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Amazing Native Americna Architecture

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bilal_ali_2000 View Drop Down
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  Quote bilal_ali_2000 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Amazing Native Americna Architecture
    Posted: 11-Aug-2007 at 06:27

I was just looking at ancient native American architecture and i must say that i was overwhelmed. In my opinion it is vastly more superior than the Ziggurats of mesopotamaia made all the more impressive by the fact that it is made and carved out of stone rather than built out of mud brick which is a much more difficult job and that is why that it has lasted so long. In my opinion that the architecture is just as good if not better than the pyramids of Egypt when you consider that it was not just a simple geometrical shape but were rather more like buildings which served a purpose and had intricate designs. I am really curious that why these native American cities don't get the respect that they deserve because from whe at i have seen they were superior to other cities of the same time period (in their architectur especially cermonial architecture).

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Yaomitl View Drop Down
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  Quote Yaomitl Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11-Aug-2007 at 06:35
Not sure about Mesopotamia, but in their defence, it's probably not so easy to get so clear an impression of how they once looked given their antiquity. Nevertheless, I tend to agree. I think because the "discovery" of Mesoamerican cities (at least by the folks writing the history books, ie - Europeans) is so much more recent, it hasn't fully sunk in yet. Greece, Rome, Egypt etc were all recognised as part of classical civilisation and have had time to be absorbed into the culture of Shakespeare etc. as reference points. Even 500 years later, Mesoamerica is still something strange and exotic encountered by explorers, if you see what I mean. Crazy I know, but there you go. Must confess I find Egypt a bit dull compared to the American cultures, though maybe that's because so much more is known about the latter.
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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11-Aug-2007 at 09:45
Well ancient Peruvians, like Mesoamericans, also build in mud bricks. The only problem is they have been wear down by thousand of years of rain. These are the mud brick pyramids knows as the Huaca of the Sun and the Huaca of the Moon
 
Huaca of the Sun of the Moche:
 
 
Huaca La Centinela
 
 
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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11-Aug-2007 at 09:49
Originally posted by bilal_ali_2000

 .. I am really curious that why these native American cities don't get the respect that they deserve because from whe at i have seen they were superior to other cities of the same time period (in their architectur especially cermonial architecture).
Actually, they have the respect of the professional archaeologists.
Now, from my personal point of view, the most awasome of the ancient Americans are not the monumental ceremonial buildings but theirs practical engineering. For example, many people knows the Nazca lines in Peru and get very amazed at them. However, not many know that the same Nazcas and in the same place build a networks of underground channels that are still in use today!
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  Quote Yaomitl Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-Aug-2007 at 07:31
Very true. One of the things that most impressed me was flying over Monte Alban in Oaxaca, Mexico (someone posted a photo on one of these threads I think) and, aside from the actual buildings, realising that these people flattened the peak of a hill in order to build the ceremonial center. And it really is a serious hill, and from the air it looks as though some giant has leant down and sheared off the top with a huge trowel, if you see what I mean. Very impressive. I know that's not quite engineering but it was a feat nonetheless.
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  Quote TheARRGH Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-Aug-2007 at 19:15
Yeah, the people of the Americas were good at building, certainly.

I believe the great pyramid at cholula is the largest pyramid in the world by volume, if not in height. The Inca roads and terraces were amazing, the gigantic drawings made by the Nazca were staggering, The earth-mounds built in the Mississippi area were often huge, and There were people building ceremonial plazas in the peruvian coastal area at a time when sumer was supposedly the only other "civilized" area.

bottom line: the americas had an incredible history of architecture.
Who is the great dragon whom the spirit will no longer call lord and god? "Thou shalt" is the name of the great dragon. But the spirit of the lion says, "I will." - Nietzsche

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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-Aug-2007 at 23:27
Originally posted by TheARRGH

....
bottom line: the americas had an incredible history of architecture.
 
Absolutely agree!
 
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  Quote TheARRGH Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-Aug-2007 at 23:36
Yeah-the staggering thing is, of course, that they did it all without using large domesticated animals. No metal wasn't that much of a problem, but hauling gigantic heaps of stone and earth around, and assembling them with only human work required massive manpower, immense charisma on the part of whatever leaders persuaded them to do it, and powerful economies to support such undertakings as, more or less, a routine.


Who is the great dragon whom the spirit will no longer call lord and god? "Thou shalt" is the name of the great dragon. But the spirit of the lion says, "I will." - Nietzsche

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