The Great Epic

They had won the beasts, and humans began to proliferate.

Mankind begins to take animals around. They keep them all together and within their territory, separate from other mankind (on their property).

When it rains, it pours. Modern drainage has allowed us to forget what rain on the plains is like. Mud is uncomfortable. Normally cattle range farther, and escape the mud, but while enslaved for meat, they had no choice but to remain in one place.

They might try to climb a mound or hill, (on the plains low ground might even flow), but they would make mud and slip down as an entire heard fights for the high point.

It wouldn’t take long for the herd to squish any size of dirt mound into a mud-pit. If unable to roam, the mud-pit would dry more slowly. The herd could be trapped in the mud for an entire season. Even with room to roam, Various sizes of herd could destroy the vegetation of a large area, making virtually any space a group of humans could defend and maintain ownership of into an eroding mess.

Disease runs Rampant.

Gangrene (plague), Virus’s (plague), Bacteria (plague), attitude (plague) and other ailments all run rampant in muddy hells, even in more modern times! It is unlikely that people (our ancestors, who are genetically identical to us) would ignore the problem if they became aware of a solution. However, with modern technology, a lack of relevant experience can make it difficult to imagine how ancient innovations might work (plague).

The people of the mountains.

Near mountains and rocky hills, grazing animals are very successful, and are able to escape the mud. The discussion of the mountains is too long to truly include, so please bear in mind that it is unlikely that thousands of years of development could have come from one fact or aspect of conditions. However, many ideas must have come from this success. Hill and mountain peoples are revered in every culture.

Hills have problems.

• Rock-slides. • Mud-slides• They cause rain, and see flash floods. • Snow-melt• They hide predators• They hide bandits• They freeze suddenly, and out of season. They

melt suddenly, and out of season. • They are difficult to navigate with tools and

wheels.

Hills dry quickly.

Weather is like physics and chemistry. There are macro- and micro-scale weather systems. At the macro-scale, continents see pressure changes from heating and expansion that cause wind. At the micro-scale, things are different. Single hills and mountains have isolated and “personal” “weather patterns” at all times, and especially when not overpowered by continental systems. This is also true for plains, depressions, lakes, trees, boulders, roads, rooftops, etc.

Hills dry quickly (cont.)

Heat rises. More accurately, heating causes air to expand, and become lighter (per volume) than cooler air. The cooler air is acted on by gravity and pulled towards the earth more powerfully than the lighter air (more mass means more energy). This is another complex area of discussion. If the air heats evenly across a large area, the exchange of air (convection) may not occur immediately because there is no path of least resistance.

(air heats evenly across an area)

As the air below is heated by the solar warming of the earth’s surface, it becomes lighter, and should float on the cooler air above. Because the air heats evenly, however, the even distribution of potential energy causes the cooler air to “balance” on the lighter air below, and no airflow occurs.

This would cause humid air in the plains to remain in place, and keep the ground muddy.

A high point, such as the top of a hill, would create a situation that allows the warmer air to escape. “Perhaps”: the force of gravity is less at the top of the structure, the angle of the warming air mass causes the mass to work together (pushing up the side), the highest point gets earlier sunlight, making it warm first, etc. (note: although in our minds warm air rises, actually it is the opposite, and cool air merely sinks more than warm air due to its higher density.)

This air-flow dries the ground.

There is a variety of discussions that can take place on this statement. There are a variety of benefits to the environmental effect, and a variety of things that would develop as a result of understanding this aspect of surface materials in sunlight.

It must have been discovered that rocks on a mound would have this effect. Rocky hills are legendary in every culture. “speculation”: Monoliths were developed to maintain hills and provide a safe and sanitary place to go for cattle. They may have also been urban centers, as people aren’t much different from cattle. (Cattle are people too! Buut we eat them.) The rock would not conduct photosynthesis, so all of the solar energy that hits it would convert to heat, encouraging convection. Following rainfall, a herd could be taken to the monolith, and more livestock would survive over time. Again, this effect would also pertain to people. Essentially, the monolith is ventilation technology, or an early sanitation effort.

Golden Urban Centers.

Athens….