How can people knows this(in carv) 6000 year ago without microscopes ? [I Like History]
This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »
ArishMell · 70-79, M
More to the point is the accuracy of the interpretation.
How reliable is it?
It is too easy to read the wrong meanings into very ancient artwork, because we are trying to understand something we don't know, from our own knowledge and time. So we tend to over-think the problem instead of admitting honestly that we don't know.
In the 19C it became common for the fledging science of archaeology to ascribe meanings to anything not immediately meaningful, and this case looks to me like a similar misjudgement. Most archaeologists now are honest enough to admit when they do know the meaning or purpose of an artefact or art-work.
Obviously that ancient society would have known the "Facts of Life" at a simple, everyday level, though not the physiology. So it is conceivable they had hypothesised how fertilisation works at a very basic level without such aids as microscopes; but I would be very surprised if this set of bas-reliefs really was a biology lesson and did not mean something else entirely!
How reliable is it?
It is too easy to read the wrong meanings into very ancient artwork, because we are trying to understand something we don't know, from our own knowledge and time. So we tend to over-think the problem instead of admitting honestly that we don't know.
In the 19C it became common for the fledging science of archaeology to ascribe meanings to anything not immediately meaningful, and this case looks to me like a similar misjudgement. Most archaeologists now are honest enough to admit when they do know the meaning or purpose of an artefact or art-work.
Obviously that ancient society would have known the "Facts of Life" at a simple, everyday level, though not the physiology. So it is conceivable they had hypothesised how fertilisation works at a very basic level without such aids as microscopes; but I would be very surprised if this set of bas-reliefs really was a biology lesson and did not mean something else entirely!
@ArishMell What you say is true, it is possible that they managed to hypothesize how fertilization works quite easily. Anyone who has ever butchered a hen that was still laying eggs would have seen the progression of egg development. There are multiple eggs of varying sizes at various stages of development within the hen. Doesn't take a genius to figure out how it all works for hunter-gatherers or farmers who butcher lots of female animals.