Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Stonehenge and Silk Production

We're learning about the origins of Chinese civilization and began our studies on astronomy.  I found a couple of informative videos on You Tube that were quite interesting.

The process of silk production caught our attention.  To be honest, I seriously did not know that silk came from the cacoons of silkworms.  Silkworms.  The name says it all, yet I still didn't make the connection!  Oh well, at least I know now. :)  And I also now know that the Chinese were the first to discover this process.

This is a nice video about the production of silk.  I'm sure there are many other videos but this is one that we watched and found interesting.



We just started reading Exploring Creation with Astronomy.  One of the subjects in the first chapter is about calendars and how the ancients used the lights in the sky to tell the time of day, month, and season.  The book shows a picture of Stonehenge.  Although no one is certain, it's possible that Stonehenge served as a seasonal calendar.  But how can a picture possible show the enormity of those stones?  And although travelling to England would make for a fascinating and memorable field trip, that's just not doable!  So, again, I searched You Tube for a video, and found many.  But there is one that is a three part series and is quite interesting.  We watched the first two.



It's amazing to know that these stones were erected about 4500 years ago and that each stone weighs between 50,000 and 80,000 pounds and are harder than granite!  Given their size and weight, and the fact that there isn't any natural source for stones anywhere near Stonehenge, you have to wonder how people were able to move them to that location without machinery, and why.

I love learning about God's wonderful world!

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