Why does it appear man in some cultures started at a high level of sophistication and went backwards?

Question

Pyramids, Stonehenge, S. American Earth Mounds?

Answer 1

The examples you cite are all monumental works. The pyramid building phase in Egypt lasted about 500 years. They grew, then got smaller.

"The channeling of so much of the country's resources into building and equipping funerary monuments may seem unproductive by modern standards, but pyramid building seems to have been essential for the growth of pharaonic civilization.

http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/egypt...

Stonehenge was built and rebuilt three times in 1600 years. The mounds built by the Andena, Hopewell, and the Mississippians were done over many years and by the carrying of baskets of earth.

All these monumental works were accomplished with simple tools and human muscle. During the Middle Ages the great cathedrals took centuries to build using much the same technology. Nobody has suggested an alien origin for them.

The real problem with "aliens came and taught us" is that it requires humans be incredibility stupid. Too dumb to pile dirt into a mound, to pull the bluestones over Salisbury Plain, or to pile rocks into a pyramid.

All of these monumental works require a high degree of organization of the workforce and the logistics to support the workforce.It's also expensive. Societies that construct such structures often have strife and civil war as resources become exhausted.

Answer 2

Nan is ever changing, and new ideas come in his heads and thisxs iether take him foward or else backwards

Answer 3

Alot of it has to do with the cultures that flourished falling, for various reasons. Could be the influence of religion, which never seems to enjoy progress. In other cases it was environmental. Weather changed and people moved or were forced to change their way of life. We are suffering from similar pressures now, both religiously and environmentally. Let's hope our children won't suffer.

Answer 4

There really is no 'forward' or 'backward' in social evolution.  Cultures become more complex (e.g. "civilization", "the nation-state" etc) or more simple (e.g. "agrarian society", "hunter-gatherers", 'band") depending on the adaptive needs they have at any given time.

The unscientific notion of "progress" has nothing to do with evolution. Societies are adaptive tools and different economic systems are appropriate for different historical and adaptive circumstances at different times. So, "forward" and "backward" do not really make a lot of sense.  

I also agree that you should have a look at Jared Diamond's book.  The massive volume of material by Stephen J. Gould, Robert Dunnell, Leslie White, V. Gordon Childe, Fernand Braudel, and Julian Steward might also help you understand why these concerns come up so often, particularly in history and archaeology.

Answer 5

No culture STARTED at a high level of sophistication.

All humans started with hunter-gatherer cultures. Some groups developed complex societies, most of which ended, for one reason or another.

No, aliens were in no way involved. We're Earth critters. There's no evidence anyone from anywhere else has ever come here.

Answer 6

cultures have a cycle of rising in power and falling. before the printing press there was no way to easily transfer information that was learned across wide areas of cultural influence. so when the Egyptian civilization began to lose power, some of their advanced stone working abilities were lost. the same with roman civilization. they had invented waterproof concrete, but after Rome fell the ability to make concrete wasn't rediscovered until the 1800's

Answer 7

Most cultures have a renaissance at some time and then start making a come back, like Europe did for so many years. I guess people reach a peak of what they can comprehend and take in emotionally, so some mechanism comes in and stops things from growing any more until they can take it and move on.

Answer 8

Define the "forward" motion of a culture. We like to think of a society with more tangible accomplishments to be more advanced than others, but the fact is that there are many ways of categorizing societies, and this is just one.

That said, cultures do go into distinct periods of decline, and some end up winking out, the people going either spreading out and moving on, or simply not organizing like the complex society they once were. But like the other answers pointed out, cultures tend to rise and fall in cycles. The Great Pyramids were preceded by a long period of rising Egyptian culture, including the construction of lots of not-so-great pyramids. Stone Henge was built and added to over a long period of time. One could make the argument the South American Earth Mounds (and the N. American ones) were being built right up until smallpox wiped everyone out.

But such the fact is that such a high level of organization takes a lot of energy, and it takes its toll on a culture. A society in decline might not be seen as moving backwards; rather, it might be seen as taking the inevitable next step forwards. Some cultures end up bouncing back, some don't. Some get conquered during their low points, some get conquered during their high points. But the important thing here is not to think of "progress" as unidirectional. The goal is to see how human societies work over time.

Answer 9

You need to read "Guns, Germs and Steel" or "Colapse" both by Jared Diamond.  Facinating.