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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" align="center">=====================================================<br>
<b>L O W L A N D S - L - 01 September 2010 - Volume 02</b><br>
<a href="mailto:lowlands.list@gmail.com" target="_blank"><span style="" lang="FR">lowlands.list@gmail.com</span></a> - <a href="http://lowlands-l.net/" target="_blank"><span style="" lang="FR">http://lowlands-l.net/</span></a><br>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br>
From: <span class="gd"><span style="color: rgb(0, 104, 28);">Jonny Meibohm</span></span><span class="gi"> </span><span class="go"><<a href="mailto:jonny.meibohm@arcor.de">jonny.meibohm@arcor.de</a>></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Subject:
</span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="gi">LL-L "Culture"</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p style="font-family: courier new,monospace;" class="MsoNormal">Dear Lowlanders,</p>
<p style="font-family: courier new,monospace;" class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p style="font-family: courier new,monospace;" class="MsoNormal">last Sunday
we watched on the German TV-channel "ZDF" an interesting
archeological show ("Terra X") about a grave from the Stone Age:</p>
<p style="font-family: courier new,monospace;" class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://tinyurl.com/35vlz26" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/35vlz26</a> (as
video, still available in Germany);</p>
<p style="font-family: courier new,monospace;" class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p style="font-family: courier new,monospace;" class="MsoNormal">further informations:</p>
<p style="font-family: courier new,monospace;" class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p style="font-family: courier new,monospace;" class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.zeit.de/2008/30/Familie" target="_blank">http://www.zeit.de/2008/30/Familie</a>
(German)</p>
<p style="font-family: courier new,monospace;" class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27770938/" target="_blank">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27770938/</a> (English)</p>
<p style="font-family: courier new,monospace;" class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p style="font-family: courier new,monospace;" class="MsoNormal">The people which are
buried in the mentioned graves were members of the 'Corded
Ware culture' (2,800-2,200 BC).</p>
<p style="font-family: courier new,monospace;" class="MsoNormal">During the show the
moderators also came up to those people whom we know as 'Bell
Beaker culture' (2,400-1,800 BC), probably the followers of the 'Corded
Ware culture'. The members of these 'Bell Beakers' spread about
the greater part of Central (Western) Europe, starting from the West (nowadays
Portugal); they also
took part in the construction of Stonehenge
(probably they've built the last version of it).</p>
<p style="font-family: courier new,monospace;" class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p style="font-family: courier new,monospace;" class="MsoNormal">The interviewed
archeologists postulated a theory that these higher civilized people may
have been in contact with the inhabitants of Northern Africa, maybe they
even were descendants of the old Egypts. This caused a discussion in
our family: if they knew the Egyptian hieroglyphs (since ca. 3,200 BC) why
didn't they bring them with them? Or developed anything similar?</p>
<p style="font-family: courier new,monospace;" class="MsoNormal">I think that each
culture which ever has experienced the power of written letters should have
been eager to learn and create the same for its own purposes.</p>
<p style="font-family: courier new,monospace;" class="MsoNormal">But we have no
relics in Europe which could point to any
writing until the Romans conquered (and later christianized) this region. The
Germanic Runic alphabet is dated younger, already influenced by Latin
types and never had been an important medium for 'daily' communication.
I've never heard about a Celtic writing system as well.</p>
<p style="font-family: courier new,monospace;" class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p style="font-family: courier new,monospace;" class="MsoNormal">What could be the
reasons for this belated evolution? Perhaps because there was no necessity of
any writing for a simply, small structured, familiar society of
hunters, herders and farmers, with no greater settlements like there probably
existed in Egypt, surely in Greece and Italy. Without anything close to
that what later was called "trading" and "money"?!</p>
<p style="font-family: courier new,monospace;" class="MsoNormal">Similar (still?) the
situation worldwide among many indigenous peoples: they obviously don't need
any high developed writing system as long as they're living in small groups and
tribes and in harmony, in accordance with the natural system around. (Of
course they are able to produce and read special 'signs', e.g. via smoke, drums
or just broken and crossed twigs [in Germany the last type, called
"Bruch-zeichen", still has to be learned by all people who
want to become a licenced hunter].)</p>
<p style="font-family: courier new,monospace;" class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p style="font-family: courier new,monospace;" class="MsoNormal">In my youth
the farmers in our region (and elsewhere) didn't like that those sons who
should become their followers visited a college - it could spoil their natural
feeling for agricultural matters.</p>
<p style="font-family: courier new,monospace;" class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p style="font-family: courier new,monospace;" class="MsoNormal">Exaggeratedly
expressed: written letters are the very beginning of the evil ;-)!?</p>
<p style="font-family: courier new,monospace;" class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p style="font-family: courier new,monospace;" class="MsoNormal">Allerbest!</p>
<p style="font-family: courier new,monospace;" class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: courier new,monospace; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);">Jonny
Meibohm<br>
Lower Saxony, Germany</span><span style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
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