New historical understandings.

Discussion in 'History' started by geordief, May 14, 2018.

  1. geordief Valued Senior Member

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    Have we a historian in t'house?

    I want to know from someone with a good overview of the subject how our picture of the past has changed over the past 50 years as a result of new technology , new techniques after old fashioned application.

    I realize this is far too wide a question and so would be happy with a general answer along with a few specific examples.
     
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  3. Gawdzilla Sama Valued Senior Member

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    What you're looking for is a historiographer.
     
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  5. mathman Valued Senior Member

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    One specific: In 1968, US opinion was strongly divided about the Vietnam war. Today most people believe it was a major mistake.
     
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  7. geordief Valued Senior Member

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    I really meant historical analysis based on archaeological surveys.

    Sorry for not being clearer.
     
  8. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    I got what you meant: how has technology advanced our knowledge of history.

    Well, they just radar scanned the pyramids and determined finally that there are no more hidden chambers.
     
  9. geordief Valued Senior Member

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    I should really do more of my own research.
    I found the whole satellite imagery in Egypt over the past 5 years or so exciting.

    This woman seems to be largely responsible for it.
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Parcak

    Also the recent discoveries in Orkney seem to change our appreciation of earlier cultures.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Brodgar
     
    Last edited: May 15, 2018
  10. Jeeves Valued Senior Member

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    Our understanding of the past changes all the time.
    Forensic science advances tell us more about ancient human remains - how old the bones are, how long people lived, what they ate, what ailed them, what kinds of work they did, what killed them . Comprehensive, non-invasive mapping of archeological sites means we have a clear idea of their size, fortifications and layout. Better techniques preserve artefacts for scrutiny. Etc.
    But we still can't tell what they were thinking or why they made idiotic decisions, except from diaries and letters - just like two centuries ago.
    There is still no substitute for painstaking research and empathetic imagination.
     
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  11. NCDane Registered Senior Member

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    I do not think there have been any significant changes in our view of the past in the last 50 years.
     
  12. Gawdzilla Sama Valued Senior Member

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    What part of the past are you talking about?
     
  13. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    Well, there's been a lot of progress in our understanding of dinosaurs with advances in DNA and imaging techniques.

    Same with modern early man, with the discovery of Otzi the Iceman.
     
  14. Gawdzilla Sama Valued Senior Member

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    And they've located very early victims of bubonic plague in Russia, ~3500 BC, IIRC.

    We find new information all the time.
     
  15. river

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    Minoans , could have travelled the world .

    Even to North America .

    From evidence of corn represented in India sculptures .
     
  16. sculptor Valued Senior Member

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    generally, archaeology picks up where history leaves off----------though often it has changed our views of what was once considered myth, and turned it into history.

    gobekli tepe is a rare find in that it turned the v gordon childe postulations about the birth of complex societies on it's head.

    recently satellite archaeology has found many abandoned villages throughout europe ---I suspect that more will be found on other continents as well.
     
  17. Gawdzilla Sama Valued Senior Member

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    Next to the triceratops bas reliefs?
     
  18. river

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    Or from the corn plant it self .
     
  19. Gawdzilla Sama Valued Senior Member

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    Pix or it never happened.
     
  20. river

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    It happened , obviously . Thousands of years ago .
     
  21. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    Stating this without defending it doesn't make it happened, let alone obvious.
     
  22. river

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    http://www.econ.ohio-state.edu/jhm/arch/maize.html

    From this site you will find evidence of India having corn or maize in their culture . So much so that they carved them into rock , with their god Vishnu.

    Corn is only indigenous in the America's.
     
    Last edited: Jun 18, 2018
  23. Gawdzilla Sama Valued Senior Member

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    Pix or it never happened. You don't want to post pix because you would have to deal with looking absurd yet again.
     

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