The Cromlech of Okabe
(Courtesy of http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=9544)
The people of the Basque used technology in many different ways from the start of the Paleolithic Age. Early settlers of the Basque resided within the regions of France and Spain, bringing with them the Aurignacian culture, which later was replaced by the Azilian culture, which introduced the technology of fishing and hunter-gatherer for food resources. Whale hunting/fishing or "whaling" was very popular among the Basques, as the meat and fat was a highly valued product, and the blubber of the whale was used to create oil for lamps. The majority of whale hunting occurred in the Red Bay in Labrador, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
During the Copper, Bronze and Iron Ages, the technology of trade was introduced with the use of metals including gold and copper as trading goods, using caves as trading centers. Another technology. the use of the Cromlech, located in Okabe within the Basque country, was used with the placement of large stones in a circle, which gave way to the possible technology of astronomy, as the sun’s placement of the shadow was used as a method of measuring time.
Biblioteca Pleyades
2013 History of the Basque People
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/ciencia_basques04.htm, accessed July 22, 2013.
Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation
2013 Economic Activities; Basque Whalers
http://www.civilization.ca/virtual-museum-of-new-france/economic-activities/basque-whalers/, accessed July 24, 2013.
Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation
2013 Economic Activities; Basque Whalers
http://www.civilization.ca/virtual-museum-of-new-france/economic-activities/basque-whalers/, accessed July 24, 2013.
The incredible actions and practices performed by the Basque people paved a way for numerous technologies to emerge. Agencies within the Basque include the method of trading metals in exchange for goods, the use of hunting and fishing for food, and the interesting placement of stones in a circle, called the Cromlech, used to tell time. What I find very interesting is how similar the Cromlech is to the Stonehenge structure and its similar astronomic purpose. It's amazing how an indigenous group of people had the knowledge to create the Cromlech as a prescription to tell time with the position of the sun's shadow.
ReplyDeleteAs part of my ethnocentric perspective on the Basque's way of living, I was surprised at first to learn that the Basque people hunted for their own food and prepared their own food, ignoring the fact that it was their only resource for food. This research has shown me how I sometimes take for granted the way I live and in particular, my resources for food which don't include hunting or gathering, but rather preparing or purchasing already-made food, and I'm glad that this course was able to open my mind in an ethnocentric way.
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