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Crannogs: Neolithic-Era Artificial Islands

45 points by DanBC 7y ago

DanBC 7y ago
There's a Wikipedia article here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crannog https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crannog
peterwwillis 7y ago
According to the Scottish Crannog Centre, they have found artifacts at the site that came from Turkey around 500 BC. They also believe the crannogs may have served as floating trading outposts. The hills surrounding the Crannog Centre were apparently filled with 10's of thousands of people, and there was a local industry, though I forget what it was. It's a lovely site with great recreations of ancient technology and villages, and nearby towns are quaint.
gregoryexe 7y ago
Neolithic 1%ers and their elite lake front Crannogs...
- jacobush 7y ago
  You jest, but if they were trading outposts as mentioned, there may be be a grain of truth to this!
vivekd 7y ago
Doesnt seem to make much sense for defense unless you're defending against a small group of attackers since you cant fit many defending forces on the Crannog. If it was protection from raiders or animals using those stones to build a wall would make more practical sense. Im guessing they were probably done for a religoius or spiritual purpose
- desas 7y ago
  "religious or spiritual purpose" is the get out for everything archeologists can't explain. I think it's rather likely that people were protecting themselves from opportunist raiders than a large group of attackers.
- opwieurposiu 7y ago
  This is Scotland, so the water is pretty cold most of the year. If you have to swim through cold water to steal something you are much less likely to do so, especially at night.
- reillyse 7y ago
  There weren't large numbers of attackers back then. The article is talking about the Neolithic-Era so approx 3500 BC. I would say that it would be relatively easy to defend against 5x the amount of people if you could pick them off as they swam across the water. You literally could be throwing spears or rocks at them as they tried to swim.
- 7952 7y ago
  But it would be pretty good against those small numbers. Any attacker needs a boat of some kind, and will be visible and delayed when they make the crossing. And larger groups of attackers would still be limited by the availability of boats.
hughes 7y ago
Not related to the article itself, but the "SmoothScroll for websites" script that the page loads is incredibly frustrating to interact with. Why do people feel the need to override browser scrolling behavior? They've even overridden the mousewheel, arrow keys, space bar, and End key, and even disabled the Home key completely.
- googlesux 7y ago
  I wish there was a way to down vote your ass for irrelevant information

45 points by DanBC 7y ago

There's a Wikipedia article here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crannog https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crannog

According to the Scottish Crannog Centre, they have found artifacts at the site that came from Turkey around 500 BC. They also believe the crannogs may have served as floating trading outposts. The hills surrounding the Crannog Centre were apparently filled with 10's of thousands of people, and there was a local industry, though I forget what it was. It's a lovely site with great recreations of ancient technology and villages, and nearby towns are quaint.

gregoryexe 7y ago

Neolithic 1%ers and their elite lake front Crannogs...

jacobush 7y ago
You jest, but if they were trading outposts as mentioned, there may be be a grain of truth to this!

vivekd 7y ago

Doesnt seem to make much sense for defense unless you're defending against a small group of attackers since you cant fit many defending forces on the Crannog. If it was protection from raiders or animals using those stones to build a wall would make more practical sense. Im guessing they were probably done for a religoius or spiritual purpose

desas 7y ago
"religious or spiritual purpose" is the get out for everything archeologists can't explain. I think it's rather likely that people were protecting themselves from opportunist raiders than a large group of attackers.
opwieurposiu 7y ago
This is Scotland, so the water is pretty cold most of the year. If you have to swim through cold water to steal something you are much less likely to do so, especially at night.
reillyse 7y ago
There weren't large numbers of attackers back then. The article is talking about the Neolithic-Era so approx 3500 BC. I would say that it would be relatively easy to defend against 5x the amount of people if you could pick them off as they swam across the water. You literally could be throwing spears or rocks at them as they tried to swim.
7952 7y ago
But it would be pretty good against those small numbers. Any attacker needs a boat of some kind, and will be visible and delayed when they make the crossing. And larger groups of attackers would still be limited by the availability of boats.

hughes 7y ago

Not related to the article itself, but the "SmoothScroll for websites" script that the page loads is incredibly frustrating to interact with. Why do people feel the need to override browser scrolling behavior? They've even overridden the mousewheel, arrow keys, space bar, and End key, and even disabled the Home key completely.

googlesux 7y ago
I wish there was a way to down vote your ass for irrelevant information