new student

Originally posted by new2thegame let me give you a quick brief on myself. I am a 1st year at u of calgary and im in a tough situation. I have to come up with a term paper topic for the 19th of nov on prehistory, which states something new to the world of archaeology. my challenge lies with choosing a strong topic. some suggestions of the prof were evolution, stone tools, writing sytems, paleolithic art, the imprtance of sites such as great zimbabwe, machu picchu, stonehenge, ur, tikal. i assure myself that most of you, if not all know a great deal more about  prehistory than myself, so i ask if you were/are a prof, what would you like to hear about. if you are still reading, thank you very much for your time. if any of you have a suggestion on a bold focal point for a paper, i would appreciate your imput. thanks again...new arky student

You are not in a tough situation.  Most of us have been there before.

I would say choose Stonehenge.  There should be tons of archaeological information available....IN THE LIBRARY!  Do not waste your time on line.  Most of what is on here is crap.

I suggest using Stonehenge as an example of the focus of a prehistoric culture.  If the thing truly was an astronomical "observatory" or a tool for the retrieval of the facts of seasonal change, for planting, etc. (and that might be your call in the paper) I think you may have a very interesting paper.  

Edited by pikeshot1600

If you want something that is poorly studied, then try to get a good book on the Chalcolitic "Portuguese" culture of Vila Nova de Sao Pedro. I can't find any info on this culture online that is not my own Wikipedia article but it's (from my viewpoint) extremely interesting and probably pretty much central in Megalithism and Beaker-Vase phenomena. It's a very badly studied culture and at the same time sooo interesting...

If you want something that hits the public (what the heck: it's only going to be read by an old bored professor, but anyhow), suggest that it is both Atlantis and the Eritia of the Heraklean myth (I think it actually is, so you would just have to ask me why I think that).

Originally posted by new2thegame Originally posted by Maju suggest that it is both Atlantis and the Eritia of the Heraklean myth (I think it actually is, so you would just have to ask me why I think that). I have not chosen a topic yet but i would like to thank you all for your time. All suggestions have given me insight into my project but one stuck out very much...this abviously refers to caliph. i have read up on the articles on wikipedia, but i still cannot fathom on the portuguese culture being the lost city of atlantis...please explain

Take this with a grain of salt, of course, but take also old legends and accounts with the same healthy skepticism.

The culture of Vila Nova de Sao Pedro (VNSP) evolved in Portuguese Chalcolithic and is paralell to SE Spanish Los Millares and its successor El Argar, which shows clear Greek influence in its late stages. It's most notable characteristics are:

• Geographical extension: the Portuguese region of Estremadura (Lisbon) and nearby areas. It is a peninsula (rather two), which could be taken as islands by someone coming from the south. Anyhow some of the earliest legends don't say nesos (island) but perirruthos (something surrounded by flow - waters), a more ambiguous term. It is clearly beyond the Gibraltar strait, not too close and not too far, in the route to the tin mines of NW Spain and Britain.
  
• Fortified towns, most notably the large fortified city of Zambujal (in Torres Vedras), which shows great complexity and is about the distance of the sea as that said about Atlantis in Plao's description. This capital city of Zambujal is also in a mountain in the center of the peninsula (see map below).
  
• Neo-Megalithic tombs (artificial caves): exactly 10, just as the supposed kings of Atlantis.
  
• Fluid commercial contacts with all Atlantic Europe (amber), North Africa (ivory and ostrich egg-shells) and, of course Iberia (the Hesperides). While the VNSP region itself is not particularly rich they had easy access to many riches, including the many minerals of Iberia.
  
• Strong cultural/religious connections to all those regions via the Megalihic phenomenon, which most probably originated in Portugal as well.
  
• Advanced astronomical knowledge, as seem to have been decifered recently from cryptic calendars (slate idols). They were able to predict every single lunar ecclipse, even those that they couldn't see. Some Greek legends point to astronomy to have been invented by the kings of Atlantis.
  
• VNSP-II (since c. 2200 BCE) is defined by the presence of bell-shaped beaker phenomenon. Between c. 2100-1900, VNSP was the main European center producing this pottery, which spread to all Iberia and SW France. This is posibly the moment of apogee of VNSP.
  

When, c. 1800, El Argar takes over the SE Iberian cultural region, replacing Chalcolitic Los Millares, several interesting things happen:

•  VNSP continues bt it is almost the only culture of the area not to have a bronze industry. Still, like Ancient Egypt, it could be powerful even without Bronze weapons.
  
• The flourishing towns of southern portugal disapear and instead strange poorly defined groups with some bronze weapons appear there.
  

When, c. 1500, El Argar enters a new phase (El Argar B), characterizedby Greek-like burials in pythoi, something else happens:

• The semidesertic region of La Mancha is colonized by people close to the El Argar civilization (Bronze of Levant), building many fortifications known as motillas but very few towns. I suspect that this is an organized attempt to secure the route to the North via the plateau, skipping the naval control probably exerted by VNSP and their allies.

I think this is the period (1500-1300 BCE) when the adventures of Herakles in the Hesperides take place (the two works could be a redundant account of the same feat). It is a time when Mycene/Greece is prowerful, having just conquered Crete. Also, Iberia is the only truly interesting place to go in western direction. There's no civilization (properly speaking) elsewhere in the Western Mediterranean, Iberia has many riches of it own and also is the gate to the Ocean and the now very important tin mines, a gate that is controlled at least partly by VNSP.

Some centuries later, with a less civilized Iberia (due to Celtic invasions partly), Phoenicians would repeat the intent, founding their first offshore colony right on the opposite side of the Mediterranean: in C�diz (Gadir). So the importance of Iberia in the Ancient World and the Bronze industry should not be undervalued.

If I'm right, the Greek expedition related both in the Heraklean legend and Plato's account of Atlantis would be an expedition of succour to hellenized El Argar against their rivals of the Atlantic coast (VNSP). The Greeks (El Argar) won and that would account for the disapearance of VNSP. Wether there was a catastrophe such as a tsunami or hurricane or not (something in which the Greek legend and the Egypto-Platonian account differ) I can't say. The fact is that c. 1300, coincident with Celtic (Urnfields) invasions in NW Spain (but also reaching to the El Argar region, as some isolated burials give account of), VNSP vanishes.

General map of Iberia c. 1500 BCE:


Map of VNSP and SW Iberia in the Chalcolithic period (until 1800 BCE):


Detail of VNSP area, showing Zambujal (square), towns (circles) and main tombs (dolmen shape):

(Note: not all the cities existed at the same time).

Some complementary links:

• Megalithic economy (good stuff on how Megalithic cultures were most likely)
• O Calcol�tico da Estremadura e o Castro do Zambujal (small article in Portuguese. It has a map showing how the stuary was much larger in the past)
  
• O modus vivendi do Castro do Zambujal (another small article in Portuguese from the same municipal site, with a local bell-shaped beaker pic)

Take a look at the new article I'm creating on Ancient Iberia to better grasp the context: http://www.allempires.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=5798& ; ;PN=1&TPN=1


Edited by Maju