5 incredible ancient monuments you might not know

There are pathways like this in North American South West too

These were built to honor their leader, "Clay Pot." Well, maybe not.

Would Lawrence have been anything if not for the information that Gertrude Bell gave to him?

Good video. Some of these I had not heard of. Thanks

I would guess the making of the spheres was something one village started, and it was so impressive and raised their status for this amazing creation. another village gave it a try and outdid the first village, and from there, it just caught on and became a statice symbol of being able to create bigger and better Stone spheres and displays.

As far as the Diquis Delta round stones I almost wonder if they are some sort of ritualistic appeasement to the volcanic gods? They look a lot like naturally occurring lava bombs, obviously they are smoother but it wouldn't surprise me for an ancient civilization to see a naturally occurring feature of volcanoes and think "hey the god of this volcano must have made these, he must like them, let's make some to appease him!"

... Or maybe they were just really opportunistic and they thought lava bombs looked cool so they moved them to their village and smoothed them out more. The proximity to several active volcanoes which would have been a daily part of their lives at that time period; along with their lava bombs, and the fact that they are made out of volcanic stone feels way too coincidental

Put a small submersible down the well in the back. Dredge it out. That's where the good answers are. And I bet cool stuff too!

On a planet where important discoveries are routinely censored due to academic peer review it's extremely unfortunate that the study of these important sites is still entrusted to archaeologists rather than people with credible scientific credentials and demonstrable problem solving abilities. Many lives have already been lost due to this idiocy.

My man’s getting after it 💪💯

Very interesting Stefan. I'm on my way to Costa Rica had no thought of archaeological sites ,what a great surprise it's so rich in sites. Looks like I'll have to go back to Spain to check out Menga. Thanx for yr program.

imagine if that well was the mythical fountain of youth lol

on the dolmen of viera, are we sure that its original purpose was to be a tomb? I see some contradiction in the use of it as a sacred calendar (with a possible sacred fertility well) and a closed communal tomb... We consider huge spans of time. Why not successive use, first as a sacred place /temple plus calendar, then, much later, a communal tomb?

so, kites could've been part of one's inheritance. farmland, lakes and rivers, and kites. the wealth of my family's land. marry me! 😜😜

Costa Rica was an ancient Bosnian colony, and they carried the tradition throughout the centuries

When you are talking about the dolman, two things jumped out at me: Second; I would have probably assumed that the well was built in conjunction with the building of the dolman simply to provide workers with easy access to water as they were working, since it probably took quite some time to actually build the structure, and also, why wouldn't you dig a well for your worksite if you could? Then after the fact, it just probably wasn't worth backfilling, or maybe they used water from the well to wash their hands after they placed a new dead body in there, or they used the water as an offering to the ancestors or Gods. That part is interesting to think about but not provable.
The first thing that came to mind as you were talking is about how they would need a calendar to tell them when to plant different things, which yes, valid, but I personally live in Minnesota in which when to plant things is really obvious because the snow has just melted and it might be reasonable to hope that it won't come back. So the thing that came to my mind wasn't an observation so much as a question: Is that part of the world missing winter? Did they need a calendar to tell them when to plant because there were no obvious environmental clues? In which case, why would they need specific timing? Unless it's more like they needed to sort of predict when the rains would come, and the calendar gave them the solar based clues they needed to predict about when to plant something in order for the rain to nourish it. My mind is curious, lol ^_^

@StefanMilo Were the bodies from Antequera ever tested for plague lol, watching your videos on Nebula in revers and it was my very first thought was it actually a burial or was it an emergency one and then I thought i wonder if they have the teeth bc why not check

Why dont you shave your head

Great video. I recall seeing a documentary where somebody went down to Costa Rica to scan those round stones with a 3D scanner. They confirmed what you can kind of see with your eye: that they're not perfectly round. Then the documentary went into the painstaking effort required by an ancient artisan to produce one of these stones. As a proof of concept, they fashion their own, small by comparison, stone sphere with ancient techniques.

Stefan Milo My non-expert opinion on the stone spheres is that they were used as ballast stones for large raft-like reed boats. The reed plants they used for the boats may no longer exist or the boats/rafts could have been made elsewhere. The round big stones would have been hung off the side in nets to keep the rafts from flipping over. Later, they made them donut-shaped so they could be attached via ropes without the nets. They would have been collected and moved about by curious people and collectors but most are close to bodies of water.

Stefan Milo I understand the stone jars could be used for dead bodies, but similar large stone jars are used as ovens to bake bread. Fire in the bottom and the flattened dough is slapped and stuck to the sides of the jar where it bakes. Many jars could mean a large production of food maybe done at certain times of the year when the grain had been harvested and made into flour. Still used today in some countries. I just can't bear any more "it was tomb, ritual or ceremonial or religious" superstitious nonsense.

My friend is going to build a modern "stonehenge" on his property using cars, that have been crushed up in one of those massive Junk Yard crushing machines.

Back in the day - the age of the oldest age of the hunter was about 50. Building and maintaining these Kites was a multi-generational feature on the landscape. Over just 1,000 years these animal traps would have been maintained on every hunt. Forward to the hunt, return and maintain. Perhaps the off-season was used to re-build the traps, while they were on their way to another task.

That's a great video! A lot of people would go for popular hundred times recycled topics just to catch views, but to be honest, the variety brought by videos like this one is refreshing. With there were more like this. I guess these places are not popular, just because it is difficult to travel to them and therefore they are not exploited for tourism.

@StefanMilo , so good! Every time. Your expression, pacing, vocabulary, clarity, transparency, and enthusiasm are all pleasing and engaing. I've learned so much. Thank you.

All those jars in Laos reminds me of eldin ring

It's great then that the USA is so busy sorting all that unexploded ordinance that continues to kill & maim in Laos and Vietnam?
Very interesting stuff Stefan, salutations..

The Costa Rica stones are identical to ones found in places in New Zealand. They are 'god's tears'. I read they are a volcanic phenomena is what I've read. Moeraki boulders. They may also be accretions of minerals 65 milliom years old.

Truly excellent insights.
Thank you

Thank you for mentioning costa rica

Amazing

The well could’ve been used daily but then infected by a disease like cholera. The stacking of the bodies could’ve served as a warning to those that had previously trusted the water

commenting for the algo

I always thought the spheres were the training test for a stone smith apprentice

It’s really cool to see those stone spheres! I didn’t know Target stores went back that far into our history!

The spheres give me this really weird hunch that they served a practical purpose. It's clear they were a display of some sort, but like, idk.

You can find a well preserved example in Finnmark, Norway, that was still in use just some hundred years ago. The Sami used it to trap or tame wild raindeer

Fascinating video. Have you ever heard of the temples in Malta?

Deerstones might have caused the myth of Santa Claus and his flying reindeer.

Stone spheres are probably natural volcanic rock thrown out of volcanoes

Ok. I appreciate you and your work but 22 degrees slope is insanely steep. At a continuous 8 degrees sometimes the big trucks' brakes start on fire from. Makes clear why sliding the blocks downhill worked but 22 degrees is crazy steep.

There is a face like that, here in France I was lucky to live not far away, its called Menhir du Flat, in what is called Parc national de Pilat, near Colombier. The whole area is just so mysterious, I dont know why i was so much drawn to these places, more than anywhere else.

Thank you Stefan. Thanks to this video I will be visitting Dolmen en Tholos in Malaga in April this year. 👀

Thought i heard somewhere that the desert kites were for irrigation.

This happens with ants. If you draw a circle around the paper, they stay in the circle. Something about them only paying attention to the ground, practically living in 2 dimensional space