Re: Horses, Zeps, Hackle, and Fanfic

From: Michael J. Rider <jaguar_at_warwick.net>
Date: Thu, 25 Apr 1996 18:45:59 -0400

Ed Rudnicki wrote:

>Um, this rather proves my point. Assuming both sides of the Atlantic
>started out at the same point, going from hunter/gatherer to
>agrarian, look which side was more technologically advanced when
>they actually met. How far back do those New World Cities go?
>European and Asian construction goes back thousands of years, and I
>suspect the Great Wall predates the Aztecs.

The first large settlements did appear at roughly the same time on both
continents. Around 5000 BCE. Some old world cities like Catal Hayuk are a
few thousand years older, but there's no real difference. The earliest
Olmec cities that have been found date to around 1200 BCE. They weren't
very well preserved because of the wet environment. Other things like the
parallel development of written languages show that things weren't that
different. Europeans just had better ships and worse diseases.

The Aztecs were newcomers and only ruled for a short time before contact.
The Great Wall predates them by well over a thousand years. Their
predecessors, the Olmec, Toltec, Maya and more yet in South America all
developed fairly advanced technology and calendars at the same time the
Sumerians were first learning to write on clay tablets.

>The Kats seem to be advanced enough that dietary supplements could
>be provided for those who opted for the veggie diet. I seem to
>recall a similar situation with humans, albeit with a different
>nutrient, one which is difficult to get with a vegan diet.

If they have the other technology they're bound to be able to do that if
anyone wanted to.

>>Cooperative hunting packs (like lions) would make sense for early kats.
>>They might change to a herding culture taking care of their own food
>>sources and finally to settled urban populations.
>
>Good point! Social cats would be a logical evolutionary staring
>point.

Things like language and weapons for hunting and war aren't badly needed by
solitary hunters. They are the things that make intelligent tool using
beings. Being able to cooperate would enable them to outcompete other
carnivores and scavengers.

-- ____________________________
    / Michael J. Rider /
   / AKA: Richard #926 /_____________________________________
  / jaguar_at_warwick.net / /
 / Jason_Jaguar on FurryMUCK / Beware the bunnies! /
 ---------------------------- /
    / Brain> Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering? /
   / Pinky> Uh, I think so, Brain, but balancing a family and /
  / a career... oooh, it's all too much for me. /
  -------------------------------------------------------------



Received on Thu Apr 25 1996 - 19:17:36 PDT