yawn. dragging it out to 8 minutes.

Very good question… I always wonder

The incas used concrete

Could be . . .

Are ancestors were not stupid.

I was told they were that shape so they could easily be set upright in sand, there’s Roman writing that says they considered the shape sacred and had copied it from older cultures - in other words they had no idea themselves. But to ancient middle eastern cultures the ability to stand the. In sand would have been a real benefit

There must have been a particular kind of a loop-and-knot arrangement, to support them properly with minimum framework required. It would have been easy to tie knots, but more problematic to make wooden structures for every different storeroom or ship's hold; every different set of amphorae; etc.

Ease of manufacture and strength would accoount for the shape.

Twas concrete

I personally believe all of these unexplained megalithic sites are pre younger dryas

A key notion, if you’ve ever tried digging and cleaning out a hole, the biggest challenge is to square out the base for a flat bottom. A natural taper toward a deepest center is significantly easier to produce.

I’ve been wondering about those pointy bottoms for years. Thanks!

This video is mostly explaining the concept of basements.

Seems from the picture of two men carrying the container, the more narrow bottom gave more space for the legs to walk without bumping it. It was likely a balance and physics based reason. When I am carrying a bottle if I hold it at the narrow top the contents slosh a lot. If I tip it upside down with spout at the bottom the liquid stays still.

Ive always wondered how someone first decided to make a clay jug and how they figured out of you fore clay it will harden and how to make ceramics especially since iy was invented before written language.

Wow

Best @ 1.75 x speed

They would be easier to pull out of the ground. The shape would be stronger for ground storage when using clay.

Umm, but the shape is so they float - I can't believe you didn't mention that. The difference between a flat bottomed amphora and a pointed bottom one is buoyancy.

Your new idea makes no sense, because it has nothing to do with them being pointy. They could be buried even without a pointy base.

What sort of clay was used for these? Unglazed terracotta (earthenware) is porous after firing, which is why it is used to make 'olla's' to water plants.

Flat bottom containers can be package easily and provide more volume and they won't shift as readily during transport. Packing them in crates with padding or straw makes more sense than complicated racks and wooden contraptions to fit the shape. But since you don't have a forklift, crates are impractical. Enter the amphora. They're just easier to carry by hand by a single individual. Grab a big handle up top with your left hand, tip it forward and grab the 'handle' at the bottom and pick it up easily and with a better grip than a flat edged bottom. A long line of workers can just carry them in or out one at a time and stack them quickly and easily. Add a handle to each end of cylinder plus a spout at one end and you have amphora. A hundred people, slaves maybe, could load a ship in no time. Rolling them on the tip would only make sense for something gigantic. Smaller vessels would take too long to roll when carrying them would be easier. Besides, you would see the wear on them commonly and it would be noted. I'm sure it occurred but only as a point of lazy convenience rather than intent. Burying them in the ground for cooling only makes sense for large volume, long term storage. Digging up and burying millions of these over and over again would be pointless simply on the basis of how disposable they appear to be.

So a flat bottom can't be below ground surface, only a pointed bottom can? Your lengthy explanation focuses on the wrong thing and makes no sense.

North of Alicante, Spain, there is a mountain town (I forget its name) and near it there is a small natural cave that goes about four meters into the solid rock on the north side of a hill. The sun never shines there (no pun intended) and the inside of the cave is always very cool. I visited it twice, once in the middle of summer. It was strange to walk from the hot air outside into that decidedly cold chamber. The temperature difference was many degrees.

3:00 he gets to the point.

I can't think of any reason the shape of the bottom facilitates burying.

Would these amphora be difficult to make, on a potters wheel etc.?

Have any amphoras been found or dug up configured as you describe?

I was going to guess pointy butt rolls in an arc like a plover's egg, so would be slower to roll away if they got loose. Video and comments are rich with better reasons, as well!

Ship Ballast was ofter rocks or gravel...these could be worked into it and provide extra ballast

I think the knobs were used as a leverage knob to either lift or flip the stones somehow. I cant help but think they used water to shape these stones, but I just don't see how they could have pressurized it to the degree needed to cut through anything. Pressurized water is actually the sharpest cutter in the world. Close 2nd is Diamond. Look it up ;)

😂😂😂😂 lots of theories snd no evidence in sight. 😂😂😂😂

Please don’t be influenced by insidious current attempts at denial of Christianity. BC and AD define the years of Our Lord. Reject "common era" stuff (CE & BCE).

What do I think in the comments below? Well, I think there is one best reason to make those bases pointy: if those bases would be flat, people would set up the amphorae upright. And this would call for havocs of all kind. Including the domino effect ...

One of the Spanish explorers I believe gave a report that they used a reddish mortor between joints and applied it to outside of rock as well causing it to be melted together and excess was scooped

Your accent is just as annoying as an indian one, particularly when you say thousand.

One could hypothesize as well that with their pointed bases, if they were held in some type of a mount, either in the ground or in a racking system through some type of hole, they might be less likely to tip over during an earthquake

While the shape may ship better it does not keep the wine cooler.

Not every old ceramic vessel is an amphora. The story line meanders sometimes. It is cooler below surface. You can overdue it with that topic.

One little issue: the Incas have never claimed to have built megalithic architecture. They say someone before them built them.

Okay, lots of interesting conjecture, but wow not much actual scientific data other than “cooler below the surface, which as been known for forever.” It probably not something we or anyone else really needs to be concerned about.😊

At least this stays away from the ridiculous “Alien theory”. People are smarter in many ways the further you go back in history. Look at our some of our most complicated math and languages, they go back to the beginning.

I worked underground on the edge of the Western Desert of Western Australia. Last summer (2023/24) had daytime maxima of 45+C. By the time you get 100M underground that temperature steadies at 24C. Of course being a desert climate it gets very cold in winter especially at night. Standing in the cage ready to go down the shaft at night was horrible. By the time we arrived at 11 level (385M) underground it was lovely. AND if you have a cold or the flu the elevated air pressure and salt content made us feel great after 20 or so minutes. At the end of shift you feel marvelous but sadly by the time you get home its back to shiver's and shakes.

They had help.

Finally someone thought of the same thing I have. I always thought it was for sticking it in the ground for cooling. But I also like the explanation about collecting residue on the bottom, it makes sense. The rest of explanations are not as satisfactory as these two, in my opinion.

I appreciate your informative & concise video. In my work in a cultural history museum's exhibition department we displayed a few amphora'. The largest one I can remember took six people to lift. The only practical way to present it was on the floor in a pile of dirt.

great use of ancient pottery guy i love him

Being ambitious is fine, but it looks like these guys are going so above and beyond with the design that they forgot to plan how to move it.

0:48 i know this sounds like a cheap joke, but which georgia? im from georgia in the us and there is bright red clay in the ground all over the place.

They werent moved they were put togheter like the parthenon or poured. like the pantheon roof. Concrete.