I particularly love these "lesser known ancient things" videos, not nearly enough of these places get the public recognition they deserve, and there's always some even I haven't heard of which is always exciting!
Sorry to be off topic but does any of you know a trick to get back into an instagram account..? I was dumb forgot my login password. I appreciate any tricks you can offer me!
Postscript - end of the video sounds like a guitar shop on a saturday afternoon when the teenage riff gods have cranked up the amps. Dear Simon, please tone down the volume as after a pleasant video of you explaining fascinating places and top tens, this can scare the crap out of us listening on headphone :P
Finally someone well educated and from the "mainstream" covers these astonishing marvels of our distant past besides of all those "Aliens build it!" nuts! Thank you very much for videos like this and also for showing us authentic pictures instead of fantasy "paintings" and photoshopped stuff!
Really enjoying "Side Projects", and appreciate your study of the odd and unusual without going down all the same old roads. Never a dull moment where Simon is concerned!
Honestly, I think you could have done an entire video about the utterly *Mind Blowing* engineering feats accomplished by the Roman Legions. Off the top of my head, the list could have included: * - Caesar's walls around Alesia - Roughly 38 miles of walls were built, one circle encompassing Alesia and faced towards the city , whereas a second wall encompassed the first and faced away from the city. Both were built with the kind of defences necessary to repel attacks coming from inside the city and to repel attacks from relief armies attacking from outside the city. Both walls were built while under pressure from attacks by Vercingetorix's armies inside Alesia, the final, exterior walls being completed only shortly before the relief armies arrived from outside of Alesia to attempt to relieve the Roman siege on the city. * - Caesar's bridge across the Rhine - A quarter mile of bridge across almost a quarter mile of river, built in around ten days. It is believed to be the first bridge to ever have been built crossing the Rhine. After using it to serve his purposes, Caesar had the bridge torn down upon leaving Germania. Two years later, Caesar built another such bridge, the second bridge ever to have been built across the Rhine river, completing its construction in a mere few days. * - Legio X Fretensis' ramp to the gates of the fortress at Masada - The Jewish revolts in Judea came to an end on the mountaintop fortress of Masada. The Jewish terrorists believed that they could outlast the Roman siege, since they had many years of supplies, while conversely, Lucius Flavius Silva was under enormous pressure to end the unrest in Judea and thus had limited time to do so before the Emperor would lose confidence in him and have him replaced as Governor of Judea. Silva didn't have years to wait out the siege and thus needed to storm the fort. The fort built at the very top of a very large mountain. The Tenth Legion did this by dismantling a nearby mountain and using the pieces to build a ramp up to the door of the fort atop Masada. The Legion did most of the work, but when approaching nearby the fort, the Romans would come under intense fire from the fort and could not build any closer. So Jewish slaves were brought in to finish the construction, since the Jewish rebels were loath to fire on their own people who were enslaved by the Romans. The Jews believed that they could still repel the assault, until they saw that the Romans had secretly constructed a siege tower, which was to be towed up the ramp to the gates of the fort. The rest of the story is wildly compelling, but has little to do with Roman engineering marvels. Nb: The ramp AND the camp used by Legio X Fretensis is still visible today. The ramp is still the best way to reach the fortress at the top, even 2,100 years after its construction. Those are just the three that stood out in my mind as the most salient examples of *Mind Blowing* engineering feats accomplished by the Roman Legions. Aqueducts and Roman Roads should probably be included. So too should the Colosseum, the Roman Pantheon (NOT the Parthenon, which is- of course- Greek) and Roman fleets...
What's so crazy about their fortifications is that most people don't realize that it wasn't just a wooden palisade thrown up. The Roman fortifications had a trench dug and the dirt used to raise the ground where the wall would go. The walls were studded with small watchtowers and outside the wall was usually some form of sharpened stick/stake field, slowing advances even more. Caesar's legions bridge across the Rhine will always stand out to me as an amazing display of construction prowess.
The Maccabis were NOT terrorists! They were devout Jews. When I visited Masada, we were shown the containers where the food was stored. It was enough food to last several years.
@@Genesh12 Archeologists say there is no evidence at Masada that anyone was there very long. There is no evidence of the site being in use, even though it was set up for that. I have never studied it personally; I'm just stating what arceologists concluded after their investigations. No disrespect meant whatsoever.
hi! I love that you made this comment! I love data! the many pontoon bridges built as a ' temporary ' measure to shorten the time taken by switchbacks that were how their oxen & carts & sledges , wagons etc . could get Up to a high fortification without ruining the beasts of burden or having axels break, wheels shatter from the force required to move on steep uneven terrain was removed when they could sling a partial suspension, supported at beginning & end by ropes spiked to & around tree groupings 100's of feet below the bridges entrance & at the midpoint the use of sturdy pontoons angled across the rivers or river, again & again stabilized & relieved the burden upon the tree clumps immensely & they could lower huge dray wagons , foodstuff, armor, weapons by way of essentially zip lines but controlled complex ones with spotters & signalers , pulleys, block & tackle, COUNTERWEIGHTING! PLATFORMS of oxen , the bases of siege engines could all be lowered reducing the ground mile travel often down to 1/4 of the original & even with the intensive labor involved in all this the often cut the time of traveling to their next engineering site by half! ofto sap walls or divert water supplies from the next new piece of empire to be! thank you for your sharing data! 😻😽💨cat kisses!
@@DieNextInLINE I just read about that in a book of ' fiction ' lol a temp bridge that lasted so well all they did years latér was renew some ropes, replace some boards & remove, drain, dry & reassemble the pontoons back in place! the first real planned engineering corp to make parts standardized & 1 size fits models blah blah & style b fits all others & store the materials like happy little box, bag , barrel stave & hoop & strut & truss & rope etc. hoarders, all labeled & in their designated places! like the equivalent of ford's or whoever's assembly lines! lol 😻😽💨cat kisses!!
6:24 took my breath away... that portion of the Chand Baori stepwell looks like an MC Escher painting recreated* in stone *edit: should’ve written “created” as it was built thousands of years before Escher was born
I see/hear “built along astronomical lines” a lot when it comes to ancient buildings and structures, and it is almost invariably stated that while we don’t know why, it was most likely due to some religious observance. I have another theory though: The ancient peoples spent a lot of time looking at the sky and the movements of planets and stars. So many had a pretty decent idea of where a given point of light would be at a given point of time every single day. If you have that information, you can push a pole into the ground and take your sightings on said point of light and plant another pole some distance away. Then all you have to do is make sure everything lines up between the poles.
You will hear many "things", but you will have to think what is the actual solution or information. Regarding the Eupalinos Tunnel of Aqueduct, take a look at how it was constructed in the available video in my channel. They followed the North-South axis, as we do in solar panel installations nowadays. Also check the Egyptian pyramids video. The method was also used in ancient Egypt.
In some agreement with that possible theory, most parts of the world the sun faces due south or north at local noon and the shadow will cast due north or south, depending on hemisphere. If you poke a stick in the ground and trace the shadow through the day(s), then with some very basic tools and geometry you'll be able to have an excellent directional reference. ....and of course, many prehistoric folks seem to have a much deeper knowledge of geometry than people usually assume. Even for strictly Euclidean stuff, while his Elements may be one of the best teatises on the subject, a great deal of that knowledge pre-dates him. In some ways he just assembled it with proofs into a logical series.
FYI, El Mirador is in Guatemala, in Central America, not Equador, in South America. It's believed to have been one of the first great Mayan Cities, roughly 1000 BCE.
The amount of effort and hours put into building that water system is incredible, and is something we take for granted today with pipework and pumps supplying us with fresh clean water... :)
I mean it's not like current water supply doesn't require plenty of effort too though. So I wouldn't be surprised actually if most people back then didn't think much of it like people today as long as they grew used to it just working like you expect it to. Because just like today people don't typically participate in the work behind their convenient water sources so they might not fully appreciate how it's made possible aka taking it for granted. I think your impression of modern water supply being less impressive as if the system of pipes, pumps and etc appear out of nowhere or just exist supports the idea that humans would think pretty much the same thing if you replaced it with the equivalent in ancient times.
Haha that escalated. But yeah I know what you mean, in ancient times it was common to mix water with alcohol just for that reason. And I know we have it better nowadays but I still get boil bans like once a month and I don't like drinking out of the tap because a lot of times it just isn't safe
@@DajuOnRUclips fuck yeah lot of bigass pipes laid for you sewer water and stormwater. Where i am where still semi rural but it's quickly geting built up with lots of little developments. It's kinda bizzare when two streets over their on full services yet youve only got power. Still dealing with sewrage tanks rainwater tanks and trucking water in when necessary vs turning a tap on and just having it there. I remember when i moved out of home into a unit for a little while going to the neighbour for water as my power got cut(they mixed up the address so I'd paid the neighbours bill.) It never dawned on me where's the pump i just was so use to no power means no water. But the neighbour just looked at me as stupid.
Excellent video! I've been lucky enough to visit two of these lesser known wonders. Sechin Bajo in 2003 during my round the world backpacking trip and recently the Tunnel of Eupalinos on Samos. Going from 38°c sunshine into the cool and airy tunnel was quite a relief for an hour or so!.
La Hougue Bie is is practically identical (and similarly named) to the Fogous here in Cornwall, they are equally mysterious, but there is compelling ideas of them being giant pottery kilns.
When Sir Gentleman breaks wind...the aroma must be that of lavender and Burberry. May he continue on, illuminating us all by his words and the brilliantly oiled beard He doth wear so well.
Kailasa Temple is another great example of ancient Engineering. This entire temple carved out of rocky mountain cliff from a single rock. What makes it different is that, they actually started carving the rock from Top of the mountain towards base. And thousands of tonnes extracted rock found nowhere near temple. The carvings and sculptures are so beautiful that they are impossible to be made in today's time. Whole temple looks like it'll be 3D printed or carved by using laser technology.
yes, saw that, thought some amount of the excavation tailings must have been used up in the delicate carvings, like a few bits of abrasive debris tucked in a corner & then just ground away at in that spot until the debris was powder & a bit of surface was ,well, surfaced ! like how jade is worked, not so much with forcefully carving but with a drilled hole being rubbed with abrasives, pumice perhaps or sand, or oh chunks of seriously abrasive volcanic rock like in faux fireplaces!
Ah but this isn’t learning, it’s entertainment. If you wanted to actually commit what is in this video to memory you would have to first create the synapses and then reinforce those synapses over and over again. Lastly you would test your own personal knowledge of the subject to see if those same connections are strong enough. I doubt anybody’s actually doing that while watching this video.
He also included Chand Baori in the list, which isn't ancient (pre-500s) but medieval (c. 800s). At the beginning of the video he also mentioned Angkor Wat which is also medieval (c. 1100s).
06:43 "according to local legends ghosts build it in one night" that kinda remind me of an Indonesian folk tale about a guy named Raden (a title roughly translated to "noble") Bandung Bondowoso that wanted to propose to a lady named Roro Jonggrang, but she said he must build a thousand temple before he can do that. (edit: some typos on the names)
“According to local legends ghost’s built the chand Baori stepwell in just one night… But… Well that seems unlikely” Haha why did that have me creasing so much ! Thanks Simon
The tunnel of Eupalinos was not the first tunnel excavated from both ends. The Siloam tunnel (which is only half as long so maybe less impressive) also was excavated from both ends, at least 150 years before.
Danny, Simon, and everybody else please. The Antikythera Clock was built by Archimedes. He built two of them. Only one was retrieved. The other ended up with a Roman officer. Give the man credit.
6th-Century Greeks: We will build a 2-kilometre-long tunnel to bring water to our thirsty people. 6th-Century Macedonians a few miles upstream: Hey, guys! Let's install our sewage plant right here!
This channel is so many sorts of wonderful distraction. Thank you for occupying my mind with so many more lights shone on things I've only the time or presence of mind to ponder. How do you feel about cryptids?
I live near around Dallas. We made waterworks many times bigger than the Panama Canal, but people didn’t notice because it was after steam shovels. Oh, and we had camel bones in ancient fire pits, which mean people were here before the last ice age.
I wondered about that. The claims that El Mirador is Mayan and located in Ecuador cannot both be correct. Of course, being both Mayan and in the Department of the Peten in Guatemala are entirely consistent with one another.
Very interesting presentation. Have you thought about a program on Casa Bonito in Chaco Canyon. It is a remarkable structure. There are perfectly straight roads leading to the structure from several directions.
Mrs Richards: "I paid for a room with a view!" Basil: (pointing to the lovely view) "That is Torquay, Madam." Mrs Richards: "It's not good enough!" Basil: "May I ask what you were expecting to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically past?..." Mrs Richards: "Don't be silly! I expect to be able to see the sea!" Basil: "You can see the sea, it's over there between the land and the sky." Mrs Richards: "I'm not satisfied. But I shall stay. But I expect a reduction." Basil: "Why?! Because Krakatoa's not erupting at the moment?
Next time would be nice to cover Borobudur and Prambanan. Borobudur is the world's largest Buddhist temple located in central Java island of Indonesia, and the second one is Prambanan, a massive Hindu temple located not far from Borobudur, built at a different era Borobudur and Prambanan is between 1.100 year old and around 900 year old. I don't know if these two massive structure are considered unknown ancient marvels or too famous to be covered here.
You forgot about about Göbekli Tepe, The first Human Temple ever builded. Before agriculture even was discovered. Before the piramids, Stongange and everything else. Göbekli Tepe is atleast 12.000 years old.
Nothing prepared me for how amazing Rajahstan is. Randomly ended up there as a young bloke in 1990. The whole place is like something from 1001 nights or something...
So just a heads-up, Anasazi isn't the name of a tribe or group. It's a word meaning "the ancient enemy" and is just a slur from other tibes for the Pueblo.
I love learning about the ancient world I would love to hear more about ancient engineering special things we know as little as we do now about because you got a lot of people nowadays that are such to do scientist say say things stupid like ancient people couldn't have built like the pyramids or whatever so it had to be space aliens which makes no sense I've always felt those are just people who are so dumb that they think that everyone else is as dumb as they are and is incapable of figuring out greater things cuz I do the same type of people that say all our current modern inventions are really alien inventions because humanity is not that bright which is nothing more than a slap in the face for our entire species
@@jordilouisson40 It is a bit confusing but I agree with the premise that the idea that ancient humans were so primitive that their incredible feats could only be the result of alien intervention. Give our ancestors the credit they deserve.
all these projects were long term well planned out studied and in the end built , today politics is short term it requires quick solutions and minimal costs so the politician is still around to reap the benefits of the project
I think it would be interesting to see what existing conditions, and what engineering, scientific advancements, that helped the Hanseatic League to thrive for three centuries; what brought it about, how it ended, and if it's influence can be seen today.
Epaulinos is oldest ancient tunnel with two teams starting at both ends and intending to meet in the middle? The Siloam (Hezekiah’s) Tunnel in Jerusalem (at about 530 meters long) is radiocarbon dated to late 8th/early 7th century (some say there is evidence of it being even older) before the Common Era. An inscription inside the tunnel records the story as two teams starting on either end and meeting in the middle and there is additional evidence of that as well inside the tunnel itself.
For the Siloam Tunnel they followed an underground formation knowing that following the vein the two ends would meet. For the Eupalinos tunnel they used math to join the 2 segments since they were carving through uniform rock. Totally different concepts. The Eupalinos tunnel is many orders of magnitude more complex and difficult to make
Outside of the Greek tunnel, I'm not sure how much engineering was taking place. Just unlimited time and labor until something was accomplished. Megaprojects, maybe.
11:38 El Mirador and the Mirador Basin are both located in Guatemala, Central America - not in Ecuador, Sudamerica! I hope no one dies lost in the Ecuadorian rainforest looking for it after watching this video!
I love history but man its way too focused on such a tiny fraction of people's and places. India has such a deep and fascinating history that im honestly surprised how little i hear about it. That region has been inhabited for so long now that it must harbor so many secrets to be found!
Totally awesome! We think we are so sophisticated, and we tend to think of ancient cultures as ignorant, but we have no idea of what went on in the past. Huge projects like this and we immediately think of thousands of slaves under whips and chains but, like the Egyptian pyramids, we don’t know half of what we think we do.
For tunnelling i was thinking more along the tunnel that connects the sphinx to the great pyramid, but being eygpt wont let anyone visit what is down there i guess we cant have a video about that
Lmao I’m from that little island of jersey and that’s the last thing I expected to see in one of your videos hahaha! Done many dodgey things at la hougue bie in my youth 😂
They found over 20 Kg of cocaine in a shipment of bananas in BC, Canada in 2019, the investigation finished recently so we're just getting the details now.
We use lasers and ultrasound to remove the cataract and replace it with a synthetic lens... Romans used a needle and a blunt stick (without anesthetic) to push the lens into the eyeball. Not exactly as advanced as what we use today
I particularly love these "lesser known ancient things" videos, not nearly enough of these places get the public recognition they deserve, and there's always some even I haven't heard of which is always exciting!
"lesser known ancient thing" sounds like how my gf would describe me 🤭
Lesser known because powers that be can't stand the idea of ancient cultures being more advanced and sophisticated than we are presently
Sorry to be off topic but does any of you know a trick to get back into an instagram account..?
I was dumb forgot my login password. I appreciate any tricks you can offer me!
Regarding the Eupalinos Tunnel of Aqueduct, take a look at how it was constructed in the available video in my channel.
Look up the RUclips channel phantom universe you can thank my later
0:40 - Chapitre 1 - La Hougue Bie
3:20 - Chapter 2 - Sechin bajo
5:55 - Chapter 3 - Chand baori stepwell
8:50 - Chapter 4 - Tunnel of eupalinos
11:40 - Chapter 5 - El mirador
Postscript - end of the video sounds like a guitar shop on a saturday afternoon when the teenage riff gods have cranked up the amps. Dear Simon, please tone down the volume as after a pleasant video of you explaining fascinating places and top tens, this can scare the crap out of us listening on headphone :P
The correct location for the Mirador pyramid is Guatemala, Central America. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Mirador
Chand Baori stepwell isn't ancient (pre-500s), it's medieval (500-1500) being built in the 800s.
@@realtalk6195 in England it's different. They didn't go mediaeval till after Hastings.
Finally someone well educated and from the "mainstream" covers these astonishing marvels of our distant past besides of all those "Aliens build it!" nuts! Thank you very much for videos like this and also for showing us authentic pictures instead of fantasy "paintings" and photoshopped stuff!
Really enjoying "Side Projects", and appreciate your study of the odd and unusual without going down all the same old roads. Never a dull moment where Simon is concerned!
Honestly, I think you could have done an entire video about the utterly *Mind Blowing* engineering feats accomplished by the Roman Legions. Off the top of my head, the list could have included:
* - Caesar's walls around Alesia - Roughly 38 miles of walls were built, one circle encompassing Alesia and faced towards the city , whereas a second wall encompassed the first and faced away from the city. Both were built with the kind of defences necessary to repel attacks coming from inside the city and to repel attacks from relief armies attacking from outside the city. Both walls were built while under pressure from attacks by Vercingetorix's armies inside Alesia, the final, exterior walls being completed only shortly before the relief armies arrived from outside of Alesia to attempt to relieve the Roman siege on the city.
* - Caesar's bridge across the Rhine - A quarter mile of bridge across almost a quarter mile of river, built in around ten days. It is believed to be the first bridge to ever have been built crossing the Rhine. After using it to serve his purposes, Caesar had the bridge torn down upon leaving Germania. Two years later, Caesar built another such bridge, the second bridge ever to have been built across the Rhine river, completing its construction in a mere few days.
* - Legio X Fretensis' ramp to the gates of the fortress at Masada - The Jewish revolts in Judea came to an end on the mountaintop fortress of Masada. The Jewish terrorists believed that they could outlast the Roman siege, since they had many years of supplies, while conversely, Lucius Flavius Silva was under enormous pressure to end the unrest in Judea and thus had limited time to do so before the Emperor would lose confidence in him and have him replaced as Governor of Judea. Silva didn't have years to wait out the siege and thus needed to storm the fort. The fort built at the very top of a very large mountain. The Tenth Legion did this by dismantling a nearby mountain and using the pieces to build a ramp up to the door of the fort atop Masada. The Legion did most of the work, but when approaching nearby the fort, the Romans would come under intense fire from the fort and could not build any closer. So Jewish slaves were brought in to finish the construction, since the Jewish rebels were loath to fire on their own people who were enslaved by the Romans. The Jews believed that they could still repel the assault, until they saw that the Romans had secretly constructed a siege tower, which was to be towed up the ramp to the gates of the fort. The rest of the story is wildly compelling, but has little to do with Roman engineering marvels.
Nb: The ramp AND the camp used by Legio X Fretensis is still visible today. The ramp is still the best way to reach the fortress at the top, even 2,100 years after its construction.
Those are just the three that stood out in my mind as the most salient examples of *Mind Blowing* engineering feats accomplished by the Roman Legions. Aqueducts and Roman Roads should probably be included. So too should the Colosseum, the Roman Pantheon (NOT the Parthenon, which is- of course- Greek) and Roman fleets...
What's so crazy about their fortifications is that most people don't realize that it wasn't just a wooden palisade thrown up. The Roman fortifications had a trench dug and the dirt used to raise the ground where the wall would go. The walls were studded with small watchtowers and outside the wall was usually some form of sharpened stick/stake field, slowing advances even more.
Caesar's legions bridge across the Rhine will always stand out to me as an amazing display of construction prowess.
The Maccabis were NOT terrorists! They were devout Jews. When I visited Masada, we were shown the containers where the food was stored. It was enough food to last several years.
@@Genesh12 Archeologists say there is no evidence at Masada that anyone was there very long. There is no evidence of the site being in use, even though it was set up for that. I have never studied it personally; I'm just stating what arceologists concluded after their investigations. No disrespect meant whatsoever.
hi! I love that you made this comment! I love data! the many pontoon bridges built as a ' temporary ' measure to shorten the time taken by switchbacks that were how their oxen & carts & sledges , wagons etc . could get Up to a high fortification without ruining the beasts of burden or having axels break, wheels shatter from the force required to move on steep uneven terrain was removed when they could sling a partial suspension, supported at beginning & end by ropes spiked to & around tree groupings 100's of feet below the bridges entrance & at the midpoint the use of sturdy pontoons angled across the rivers or river, again & again stabilized & relieved the burden upon the tree clumps immensely & they could lower huge dray wagons , foodstuff, armor, weapons by way of essentially zip lines but controlled complex ones with spotters & signalers , pulleys, block & tackle, COUNTERWEIGHTING! PLATFORMS of oxen , the bases of siege engines could all be lowered reducing the ground mile travel often down to 1/4 of the original & even with the intensive labor involved in all this the often cut the time of traveling to their next engineering site by half! ofto sap walls or divert water supplies from the next new piece of empire to be! thank you for your sharing data! 😻😽💨cat kisses!
@@DieNextInLINE I just read about that in a book of ' fiction ' lol a temp bridge that lasted so well all they did years latér was renew some ropes, replace some boards & remove, drain, dry & reassemble the pontoons back in place! the first real planned engineering corp to make parts standardized & 1 size fits models blah blah & style b fits all others & store the materials like happy little box, bag , barrel stave & hoop & strut & truss & rope etc. hoarders, all labeled & in their designated places! like the equivalent of ford's or whoever's assembly lines! lol 😻😽💨cat kisses!!
6:24 took my breath away... that portion of the Chand Baori stepwell looks like an MC Escher painting recreated* in stone
*edit: should’ve written “created” as it was built thousands of years before Escher was born
I thought the exact same thing! that maybe somehow he had seen them in a vision or a past life or even in a book, lol!
This was excellent. I'd love more of these, if possible. Thank you!
I see/hear “built along astronomical lines” a lot when it comes to ancient buildings and structures, and it is almost invariably stated that while we don’t know why, it was most likely due to some religious observance. I have another theory though: The ancient peoples spent a lot of time looking at the sky and the movements of planets and stars. So many had a pretty decent idea of where a given point of light would be at a given point of time every single day. If you have that information, you can push a pole into the ground and take your sightings on said point of light and plant another pole some distance away. Then all you have to do is make sure everything lines up between the poles.
You will hear many "things", but you will have to think what is the actual solution or information. Regarding the Eupalinos Tunnel of Aqueduct, take a look at how it was constructed in the available video in my channel. They followed the North-South axis, as we do in solar panel installations nowadays. Also check the Egyptian pyramids video. The method was also used in ancient Egypt.
In some agreement with that possible theory, most parts of the world the sun faces due south or north at local noon and the shadow will cast due north or south, depending on hemisphere.
If you poke a stick in the ground and trace the shadow through the day(s), then with some very basic tools and geometry you'll be able to have an excellent directional reference.
....and of course, many prehistoric folks seem to have a much deeper knowledge of geometry than people usually assume. Even for strictly Euclidean stuff, while his Elements may be one of the best teatises on the subject, a great deal of that knowledge pre-dates him. In some ways he just assembled it with proofs into a logical series.
FYI, El Mirador is in Guatemala, in Central America, not Equador, in South America. It's believed to have been one of the first great Mayan Cities, roughly 1000 BCE.
Exacto!!! Simon should fire the "researcher" who gave him that data... It's in Guatemala
THANK YOU!! I love Simon's channels but this was so painfully incorrect....
Yup! Simon, fire your researcher!
Ok, so I think they confused the location name with a large copper mine in Ecuador.
The amount of effort and hours put into building that water system is incredible, and is something we take for granted today with pipework and pumps supplying us with fresh clean water... :)
Clean might be a bit of a stretch but yeah
I mean it's not like current water supply doesn't require plenty of effort too though.
So I wouldn't be surprised actually if most people back then didn't think much of it like people today as long as they grew used to it just working like you expect it to.
Because just like today people don't typically participate in the work behind their convenient water sources so they might not fully appreciate how it's made possible aka taking it for granted.
I think your impression of modern water supply being less impressive as if the system of pipes, pumps and etc appear out of nowhere or just exist supports the idea that humans would think pretty much the same thing if you replaced it with the equivalent in ancient times.
Haha that escalated. But yeah I know what you mean, in ancient times it was common to mix water with alcohol just for that reason. And I know we have it better nowadays but I still get boil bans like once a month and I don't like drinking out of the tap because a lot of times it just isn't safe
@@DajuOnRUclips fuck yeah lot of bigass pipes laid for you sewer water and stormwater.
Where i am where still semi rural but it's quickly geting built up with lots of little developments.
It's kinda bizzare when two streets over their on full services yet youve only got power. Still dealing with sewrage tanks rainwater tanks and trucking water in when necessary vs turning a tap on and just having it there.
I remember when i moved out of home into a unit for a little while going to the neighbour for water as my power got cut(they mixed up the address so I'd paid the neighbours bill.) It never dawned on me where's the pump i just was so use to no power means no water.
But the neighbour just looked at me as stupid.
Excellent video! I've been lucky enough to visit two of these lesser known wonders. Sechin Bajo in 2003 during my round the world backpacking trip and recently the Tunnel of Eupalinos on Samos. Going from 38°c sunshine into the cool and airy tunnel was quite a relief for an hour or so!.
Love your channels man! You work non stop! 🙌
Simon the LEGEND reminding me again how poor my education was
Wonderful to see the passage grave! Thank you!
Amazing video! I love everything Simon does. :D
The amount of RUclips channels you have is a wonder in and of itself!
I had actually heard of/seen photos of the stepwell, but everything else was new to me. These lesser known wonders vids are fantastic!
The step well was where Christopher Nolan got his inspiration for Bane’s prison in “The Dark Knight Rises”.
Nice examples, I do wish Australian ones would be included in videos like this though, such as the Brewarrina Fish Traps or Budj Bim Eel Traps
Great research. Kudos!
Excellent topic! Indeed, more of these would be awesome!
La Hougue Bie is is practically identical (and similarly named) to the Fogous here in Cornwall, they are equally mysterious, but there is compelling ideas of them being giant pottery kilns.
Swear you time these videos perfectly, I watch all.your channels when I'm eating and the video always ends right when I'm finished lol
Absolutely fascinating. Looks like I've got a bit of catching up to do.
When Sir Gentleman breaks wind...the aroma must be that of lavender and Burberry. May he continue on, illuminating us all by his words and the brilliantly oiled beard He doth wear so well.
Another ancient and mysterious example of engineering is the Longyou Caves... fascinating story that we may never get an answer to.
I love stuff like this. It’s mind blowing.
As usual...very educational and entertaining!
Thank you for your efforts!
Kailasa Temple is another great example of ancient Engineering. This entire temple carved out of rocky mountain cliff from a single rock.
What makes it different is that, they actually started carving the rock from Top of the mountain towards base. And thousands of tonnes extracted rock found nowhere near temple. The carvings and sculptures are so beautiful that they are impossible to be made in today's time. Whole temple looks like it'll be 3D printed or carved by using laser technology.
@Aman wow👍.....I didn't know that
@Aman sure.....thx👍
yes, saw that, thought some amount of the excavation tailings must have been used up in the delicate carvings, like a few bits of abrasive debris tucked in a corner & then just ground away at in that spot until the debris was powder & a bit of surface was ,well, surfaced ! like how jade is worked, not so much with forcefully carving but with a drilled hole being rubbed with abrasives, pumice perhaps or sand, or oh chunks of seriously abrasive volcanic rock like in faux fireplaces!
'Impossible to do today.'
A common lie when ppl talk up ancient constructs. That kind of crap feeds the ALIENS DID IT bullcrap.
I genuinely wish school teachers could be as good at teaching as these channels are
So far 2 teachers have disliked the video.
Definitely mate!! Most of my teachers in 2nd school ( im from Scotland ) HATED their job and it showed. BIG TIME!
But hey they are fine going on strike to ask for more money.
Hmm, El Mirador is located in Guatemala. That ain't south America nor Equador.
Ah but this isn’t learning, it’s entertainment. If you wanted to actually commit what is in this video to memory you would have to first create the synapses and then reinforce those synapses over and over again. Lastly you would test your own personal knowledge of the subject to see if those same connections are strong enough.
I doubt anybody’s actually doing that while watching this video.
Nice!! Already hoped you'd cover this subject :)
That Stepwell is gorgeous, wow!
well made video and information, but El Mirador is in central America, Guatemala, not Ecuador.
missed your comment, I said the same thing in my comment. I live in Guatemala and hope to visit it in the next year.
Yeah that really threw me off. I’ve actually even there it’s amazing.
He also included Chand Baori in the list, which isn't ancient (pre-500s) but medieval (c. 800s). At the beginning of the video he also mentioned Angkor Wat which is also medieval (c. 1100s).
Thanks, I'd never even heard of most of those!
06:43 "according to local legends ghosts build it in one night" that kinda remind me of an Indonesian folk tale about a guy named Raden (a title roughly translated to "noble") Bandung Bondowoso that wanted to propose to a lady named Roro Jonggrang, but she said he must build a thousand temple before he can do that.
(edit: some typos on the names)
El Mirador is located in Guatemala. That ain't south America nor Equador. Time: 11m 35secs
“According to local legends ghost’s built the chand Baori stepwell in just one night… But… Well that seems unlikely” Haha why did that have me creasing so much ! Thanks Simon
Yes please. More of these.
The tunnel of Eupalinos was not the first tunnel excavated from both ends. The Siloam tunnel (which is only half as long so maybe less impressive) also was excavated from both ends, at least 150 years before.
I was thinking that! Hezekiah’s Tunnel and he didn’t take years to complete it. Worth having a look at 😃
Yes, these 2 are the only ones in the entire ancient world. Therefor both impressive although the Eupalinos the more impressive one.
Danny, Simon, and everybody else please. The Antikythera Clock was built by Archimedes. He built two of them. Only one was retrieved. The other ended up with a Roman officer. Give the man credit.
Where did you hear there was 2???
As for who built it, i think its archemedes or his workshop which built but im not aware of proof.
I like this video format for sure! Why not take a look at Derinkuyu in turkey
6th-Century Greeks: We will build a 2-kilometre-long tunnel to bring water to our thirsty people.
6th-Century Macedonians a few miles upstream: Hey, guys! Let's install our sewage plant right here!
Bitcoin is on a bullish run now. INVEST now that the market is appreciating, do that with my Expert
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Newark Castle, amazing English History and very much a figure point in a period in British history!
Please do Simon.
This channel is so many sorts of wonderful distraction. Thank you for occupying my mind with so many more lights shone on things I've only the time or presence of mind to ponder.
How do you feel about cryptids?
Great video sweetie love from Birmingham in the UK xx
A more accurate title would be “5 examples of incredible ancient engineering”
Much better teacher then any one i had in school
Oath
*than
@@j.a.weishaupt1748 smart ass 😂
I live near around Dallas. We made waterworks many times bigger than the Panama Canal, but people didn’t notice because it was after steam shovels. Oh, and we had camel bones in ancient fire pits, which mean people were here before the last ice age.
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Is that a bruise on your head? Hope you're okay, I love your channels!
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El Mirador is not found in Ecuador! El Mirador is in Guatemala.
I wondered about that. The claims that El Mirador is Mayan and located in Ecuador cannot both be correct. Of course, being both Mayan and in the Department of the Peten in Guatemala are entirely consistent with one another.
Very interesting presentation. Have you thought about a program on Casa Bonito in Chaco Canyon. It is a remarkable structure. There are perfectly straight roads leading to the structure from several directions.
These are my favorite types of topics!
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That stepwell is simply phenomenal - as are many other stepwells in India. Those structures also provided a chance to escape the worst midday heat.
Grand canal in China, incredible in its scale and impact on the Middle Kingdom's development. It is still used to this day!
Mrs Richards: "I paid for a room with a view!"
Basil: (pointing to the lovely view) "That is Torquay, Madam."
Mrs Richards: "It's not good enough!"
Basil: "May I ask what you were expecting to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically past?..."
Mrs Richards: "Don't be silly! I expect to be able to see the sea!"
Basil: "You can see the sea, it's over there between the land and the sky."
Mrs Richards: "I'm not satisfied. But I shall stay. But I expect a reduction."
Basil: "Why?! Because Krakatoa's not erupting at the moment?
Yes, follow up please! This was great!
Bitcoin is on a bullish run now. INVEST now that the market is appreciating, do that with my Expert
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Simon has joined the list of my powerful bald men. He had all wisdom known to men
So bill jeff Simon yes"borat voice "
That step-well is impressive and beautiful.
There are numerous within 100-200 miles from New Delhi. Infact, New Delhi has a famous one... they are called _Baoli_'s
@@StripedLime I wasn't aware such things so beautiful existed. But that's why I am subscribed to this channel, I guess...
No handrails, though. And you slip and fall, you won't necessarily land in the water but on a lower flight of stairs. Made of stone. With sharp edges.
>Can say Julio correct
>Mispronunces bajo every single time
Next time would be nice to cover Borobudur and Prambanan.
Borobudur is the world's largest Buddhist temple located in central Java island of Indonesia, and the second one is Prambanan, a massive Hindu temple located not far from Borobudur, built at a different era Borobudur and Prambanan is between 1.100 year old and around 900 year old.
I don't know if these two massive structure are considered unknown ancient marvels or too famous to be covered here.
It's always interested me how universal the burial mound is. Across peoples, time and cultures.
Episode idea: the many temples of Java, and the underground tunnels of the royal palace in Yogyakarta in Central Java.
I love how you look at historical places that aren't just europe. Talk about a more rounded education than I got in US schools.
You forgot about about Göbekli Tepe, The first Human Temple ever builded. Before agriculture even was discovered. Before the piramids, Stongange and everything else. Göbekli Tepe is atleast 12.000 years old.
Simon, my curiosity is killing me. What is that thing on the wall over your right shoulder?
Korean turtle ships and Zheng He's indian ocean expeditions
Still say he needs to Admiral Yi from Korea: greatest military figure of all time
Just watched a documentary about Zheng He on Absolute history, it was very interesting!
@@AtotheZ7 Definitely one of the greatest naval admirals for sure, not sure I would go as far as to call him the goat military figure.
Julius was the GOAT military leader. Hail Caesar!
@@AtotheZ7 Alexander the great would have a problem with you calling some mostly unknown Korean greater than him
Nothing prepared me for how amazing Rajahstan is. Randomly ended up there as a young bloke in 1990. The whole place is like something from 1001 nights or something...
I’ll second that. It’s an amazing place.
I have NEVER hit thumbs down on this AMAZING GUY
You need to watch more Business Blaze. Blaze Simon will have you smashing the dislike button. Allegedly
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06:28 Looks like a Escherian Stairwell.
I guess you and I are the only ones here who know what "Escherian" means.
Yes, it does somewhat, but you don't need to invert gravity to walk down it.
So just a heads-up, Anasazi isn't the name of a tribe or group. It's a word meaning "the ancient enemy" and is just a slur from other tibes for the Pueblo.
I love learning about the ancient world I would love to hear more about ancient engineering special things we know as little as we do now about because you got a lot of people nowadays that are such to do scientist say say things stupid like ancient people couldn't have built like the pyramids or whatever so it had to be space aliens which makes no sense I've always felt those are just people who are so dumb that they think that everyone else is as dumb as they are and is incapable of figuring out greater things cuz I do the same type of people that say all our current modern inventions are really alien inventions because humanity is not that bright which is nothing more than a slap in the face for our entire species
Just had a stroke trying to read this.
@@jordilouisson40 Porn will be more rewarding when it comes to strokes.
@@jordilouisson40 It is a bit confusing but I agree with the premise that the idea that ancient humans were so primitive that their incredible feats could only be the result of alien intervention. Give our ancestors the credit they deserve.
all these projects were long term well planned out studied and in the end built , today politics is short term it requires quick solutions and minimal costs so the politician is still around to reap the benefits of the project
So... ghost are in the construction business now?
I know a few aliens who wont like it...
I think it would be interesting to see what existing conditions, and what engineering, scientific advancements, that helped the Hanseatic League to thrive for three centuries; what brought it about, how it ended, and if it's influence can be seen today.
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Epaulinos is oldest ancient tunnel with two teams starting at both ends and intending to meet in the middle? The Siloam (Hezekiah’s) Tunnel in Jerusalem (at about 530 meters long) is radiocarbon dated to late 8th/early 7th century (some say there is evidence of it being even older) before the Common Era. An inscription inside the tunnel records the story as two teams starting on either end and meeting in the middle and there is additional evidence of that as well inside the tunnel itself.
For the Siloam Tunnel they followed an underground formation knowing that following the vein the two ends would meet. For the Eupalinos tunnel they used math to join the 2 segments since they were carving through uniform rock. Totally different concepts. The Eupalinos tunnel is many orders of magnitude more complex and difficult to make
My parents live next to La Hougue Bie in Jersey. It was awesome to behold as a kid and still today !
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6:43 - So you're telling me there's a chance?
I love this topic
Well is super ingenious
yesterday I went to the toilet with a business blaze on and came out to biographics. That was a jump!
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awesome, I live 5 minutes away from Hougue Bie :) nice to see it featured
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There is some kind of trancey elevator music in the background which makes it hard to follow what Simon is saying
What track is that, Simon?
Sounds quite similar to level 3 in the Streets of rage 2 game for the Sega Megadrive
Thanks. I didn't notice it until I saw your comment.
All he needs now is to add a light show, some glow sticks and a smoke machine to go along with the trance music...
@@sophierobinson2738 now I can't unhear it.
FACTBOI: ghosts…
Outside of the Greek tunnel, I'm not sure how much engineering was taking place. Just unlimited time and labor until something was accomplished. Megaprojects, maybe.
In the movie, "The Far Pavilions," a couple is shown climbing a pattern of stairs. Now I know what it was.
Early idea of a cooling tower
11:38 El Mirador and the Mirador Basin are both located in Guatemala, Central America - not in Ecuador, Sudamerica!
I hope no one dies lost in the Ecuadorian rainforest looking for it after watching this video!
Ancient India has been ignored too long. Thanks for mentioning its amazing structures.
I love history but man its way too focused on such a tiny fraction of people's and places. India has such a deep and fascinating history that im honestly surprised how little i hear about it. That region has been inhabited for so long now that it must harbor so many secrets to be found!
Saw SIMON in a watchMojo utube talking about the chech Osserary, he is getting famous
Ruler spends huge amounts of gold and labour to construct a marvellous site. Discovers that tourism will not be invented for a few thousands years.
I found your delightful comment way way down below the last of the RUclips recommendations list. A nice bit of sunken treasure, you might say.
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Totally awesome! We think we are so sophisticated, and we tend to think of ancient cultures as ignorant, but we have no idea of what went on in the past. Huge projects like this and we immediately think of thousands of slaves under whips and chains but, like the Egyptian pyramids, we don’t know half of what we think we do.
My God man your beard is a force of nature!
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El Mirador is in Guatemala, not Ecuador
its true simon whistler owns utube
For tunnelling i was thinking more along the tunnel that connects the sphinx to the great pyramid, but being eygpt wont let anyone visit what is down there i guess we cant have a video about that
Lmao I’m from that little island of jersey and that’s the last thing I expected to see in one of your videos hahaha! Done many dodgey things at la hougue bie in my youth 😂
Please cover the Cornflakes covered in Cocaine import incident (unless you bought them all - allegedly)
Hmm, maybe that's why he loves the Magic Spoon stuff so much!!! :P
how do you think he keeps danny in the basement? lmfao
They found over 20 Kg of cocaine in a shipment of bananas in BC, Canada in 2019, the investigation finished recently so we're just getting the details now.
@@slcpunk2740 must be why simon is cutting back on all the fast food and stuff. trying to "eat healthy" he says...its all the cocaine...allegedly.
@@simul8rduude Cocaine, coffee, Diet Coke and Magic Spoon and Simon's set for a week long blaze with no sleep!
Most if not all of these would be considered wonders of the ancient world if they were around the Mediterranean
What about the romans cataract eye surgery tools. Almost as advanced as what we use today
We use lasers and ultrasound to remove the cataract and replace it with a synthetic lens... Romans used a needle and a blunt stick (without anesthetic) to push the lens into the eyeball. Not exactly as advanced as what we use today
Great video, but as I'm sure you've heard by now, El Mirador is in Guatemala, not Ecuador.
Raise your hand if you have lost track of how many channels Simon narrates. 10.. 15... 25?!!
We'll never know how many channels he hosts...'cause as soon as you count them all, he starts another one, or six.
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The inverted pyramid well probably had three sides because the fourth was the access ramp. Last job would be to fill the ramp with some bling.
Bitcoin is on a bullish run now. INVEST now that the market is appreciating, do that with my Expert
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