar, megalithic Houses for the Ancestors were built.
The strange stone circles on the Golan Heights continue to mystify archaeologists. Located in the heart of the old Kingdom of Bashan, the site of Gilgal Refaim or Rogem Hiri as it is known in Arabic, is thought to date to 3,000 BCE. The Naked Archaeologist explains that the site was built by the Bashan king called Og (literally ‘drawer of circles’), and that this stone circle unique in the Middle East. It has parallels to Stonehenge. The Naked Archaeologist goes onto suggest that the Rephaim were very tall, and that Goliath was a Rephaim from the kingdom of Bashan. This is very interesting, especially as the Rephaim were reputed to be ‘kings of yore’. They must be ancient peoples, and individuals two metres tall are certainly known from the archaeological record. The Northern European Tribes stood over a foot taller than the Romans! There are many Oral Traditions linking the Holy Land to Britain and Ireland, for example, the myth of the Tuatha de Dan as the lost tribe of Israel, which fits in fine with the theory that King Og, who was a Rephaim or Nephilim (read ‘giant’) and that the ‘giants’ Gog and Magog built Stonehenge according to British legend. It is not possible to tell if there really is any truth here, but it sure is fascinating! There may well be a link, but good luck if you want to sort out this truth from fiction!
This is the seventh lesson in history! Religious belief will produce more lunacy and weird historical claims than any other source known on the planet, and people will be deadly serious about their particular claims, so be warned!
The quipus or knotted strings used by the later Aztec Culture for communication may have a very ancient origin, it is simply impossible to say how old many ancient systems of communications were, or how many were invented and have now become ‘lost’ or simply relegated as ‘inferior’ because of academic fascination with ‘civilisations’ and ‘victors’ as opposed to vanquished cultures. ‘Writing’ is supposed to sort out the civilised written wheat from the verbal oral chaf! Nonsense of course. Ogham may be another misunderstood form, with possible roots to an even older runic system. These developments are World wide, although ‘writing’ is still limited to a few specialist cultures. Elamite script, still undeciphered, is dated to about 3,200 BCE. Meroitic script is dated to 2,400 BCE but no one can translate it either, so its origins remain as unknown as Etruscan which no one can yet translate! There are tokens found in King Scorpion’s tomb in Egypt dating to about 3,400 BCE and tokens from Sumer dating to about 3,500 BCE. The script of the Indus Valley Civilisation is also still undeciphered, so much of our history is as yet undiscovered!
Egypt forms from a combination of River Peoples who had always lived by the Nile, and the Desert People who were migrating out of the Sahara as the desert became totally uninhabitable. 4,000 BCE witnesses the spread of the Semitic languages throughout the Near East, so people are migrating about a good deal. Abydos is the original holy site in Egypt, although El Kab may predate Abydos by almost a millennia. Egyptian king Menes unites the predynastic upper and lower kingdoms as Egypt consolidates into an Empire and the First Dynasty begins. The myth of Osiris emerges about 3,800 BCE, and the Egyptian Book of the Dead originates from this time.
Indigenous peoples all over the World have impressive cultures that do not need to build cities or invent the written word to prove how ‘civilised’ they are!
The civilisation of Sumer is well underway during this period as the Mesopotamian cultures begin to emerge. Sumer springs into being fully formed, Kings (no less) and all, so where were the precursor settlements of this civilisation?
In Peru, the Caral Pyramids were built, and archaeologists have discovered over 2000 sites attributable to this earliest of civilisations, alongside irrigation canals, pottery and musical instruments. These were a farming people and no weapons have been found associated with their remains.
China and Japan, are already up and running.
The very impressive Harrapan culture in India covered over one million square miles with impressive city sites, for example Dholavira and Mohenjodaro, with Kings (no less), gods (Shiva) and Yoga was reputedly codified about 4,000 BCE, so where are the precursors to this impressive culture? These sophisticated cultures do not spring into being overnight, so how old are the roots of these civilisations?
Thus, the the eighth lesson in history is that academics, historians and archaeologists are so bedazzled by victory, cities, writing and civilisations and impressive archaeological ruins, they relegate all other cultures to the wastebin! Impressive civilisations that emerge from the genocide of ‘lesser peoples’ overwhelm them.
Like Mortimer Wheeler’s ‘Aryan Invasions‘, politics can influence theory for generations obscuring inconvenient truths and other evidence. Only recently, and under the pressure from local people, have academics come to understand the value of the ‘useless barbarians’ and ‘nomads’ who ‘lost out’ to ‘magnificent’ and civilised superior forces’.
The ninth lesson in history is that power elites have always rewriten history to serve their own ends and they have worked industriously for centuries to subsume and eradicate earlier ‘conquered peoples’ and all they stand for.
I am sure there must be many other cultures which have been lost to us because of this academic and religious prejudice.
In 3,150 BCE the Earth’s Magnetic Field reverses again and more comets impact in the Mediterranean during this period.
Sue :: Oct.20.2006 :: Book Reviews ::