I got this idea after arguing with a racist about the importance of nurture versus nature and the usual white supremist ideology of why sophisticated architecture emerges from cultures of the middle east and further north and not in central and Southern parts of Africa.
When humanity migrated from Africa it caused some peculiar adaptations. For the tens of not hundreds of thousands of years humanity lived on ice sheets as they moved north into Europe, and Asia the art of constructing Igloos is highly probable to have been developed sometime during that period. Thinking how meanable ice is, cutting blocks or forming them and then stacking them into shelters isn't a far leap. Such an adaptation establishes architectural principles of how to balance weight, form arches and ceilings using blocks. The ice ages last long enough for humans to have migrated from the extremes of Europe and Asia, even Siberia back to the warmer southern regions, inclusive of the middle east, bringing back the knowledge of igloo like building. Understanding the technology of how blocks can be balanced, stacked and fitted to build shelters can naturally be extended to other materials like stone.
Looking at where monuments have been built it seems rational that the art of block forming came about from cultures that had been influenced by humans that lived on ice sheets. e.g. In central Africa there aren't those kinds of structures in the way they are in South America. Central Africa's tropical environment is difficult for developing large societies, the soil is like cement, the problems with malaria force tribes to be small and distant from one another. South America has similar issues but the cultures did build monuments and shelters with blocks. The difference between the cultures of South America to those of central Africa is the experience of living on ice sheets!
The Clovis people migrated from Siberia and China where using blocks of ice to form shelters was common. The Clovis like cultures, and some say some did sail along the coast of the western Americas to get to Nazca, adapted ice block stacking to other materials, such as stone and clay. The Zimbabwe culture doesnt violate this theory since it is known that the people of Zimbabwe were influenced by northern African cultures whom they traded with.
Without the exodus from Africa and living in the harsh icing environments of Europe and Asia people may not have developed the technology of block buildings. Just an idea
When humanity migrated from Africa it caused some peculiar adaptations. For the tens of not hundreds of thousands of years humanity lived on ice sheets as they moved north into Europe, and Asia the art of constructing Igloos is highly probable to have been developed sometime during that period. Thinking how meanable ice is, cutting blocks or forming them and then stacking them into shelters isn't a far leap. Such an adaptation establishes architectural principles of how to balance weight, form arches and ceilings using blocks. The ice ages last long enough for humans to have migrated from the extremes of Europe and Asia, even Siberia back to the warmer southern regions, inclusive of the middle east, bringing back the knowledge of igloo like building. Understanding the technology of how blocks can be balanced, stacked and fitted to build shelters can naturally be extended to other materials like stone.
Looking at where monuments have been built it seems rational that the art of block forming came about from cultures that had been influenced by humans that lived on ice sheets. e.g. In central Africa there aren't those kinds of structures in the way they are in South America. Central Africa's tropical environment is difficult for developing large societies, the soil is like cement, the problems with malaria force tribes to be small and distant from one another. South America has similar issues but the cultures did build monuments and shelters with blocks. The difference between the cultures of South America to those of central Africa is the experience of living on ice sheets!
The Clovis people migrated from Siberia and China where using blocks of ice to form shelters was common. The Clovis like cultures, and some say some did sail along the coast of the western Americas to get to Nazca, adapted ice block stacking to other materials, such as stone and clay. The Zimbabwe culture doesnt violate this theory since it is known that the people of Zimbabwe were influenced by northern African cultures whom they traded with.
Without the exodus from Africa and living in the harsh icing environments of Europe and Asia people may not have developed the technology of block buildings. Just an idea
