I wish I had been a Neolithic baby!
Have we become too obsessed with technology and advancement? Were we better off with a simpler life?
This is an article written for the #octoberinleo writing prompt series for the Day 2 prompt ....
Catch the original announcement in this thread
Day2! The community Humanitas invites you to share a reflection about the first civilizations.
How do you think they were? Could you have survived then?
Give the evidence, Are they actually more advanced than us?
Can you guess the age of those stones which are called the Ring of Brodgar?
The Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland are neolithic heaven!
As a child I lived there and remember clambering all over these Neolithic sites which now unfortunately are roped off!
What you see there is a screenshot from Historical Environmental Scotland
That is a Neolithic village and yes I used to run in and out of houses. It was covered by sand for centuries before a huge storm unsanded it and someone discovered it in the 1800s I think.
Now then the Neolithic people who lived in Orkney, Scotland, around 3180 BCE to roughly 2500 BCE.
They were farmers who also fished and hunted. I really should make some pictorial posts as I took loads of pictures with my camera when I was there last year. They are on a memory card somewhere.
If you want to know more about Skara Brae then check out Skara Brae from Historical Environmental Scotland.
They now have a visitor center and a reconstruction of a hut back as it would have been 5000 years ago.
Can you imagine that .... 5000 years ago, not 50 or 500 but five fluffing thousand.
So they showed us how they would sleep sitting up.
The location was simply superb, there would have been fish galore and as it was a lovely large bay / cove there would have been plenty of shellfish and seaweed.
The land was arable and easy for farming, keeping animals and growing things.
Cold in the winter maybe, but what a fluffing life...
No Social media, just making your own entertainment.
Next up we are coming closer to our age but still staying in the Neolithic period...
The Ring of Brodgar Stone Circle and Henge
The Ring of Brodgar was also built by Neolithic people in Orkney.
I did say it was newer and it wasn't constructed until about 2500 BCE to 2000 BCE.
About 4 to 4 and a half thousand years ago. Still a fluffing long time ago.
This means it was built by people who lived after the inhabitants of Skara Brae.
You can see wee people in the picture to get an idea of just how fluffing big those stones are , think about three times a persons height!
So they reckon the Skara Brae peeps and the Ring of Brodgar peeps were probably related, it the Ring of Brodgar peeps being descendants of the Skara Brae people.
They might also have had different cultural practices and beliefs.
Ring of Brodgar from Historical Environmental Scotland.
The site is under the auspices of HES and you can read more about it in the link above...
So who is more advanced really?
Is our civilization more advanced than the one that those Neolithic people lived in.
Let's not forget that these sophisticated people who had the knowledge and skills to create complex structures like Skara Brae and the Ring of Brodgar.
Can you imagine throwing away your phone and not playing Candy fluffing crush or whatever.
And getting your arse dirty moving those stones around. They are as big as a bus.
The communities were thriving, they led a life of riley with established social structures and a deep understanding of their environment.
There were no Russian or Iranian troublemakers.
Yeah I think they had their act together. Maybe the only drawback is they didn't live as long...
But all things considered .... I wish I had been a Neolithic baby!
Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoyed my response to the prompt.
Sources and Reference documents
- Skara Brae from Historical Environmental Scotland.
- Ring of Brodgar from Historical Environmental Scotland.
This article is an entry for this month's Inleo writing initiative #augustinleo
Today's prompt is Day 2 | First civilisations
You can find all the details in this thread
All ramblings and images are from me, the mad Scotsman TengoLoTodo unless otherwise stated.