Ancient Mysteries & Modern

[Nick Harbud]

I just came across this article that nicely highlights the challenges facing archaeologists in the absence of any written records.

I mean, does this situation seem at all familiar to those who have entertained theories regarding the history and purpose of the Egyptian pyramids, Nazca lines, Angkor Wat, etc, etc?

 

[Jim Webster]

It can be closer to home. I was talking to a local archaeologist who had found a number of flint napping sites in South Cumbria. They are clusters of flint found in the soil and some of them have been knapped. You don't get much more ancient mystery than that.
The problem is I knew one of them.
In South Cumbria we buy a fair bit of straw and it comes from the Arable lands of the east. Some of them are on Chalk which means there are flints in the soil.
So when the straw is baled, the tines of the baler (which are often stiff rubber) pick up flints, flicking them into the windrow of straw which are then picked up by the baler.
So if the straw is fed outside, in a ring feeder, the flints drop to the bottom and get buried in the muck as you or the cattle move the ring feeder.
Not only that but the stiff rubber tine can leave a similar mark on the flint to somebody knapping it.
Apparently he did an article or gave a lecture which warned archaeologists to check with the person farming the land first to see if they put straw out in ring feeders