(no subject)
Do they make a Hallmark card for, "I Will No Longer Leave You If You Deliberately Vomit On Me?"
Cause I need one.
I saw King Kong, and I have one significant comment- I believe the native island peoples encountered do not live in the area seen, but elsewhere along the coast of the island. There are no apparent habitation structures or subsistence related items visible anywhere in the scene, with the possible exception of the spears, which could be used for a megafaunal hunting adaptation. But I believe that this situation is untenable due to the extreme danger of the island's native megafauna; a coastal environmental adaptation (by which I mean a cultural adaptation, not a biological adaptation) seems much more likely. The area in which they ARE seen seems to be a "Vacant Ceremonial Center," which cross-culturally seems to be a location intended for socio-religious ritual activity, and is maintained by a small population of resident ritual specialists and their families or attendents ("old women and children"). The native peoples seen seem to be dressed in full ceremonial regalia, rather than everyday clothes, also indicating the non-residential use of this locale.
If they are maritime adapted, the spears seen are probably primarily for show, since a different design (more harpoon-like) is generally mandated for the successful hunting of fish and sea mammals.
I do think it is likely that the island peoples seen WERE the same as those that built the monumental architecture structures, as they were clearly maintained by human endeavor against the elements. Their evident antiquity is no argument for a cultural divide between the builders and the users. At the same time, these humans obviously arrived at a very late date compared to the other (non-human) inhabitants of the islands, and I would propose a time depth of no more than 40,000 years of human habitation, probably significantly less, relying on the Australian chronology.
This culture is quite politically sophisticated, in the sense of being obviously able to motivate a large labor force for the purpose of monumental construction, and the ability of their society to support non-agricultural workers as mostly full-time specialists (ritual center maintenance personnel). This suggests at least a "chiefdom" level of organization, making this group one of the few in the world able to reach that level of political sophistication in the apparent absence of agriculture. Of course, maybe their other settlements (where they actually live) are agricultural, which would change my hypothesis.
One more point- it is evident that despite the European legends of the place, contact with outsiders is not an uncommon event for this culture.
Cause I need one.
I saw King Kong, and I have one significant comment- I believe the native island peoples encountered do not live in the area seen, but elsewhere along the coast of the island. There are no apparent habitation structures or subsistence related items visible anywhere in the scene, with the possible exception of the spears, which could be used for a megafaunal hunting adaptation. But I believe that this situation is untenable due to the extreme danger of the island's native megafauna; a coastal environmental adaptation (by which I mean a cultural adaptation, not a biological adaptation) seems much more likely. The area in which they ARE seen seems to be a "Vacant Ceremonial Center," which cross-culturally seems to be a location intended for socio-religious ritual activity, and is maintained by a small population of resident ritual specialists and their families or attendents ("old women and children"). The native peoples seen seem to be dressed in full ceremonial regalia, rather than everyday clothes, also indicating the non-residential use of this locale.
If they are maritime adapted, the spears seen are probably primarily for show, since a different design (more harpoon-like) is generally mandated for the successful hunting of fish and sea mammals.
I do think it is likely that the island peoples seen WERE the same as those that built the monumental architecture structures, as they were clearly maintained by human endeavor against the elements. Their evident antiquity is no argument for a cultural divide between the builders and the users. At the same time, these humans obviously arrived at a very late date compared to the other (non-human) inhabitants of the islands, and I would propose a time depth of no more than 40,000 years of human habitation, probably significantly less, relying on the Australian chronology.
This culture is quite politically sophisticated, in the sense of being obviously able to motivate a large labor force for the purpose of monumental construction, and the ability of their society to support non-agricultural workers as mostly full-time specialists (ritual center maintenance personnel). This suggests at least a "chiefdom" level of organization, making this group one of the few in the world able to reach that level of political sophistication in the apparent absence of agriculture. Of course, maybe their other settlements (where they actually live) are agricultural, which would change my hypothesis.
One more point- it is evident that despite the European legends of the place, contact with outsiders is not an uncommon event for this culture.