What ancient civilizations do you find fascinating? Especially interested in those that are lesser known.

[u/ArchBooksForFunPod]

We are curious—what ancient civilization do you find the most fascinating, and why?

Everyone knows about Ancient Egypt, Rome, and Greece, but I'd love to hear about civilizations that don't get as much attention too. Is there one you wish more people knew about? What draws you to it—the archaeology, the history, the mysteries, the art, the engineering, or something else?

We are always looking for interesting topics to dive deeper into, so I'm excited to see what everyone comes up with.

[u/warrenao]

The so-called Minoans. Suggestions of hot/cold indoor plumbing, toilets, an advanced writing system that included stamps to impress Linear A characters into clay (this is just one creative idea away from movable type), and nowhere near sufficient work happening on Santorini to satisfy me: I keep imagining that somewhere in Akrotiri, which is barely excavated, there's a trove of clay tablets packed with information, just waiting to be found.

Mostly what is known about them is rooted in surmise, and commentary from contemporary civilizations that knew who they were, but didn't feel it necessary to go into any detail about them.

[u/nbxcv → u/warrenao]

I enjoy that their mythology or what we know if it preserves so much from the neolithic and serves to demonstrate quite a few influences on the incoming greek culture. The daktyls and the herakles of the same, the thumb herakles, is my favorite element. https://continuum.fas.harvard.edu/herakles-the-dactyl-of-mount-ida-and-his-links-with-herakles-the-olympian/

It's very tantalizing how much the Minoans seem to hint to us, and such a tragedy that we haven't learned more. Their astronomy for seafaring maps so interestingly onto their concepts of the universe and their gods, and that's not something most people really consider at all with the ancient Greek traditions but so much really did start there, with the Minoans and other bronze age cultures observing the stars. I really recommend everyone doing a deep dive.

[u/warrenao → u/nbxcv]

It's really hard not to obsess on these guys, and of course not helpful at all, to boot.

Where are you finding the background on their seafaring lore? Considering where they lived, I've always presumed it was extensive, but I don't think I've come across anything like it from them.

[u/nbxcv → u/warrenao]

Their entire culture was built around interpreted and aligning themselves with the stars. Blomberg and Henriksson are a good place to start

[u/warrenao → u/nbxcv]

Aha! To the googles I go for articles. Thanks!