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Things We're Leaving That May Confuse Future Archaeologists

Saw a prog on the Neolithic/Bronze Age - curse my poor memory - where a comment was made that archaeologists ascribe any unknown artifact as probably being either ritual or religious - without knowing what religion or rites were practiced then.
Scroll forward to future archaeologists uncovering the foundations of modern-day Christian churches and cathedrals : alignment east-west, partial scripts dedicated to God's sun, holy day is Sunday, halos of light etc.
 
Bad Bungle said:
Saw a prog on the Neolithic/Bronze Age - curse my poor memory - where a comment was made that archaeologists ascribe any unknown artifact as probably being either ritual or religious - without knowing what religion or rites were practiced then.
Scroll forward to future archaeologists uncovering the foundations of modern-day Christian churches and cathedrals : alignment east-west, partial scripts dedicated to God's sun, holy day is Sunday, halos of light etc.
Click to expand...
There was a novel published a few years ago called The Book of Dave. It was about a dystopian London after a global flood and a book had been found buried which contained a set of rules on how life should be lived. Men lived in separate villages to the woman and children and were only allowed to visit on agreed days, etc, etc. The buried book had been written hundreds of years previously by a disgruntled taxi driver who had gone through a messy divorce and was having access visit issues!
 
Bad Bungle said:
Saw a prog on the Neolithic/Bronze Age - curse my poor memory - where a comment was made that archaeologists ascribe any unknown artifact as probably being either ritual or religious - without knowing what religion or rites were practiced then.
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It's a standing joke amongst archaeologists! I think some non-archaeologists do take it seriously though?

Here's one I made earlier

https://forums.forteana.org/index.p...n-cone-headpieces-or-hats.66695/#post-1917505
Bad Bungle said:
Scroll forward to future archaeologists uncovering the foundations of modern-day Christian churches and cathedrals : alignment east-west, partial scripts dedicated to God's sun, holy day is Sunday, halos of light etc.
Click to expand...

we did this at Uni! You are so right!
 
My local church is being refurbished, and so - if The End came now - future archaeologists might be puzzled by statues of the Holy Family wearing bin bags* on their heads.

*(To protect them from dust, and so on.)
 
Steven said:
My local church is being refurbished, and so - if The End came now - future archaeologists might be puzzled by statues of the Holy Family wearing bin bags* on their heads.

*(To protect them from dust, and so on.)
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We had a leaky roof at church a few years back. If The End had happened there would have been a number of plastic offering bowls around the shrines! Or buckets to catch the drips ;)
 
RUETERS: BAFFLED ARCHAEOLOGISTS UNCOVER ANCIENT 'FECKIN' DUMP'

Archaeologists working on the remains of a 21st-century dwelling are mystified by the 'mad' disorder and the bizarre hoarding of antique socks. Dr Semolina Pipkins of TikTok University admitted her weary bemusement at the discoveries revealed in what her colleagues call 'The House of Steven': "It's bloody bonkers," she said, "Coco Pops boxes placed in the freezer along with tatty boxer shorts; banana skins on the ceiling; no lightbulbs and a shrine to an ancient deity named Bruce Forsyth. It's doin' my head in". The house will be open to tourists next year, in 4023, once art experts in the team have studied all the once-colourful Bros posters that line the crumbling walls, held up by drawing pins; the walls, that is, not the posters.

The householder's home was nearly destroyed in an explosion around the year 2023, according to historians, as he miscalculated the level of heat required to warm something called a 'Pot Noodle', and accidentally buried the town in curry-flavoured stringy bits.
 
Steven said:
I hope that my bicycle pump doesn't get labelled as a fertility symbol...
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I hope it does. I think you should start heat branding on penis patterns and fat women on to it so that's exactly what will happen Steven.

I've written about this in another thread but I was bought a small book written by an eccentric. He kept pet snakes and whenever one would die, he'd bury it but he'd add chicken legs on either side in the hope that, should archaeologists discover the remains in the distant future, they'll think we had snakes running around on two legs :) .
 
It's an interesting thought to ponder because without any context it must be quite difficult find out what a thing was used for, but when this civilization goes down the plug hole of history (and it will) there will be a lot more to discover
 
Robbrent said:
It's an interesting thought to ponder because without any context it must be quite difficult find out what a thing was used for, but when this civilization goes down the plug hole of history (and it will) there will be a lot more to discover
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and most of it will be plastic.
 
Robbrent said:
It's an interesting thought to ponder because without any context it must be quite difficult find out what a thing was used for, but when this civilization goes down the plug hole of history (and it will) there will be a lot more to discover
Click to expand...
. . . there will be a lot more to 'un-cover?'
 
Frideswide said:
We had a leaky roof at church a few years back. If The End had happened there would have been a number of plastic offering bowls around the shrines! Or buckets to catch the drips ;)
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I wonder how many times that has happened when excavating ancient temples across the world - bowls placed to catch drips from a leaky roof interpreted as offering bowls... more than a couple, I bet.
 
The thing that I find strange about the interpretation of finds from ancient civilisations is that we never seem to consider that they had a sense of humour (graffito at Pompeii aside!). I wonder how many 'ritual' items were just an in joke?
 
eziofan said:
The thing that I find strange about the interpretation of finds from ancient civilisations is that we never seem to consider that they had a sense of humour (graffito at Pompeii aside!). I wonder how many 'ritual' items were just an in joke?
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I wonder which items were because someone collected small models of horses and we only find one left!
 
One of the most ancient humanoid artifacts known is the Lion Man, a therianthropomorphic figurine between 35,000 and 41,000 years old.
270px-Loewenmensch2.jpg

I wonder if future archaeologists would think that the rituals associated with this object continued into the modern era
pant1.png
Snagglepuss_hands_in_air.jpg

(exit, stage left)
 
eziofan said:
The thing that I find strange about the interpretation of finds from ancient civilisations is that we never seem to consider that they had a sense of humour (graffito at Pompeii aside!). I wonder how many 'ritual' items were just an in joke?
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Reminds me of a recent prog on Blaze with their startling conclusion that golden hat-shaped objects from the mid-Bronxe Age may have been worn as hats. Even more of a revelation from the website below is the passage: "Their conical design mimics the well-known image of a witch’s or wizard’s hat, leading to speculation that the hats were worn by individuals who held such a position ..?"
Does anyone know of any evidence of wizard hats before ~1400-800 BC ?

https://www.ancient-origins.net/artifacts-other-artifacts/mystery-four-golden-hats-bronze-age-002630
 
I saw some of those 'witch hats' in a recent exhibition at the BM. The idea that they might be hats seems absurd on the face of it - they would be heavy and easy to damage. But on the other hand, what else could they be?
220px-Cappello_d%27oro_di_berlino%2C_1000_ac_ca._01.jpg

One idea is that the circular motifs represent the Sun, so these are solar disks as part of a Sun cult. They may even be some kind of calendar, but the number of disks doesn't seem to support that.
 
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eburacum said:
I saw some of those 'witch hats' in a recent exhibition at the BM. The idea that they might be hats seems absurd on the face of it - they would be heavy and easy to damage. But on the other hand, what else could they be?
220px-Cappello_d%27oro_di_berlino%2C_1000_ac_ca._01.jpg

One idea is that the circular motifs represent the Sun, so these are solar disks as part of a Sun cult. They may even be some kind of calendar, but the number of disks doesn't seem to support that.
Click to expand...
Well it could be a calendar for another planet thus proving they were made by aliens. :)
 
eburacum said:
One of the most ancient humanoid artifacts known is the Lion Man, a therianthropomorphic figurine between 35,000 and 41,000 years old.
270px-Loewenmensch2.jpg

I wonder if future archaeologists would think that the rituals associated with this object continued into the modern era

(exit, stage left)
Click to expand...
[AI] 'Apparently, the first Lion fossil was excavated in Southern Germany estimated to be between 191,000 to 57,000 years old!'
Looking at the Mammoth Ivory carving of the Lion Man figure, I see shows that 'he' is marked with 'shoulder stripes?'
Why?
Surely they must stand for recognition to something - suggest that maybe the number of Lions that were brought down by a particular leading hunter, and this may have been the person for others to look up to and follow, whom would be remembered with this hand made trophy?
(Why else would those shoulder stripes be incised up on this figure?)
 
eburacum said:
I saw some of those 'witch hats' in a recent exhibition at the BM. The idea that they might be hats seems absurd on the face of it - they would be heavy and easy to damage. But on the other hand, what else could they be?
220px-Cappello_d%27oro_di_berlino%2C_1000_ac_ca._01.jpg

One idea is that the circular motifs represent the Sun, so these are solar disks as part of a Sun cult. They may even be some kind of calendar, but the number of disks doesn't seem to support that.
Click to expand...
Turn it upside down and it could be a vase, something to hold a beverage or a candle holder. It would just need something to slot into.
 
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