Does it strike you as odd that the level of astronomical knowledge, social organization and sophistication of ceremony was already in place at what is supposed to be the inception of civilization?
There are no astronomical alignments at Stonehenge, that’s just a myth that arose from the Gerald Hawkins book.
OTOH, the age of these types of structures are pretty daunting to those who still hold with a fairly recent and rapid rise of our civilization’s roots in the great river basins, not least because the characters from the old Euro writing systems are found among the *cave paintings*.
The more I read, the more I think that we’ve had civilizations, at least off-and-on, for several hundred thousand if not millions of years. Nothing else makes sense. One example: Mohenjo Daro.
You have a clan or tribe that wander into a valley as hunter-gatherers. For some reason, based on the size of the valley and it’s offerings (apple trees, wildlife, streams, reasonable winters)....they stop being hunter-gatherers and put up a permanent camp. Within two generations....they have a cycle of planting and harvest, and have gotten themselves into a very stable lifestyle. No threats in the valley, and all is peaceful.
So the next obvious step is to sit there at night, note the stars, and how movement occurs. You question the four seasons, discuss things around a fire, and start to develop social organization within the growing tribe. Ceremonies are held, and you have some tribal members who gather and dispense knowledge.
I’d make a guess that 30,000 years ago....we were already in the stages of civilization with various tribes. Course, at some point, violence would intercede....wiping out an entire tribe with vast levels of knowledge gone. Somewhere down the line...we eventually had enough of the knowledge gatherers avoid violent death, and continue to pass knowledge down through the generations. Statistically, we beat the odds, and civilization grew.
Amesbury remained a central part of civilization....until violence arrived at their front door, and ceased the whole mystic tourism center. Their knowledge disappeared as they were zero’ed down to nothing. Other than some stones in the ground, and some stuff dug up...there’s nothing left to show of that whole generation.
