Top Tens – Tropes & Other: Top 10 Stone Ages / Stone Age Iceberg (Part 3: 4-5)

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Close-up of Stonehenge (public domain image)

 

 

(4) MEGALITHIC STONE AGE

 

Yes, I’ve coined the term Megalithic Stone Age because I love megaliths – “a megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones”, such as a standing stone or stone circle respectively as at everyone’s favorite megalithic site, Stonehenge.

Of course, the Megalithic Stone Age is mostly synonymous with the Neolithic – corresponding to settled agricultural communities having the necessary resources for moving large stones around the place – although “earlier Mesolithic examples are known” and they continued to be erected in the Bronze Age (including as I understand it, some of the phases of construction at Stonehenge).

“There are over 35,000 structures in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean”.

 

 

(5) MICROLITHIC STONE AGE

 

From one end of the scale to the other – from megaliths to microliths, I bring you the Microlithic Stone Age!

And no – sadly, that doesn’t mean there’s a tiny Stonehenge out there. “A microlith is a small stone tool, usually made of flint or chert and typically a centimetre or so in length and half a centimetre wide…were used in spear points and arrowheads”.

Microliths point to a greater sophistication of stone tools characteristic of the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic or even Neolithic, although they generally declined with the introduction of agriculture (as their predominant use was for hunting weapons).

Top Tens – Film: Top 10 Comics Films (Introduction)

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TOP 10 COMICS FILMS

 

Exactly what it says on the tin – my top ten films adapted from comics.

As I observed in my Top 10 Comics, comics are my guilty reading pleasure I have retained from childhood, much like animation in TV or film. And much like animation, whatever the comic, I’ll usually enjoy checking it or its characters out. However, I don’t read that many comics, let alone actively follow them. For most comics, I don’t go beyond checking them or their characters out in brief overview or review to reading them in depth. Usually, my interest is satisfied by the idea of a comic – or ideas in a comic – rather than the comic itself.

In particular, I don’t follow or read any comics from the ruling duopoly of DC and Marvel, although I have an enduring interest in and familiarity with many of their characters – but more in their film or television adaptations, hence this top ten, even if it leans towards entries adapted from comics by other publishers.

Similarly to my Top 10 Animated Films, my Top 10 Comics Films is effectively a subset of my Top 10 Fantasy & SF Films, as (almost) every entry is either fantasy or SF and I will note the extent of each entry as such. As a general rule, animated films lean towards fantasy, while films adapted from comics lean towards SF – consistent with the comics on which they are based. They also tend to be comedic in nature, with both verbal and visual humor – such that they might also effectively be a subset of my Top 10 Comedy Films and again I will note the extent of each entry as comedy.

Top Tens – Mythology: Top 10 Books (Special Mention: Revised Entry): (9) John Lindow – Norse Mythology

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(9) JOHN LINDOW –

NORSE MYTHOLOGY: A GUIDE TO THE GODS, HEROES, RITUALS & BELIEFS (2001)

 

“We come from the land of the ice and snow

From the midnight sun where the hot springs flow

The hammer of the gods

Will drive our ships to new lands

To fight the horde, sing and cry

Valhalla, I am coming”

 

I won’t tire of quoting the lyrics of Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song for Norse mythology, whether for its third place entry in my Top 10 Mythologies, or here for this special mention for the leading reference work on Norse mythology.

Of course, Norse is something of a misnomer, as it was a Germanic or Scandinavian mythology that extended throughout much of northern Europe, although it is most identified with Norway and Iceland (and Vikings!), also the source of its surviving texts.

“Norse Mythology explores the magical myths and legends of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Viking-Age Greenland and outlines the way the prehistoric tales and beliefs from these regions that have remained embedded in the imagination of the world.”

The book is essentially divided into three parts, with a postscript for print and non-print resources about Norse mythology. The first part is an introduction for the historical background of Scandinavian mythology (including “cult, worship and sacrifice”). The second part is a chapter on mythic time. The third and predominant part is effectively a reference dictionary of entries in alphabetical order “that presents in-depth explanations of each mythological term… particular deities and giants, as well as the places where they dwell and the varied and wily means by which they forge their existence and battle one another”.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

Top Tens – History (WW2): Top 10 Nazi-Soviet Wars / Nazi-Soviet War Iceberg (Part 2: 4-5)

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German advances during the opening phases of Operation Barbarossa from 22 June 1941 to 25 August 1941 – public domain image map by the History Department of the US Military Academy

 

 

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

 

(4) SOVIET-JAPANESE WAR

 

Japan is one of the two limited exceptions for Germany’s Axis allies that could and did fight the Soviet Union separately from Germany, albeit not too well.

Indeed, that was the issue for Germany, that its strongest ally Japan fought its strongest enemy, the Soviet Union, entirely separately from Germany itself – before and after Germany’s own war with the Soviet Union (with the former mostly before Germany even invaded Poland to commence the war in Europe).

Hence, Japan was conspicuous in its absence from the Nazi-Soviet war, so the impact of this entry is more one of omission than commission. Not that Germany particularly sought out Japanese involvement in its war against the Soviet Union – at least not until Germany’s initial victories began to wane to the point that Germany considered it might need Japanese involvement after all, by which point it was too little too late.

Japan had signed the Japanese-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact on 13 April 1941, a little over two months before Germany invaded the Soviet Union – reflecting how little Germany had coordinated with or even informed Japan with respect to its intentions.

In large part, that reflected the defeat of the Japanese army by the Soviets in war between them in 1939 that both combatants mostly kept secret from others – a war which also underlay the Soviet reasons to divert war with Germany away by the Nazi-Soviet Pact.

Given the weakness of the Japanese army against the Soviets, particularly in mechanized and armored forces, I am not sure whether any Japanese involvement in Germany’s war against the Soviet Union would have actually made any difference to the outcome, even in 1941 when it was most optimal for Japan or Germany.

Both the Soviet-Japanese war and the war in my next entry were also entries in my Top 10 Second World Wars.

 

(5) SOVIET-FINNISH WAR – WINTER & CONTINUATION WARS

 

Finland is the other of the two limited exceptions for Germany’s Axis allies that fought the Soviet Union separately from Germany, although it was more the Soviet Union that was allied to Germany than Finland at the time of the Winter War and it was not Finland’s choice to fight the Soviets as the latter invaded Finland.

The Winter War has quite the notoriety within Second World War history, primarily for the obvious Soviet expectations of a walkover only to be undone by the Finnish underdog against the odds, although ultimately Finland had to negotiate while they still had the means to avoid worse defeat.

That prompted Finland to participate in the German invasion of the Soviet Union in what the Finns called the Continuation War to reverse the losses of the Winter War, although it tried to do so as separately from Germany as possible. Finland held itself aloof from Germany, even to the extent of identifying as co-belligerent rather than ally and not signing the Tripartite Pact. Finland also refused to advance beyond certain points and had to demobilize part of its army from economic necessity in 1942.

Finland was also the first to see the logic of German defeat if Germany could not secure a quick victory, attempting to start peace negotiations with the Soviet Union as early as autumn 1941.

As a result, both of fighting as separately as possible and following the logic of German defeat as well as its successes in its own defence and Allied sympathy, Finland alone of Germany’s allies (and Germany itself) in the wider Nazi-Soviet war avoided occupation.

As noted in my previous entry, not only were the Soviet-Japanese war and the Soviet Finnish war both those two limited exceptions to Germany’s Axis allies fighting the Soviet Union separately, but they were both also entries in my Top 10 Second World Wars.

Top Tens – Film: Top 10 Animated Films

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“Steamboat Willie” – the animated short film that was the debut film distributed for Disney’s Mickey Mouse and one of the first cartoons with synchronized sound – now in public domain!

 

 

TOP 10 ANIMATED FILMS

 

Animation is my favorite medium, albeit more for TV series than film – my favorite TV series are always animated TV series. However, animated films aren’t far behind as there’s something about the animated medium that seems to retain creativity beyond the point where live-action medium counterparts exhausts it.

Of course, part of that might be the advantage the animated medium has in being able to depict things on screen through its definitive animation of art, which can only be replicated in the live-action medium, if at all, through practical or CGI effects. For me, live-action CGI effects still lag behind their animated counterparts, even that of digital animation – ironically both in terms of realism seamlessly with the live action components on screen and the emotional expressiveness of depiction. An example of the latter is that of animals, where animated art can depict them with more human-like features or expressions. For me, that was one of the issues with the recent Disney trend of live action remakes of their animated films. If your live action remake needs to be substantially or predominantly CGI to replicate the original animation or its characters, then you are essentially substituting one form of animation for another – and an inferior one at that.

Another part of my enjoyment of animated films – and hence my separate top ten for them – following from the above is their versatility for depicting fantasy or science fiction. The medium of animation seems ideally suited to fantasy or SF, perhaps even more so than the live-action film medium – except for the human attachment to seeing the human actors on screen, rather than hearing their voices from their animated avatars. Hence, my Top 10 Animated Films is effectively a subset of my Top 10 Fantasy & SF Films, as each entry is either fantasy or SF and I will note the extent of each entry as such. As a general rule, animated films lean towards fantasy, while films adapted from comics (for which I have a separate top ten) lean towards SF.

They also tend to be comedic in nature, with the animated medium being ideal for visual as well as verbal humor – such that they might also effectively be a subset of my Top 10 Comedy Films and again I will note the extent of each entry as comedy.

Anyway, these are my Top 10 Animated Films.

Top Tens – Tropes & Other: Top 10 Stone Ages / Stone Age Iceberg (Part 2) Neolithic & Mesolithic

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Map of the world showing approximate centres of origin of agriculture and its spread in prehistory: eastern USA (4000-3000 BP), Central Mexico (5000-4000 BP), Northern South America (5000-4000 BP), sub-Saharan Africa (5000-4000 BP, exact location unknown), the Fertile Crescent (11000 BP), the Yangtze and Yellow River basins (9000 BP) and the New Guinea Highlands (9000-6000 BP) by Joe Roe for Wikipedia “Neolithic” licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

 

 

(2) NEOLITHIC

 

The New Stone Age to the Paleolithic’s Old Stone Age and equally indisputable as second among my Top 10 Stone Ages, except perhaps to dispute that its more dramatic developments – often characterized as the Neolithic Revolution – are such that it eclipses the Paleolithic. Certainly, without it the subsequent balance of human history would not have occurred as it did, and we’d all still be in our happy hunting grounds.

It varies by geographical location but generally is considered to commence in 10,000 BC or so (in the ancient Near East) and continued to the development of metallurgy, variously from 4,500 BC in the ancient Near East to 2,000 BC in China.

“This ‘Neolithic package’ included the introduction of farming, domestication of animals, and change from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to one of settlement”.

 

(3) MESOLITHIC

 

Sigh – I suppose I have to count it in god-tier as part of the iconic tripartite division of the Stone Age but I don’t really believe in the Mesolithic as the amorphous period of transition between the Paleolithic and Neolithic, even if that period was generally millennia and varied by location.

I like my Stone Age as twofold division of Paleolithic and Neolithic, Old Stone Age and New Old Age. Apparently, I’m not the only one – the term was controversial for that reason upon its introduction in the nineteenth century but has subsequently been considered a useful concept.

The term Epipaleolithic is sometimes substituted, particularly for the prehistoric Near East.

Top Tens – History (WW2): Top 10 Nazi-Soviet Wars / Nazi-Soviet War Iceberg (Part 1: 1-3)

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German advances during the opening phases of Operation Barbarossa from 22 June 1941 to 25 August 1941 – public domain image map by the History Department of the US Military Academy

 

 

S-TIER (GOD TIER)

 

(1) NAZI-SOVIET WAR

 

Well, obviously. My top entry has to be the baseline of the conflict itself as a whole, which I look at in more detail as the top entry in my Top 10 Second World Wars. It might also be considered not just as a baseline but also as the superstructure of war between two ideological regimes – Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union – in the Second World War that overlaid the similar conflict between the two imperial states of Germany and Russia in the First World War.

In many ways, they were similar conflicts or even the same conflict. As German historian Fritz Fischer proposed in the so-called Fischer thesis (or Fischer controversy), Germany had the same fundamental aim in both world wars. That aim was to forge Germany as a world power (and pre-empt the rise of Russia as one) by the German domination of Europe (Mitteleuropa) and the annexation of territory, particularly from Russia itself.

The ideological conflict between the two regimes just added another layer to this German aim in both world wars – in large part heightening the brutality of the conflict (particularly towards civilians) as well as the much higher casualties of the Second World War compared to the First.

Ironically, despite their deadly ideological opposition, the two regimes had many traits in common, as indeed they were to find in their brief rapport with each other that enabled Germany to fight its British and French opponents first – and also which in effect had each regime feed off the other in developing their own regime or power.

 

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

(2) RUSSO-GERMAN WAR

 

Wait – what? Didn’t I just do this in my previous entry for the Nazi-Soviet war itself?

Well, not exactly. As I emphasized, that entry reflected the ideological conflict between the two regimes in the Second World War that overlaid the more traditional contest between their two states continuing on from the First. The war between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union was both a Nazi-Soviet war and a Russo-German war, the latter with a fundamental continuity of purpose and conflict from the First World War.

It also illustrates two important distinctions, one on each side.

Firstly, on the Axis side, Germany was not the only combatant, something which seems to be often forgotten, particularly by those counting up casualties on each side to somehow demonstrate German military “excellence” or “superiority” and usually overlooking the other Axis combatants to only tally up German casualties against all Soviet casualties.

Yes – Germany may have been the predominant combatant on the Axis side, without which the other Axis combatants, with two limited exceptions, could not have fought and did not fight the Soviet Union separately, but it remains that Germany did have other Axis allies fighting alongside it. The most substantial of these essentially comprise other entries in this top ten, although that does not include more minor combatants such as Slovakia or the approximately one million or so foreign volunteers or conscripts fighting with Germany against the Soviet Union – including from the Soviet Union itself, such as dissident ethnic groups or the Russian Liberation Army under General Vlasov.

Secondly, on the Soviet side, Russia itself was only a part, albeit the most substantial part, of all Soviet forces – which also drew, often critically, on the forces from the Soviet republics other than Russia or from the ethnic groups other than Russians within the Russian republic itself.

 

(3) NAZI-SOVIET PARTISAN WAR

 

The war between Axis forces and Soviet partisans behind Axis lines deserves to be considered in the highest tier of Nazi-Soviet warfare, even if it remained subordinate to and could not have achieved victory without the primary Soviet war effort.

Although in some cases, partisans were not subordinate to the Soviet war effort, fighting both the Axis and Soviet forces in turn.

And in others, those ethnic groups or Russians that actively allied themselves with Germany against the Soviet Union as noted in my previous entry might effectively be considered partisans on the Axis side, albeit ones that did not so much fight irregular partisan warfare as such but within conventional German military forces.

 

Top Tens – Tropes & Other: Top 10 Stone Ages / Stone Age Iceberg (1) Paleolithic

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Hunting a glyptodon – painting by Heinrich Harder c1920 (public domain image)

 

 

(1) PALEOLITHIC

 

The Paleolithic or Old Stone Age is indisputably first among my Top 10 Stone Ages – “as almost the entire period of human prehistoric technology”, as indeed it is of human existence, prehistoric or historic.

Its defining characteristic is the use of stone tools, extending from the first use of such tools by hominins about 3 million years ago to the end of the Pleistocene Epoch or what is more colloquially known as the Ice Age in about 12,000 BC – the Stone Age largely overlaps with the Ice Age.

The Paleolithic has a tripartite division as the Lower Paleolithic (3 million years to 300,000 years ago) marked by hominins using stone tools, the Middle Paleolithic (300,000 years ago to 50,000 years ago) marked by the evolution of anatomically modern humans (and their migration out of Africa), and the Upper Paleolithic (50,000 to 12,000 years ago) marked by the emergence of behaviourally modern humans (and their migration beyond Africa and Eurasia).

I always find it striking that the terminology of Upper to Lower Paleolithic goes from more recent to less recent – with the Lower going very low indeed to over 3 million years ago. Hence, I was tempted to coin the term Deep Stone Age, but it is essentially synonymous with the Lower Paleolithic. As I noted in my introduction, I was also tempted to use each of these subdivisions – Upper, Middle, and Lower Paleolithic – as entries in this top ten but considered I should be more creative.

However, that terminology would match up with the Stone Age as iceberg meme, moving from upper to lower with the latter indeed proportionate to the 90% or so proportion of an iceberg under the surface that is the premise of the iceberg meme. Arguably a true Stone Age iceberg should do the same, in terms of going deeper into what I dubbed the Deep Stone Age, but I’ve inverted it with the Paleolithic on top to reflect its prominence rather than depth of time.

 

RATING:

S-TIER (GOD-TIER – OR IS THAT STONE-TIER?)

Top Tens – History (WW2): Top 10 Nazi-Soviet Wars / Nazi-Soviet War Iceberg (Introduction)

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German advances during the opening phases of Operation Barbarossa from 22 June 1941 to 25 August 1941 – public domain image map by the History Department of the US Military Academy

 

 

TOP 10 NAZI-SOVIET WARS / NAZI-SOVIET WAR ICEBERG

 

The Nazi-Soviet war – fought from commencement of Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941 through to German surrender on 8 May 1945 – was the top entry in my Top 10 Second World Wars.

However, the concept behind that list – one of my tongue-in-cheek top ten lists I look at a subject which has a fundamental continuity but which also can be demarcated into distinct parts in their own right – can also be applied to the Nazi-Soviet War given its primacy and scale, as I noted in its entry.

If you prefer, you can think of this as a Nazi-Soviet war iceberg meme. To be frank, it can’t be so clearly demarcated into distinct or effectively separate parts as the Second World War, given the more far-flung scale and span of the latter. The components of the conflict which I identify as ‘wars’ within it for entries in this top ten are mostly much more overlapping and difficult to separate from the conflict as a whole.

Even so, I think looking at them as separate components of or ‘wars’ within the conflict – in the form of this top ten list or iceberg – can be instructive and potentially offer new perspectives on the conflict as a whole.

However, reflecting that most of the entries are much less distinct parts of the conflict as a whole than in my Top 10 Second World Wars, this will be more one of my shallow dip top tens – with shorter entries – than the deep dive of the latter. Essentially, almost all entries have a focus on particular combatants within the war. A few entries effectively repeat entries from my Top 10 Second World Wars so will be mostly abbreviated to links or references to that top ten

Top Tens – Tropes & Other: Top 10 Stone Ages / Stone Age Iceberg (Introduction)

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Gjantija Temples in Gozo, Malta, 3600-2500 BC, by Bone A and used as the feature image for Wikipedia “Stone Age” under license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

 

 

TOP 10 STONE AGES / STONE AGE ICEBERG

 

It’s my Top 10 Stone Ages!

Wait – what? Wasn’t there only the one Stone Age?

Well, yes and no.

Yes, as in it’s another one of my (mostly) tongue in cheek top ten lists where I look at a subject which has a fundamental continuity or unity but which can also be broken up into distinct parts or perspectives. Alternatively, you can think of it as my Stone Age iceberg meme.

And no, as in when you have an “age” that is over 99% of human history (or more precisely prehistory) extending back 3 million years (and hence well before our present human species, homo sapiens) with a complexity and versatility to match its duration, it can readily be broken up or classified into smaller parts.

And indeed, it usually is, with one of the best known demarcations breaking it up into three parts – which account for my top three entries – albeit they are hardly equal parts with the first part as the overwhelming majority of the Stone Age.

Beyond that, I could have relied on further subdivisions of the traditional three-part division but I chose to get a little more creative instead with different perspectives to round out the balance of entries. I could also have relied on geographic divisions as the Stone Age persisted longer in different parts of the world, arguably even to what is otherwise the modern period of history elsewhere.

As such, like my other top ten lists for “ages”, this will be more one of my shallow dip top tens – with shorter entries – than my deep dive top tens on other subjects.