• ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    I always liked how archaeologists would dig up ancient statues of big-breasted and big-butted women and call them evidence of a “cult of fertility”. I guess that sounds better than “porn”.

    • TheBrideWoreCrimson@sopuli.xyz
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      3 days ago

      Hmm. Interesting, indeed. Now please excuse me while I, once again, sacrifice my own bodily fluids on the modern-age altar of fertility which has been optimized over ages and ages into the convenient shape of a… sock.

  • salvaria@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    4 days ago

    I liked the story about the “very high” runes and so I found a source. Apparently, the writing was “Tholfir Kolbeinsson carved these runes high up”.

  • tiredofsametab@fedia.io
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    4 days ago

    I would unironically watch something called ‘Ancient Shitposting’ that focused on old graffiti and pisstakes. It would still be more relevant to history than most of what is on channels with History in the name these days.

    • FooBarrington@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      I want a spinoff focusing on animals fucking with humans in ancient times, like paw prints in bricks or on documents. Must be a treasure trove of hilarious antics throughout the times

      • tiredofsametab@fedia.io
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        3 days ago

        I know a number of Roman and medieval European tiles have been found. I’m sure there’s more around the world because cats gonna cat.

        • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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          3 days ago

          The only exception would be in places like the Americas where they didnt have any domestic cats, though who knows maybe someone tried domesticating mountain lions which are in the same family as housecats.

          • tiredofsametab@fedia.io
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            3 days ago

            Well, there’s more than just cats, but true. Wolves, dogs, monkeys, and just about anything else could be traipsing about.

  • Dragon@lemmy.ml
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    4 days ago

    I visited a 17,000 year old cave painting site in France, and the whole walk into the cave there are modern day graffiti signatures like “Bob, 1992” etc. but then you start to notice that the years go back further and further…1827…1761…1597. Then you get to the old cave art and it kind of feels like a continuation of the same shit, just some people leaving their scribbles on a rock like they have been probably since they discovered how to do it.

  • Missmuffet@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    I learned in my scandinavian class in college that they dug up a nordic tavern ruin, and inside found a stick with carved runes on it. When translated, it said something to the effect of “HELGA SAYS COME HOME RIGHT NOW.”

  • Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca
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    4 days ago

    I had a book of graffiti, one of them was described as an arrow written up a wall next to a urinal up to the ceiling where a message read “by the time you’ve read this message, you have pissed on your shoes.”

  • Warl0k3@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    There’s a pyramid with hieroglyphics carved onto the side that roughly translate to “This End Up”

  • Sam_Bass@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Man has felt the need to leave his mark on this world since the very beginning. Not likely to ever change

    • MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml
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      3 days ago

      Nowadays though, we (or some of us at least) wish to leave less of a mark. Ecological footprint, climate change and so on.

  • portuga@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    People think humanity is so much more evolved now but it has been actually the same shit from thousands ago or whenever recorded history goes back.

    Also: portuga was here

    • tiredofsametab@fedia.io
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      4 days ago

      Always has been. This is where the whole “Dark Ages” idea comes from, IIRC: people further on in time wanting to separate themselves as special and more advanced.

    • LillyPip@lemmy.ca
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      3 days ago

      Millions of years, likely. The whole reason we’re successful is because our pre-human ancestors were empathetic and cooperative enough to build societies.

      We see those same traits in many other primates, and they’re not something it makes sense to evolve, lose, and evolve again. Those traits predate us.

      Language almost certainly predates us, since we see it not only in other primates, but in non-primate species, too. And based on the humour we see in many animals, you can bet we were making dick jokes nearly out of the gate.

      • P00ptart@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        Societies weren’t built on empathy, they were built on security. Not just physical security but food as well. No society in history was built on empathy, ever.

            • LillyPip@lemmy.ca
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              3 days ago

              What about caring for the elderly and disabled? We see anthropological evidence of many behaviours that can only be explained by compassion and empathy, some of which would have actually detracted from security.

              The notion that the early formation of societies was based on security rather than empathy is outdated. Compassion has many evolutionary advantages, especially in primate species where offspring are born vulnerable. It’s clearly evident in other primates who live in groups (or ‘societies’), as a driving force of cooperation and group cohesion.

              Here’s a recent paper (2022) by Penny Spikins, PhD at the University of York, Department of Archaeology, that explores how compassion shaped early human evolution and the formation of societies: The Evolutionary Basis for Human Empathy, Compassion and Generosity.

              And here’s another from 2011 by Goetz et al that explores in detail the evolutionary advantages of compassion: Compassion: An Evolutionary Analysis and Empirical Review.

              Those papers are both fascinating reads, and I highly recommend them for a deeper understanding of why and how empathy is crucial to our success as a species.

              e: a word

              • P00ptart@lemmy.world
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                2 days ago

                Right, and I don’t doubt you, empathy is how society grew. But empathy is not why society started.

                Keep in mind that you wanted to keep old people in your tribe to look after the children. The men and women were looking for food and firewood and building materials. Losing children means the end of the tribe. Feeding the elderly is still security. It simply makes sense from a survival standpoint.

                Obviously they had empathy as well. If you didnt, you wouldn’t bother to bury the dead, let alone give up valuable items as offerings, such as an ax. As far as I’m aware, that practice dates back at least 40k years. So obviously there was empathy there.

                However, I would say that that empathy comes from security. “They were one of us”

                But a rival tribe member dies? Do you think they would gather for that scenario? That would be empathy. And there’s no proof of that in a prehistorical context.

    • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Our ancestors’ brains went from chimpanzee-sized to modern-sized (actually slightly bigger than today) between two million and one million years ago, and more importantly the language-governing areas increased in size during that stretch. So human beings a million years ago were very much like us today, just without the advanced technology.

  • Dasus@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    Probably not “Marcus is gay” since they didn’t have a similar idea of sexuality, it being more or less a free-for-all.

    • Dragon Rider (drag)@lemmy.nz
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      4 days ago

      Weep, you girls. My penis has given you up. Now it penetrates men’s behinds. Goodbye, wondrous femininity!

      Amplicatus, I know that Icarus is buggering you. Salvius wrote this.

      Theophilus, don’t perform oral sex on girls against the city wall like a dog

      I have buggered men

      Secundus likes to screw boys.

      If anyone sits here, let him read this first of all: if anyone wants a screw, he should look for Attice; she costs 4 sestertii.

      The one who buggers a fire burns his penis