Any sufficiently *unfamiliar* technology....

[moon_custafer]

How come no one ever tries to claim Chartres was built with help from extraterrestrials? Flying buttresses and keystone arches are *way* more complicated than pyramids.

Comments

[leave-harmony.livejournal.com]

I always reckoned the reason the accomplishments of western civilizations weren't questioned like that is 'cos A.) at least some records of the planning / construction survived (on account of the whole population of what is now France was never just wiped clean out), and B.) the notion that ancient Egyptians / Mayans / Inca / Aztecs couldn't possibly have simply been brilliantly innovative or resourceful is vaguely racist. Brown, non-Christian people could concieve & execute architectural marvels? Naaaah, it totally had to be aliens.

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

You're right - I just figured the "everyone who lived between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance was superstitious barbarian" myth would have had some people speculating.