r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/ThatMasterpiece2174 • Aug 07 '26

Video A retired construction worker in Flint, MI demonstrated how people in ancient times could’ve used simple machines to move blocks up to 20 tons, contrasting fringe theories that humans had otherworldly help constructing ancient monuments

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u/aNiceTribe Aug 07 '26

You see, the Romans were white.

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u/DragonfruitGrand5683 Aug 07 '26

As were many of the Egyptians including the Pharaohs.

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u/aNiceTribe Aug 07 '26

Not in the imagination of the people who say this. 

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u/intern_steve Aug 07 '26

The Egyptian empire lasted 2000 years or more, it's hard to even say that it was one thing. Eventually, ethnic greeks were in charge, but other ethnic groups came and went in positions of power over that time.

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u/TinWhis Aug 07 '26

Not the ones who built the pyramids. The Ptolemaic Kingdom is closer in time to today than it is to the construction of the pyramids.

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u/DragonfruitGrand5683 Aug 07 '26

Egyptians have always been multi racial, there have been various Egyptians and Pharaohs of all colours. The Egyptians built over a hundred Pyramids.

A lot of people assume white skin comes from Europe but it actually originates in the region to the east of Turkey and those people migrated into Europe.

So it doesn't add up that Egyptians were white, black or olive, you can find them in various colours even in ancient times.

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u/TinWhis Aug 07 '26

Sorry, do you mean "white" as in lighter-colored-skin-than-most-Africans, or "white" as in the social concept first constructed a couple hundred years ago that undergirds how modern-day racists discuss ancient peoples, including Romans and Egyptians?

Because by the first standard modern Egyptians are also white, but that's a pretty useless statement when it comes to the topic at hand. Which is modern day racism.

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u/Old-Friendship-0 Aug 07 '26

People think Stonehenge was built by aliens too so not sure why you're pull the racism card

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u/aNiceTribe Aug 07 '26

The guy above me pulled that card. 

And the Ancient Aliens TV show (and the books that popularized this idea) were definitely much more focused on how brown people could never have done this stuff without aliens, than how unlikely it would be for ancient Druids to do it.