Re: Clockwise without clocks

On Fri, 01 Apr 2005 06:47, H. S. Teoh wrote:
> [Multiple replies to keep total posts down]
>
> On Wed, Mar 30, 2005 at 07:35:07PM -0700, Muke Tever wrote:
> > Gary Shannon <fiziwig@...> wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> [...]
> >
> > But what of those cultures that don't know the wheel?
>
> Are there any (real) cultures that don't know the wheel? I can't think
> of any offhand.
I knew one, but it had already encountered the wheel before I was born amongst
it in the valleys and hills of Papua Niugini.  And the Australian Aboriginals
never knew any such thing, nor did the Polynesians, though the Polynesians
were advanced in material culture enough to the degree of building the most
advanced stone-age ocean-crossing watercraft - to the degree they make the
Viking dragon-ships look quite primitive in some respects.
>
> > That's why I prefer using the sun as the referent for "clockwise"
> > motion.  I wonder if there is any lexeme in the American Indian
> > cultures for this concept, prior to colonization.
>
Well, the sun has the advantage in being universally known.
> [...]
>
> You mean the pre-colonial Amerindian cultures don't know the wheel?
> That's interesting.
It seems to have been related to the development of smelting.  Stone Age
peoples like the pre-colonial Americans never got that far.
>
>
> T
>
> --
> Never step over a puddle, always step around it. Chances are that whatever
> made it is still dripping.
Wesley Parish
--
Clinersterton beademung, with all of love - RIP James Blish
-----
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You ask, what is the most important thing?
Maku e ki, he tangata, he tangata, he tangata.
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