Archaeology [Sticky] Archaeology by Prau123

Finding out how long it took to construct large scale structures is not an exact science especially when we are dealing with buildings during the primordial times.  We don't know a whole lot about how people organize themselves to build these infrastructures. There are limited information on labor population, the construction methods, the engineering tools, lifting and transporting apparatus and the type of metal to cut the stones.  There are scant records on their day to day activity during the construction and there are only a few blue print maps or sketch drawings of these ancient structures.   I consider structures that took a century to several hundreds of years to build to be more realistic.  I believe the modern structures were completed within a few decades but not every ancient structure to be completed within that brief span of time unless there was a start and finish date engraved somewhere on the stone structure itself.

https://greatperformersacademy.com/interesting/20-buildings-and-structures-that-took-the-longest-time-to-build

What archaeologist should and shouldn't look forward to in the upcoming Ice Age?

Scientist believe that the next ice age will occur in 1,500 years from now however there will be several mini-ice age along the way before the big one happens.  What are some good and not-so-good news for future archaeologist when the ice age finally does happen? 

The bad news is that structures found in colder regions such as Canada,  northern half of U.S.A., Andeans mountains and Patagonian regions of South America, and northern half of Eurasian continent will be covered underneath a mile thick of ice.  The gigantic ice sheet on top of Canada and northern Eurasian continent will be bigger than the continent of Antarctica today - like what it was before during the last ice age. The blanket of ice served as a barrier for human migration on the Bering Strait of Alaska during the last ice age and in the future it will serve once more as a barrier for any type of research by scientist. There will be minimal archaeological digging until the ice melts completely unless future tech will allow them to further resume their excavation.  

As mother nature continues to freeze earth, the world becomes less hospitable on the high lands while the low lands become an ideal place for sanctuary and survival. The sea level continues to descend allowing more lands to surface up. Continents and islands become bigger as the sea level declines as low as 300 feet allowing people and archaeologist to finally get an opportunity to discover ancient sites that have been submerged underneath the sea floor beds for several millennia ago.  Many of these sunken sites are extremely difficult to excavate and recover today.  There are over 200 ancient sites underneath the Mediterranean sea alone and Atlantis may as well be one of them. There are plenty of lost cities off the coast of India such as Dwarka and there are several more examples like these around the world.  This is what the world looked like when sunken cities were above sea level and served as active trade ports that connected the world.  Discovering all these underwater structures will rewrite archaeology.

Among the quickest migrations across the American continent were the Navajo people of the southwest. They originated from the northwestern parts of Canada and Alaska.  The nomadic tribe rapidly moved downward to the southwest and began settling with other native American Indian tribes as early as the 1100's to 1300's.  They are among the largest tribe today in the southwestern area which includes Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah.  Since they are considered Athabaskan people, their language is unrelated to Uto-Aztecan language of the early inhabitants of the southwest.  The Navajos also made a drastic adjustment in their lifestyle.  They were living on different types of shelters such as wooden pine tree houses and a type of igloo called Quinzhees(a pile of loose snow instead of block of ice) on the Canadian-Alaskan border.  When they migrated and settled in the southwest they began to thrive on an adobe style shelter or wooden-mud house called Hogan. 

Map

The Native American Navajo tribe is one of the largest tribes of American Indians. They lived in the Southwest in areas that are today Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. The name "Navajo" comes from the Spanish who called them the Apaches of Navajo. They called themselves "Dine" or "the People".

wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo

When we look at Mesoamerican structures we primarily see the last time it was built.  What we see are the last group of people that inhabited the site. There have been actually various groups of people that have 'come' and 'gone' leaving only some remnants behind of who they were. When a society overthrows another group or when an abandoned ruin is discovered, the new arrivals begin to stack new blocks of rocks on top of the older building. This is evident in their well known buildings that were constructed more than once.   Each successive group makes the structure bigger and different than the previous ones before.   The pyramid of the Sun and Moon at Teotihuacan were built several times, while Uxmal was built 3 times as told by the oral traditions however scientist have shown that it was built 5 times and Cholula, the largest pyramid, was built at least 6 times. There are several more structures that were built multiple times throughout Mesoamerica.

Cholula

There are clearly not enough archaeologist today to search for every archaic site and artifact on this planet.  If you had to be an archaeologist for a few months, what site would you like to be assigned at?  The potential dig site could either be an undiscovered location such as a lost city in the jungle or the discovered site itself hasn't been thoroughly researched yet. 

Whatever choice you make - make it the quest of a lifetime. 

And remember, the journey itself is every bit as sweet as the find.