The Archaeology Thread

[Anomalocaris]

Also in Turkey is Çatalhöyük. Fascinating early attempt at a city. Lots of homes, but no streets between them. One's east wall was also one's neighbours west wall and so on. How did one commute? One climbed out a trapdoor in the ceiling and skipped across the rooftops.

That seems odd to us, but they seemed quite content with the arrangement.

I still think the all time winner so far is the Mungo peoples of Australia. ca. 40,000 or more years ago they were sailing oceans with amazing aplomb.

Alas, we cannot investigate them anymore because "religious reasons".

Why are mungo people the all times winner?   Their ancester’s may have developed over-the-horizon seafaring to get to Australia,  but Mungo people lived well over 100 miles from sea,  and exhibit no signs of continuing to have any association with, or any influence from, sea faring.   They lived near an inland lake in a manner probably difficult to distinguish from thousands of other early Homo sapien settlements that probably existed at the same time across Africa, Europe, Asia and Australia.      The only thing distinguishing them is they exhibited the earliest  known example of ceremonial cremation, and some burial traditions they exhibit that may have been continuous with modern aborigine practice.