discussion-replies-23

replies for the two discussion below. (replies should be at least one good paragraph (4-5 sentences). Simply saying you agree with the post or that you like it isn’t considered a substantial contribution.

1) When trying to explain the purpose of Stonehenge we cannot just look at the monument itself but also its surroundings. From there, we can create a hypothesis that if the Stonehenge was of this purpose, then we could find evidence of this on and around the monument. For example, a strong theory is that the Stonehenge was a temple aligned with the movements of the sun. Many religious temples or great building focused on its relationship with the sun (i.e. Egyptian pyramids and Aztec temples). We known that Stonehenge is aligned in astronomically important ways such as Summer Solstice, Vernal Equinox and Winter Solstice. There is also indication that the walls were occupied during midwinter and midsummer, perhaps indicating how the sun rested on the horizon during those times being of ceremonious importance. Final, most times we have found religious sites also being important places to bury the dead and for the afterlife. There are burial sites around Stonehenge that also indicated that people traveled far to come to Stonehenge as well. In the epilogue of Feder’s book, he mentions that “we deserve better- and we can do better. We deserve a veritable past, a real past constructed from the fabric of geology, paleontology, archeology and history woven on the loom of science”. When we give power to fake or fictitious media to interpret the past, we are losing what it means to be in the present. Our past plays a key role in today and can often guide us in what we should do in the future. Focusing on myths and fables not backed by science distracts people from what really is the past. For instance, many people don’t understand Native American history or they known untrue myths. This helps perpetuate an untrue stereotypes about Native Americans based on lack of education about the sophistication and complexity of all the different Native American tribes and cultures. We deserve to give the past respect by scientifically deriving the true events in history, not the most fanciful or imaginative ones.

2)The reason behind the collapse of the Mayan civilization seems to be a movement of things. It wasn’t just one thing that wiped the Mayans out, or caused them to leave behind their cities. It seemed to start population growth. As the population grew, the demand for water and food grew. However, drought started occurring causing the water and crops to start to deteriorate. When the food and water start to run out they start to leave. I also believe that war was a cause of it, but I think the water and food are a bit more important.

I was once told that the best way to find answers or find out if something is true is to try to disprove it, even if you believe it. I think that’s the best way to explain to people that believe in the non-scientific things. Best if they start looking into ways that disprove their belief and find none then they can believe that it is true. But it also makes them have to look into other evidence to disprove if that evidence is accurate or not.