Posted on 02/14/2019 5:59:41 PM PST by LibWhacker
From simple rock arches to Stonehenge, tens of thousands of imposing stone structures dot Europe’s landscapes. The origins of these megaliths have long been controversial. A new study suggests that large rock constructions first appeared in France and spread across Europe in three waves.
The earliest megaliths were built in what’s now northwestern France as early as around 6,800 years ago, says archaeologist Bettina Schulz Paulsson of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Knowledge of these stone constructions then spread by sea to societies along Europe’s Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, she contends in a study posted online the week of February 11 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“European megaliths were products of mobile, long-distance sea travelers,” Schulz Paulsson says.
Around 35,000 megalithic graves, standing stones, stone circles and stone buildings or temples still exist, many located near coastlines. Radiocarbon dating has suggested that these structures were built between roughly 6,500 and 4,500 years ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenews.org ...
The town of Bedrock?
Finding gainful employment was difficult for prehistoric man, the rock work was likely accomplished by bored individuals.
OK, that’s an obscure reference.
I seem to remember Getafix had a different name in the American versions, which seems a shame.
Sun worshippers.
This article sez, “Radiocarbon dating has suggested that these structures were built between roughly 6,500 and 4,500 years ago.”
I don’t understand. How does radiocarbon dating distinguish between the age of the structures and the age of the rock they’re made from?
I’m no expert on this, but my understanding is that carbon-based dating is not used on rocks. Carbon based dating can only go back 50,000 years and is used on the remains of living organisms. To date rocks, geologists have to use elements with much longer half-lives, such as potassium-40, etc.
Maybe they found datable stuff on the same level with evidence (tools, stone chips) of megalithic building?
I don’t think Carbon14 is reliable anywhere near to 50,000 years back.
Besides there is no way to confirm how much Carbon (or Potassium/Argon, or any other element) was present in the past. There are a number of assumptions implicit in these radioactive decay models. But those assumptions are very much un-testable.
FWIW - I have brothers who are geologists. Isn’t that weird? There are people that date rocks. (I guess that one of the next sexual perversions we hear about will be people who want to marry rocks, and ..........
Some of the Stonehenge type formations in Great Britain have been proven fake. Still love the real ones tho!
The easiest example although not as old perhaps (but has never been studied) I could find the morning:
Libyan stone remains of unknown date, though undoubtedly pre-Roman, known as Senam Bu-Samida in Ghirrah. Figure 31 on page 138 from H. S. Cowper, The Hill of Graces: A Record of Investigation among the Trilithons and Megalithic Sites of Tripoli, London, 1897.
If these rocks were quarried locally , I think it’s geologically within the grasp of scientist to determine where they came from based on the geologic composition of the matetials composition that is being investigated. Rocks which were moved from one geologic area to another are often referred to as erratics because they do not match The rocks of the surrounding area. But an erratic is only called so when the rock is moved by glacial action and not transported by humans.
“Finding gainful employment was difficult for prehistoric man, the rock work was likely accomplished by bored individuals.”
It is said that the great cathedrals of the Middle Ages were constructed, or were able to be instructed because men weren’t dividing their time between earning income to pay taxes. Being free from a tax burden men able to apply their labors to these altruistic constructions without the constraint of a tax burden hanging over their head.
Were they paid? Of course they were, but it was probably more of a per diem type of arrangement and the labor for the cathedrals was essentially a labor of love and a labor for God.
They were childlike and huge stones were exciting to see and exhilarating to manipulate...goes with Caber tossing and other strong man exhibitions...
They can’t carbon date the rocks, but they can date the soil “strata layers” the rocks are in and then date any carbon remains in those corresponding strata layers. But they can’t do this until organic carbon remains are found, many are still a mystery because the digs lack organic material to date.
This is exactly how they do it. Especially organic carbon materials. Wood, Bone, Charcoal. :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.