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Pronounced "Gatherer", but, hey, it's web 2.0 and we leave the last
"e" out right? Gatherr collects the best of this and that from here and
there on the web for no other reason than sharing. It's about stuff
that seemed interesting at the time. Enjoy.




ABOUT

My
name is Tony Johansen. I am an artist. I like art and science and
poetry and books and history and technology and lots more besides.
Every day I am excited by the marvelous things I see in this wonderful
world and beyond. I love the Internet for giving me access to so much.
I am like a sponge for wondrous things or things that make me wonder. This site is really just a
scrapbook. Being on the web, however, means being able to share the
treasures I find. That's me, Tony Johansen, artist who likes to share
my excitement of being alive.




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LINKS


  • Po-mz

    Wonderful poetry collected and shared by Tony Johansen


    • Archive

    Jan
    29th
    Tue
    permalink
    These mysterious pointed objects have been found in Cerny Culture burial sites. It is uncertain what they are for. Perhaps they are ceremonial daggers or arrow heads, perhaps priestly symbols, perhaps symbols of power, or comparative wealth.So little is known about these mysterious people there is much room for speculation. Yet less than 50 years ago their existence was not even suspected. That began to change when some shards of pottery were found south of Paris that didn’t fit any known historic people. In the 1980’s pilots in aircraft reported strange structures on the ground that did not fit known landmarks. The ancient mounds, while huge, were so old they had worn down from weather, flood and farming activities until they were mostly only visible from the air. This is the first instance of an entirely new culture being discovered from the air. It was soon realised that the newly discovered monuments were made by the makers of the mystrious pottery. The pottery had been found near Cerny and so the newly discovered culture was named after it.As new discoveries were made on the ground it became apparent that these mound builders lived a long time ago. In fact it appears they were the first people anywhere to build giant monuments. They predate the Pyramids by 1,500 years.This is significant. Groups of people up til this time were based on family ties and most groups numbered anything from a few dozen to maybe the low hundreds. Mound building, however requires an organized society with the ability to muster a large work force. The larger the monument, the bigger the workforce required. It also implies a common spiritual goal that involved motivating people to contribute massive labor at the expense of food production. It is interesting that the Cerny people appear to have been poor based on the lack of valuable artefacts in gravesites. It is possible that the spiritual enrichment resulting from the mound building lead to material impovershment for the builders. If so it is the earliest evidence of organised and large scale community sacrifice for a greater community good by humans. The Cerny People are therefore an intensely fascinating culture despite the small amount of evidence about their cultural lives so far discovered.

    These mysterious pointed objects have been found in Cerny Culture burial sites. It is uncertain what they are for. Perhaps they are ceremonial daggers or arrow heads, perhaps priestly symbols, perhaps symbols of power, or comparative wealth.

    So little is known about these mysterious people there is much room for speculation. Yet less than 50 years ago their existence was not even suspected. That began to change when some shards of pottery were found south of Paris that didn’t fit any known historic people. In the 1980’s pilots in aircraft reported strange structures on the ground that did not fit known landmarks. The ancient mounds, while huge, were so old they had worn down from weather, flood and farming activities until they were mostly only visible from the air. This is the first instance of an entirely new culture being discovered from the air. It was soon realised that the newly discovered monuments were made by the makers of the mystrious pottery. The pottery had been found near Cerny and so the newly discovered culture was named after it.

    As new discoveries were made on the ground it became apparent that these mound builders lived a long time ago. In fact it appears they were the first people anywhere to build giant monuments. They predate the Pyramids by 1,500 years.

    This is significant. Groups of people up til this time were based on family ties and most groups numbered anything from a few dozen to maybe the low hundreds. Mound building, however requires an organized society with the ability to muster a large work force. The larger the monument, the bigger the workforce required. It also implies a common spiritual goal that involved motivating people to contribute massive labor at the expense of food production. It is interesting that the Cerny people appear to have been poor based on the lack of valuable artefacts in gravesites. It is possible that the spiritual enrichment resulting from the mound building lead to material impovershment for the builders. If so it is the earliest evidence of organised and large scale community sacrifice for a greater community good by humans. The Cerny People are therefore an intensely fascinating culture despite the small amount of evidence about their cultural lives so far discovered.