deadcatwithaflamethrower:

HAVE I YELLED ABOUT THIS YET? BECAUSE I REALLY NEED TO YELL ABOUT THIS.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT A BIG FUCKING SCREAMING DEAL THIS IS? DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU NEED FOR A CIVILIZATION TO BE CALLED A CIVILIZATION?

*takes a breath* Okay, slightly less yelling now.

Primary characteristics of a Civilization (from one of the only sites that isn’t using stupidly outdated information)

1. Urban settlements

Check. I mean this place is fucking massive.

2. Full-time specialists not involved in agricultural activities

Brick-makers are specialists. If you read that article, you’ll discover that this city had a working sewer system, which also requires specialists who understand the flow of water, gravity, and oh yes, the importance of getting the germs away from your living spaces, so Big Ol’ Check

3. Concentration of surplus production

You can’t have a massive permanent civilization without agriculture. You have to feed these people, so: another big check mark there.

4. Class structure

Can’t prove this one without more information that might be long lost, but considering that class structure as a listed necessity for civilization has already been disproven, fuck this one. (I’d link the arguments that disprove it but google isn’t cooperating and I can’t remember the name of the South American civilization that was very much classless–think it was the Olmec.)

5. State-level organization (government)

Yes, you can have a classless society that has organization to it, but forgetting 4′s argument for the moment: it *does* require organization to build and feed massive effing human settlements. (Structural organization doesn’t necesarily require politics, but humans are assholes.)

Secondary characteristics

6. Monumental public building

Back to 1: effin’ check

7. Extensive trading networks

Back to 2: you’ve gotta feed and clothe these people, so check

8. Standardized monumental artwork

Too early to know; they just found this place on 31st October 2019. (The site itself had already been dated; that’s how we know.)

9. Writing

Still too early to be certain, but with that kind of city organization, it’s highly likely there was some sort of recording system in place.

10. Development of exact sciences

It takes science to build a sewer system for an entire city and if you don’t think so, you’re wrong. Think about pipes, structures, planes of elevation–math, bitches. Math and geometry to build accurately sized systems and buildings is a science, understanding germs and cleanliness is basic medical science and/or biology, understanding waterflow is based on physics, and I could keep going but I’m easily distracted.

Now, the cradle of civilizations that are taught (even this very year) in school are these: Mesopotamia, Indus River, Egypt, and China, usually in that order.

This site in Turkey predates Mesopotamia by nearly 4,300 years.

4,300 YEARS. That is a long motherfucking time. For perspective, that’s how long ago the Great Pyramids were built for us. A lot has happened since those pyramids were built, hasn’t it? Now, here we have this new place, and to the citizens of Mesopotamia, this new place is the age of the Great Pyramids.

Fucking cool, right?

EVEN BETTER (and this was released back in motherfucking 2012, and it’s still not being taught, gee I wonder why):

Archaeologists Confirm That Indus River Civilization 2k Years Older Than Previously Thought

They didn’t pop up in 3,000 BC or the reluctantly granted 6000 BC. It was 8,000 BC. Now, what’s that mean?

Before the discovery of this new site in Turkey just this year, the Indus River Valley Civilization was the absolute oldest known civilization site in the world…and Mesopotamia and Egypt were still being taught as being first.

Mesopotamia might still be first, thanks to the new definite civilization-city on the archaeological map…but Indus River is right behind it.

For now.

tl;dr The four cradles of civilization didn’t happen when you think they did and the truth is so much more awesome.

Bonus awesome: no, Clovis was not first. They knew it wasn’t first right at the beginning until some asshole decided their region needed some tourism money. Clovis is actually young compared to the actual settlement of the Americas.