4 ms·

> But the pavement looked familiar to me, I’m specialised in Europe during the 1920s-40s and have worked on a project about daily life in Berlin in the 1920s an

> But the pavement looked familiar to me, I’m specialised in Europe during the 1920s-40s and have worked on a project about daily life in Berlin in the 1920s and I’ve seen that pavement in other old footage and in countless photos. I visited Jerusalem yesterday, and was struck by the fact that there are places in the world where people have been continuously walking for millennia, putting their feet on the same stones. I had a mental image of a historian who specializes in a single paving stone, putting a lifetime of effort into studying just this one large brick. This part of the article felt like such a weird echo of that thought!

dcminter 1y ago
The Guildhall in London is one of the old political centres of the city. If you go down into the basement there's the remains of a Roman ampitheatre! Tucked away in an alcove on Cannon Street is an old block of stone. This is the famous London Stone. So old that nobody knows what it is originally famous for... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guildhall,_London https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guildhall,_London https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Stone https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Stone That sort of oddity and connection with history is one of the fun parts when living in an "old" city (London isn't even that old by global standards). That ampitheatre shows that street level in ancient times and now might be quite different, so the historical feet might not really have been walking in the same place. London Stone does suggest that you could reasonably invest a lot of effort into the history of a single slab though!
- normie3000 1y ago
  > That ampitheatre shows that street level in ancient times Why do street levels change like this? There seem to be a lot of "buried streets" in old cities.
  - dcminter 1y ago
    2000(ish) years of dust and leaf litter adds up!
  - lexicality 1y ago
    old cities are typically built on the flood planes of large rivers since you get easy access to clean(ish) water and flat ground. Large rivers tend to engage in sedimentation so everything around them either needs to slowly and constantly build upwards to avoid being underwater or will be razed and the ground raised by the next flood with its associated payload of mud.
  - ZiiS 1y ago
    Lack of JCBs.
  - wcoenen 1y ago
    Humans tend to accumulate building material in cities faster than it is lost to erosion. It can add up to many meters over the millennia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tell_(archaeology) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tell_(archaeology)
- cortesoft 1y ago
  I noticed this street level thing a ton when I visited Athens. You would be walking down the street, and suddenly there would be a very old cathedral of some kind 20 feet or so lower than the surrounding street. I found it fascinating.
stevoski 1y ago
Barcelona has a distinctive paving style; it has become a symbol of the city. If you live here and see it everyday, you spot it instantly when watching TV show or movie that was made here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panot

dcminter 1y ago

The Guildhall in London is one of the old political centres of the city. If you go down into the basement there's the remains of a Roman ampitheatre! Tucked away in an alcove on Cannon Street is an old block of stone. This is the famous London Stone. So old that nobody knows what it is originally famous for... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guildhall,_London https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guildhall,_London https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Stone https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Stone That sort of oddity and connection with history is one of the fun parts when living in an "old" city (London isn't even that old by global standards). That ampitheatre shows that street level in ancient times and now might be quite different, so the historical feet might not really have been walking in the same place. London Stone does suggest that you could reasonably invest a lot of effort into the history of a single slab though!

normie3000 1y ago
> That ampitheatre shows that street level in ancient times Why do street levels change like this? There seem to be a lot of "buried streets" in old cities.
- dcminter 1y ago
  2000(ish) years of dust and leaf litter adds up!
- lexicality 1y ago
  old cities are typically built on the flood planes of large rivers since you get easy access to clean(ish) water and flat ground. Large rivers tend to engage in sedimentation so everything around them either needs to slowly and constantly build upwards to avoid being underwater or will be razed and the ground raised by the next flood with its associated payload of mud.
- ZiiS 1y ago
  Lack of JCBs.
- wcoenen 1y ago
  Humans tend to accumulate building material in cities faster than it is lost to erosion. It can add up to many meters over the millennia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tell_(archaeology) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tell_(archaeology)
cortesoft 1y ago
I noticed this street level thing a ton when I visited Athens. You would be walking down the street, and suddenly there would be a very old cathedral of some kind 20 feet or so lower than the surrounding street. I found it fascinating.

stevoski 1y ago

Barcelona has a distinctive paving style; it has become a symbol of the city. If you live here and see it everyday, you spot it instantly when watching TV show or movie that was made here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panot