"The plot has thickened on the mystery of the altar stone of Stonehenge, weeks after geologists sensationally revealed that the huge neolithic rock had been transported hundreds of miles to Wiltshire from the very north of Scotland.
That discovery, described as “jaw-dropping” by one of the scientists involved, established definitively that the six-tonne megalith had not been brought from Wales, as had long been believed, but came from sandstone deposits in an area encompassing the isles of Orkney and Shetland and a coastal strip on the north-east Scottish mainland.
Many experts assumed that the most likely place of origin was Orkney, based on the islands’ rich neolithic culture and tradition of monument building.
But a separate academic study has now found that Orkney is not, in fact, the source of the altar stone, meaning the tantalising hunt for its place of origin goes on…"
I know. When a technology is replaced by something better, we tend to lose common knowledge, and sometimes all knowledge, of how to do it most effectively.
Sometimes, it’s not replaced, just lost and we can’t replicate it (Roman concrete, until recently). Sometimes, it’s just not relevant and the majority of people never learn or know how to do it anymore (knapping). Sometimes it’s lost because nobody has done it on so long and there are few or no records - we can reverse engineer and make educated guesses, but we can’t be certain about how they did it, and we probably can’t do it as well without cheating with newer technology (Egyptian pyramids).
I completely agree with you, and knapping is one of my favorite examples. It’s something nearly everyone could do, and do pretty darned well, at one point. And now now almost nobody can do it, or even know how to, except for some indigenous communities and a few enthusiasts. Giant public works projects, like Stonehenge, Pyramids, and Easter Island are even harder, because they did it all the time and were good at it, we have so little written record of how because nobody bothered to write a manual, and it required the combined effort of a community.
Another great example is probably starting a fire only using materials from the environment. Anyone can learn how to do so, but most people never have it come up during their lifetimes!
Someone who knows knapping and how to start a fire is 90% of the way to surviving long term in temperate wilderness. Yeah, building shelter and knowing what to eat are important too, but making sharp things and creating heat are the two things that are make or break in a survival situation.
Speaking of not leaving written records, a large number of cultures had strong oral traditions that passed information down for thousands of years. Oral traditions have the additional benefit of being taught personally, allowing for time to ensure it is actually understood! It does have the danger of being lost when the culture changes significantly.
Yes! I read something recently about how, while making reading and writing ubiquitous was an unarguable net benefit for humanity, it did irreversible damage to oral traditions.
People used to tell fairy tales to their kids from memory. Now, we read them books. I was discussing this with my in-laws; the 30% of us who never had children weren’t able to recite more than a few lines of more than a couple nursery rhymes. You just forget stuff over the years.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m a huge fan of books. I love reading. But we’ve also lost something in the process.