'The sky and land the inspiration, the monuments in adoration? '
Yes, but not as we would understand it today. That the ancients chose special areas in the landscape for the building of their temples/monuments is indisputable. There's even a new branch of archaeology called landscape archaeology. They also chose, in a more pragmatic way, the best areas geologically as well as agriculturally, for their dwellings, which were much more comfortable than we have been led to believe in popular representations. The troglodyte remains unfortunatly etched in our post-Christian Victorian psyche.
Their minds were exactly as advanced as ours, biologically speaking, yet their psychology was not. Unaffacted by invasions, upheavals, wars and religious intolerance as we have been for the last 2,000 years and information-overload-plus-mis-information as we have been for the last 50, their minds had plenty of mental space for, within the confines of the natural world, create their own conception of the universe.
Using stone and wood is *no sign* of backwardness. Believing in the cosmic gods or the natural forces means no lack of scientific knowledge. In fact, a lot of information can very often be fatal. Shed yourself of the unnecessary straitjacket of scientific rationalism and vision starts to pour into your mind.
The creation of, say, Silbury, or the greatest passage graves, are a clear indication of the emerging need for the ancients to imitate the land and her follies. Travelling the land gives you an amazing insight into ancient man, cos it is precisely what ancient man did. Amazing distances on foot, a deep knowledge of the landscape, in both its spiritual and pragmatic sense, and an intense desire to worship the place that gave him/her shelter and life created the megalithic monuments as we know them today. Any other far-fetched theories of extraterrestrial help or god-given brains are patronising to say the least.
Although we must also take into account the common wisdom passed down to us through the generations in the Paleolithic (check the incredible perfection of the French/Spanish cave paintings, even cosmic signs or musical instruments of 20,000 years ago), any human born again in the year 4,000 BCE would feel exactly the same way, surrounded by land, wood and stone alone, only the grandfathers' deep knowledge of the land, spiritual wisdom and varied folklore, the information to really absorb (and there wasn't any other!). The distinct megalithic cultures throughout history and prehistory in many different parts of the world go to show that there is an innate spiritual sense in the adoration of what surrounds you, that precedes any made-up stories of miracles or doctrines by any one man in particular.
Adoration of the land? Inspiration? Science? Art? Music? The spiritual? It was all ONE. Separation of those things as we know it today was non-existent, as well as unnecessary. Although totally bare in material technology and information, that lack of division is what made ancient man so intensely visionary and his life such a full-on trip.
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