No, this is not always true. It depends on what
you mean with "great". Huge and large or impressive
and important? The impressive and important
architectural monuments of a civilization are
not always erected early in that civilization's
ascendancy.
Machu Picchu was built near the end of the
Inca empire (around 1400 AD). The Acropolis
of Athens was constructed and rebuilt mainly
around 430 BC, at the end of Classical Greece.
The ancient Egyptians built pyramids during a
long time, during the whole Old Kingdom
(from 2500-2100 BC). It is true that the
first true pyramids (from Cheops, Chephren
and Mykerinos ) were the largest. The famous
Luxor Temples were founded much later during
the Middle Kingdom 1400 BC. And the
Abu Simbel temples in the South are great
architectural monuments, too, they were
built by Ramesses (Ramses) II in the New
Kingdom near the end of the ancient Egyptian
civilization.
The pyramids of Teotihuacan were very large,
but the ones from Tikal, Palenque and Chichen
Itza are even more impressive. They are great
monuments as well! It is known that Teotihuacan
had a very strong influence on Tikal and other
Maya cities, maybe some of the Maya pyramids
are an attempt to surpass or imitate the ones
in Teotihuacan, just as Cheops tried to surpass
his father Snofru.
So it is true that the early monuments are
often the biggest or the most primitive and
simple ones. They often serve as a model
or prototype for later constructions. But
they are not always the greatest.
If we consider this as a feature of an
evolutionary system, then the early
forms explore the spatial dimension
(from tiny bacteria to huge dinosaurs)
while the late forms explore the more
complex dimensions (from intelligent
mammals to humans).
-J.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Pamela McCorduck" <[email protected]>
To: "The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2010 4:07 PM
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Palenque, Chichen Itza and Katyn
Jerry Sabloff, the president of the Santa Fe Institute, whose specialty
is the archaeology (and thus the life) of everyday Mayan civilization,
gave a little talk in late December to a small group where he mentioned
in passing that the great architectural monuments of a civilization are
nearly always erected early in that civilization's ascendancy--the
Egyptian pyramids, the Mayan ziggurats, etc.
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