Great people, great friends, who helped make this video possible. Please check out what they're up to. I guarantee, if you follow my channel, you will like what they do. My artist and published author, Ettore: instagram.com/ettore.mazza/ Ettore's AMAZING graphic novel, set in Mesolithic Italy: www.amazon.it/sentiero-delle-ossa-Ettore-Mazza/dp/8832757028 A Life in Ruins Podcast: instagram.com/alifeinruinspodcast/ www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/ruins Check out my interview! www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/ruins/20
It seems there was a long belief, in human history, that bodies of water were doors to the afterlife, underworld, etc. Many examples of items, and sometimes people, being tossed into them as a sacrifice over a wide range of human habitation. Caves were also similarly a focus of superstition. I suppose having both in one place, a pool of water in a cave, was hitting the spiritual jackpot.
I am always fascinated by these types of things found everywhere all over the world. Another example is the “wild man” myth; the idea of harrier more primitive men and women living in the woods or on the mountains. I cannot help but wonder if this story that persists to the modern day is some cultural leftover of our interactions with nonhuman relatives in the past.
@@dstinnettmusic maybe its some carryover from the neolithic revolution. imagine your tribe just started planting crops and raising goats and stuff, becoming sedentary. Some other "tribes" in the area didnt convert, and kept their hunter gatherer life style. Maybe the people living in neolithic villages would run into hunter gatherer groups when they ventured too far from their village. I would go as far as arguing the HG groups would look "dirtier" or more rustic than their sedentary contemporaries
Caves are cool, literally: they do not freeze, they are always fresh with typically stable temperatures through the year. That's why caves were used for inhabitation and not just burials.
That bit at the end with you balancing on the ice was spot on. I have often wanted to know what the experience of the young people who went into caves to leave hand prints 10's of thousands of years ago. It has been suggested (won't say proven) that a lot of the hand prints are from teenagers both boys and girls. The majority being girls. What drove them to go to those places. We'll never know. However, there is an epiphany moment when being near one. I later saw hand prints from the children of astronauts that had been sent to the ISS. To me they both represent a symbolic "I am here, I'm someone!" when made. And that is what is conveyed across the eons of time to us. "We are connected!"
Just trying to imagine the way our ancestors lived... It's really no wonder that religious beliefs were advantageous to their survival. Amazing video, thank you.
"I brought pasta and everything. I was gonna eat it in the cave" Meanwhile in another timeline: *Cyber Milo on the year 3000 making a video explaining that the pasta remains recently found in Grotta Scaloria were put by him in the 21st century and not by neolithic people.*
At some point in the past they may have been the safest of places as we weren't always top of the food chain, and at some point we had to escape animals bigger, and seemingly more dangerous, than ourselves. Only in the deepest recesses would we have felt safe.
Looks like a typical division of the sacred space: one for the general public to participate in whatever cultic/burial activities they had, and the second one, further down, for the leader of the cult/shaman & his/her helpers/apprentices only. The single skull bieng the head of the First One, placed there to remind & "supervise" how the tradition is passed on & whether the initiations/burials of the memebers of that small "religious leaders circle" are performed in line with the sacred customs observed since time immemorial. But, then again, what do I know?
Dark doesn't bother me; bright glare does. But spelunking alone is on a par with driving fast without a seat belt on a curving road. I am not suicidal, and hope creators I enjoy are not suicidal either. I admit to taking risks, but not carelessly.
You're probably not wrong, and it's not ideal. If it makes you feel better, this was an exceedingly small cave and I left exact instructions as to where I was going and what time to expect me back.
I’m from Apulia man and I’m so happy to see that it’s slowly getting more and more attention, I’m a prehistory enthusiast even though I have no degree of any sorts but I can tell you that the area of Apulia and in particular Salento is literally full of things to discover and decode. One in particular that have my attention ever since is the area where “grotta della Poesia” is. It’s a very ancient and ritualistic site and of course it’s not open to the public. I just wish more attention from other and foreign countries because it’s a poor region and those sites need maintenance asap, Italian government doesn’t care at all and the people who live there are not physically, mentally and economically in the position to arrange more studies unfortunately. But now that I saw your video I’m very much more happy and definitely positive about it thanks 💜
Puglia also has the Altamura Neanderthal, I keep hoping they are successful in sequencing his DNA. Also from the Paglicci site in Puglia, there are WHG finds.
I understand they want to protect the site from damage and looters, but it still annoys me. It is like a clique has all the rights, and the rest of us plebs have to kowtow to them. Think about Denisova cave in Siberia, whose's Russian ass do you have to kiss to get into that cave.
That sounds very plausible as well as poetically matching the evidence. Italians have always been well known for artistically expressing emotions very well.
Stefan, I just want you to know that you have made a huge difference in my life with your videos. The how's and why's aren't important to the comment section, and I'm sure you won't see this comment anyways. But thanks for what you do and please keep it up buddy. The ripples of your creativity are affecting people in positive ways though and I hope you know that.
Given these facts (4:35), your question (5:12) brings to mind the interpretation by archaeologists working on South American digs: de-fleshed *and* smashed human bones point to ceremonial *cannibalism* . People would smash the bones to get to the *marrow* . I'm not sure John Robb gives enough attention to the fact that these human bones were found as casually discarded as the animal bones.
I thought the same problem: Scar bones should be a clue for the cannibalism. Cooking should be done outside the cave. Or, shamans or/and warriors could eat their people (or, enemies) uncooked.
Please also look up the neolithic cave of Drakenia in Poros Kefalonia, Greece. There has been found one of the oldest form of weaving we have to date. Around the 6th millennia BC.
Could possibly the Odysseus travel to the Underworld, while he was travelling westwards of his homeland Ithaca apparently, be a reminiscence of these sort of places and rites?
the journey to the underworld is a mythic trope that is found in most Indo-European religions so we must conclude it derives from the PIE who afaik did not use caves in their religion of the steppes.
@@Survivethejive And to meet your statement, The Odyssey mentions a sail trip to a desolate coast, with no pilot assistance but a prearranged and a rather convenient wind, the North wind, followed by a landing near Persephone’s Grove bearing tall black poplars and then special river crossings... and then countless shades... no mention of caves... alright, thank you for your kind reply. At any rate I should be more sensible and drop some notions altogether. As Eratosthenes put it: “You will then find where Odysseus wandered when you find the cobbler who sewed the bag of the winds.”
The further along in time we get, the further back in time we'll be able to perceive. We start as infants only interested in the objective NOW, and end up as relics interested in the relics that came before us.
Fascinating, as all your videos are, thank you. The only thing I could add is to say that ALL people live in modern times - for them. Whatever rituals they perform are based on latest knowledge, understanding or beliefs. Those beliefs may have lasted many generations, but they are still the latest in that they haven't been replaced by newer ones, and indeed it is probably only in quite recent times that new ideas are valued as much or more than older ones.
Just a suggestion, if you want to discover something in southern Italy: il museo della preistoria di Nardò (Nardò's prehistoric museum), very interesting and something that blew my mind was that those people were doing exchange with other people hundred of kilometers away
I know you did this three years ago but I just gotta say that I love the intro here. I'm like "how did he know the drink is ice cold?" and then I'm like "shut up self, it doesn't matter, that was an excellent sensual detail to get us into this scene!"
The Italian region of Apulia (Puglia) has other spectacular cave systems (see Castellana Caves), which is somewhat ironic for a region with the lowest elevation above sea level in Italy. P.S. Thanks for showcasing Ettore Mazza's art. I've ordered his graphic novel, _Il sentiero delle ossa_ (The Path of Bones) mentioned at the end of this.
I just recently finished a Mythology course and my professor had an interesting idea as per how caves played a role in the figures of Neolithic peoples. She said that caves were symbolic of the earth mother, the literal "vagina" of the earth one might say. Caves, as you mentioned, are dark and scary, and the mystery and fear that surrounded them almost made it so that one was re birthed when one left the cave.
@@christianbuczko1481 How is that sexist? We know those neolithic peoples worshiped both "mother earth" as a main deity, and caves. That's not an unreasonable connection, and I certainly can't see what's sexist about it.
@@iddomargalit-friedman3897 she's pushing her left wing politacal agenda onto a subject which has fuckall to do with her pussy. Its practicality which made people live in caves.
8:37 Hahahaaa!! Nice!!! The best part is that you left it in the video... How many other YTers would have the nards to do that? None of them. Cheers to you, Stefan! Keep 'em coming! 👍
Lots of caves here in NH and ME, USA. For the next time, I suggest you try filming under a rock overhang. Of course it is subjective what you call a cave and what you call an overhang. A cavy overhang could work well for filming. The audience can't see the opening if the camera is pointed the other way.
Caves had a double meaning I would guess. Shelter, protection, stability as temporary or permanent homes. Then also these deep, dark, dangerous environments associated with another world. (Amazing description!)
I said it before, I'll say it again. This is by far your best video, really good and informative. Excellent use of visuals, very slick looking and made me LOL as well.
Stefan, a video on the caves in the Peloponnese would be great. There's evidence of paleolithic through to neolithic use. Diros is a really large cave. I went a couple of yours so and took the river cruise through it.
Fantastic video man. I have been loving your channel for a while now and its because of amazing videos like this. I hope you are doing well and I can't wait for the next one.
My Like and Comment. i love how you speak calmly, but i can also hear the passion in your voice. I would like you to make longer videos. Though i understand you have to keep things interesting and not drag things out
It’s the echo. That’s probably why churches/mosques/temples tend to be big with a lot of natural reverb. There’s something deep within us that responds to an echo. Bands like Pink Floyd, Radiohead, and just about every modern pop act knows this. It also has a habit of hiding technical flaws in the musician/singer.
nice one stefan. The neolithic people certainly seem to be somewhat Chthonic in their understanding of death and the underworld. This may have influenced the roman and greek ideals of Tartarus which would later go on to influence christian conceptions of the afterlife.
Grotta Scaloria is a true gift to anthropology and humanity all, how I wish we'll be able to discover as many such pristine sites scattered all around the globe as homo sapiens took his first steps on it!
In my region (btw living in a Roman town, even the base of the old houses in the center are Roman walls, precisely I live over an amphitheater where also naval battles where performed, in ancient histonium, in my town you can dig, can't put an object in the ground without find something really) in center Italy, in the countryside is full of Neolithic villages, also some km outside my town, and in these villages and around them is full of human sacrifices, mostly children beheaded, without head, and in rare cases pregnant women, but rarely (seems that women was very important in these villages.)
I am making a video game and part of it has to do with a stone age religion that I based off thr limited bits of info I have found over the years on the topic and half artistic imagining to fill in the blanks; this video is like seeing a film about the in game cult; super weird; have not added the hidden inner lake yet but that was on the drawing board and "do it eventually"; now after seeing this its become important to add. Thank you for all your work and all your videos; they help people in all fields of study in their lives and its super weird; I love it. Now that this is written out I think putting a credit to your channel in game is probably what should be done; all the other info I learned over the years was thru small news articles or barely accurate Time Magazine type sources. Your channel is like a hyper focused resource for all the historical information I REALLY want to learn about and you keep on track and away from crazy talk.
I love the choice to just nod and point like a god damned npc from an RPG rather than just reuse stock footage or show just something random like the sky or some shit. I don’t make videos but I listen to enough creators’ podcasts and have watched enough TH-cam to know a little about how this works and I Know you have to have something you could have put there, and it is truly a special decision to do that of all things. It fits your whole aesthetic, like using the take where you fell and using a spoon-Mike. Please please never change.
Throughout history our ancestors believed that the spirits of the dead did not go to Heaven but the Underworld. This is probably why, caves go so deep into the ground and are every eerie. Almost as of caves were their own worlds.
The rites conducted in Grotta Scaloria sound eerily similar to what happened at the Herxheim burial site in today's Germany, which was used 300 years later, around 5000 BC. Secondary burial, bones broken down to small pieces, flesh removal, scratches from scalping on the skulls, smashed (high quality) pottery thrown into the mix. One difference was that in Herxheim, the corpses came from a far wider area. People there must have traveled several days to finally get rid of the bones of Aunt Wilma. Another difference was that they made a kind of bowls out of the upper skulls.
5:05 why do paleontologists assume it’s the bones those people were interested in? What if they wanted the skin? Or the flesh? That would explain why the bones were discarded like trash. Also, how do paleontologists actually determine that those cuts on the bones are due to de fleshing? Did they try? I have some experience in ripping flesh off bones (pork, to make sausages 😁) and even making allowance for cutting tools made of stone, bones come out hardly scratched and certainly don’t have those deep horizontal cuts on long bones as it appears in the photos. Also, No hypothesis of human sacrifice? If the remains are of young people over a long period of time with a cult area exactly next door that doesn’t look as a regular cemetery.
hey there, those are some good questions, and I my answer to your first question will be satisfying. Q1. how do archaeologists determine those cuts are due to defleshing? A1. jup, a couple of answers here: There has been a lot of experimental research on this, using animals to cut of there flesh and to investigate the cut marks with a microscope. These cut marks are very similar to the cut marks of these archaeological bones. These cut marks have also often been found at 'kill butcher sites'. These are archaeological sites where an animal has been butchered on the spot for it's meat. For example you would find a wild bison with some arrowheads in it's ribs and some of it's bones lying around. When we examine the cut marks on the bones, they show the traces of defleshing. There are a lot of example of this, just look these terms up on Google scholar! Q2. Good question, I have no idea about the 'possible human sacrifices' I am afraid, this site is new to me as well. Maybe also a look on the Internet might help you out!
It’s interesting because Zeus was born in a cave on Crete and apparently that same cave used a have a great deal of religious significance for the minoans. People love caves, nuff said.
New sub. Really glad I just found your channel. You cover things that I find deeply fascinating, and you cover them really well. Good job my friend, eagerly awaiting your new content.
at 3:172 you should correct "Apuglia" with "Puglia" which is the correct modern name for the region. "Apulia" was the latin name, but its boundaries were slightly different from the one you show, which are the ones referring to the modern administrative Region Puglia.
For your question at 9:50 into this video, the same reason for the native American Indian sweat lodge, the Celtic shamanic healing lodge. Going into a cave, or dark place was used to shamanic journeying, going back into the womb, being reborn. Caves have already held a significance in many cultures spiritual practices, whether Pagan or Christian. Even in Christianity Yeshua was places in a cave after he was crucified and then resurrected/reborn. This is a shamanic awakening, involves journeying into an underworld where you body is taken apart then put back together
Just a thought about the fear of dark and cave. Nowadays, very few would walk in the wood at night and even less without any source of light. In my teens years, I did try the experience walking alone without flashlight in the wood. The fear disappear rather quickly, your sens adjust to the situation and it becomes the new normality, especially if you are familiar with the area. So I would contest the assumption of fear and possible mystical experience triggered by that. From our modern perspective, I’m in panic if I just forget my phone at home. Not even 20 years ago, that would have been completely alien reaction.
Great video. The *subtitles* for the italian narration at the end are hilarious! Just enable them right before he get's to the presentation of the book. So funny!! :-)
Someone at the time finds a hole full of bones with strange artwork and suddenly it becomes this almost supernatural site to the neolithic folks. A very interesting theory you have there.
Great people, great friends, who helped make this video possible. Please check out what they're up to. I guarantee, if you follow my channel, you will like what they do.
My artist and published author, Ettore: instagram.com/ettore.mazza/
Ettore's AMAZING graphic novel, set in Mesolithic Italy: www.amazon.it/sentiero-delle-ossa-Ettore-Mazza/dp/8832757028
A Life in Ruins Podcast: instagram.com/alifeinruinspodcast/
www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/ruins Check out my interview! www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/ruins/20
interesting video (or i hope so watching this rn)
+
HEEEEY you're back! I love your videos man!
Hope you are staying safe with the corona and everything.
Peace from the Netherlands!
I'd love to see some mesoamerican content. Great work. Nice channel. Love the art and info.
I love your videos! That's a beautiful forest you're in, where is that?
It seems there was a long belief, in human history, that bodies of water were doors to the afterlife, underworld, etc. Many examples of items, and sometimes people, being tossed into them as a sacrifice over a wide range of human habitation. Caves were also similarly a focus of superstition. I suppose having both in one place, a pool of water in a cave, was hitting the spiritual jackpot.
I am always fascinated by these types of things found everywhere all over the world.
Another example is the “wild man” myth; the idea of harrier more primitive men and women living in the woods or on the mountains.
I cannot help but wonder if this story that persists to the modern day is some cultural leftover of our interactions with nonhuman relatives in the past.
bodys of water are important for humans because it's water. That by itself can be otherworldly sometimes.
Wishing wells are an example of this that continues to this day
I recall climbing a mountain in Guatemala to see a lake inside a volcano, double spiritual was the take away
@@dstinnettmusic maybe its some carryover from the neolithic revolution. imagine your tribe just started planting crops and raising goats and stuff, becoming sedentary. Some other "tribes" in the area didnt convert, and kept their hunter gatherer life style.
Maybe the people living in neolithic villages would run into hunter gatherer groups when they ventured too far from their village. I would go as far as arguing the HG groups would look "dirtier" or more rustic than their sedentary contemporaries
You’re too good for this platform, Stefan
🤦🏻♀️
..not really..monotone voice kills it for me...
@@robertallen6710 ok, YEC.
Robert Allen the accent is a balancing tool
@@robertallen6710,
I know. He's no PewDiePie...
Caves are cool, literally: they do not freeze, they are always fresh with typically stable temperatures through the year. That's why caves were used for inhabitation and not just burials.
by a lot of other animals besides the human
Luis Aldamiz also best place to be during an earthquake.
@@xmaniac99 ???
@@xmaniac99 lol
Tell us moar.
That bit at the end with you balancing on the ice was spot on. I have often wanted to know what the experience of the young people who went into caves to leave hand prints 10's of thousands of years ago. It has been suggested (won't say proven) that a lot of the hand prints are from teenagers both boys and girls. The majority being girls. What drove them to go to those places. We'll never know. However, there is an epiphany moment when being near one. I later saw hand prints from the children of astronauts that had been sent to the ISS. To me they both represent a symbolic "I am here, I'm someone!" when made. And that is what is conveyed across the eons of time to us. "We are connected!"
100% agree, that's why my logo is a hand print
Just trying to imagine the way our ancestors lived... It's really no wonder that religious beliefs were advantageous to their survival. Amazing video, thank you.
"I brought pasta and everything. I was gonna eat it in the cave"
Meanwhile in another timeline:
*Cyber Milo on the year 3000 making a video explaining that the pasta remains recently found in Grotta Scaloria were put by him in the 21st century and not by neolithic people.*
Stone age Milo in the year 6004 bc, "I brought Pedro. I was going to eat in the cave"....
@@jamesmccreery250 This. This makes me laugh. I imagine that humans haven’t changed much over the thousands of years.
Caves might be cold and dark but atleast they are stable, compared to enviroment outside.
@T Doran but at least they're unstable and smother you beneath tons of dirt and rock compared to the environment outside derp.
At some point in the past they may have been the safest of places as we weren't always top of the food chain, and at some point we had to escape animals bigger, and seemingly more dangerous, than ourselves. Only in the deepest recesses would we have felt safe.
Looks like a typical division of the sacred space: one for the general public to participate in whatever cultic/burial activities they had, and the second one, further down, for the leader of the cult/shaman & his/her helpers/apprentices only. The single skull bieng the head of the First One, placed there to remind & "supervise" how the tradition is passed on & whether the initiations/burials of the memebers of that small "religious leaders circle" are performed in line with the sacred customs observed since time immemorial. But, then again, what do I know?
Holy of Holies
Seriously, next time you go to a cave, bring somebody with you. You never know what might happen.
I second this. Definitely stick to the buddy system. Don't add your bones to the collection.
Stick to Weenie Hut Juniors if you can't face the dark cave alone, nerds.
Dark doesn't bother me; bright glare does. But spelunking alone is on a par with driving fast without a seat belt on a curving road. I am not suicidal, and hope creators I enjoy are not suicidal either. I admit to taking risks, but not carelessly.
You're probably not wrong, and it's not ideal. If it makes you feel better, this was an exceedingly small cave and I left exact instructions as to where I was going and what time to expect me back.
Kathryn Geeslin The true adventure awaits he who is willing to journey into the dark forest alone.
I’m from Apulia man and I’m so happy to see that it’s slowly getting more and more attention, I’m a prehistory enthusiast even though I have no degree of any sorts but I can tell you that the area of Apulia and in particular Salento is literally full of things to discover and decode. One in particular that have my attention ever since is the area where “grotta della Poesia” is. It’s a very ancient and ritualistic site and of course it’s not open to the public. I just wish more attention from other and foreign countries because it’s a poor region and those sites need maintenance asap, Italian government doesn’t care at all and the people who live there are not physically, mentally and economically in the position to arrange more studies unfortunately. But now that I saw your video I’m very much more happy and definitely positive about it thanks 💜
Puglia also has the Altamura Neanderthal, I keep hoping they are successful in sequencing his DNA. Also from the Paglicci site in Puglia, there are WHG finds.
@@palermotrapani9067 havent they also found homo erectus traces and remains in puglia, the altamura man?
@@Kenshiroit Altamura Man is a Neanderthal who dates to 150k-180k years ago I think it is.
@@palermotrapani9067 oh yes, but there were some homo erectus findings, ust dont remember the name, and imto lazy for googling it
I understand they want to protect the site from damage and looters, but it still annoys me. It is like a clique has all the rights, and the rest of us plebs have to kowtow to them. Think about Denisova cave in Siberia, whose's Russian ass do you have to kiss to get into that cave.
Can't help but wonder if a person's reflection in water created the spirit world. Great stuff, Stefan.
Bones placed in a cave where the very Earth herself will weep for them for eternity.
Such a beautiful description.
That sounds very plausible as well as poetically matching the evidence.
Italians have always been well known for artistically expressing emotions very well.
So melodramatic. Don't weep but rejoice because the souls have moved to another body and are living another life somewhere on the Earth.
Stefan, I just want you to know that you have made a huge difference in my life with your videos. The how's and why's aren't important to the comment section, and I'm sure you won't see this comment anyways. But thanks for what you do and please keep it up buddy. The ripples of your creativity are affecting people in positive ways though and I hope you know that.
Caves are like wombs, crawling through the birth canal to be reborn in a new spiritual state of mind. Skiddillyddo
Some caves remind me of mouths too, which creates its own disturbing effect.
I was going to point out the same thing. I think that's the key point, right there.
Mrs. Robinson that sounds nice.
Given these facts (4:35), your question (5:12) brings to mind the interpretation by archaeologists working on South American digs: de-fleshed *and* smashed human bones point to ceremonial *cannibalism* . People would smash the bones to get to the *marrow* . I'm not sure John Robb gives enough attention to the fact that these human bones were found as casually discarded as the animal bones.
There would be evidence of the bones exposed to high heat - cooked. I'm assuming archaeologists would be on to that in their examination and analysis
It was what I thought too.
I thought the same problem: Scar bones should be a clue for the cannibalism. Cooking should be done outside the cave. Or, shamans or/and warriors could eat their people (or, enemies) uncooked.
Please also look up the neolithic cave of Drakenia in Poros Kefalonia, Greece. There has been found one of the oldest form of weaving we have to date. Around the 6th millennia BC.
Could possibly the Odysseus travel to the Underworld, while he was travelling westwards of his homeland Ithaca apparently, be a reminiscence of these sort of places and rites?
Now imagine some moistened bint emerge from that pond and hurl a scimitar at you. Someone might use that as a basis for a system of government.
Its called the "under" world for something.
the journey to the underworld is a mythic trope that is found in most Indo-European religions so we must conclude it derives from the PIE who afaik did not use caves in their religion of the steppes.
@@Survivethejive And to meet your statement, The Odyssey mentions a sail trip to a desolate coast, with no pilot assistance but a prearranged and a rather convenient wind, the North wind, followed by a landing near Persephone’s Grove bearing tall black poplars and then special river crossings... and then countless shades... no mention of caves... alright, thank you for your kind reply.
At any rate I should be more sensible and drop some notions altogether. As Eratosthenes put it:
“You will then find where Odysseus wandered when you find the cobbler who sewed the bag of the winds.”
The spoon really improves the artistic quality of the video! :D
Fantastic video man! keep up the good work!! Also love how Carlton and Ettore made a cameo in the video!!
The man himself!
The intro is like being a silent member of a 1 on 1 D&D session with a strong side of ASMR and I’m loving it
The further along in time we get, the further back in time we'll be able to perceive.
We start as infants only interested in the objective NOW, and end up as relics interested in the relics that came before us.
Fascinating, as all your videos are, thank you. The only thing I could add is to say that ALL people live in modern times - for them. Whatever rituals they perform are based on latest knowledge, understanding or beliefs. Those beliefs may have lasted many generations, but they are still the latest in that they haven't been replaced by newer ones, and indeed it is probably only in quite recent times that new ideas are valued as much or more than older ones.
Just a suggestion, if you want to discover something in southern Italy: il museo della preistoria di Nardò (Nardò's prehistoric museum), very interesting and something that blew my mind was that those people were doing exchange with other people hundred of kilometers away
"I ran out of stock footage" HAAHHAHAHAHAHAH
"in front of the lake" boy that's a pond and you archeology-types know it
Lol I can't argue with you there really.
He's not wrong tho.
I mean, the picture drawn for us is a large puddle.
It looked like a puddle.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
You are one of my favorite channels and I'm slowly working my way back through all of your videos
I know you did this three years ago but I just gotta say that I love the intro here. I'm like "how did he know the drink is ice cold?" and then I'm like "shut up self, it doesn't matter, that was an excellent sensual detail to get us into this scene!"
The Italian region of Apulia (Puglia) has other spectacular cave systems (see Castellana Caves), which is somewhat ironic for a region with the lowest elevation above sea level in Italy.
P.S. Thanks for showcasing Ettore Mazza's art. I've ordered his graphic novel,
_Il sentiero delle ossa_ (The Path of Bones) mentioned at the end of this.
I just recently finished a Mythology course and my professor had an interesting idea as per how caves played a role in the figures of Neolithic peoples. She said that caves were symbolic of the earth mother, the literal "vagina" of the earth one might say. Caves, as you mentioned, are dark and scary, and the mystery and fear that surrounded them almost made it so that one was re birthed when one left the cave.
They can also seem like mouths ready to swallow you.
That's the worst idea I ever heard
So she is imposing her sexist and idiotic ideas on her students???
@@christianbuczko1481
How is that sexist?
We know those neolithic peoples worshiped both "mother earth" as a main deity, and caves.
That's not an unreasonable connection, and I certainly can't see what's sexist about it.
@@iddomargalit-friedman3897 she's pushing her left wing politacal agenda onto a subject which has fuckall to do with her pussy. Its practicality which made people live in caves.
8:37 Hahahaaa!! Nice!!!
The best part is that you left it in the video...
How many other YTers would have the nards to do that? None of them. Cheers to you, Stefan!
Keep 'em coming! 👍
Lots of caves here in NH and ME, USA. For the next time, I suggest you try filming under a rock overhang. Of course it is subjective what you call a cave and what you call an overhang. A cavy overhang could work well for filming. The audience can't see the opening if the camera is pointed the other way.
This has some serious production quality
Not dumb, kitty just trimming her nails.
As always a very well made video. Thanks!
Complimenti Ettore, mi piace lo stile, libro preso!
I just recently discovered your channel and I am fascinated! You are so enthusiastic about prehistoric facts, I learn so much! Thank you very much!
Caves had a double meaning I would guess. Shelter, protection, stability as temporary or permanent homes. Then also these deep, dark, dangerous environments associated with another world. (Amazing description!)
I can’t express enough how grateful I am for your informative (and entertaining!) channel :)
Ah, the ever-dependable Spoon microphone.
Your videos spark the imagination, and make us want more. Great learning experience. Thanks Milo.
I said it before, I'll say it again. This is by far your best video, really good and informative. Excellent use of visuals, very slick looking and made me LOL as well.
I always hit "like" even before the video starts. You're a mad lad Stefan and very much cherished
I would love to hear more about "oats and goats" diet' Skiddly doo
Simple. You eat an oat then you eat a goat. Or do I have that backwards?
@@lewstone5430 Leaves the question: What was there first? The oat or the goat? :-)
How did I live without this channel for 34 years of my life. These help with my degree so much. Thank you sir.
Caves really are special places. I'm lucky enough to live somewhere with many.
Were you born in a cave, Pocahontas?
@@asapbrooks743 Or course, weren't you?
Most fascinating are the questions that arise from these discoveries: excellent work, mate!
0:01 Man, I thought you acted on that "Munching With Milo" project, super tingly!
Stefan, a video on the caves in the Peloponnese would be great. There's evidence of paleolithic through to neolithic use. Diros is a really large cave. I went a couple of yours so and took the river cruise through it.
Absolutely love the illustrations you used! They're just astonishing!
Wow! Love your sound effects! Also your voice!
Video editing here was beautiful tbh
Hey Milo; I'm watching you, in a good way. Keep the shows coming.
Lovely voice you've got there. I am very much enjoying your videos!
Supplementary, Jane Harrison on early European religious development: Prolegomena, and Themis both excellent resources
Fascinating. Thank you, Stefan, yet again for the inspiration and education that your videos provide
Fantastic video man. I have been loving your channel for a while now and its because of amazing videos like this. I hope you are doing well and I can't wait for the next one.
My Like and Comment. i love how you speak calmly, but i can also hear the passion in your voice. I would like you to make longer videos. Though i understand you have to keep things interesting and not drag things out
We totally appreciate your efforts. Even those of us too poor to contribute.
It’s the echo. That’s probably why churches/mosques/temples tend to be big with a lot of natural reverb. There’s something deep within us that responds to an echo. Bands like Pink Floyd, Radiohead, and just about every modern pop act knows this. It also has a habit of hiding technical flaws in the musician/singer.
Thank you! Enjoyed the new video
Leaving a comment for the algorithms and support. Great guy, great channel, great topics. Ty.
nice one stefan. The neolithic people certainly seem to be somewhat Chthonic in their understanding of death and the underworld. This may have influenced the roman and greek ideals of Tartarus which would later go on to influence christian conceptions of the afterlife.
Grotta Scaloria is a true gift to anthropology and humanity all, how I wish we'll be able to discover as many such pristine sites scattered all around the globe as homo sapiens took his first steps on it!
I liked the "ran out of stock footage" bit.
You rock Stefan thank you i look forward to all your content this bogels the mind
Terrific! Thank you sir.
You're an absolute unit, Stefan
* That ran out of stock footage moment had me really laughing. 😆
In my region (btw living in a Roman town, even the base of the old houses in the center are Roman walls, precisely I live over an amphitheater where also naval battles where performed, in ancient histonium, in my town you can dig, can't put an object in the ground without find something really) in center Italy, in the countryside is full of Neolithic villages, also some km outside my town, and in these villages and around them is full of human sacrifices, mostly children beheaded, without head, and in rare cases pregnant women, but rarely (seems that women was very important in these villages.)
Clever improvisation by using a plastic spoon to clip your microphone to. Keep up the outstanding work.
I am making a video game and part of it has to do with a stone age religion that I based off thr limited bits of info I have found over the years on the topic and half artistic imagining to fill in the blanks; this video is like seeing a film about the in game cult; super weird; have not added the hidden inner lake yet but that was on the drawing board and "do it eventually"; now after seeing this its become important to add.
Thank you for all your work and all your videos; they help people in all fields of study in their lives and its super weird; I love it.
Now that this is written out I think putting a credit to your channel in game is probably what should be done; all the other info I learned over the years was thru small news articles or barely accurate Time Magazine type sources.
Your channel is like a hyper focused resource for all the historical information I REALLY want to learn about and you keep on track and away from crazy talk.
I love the choice to just nod and point like a god damned npc from an RPG rather than just reuse stock footage or show just something random like the sky or some shit.
I don’t make videos but I listen to enough creators’ podcasts and have watched enough TH-cam to know a little about how this works and I Know you have to have something you could have put there, and it is truly a special decision to do that of all things.
It fits your whole aesthetic, like using the take where you fell and using a spoon-Mike. Please please never change.
Throughout history our ancestors believed that the spirits of the dead did not go to Heaven but the Underworld. This is probably why, caves go so deep into the ground and are every eerie. Almost as of caves were their own worlds.
Fascinating stuff. Thanks, Stefan.
Wow! Very dramatic intro! Thanks for another awesome video
Dammit. Just when I was about to be productive.
"Time you enjoyed wasting isn't wasted at all."
The rites conducted in Grotta Scaloria sound eerily similar to what happened at the Herxheim burial site in today's Germany, which was used 300 years later, around 5000 BC. Secondary burial, bones broken down to small pieces, flesh removal, scratches from scalping on the skulls, smashed (high quality) pottery thrown into the mix. One difference was that in Herxheim, the corpses came from a far wider area. People there must have traveled several days to finally get rid of the bones of Aunt Wilma. Another difference was that they made a kind of bowls out of the upper skulls.
Very interesting! Thanks for posting!
This is a very interesting topic...I always enjoy a well presented anthropology lesson.
5:05 why do paleontologists assume it’s the bones those people were interested in? What if they wanted the skin? Or the flesh? That would explain why the bones were discarded like trash.
Also, how do paleontologists actually determine that those cuts on the bones are due to de fleshing? Did they try? I have some experience in ripping flesh off bones (pork, to make sausages 😁) and even making allowance for cutting tools made of stone, bones come out hardly scratched and certainly don’t have those deep horizontal cuts on long bones as it appears in the photos.
Also, No hypothesis of human sacrifice? If the remains are of young people over a long period of time with a cult area exactly next door that doesn’t look as a regular cemetery.
hey there, those are some good questions, and I my answer to your first question will be satisfying.
Q1. how do archaeologists determine those cuts are due to defleshing? A1. jup, a couple of answers here: There has been a lot of experimental research on this, using animals to cut of there flesh and to investigate the cut marks with a microscope. These cut marks are very similar to the cut marks of these archaeological bones. These cut marks have also often been found at 'kill butcher sites'. These are archaeological sites where an animal has been butchered on the spot for it's meat. For example you would find a wild bison with some arrowheads in it's ribs and some of it's bones lying around. When we examine the cut marks on the bones, they show the traces of defleshing. There are a lot of example of this, just look these terms up on Google scholar!
Q2. Good question, I have no idea about the 'possible human sacrifices' I am afraid, this site is new to me as well. Maybe also a look on the Internet might help you out!
Another great video. Thank you!
I LIKE YOUR HAT STEFAN. AND YOUR FACE.
this was one of the natural -in a good way- weird comment I have ever saw. thank you my friend :)
@@keremman1712 THANKS STEFAN LIKED IT TOO
yeah, another milo! Complimenti
Listening this from Québec, Canada under a wonderful sun of 18 C
It’s interesting because Zeus was born in a cave on Crete and apparently that same cave used a have a great deal of religious significance for the minoans.
People love caves, nuff said.
New sub. Really glad I just found your channel. You cover things that I find deeply fascinating, and you cover them really well. Good job my friend, eagerly awaiting your new content.
I don't speak italien but... I want that comic!!
at 3:172 you should correct "Apuglia" with "Puglia" which is the correct modern name for the region. "Apulia" was the latin name, but its boundaries were slightly different from the one you show, which are the ones referring to the modern administrative Region Puglia.
I was searching for someone who debunked Graham Hancock’s most recent claims, stumbled across your videos and fell in love with your content!
For your question at 9:50 into this video, the same reason for the native American Indian sweat lodge, the Celtic shamanic healing lodge. Going into a cave, or dark place was used to shamanic journeying, going back into the womb, being reborn. Caves have already held a significance in many cultures spiritual practices, whether Pagan or Christian. Even in Christianity Yeshua was places in a cave after he was crucified and then resurrected/reborn. This is a shamanic awakening, involves journeying into an underworld where you body is taken apart then put back together
Wow, terrific videos. Addicted to them.
Just a thought about the fear of dark and cave.
Nowadays, very few would walk in the wood at night and even less without any source of light.
In my teens years, I did try the experience walking alone without flashlight in the wood.
The fear disappear rather quickly, your sens adjust to the situation and it becomes the new normality, especially if you are familiar with the area.
So I would contest the assumption of fear and possible mystical experience triggered by that.
From our modern perspective, I’m in panic if I just forget my phone at home.
Not even 20 years ago, that would have been completely alien reaction.
Great video.
The *subtitles* for the italian narration at the end are hilarious! Just enable them right before he get's to the presentation of the book.
So funny!! :-)
I’m bingeing Stefan Milo
When I hear "skiddley-do" that means it's over. ... but not this time!
"Skiddley-do" is British slang for "I'm a wanker!"
Im desperate for a video on Derinkuyu underground city. It has always been so unusual to me.
Someone at the time finds a hole full of bones with strange artwork and suddenly it becomes this almost supernatural site to the neolithic folks. A very interesting theory you have there.
ASMR Stefan Milo. Cool.
Really enjoying your channel
I've been watching most all of your videos, but I don't remember seeing a reference to "goats and oats" diet :(
high quality video.thank you.