Here are a few videos that offer important recent revisions to the timeline and significance of ancient Land Art -- the phenomenal discovery of stone circles in a cave in France that push the origins of megalithic public architecture back some 175,000 years -- prior to the emergence of our species. Here's a link to the Nature article describing the findings.
Next up, the recently (as in since 1994) unearthed complex of stone circle temples in Turkey that have reconfigured our entire understanding of the emergence of neolithic monuments, and, as suggested in the video, plausibly inverted the relationship between artmaking, the erection of permanent sacred architecture, agriculture, and civilization! Here's an article in Smithsonian about Gobekli Tepe, and its wikipedia entry.
Finally, here's a very interesting bit of socio-political speculation on the function of Stonehenge (and other sacred astrolonomical calendar sites as a sort of epic theatrical propaganda to persuade hunter gatherers to settle down to the relatively unhealthy and degrading lifestyle of the neolithic farmhand. Here's more on the amazing magic Gold Hats described in the video.
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