Hearted Youtube comments on Dan Davis History (@DanDavisHistory) channel.

  1. equestrianism and the concept of chivalry are deeply intertwined. many people associate chivalry with the middle ages, but it has existed long before like a thread stretching from the indoeuropean invasions through to the medieval period. the horse and it’s significance to human history is fascinating.
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  2. Being a ships enthousiast, and wrking as a professional boatbuilder, I rarely have seen such an accurate display of what was, might have been and could not have been about boats, boatbuilding and sailing with them. In particulair archeologists have a tendency to misunderstand boats as they rarely inform themselves enough by boatbuilders, sailors. My appreciation for this! And of course I would love to see more videos about these ancient boats!
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  3. It seems likely they were companion animals; given the significance of the sacrifice. It certainly would be a traumatic experience. Excellent content as always Dan!
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  4. I just want to say that this is probably the best way to promote a book I've yet to see. My interest is well beyond piqued at this point.
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  5. Nice introduction. The basic farmhouse design, with thatched roofs, still exist in this area. The biggest change is that wattle and daub is replaced with brick and the three room partition is reorganised. They average around 40 meters in length and are referred to as Saxon farms, however they are a historical continuity from the TRB culture to this day. In some rare cases the megaliths are still on the same property. By the way, you can combine the Swifterbant with the Ertebølle they are the same people just classified different by modern regional archeologists.
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  6. I have to fix my lunch first, but the moment I'm back I am gonna watch this. Otzi is one of my favorite archaeological stories, has been ever since I first read about him as a kid in my Eyewitness book on early humans - it never fails to make me emotional that we can look into the (admittedly damaged) face of a Copper Age man, and know we'll never learn everything about his life and world, but still learn so much that we never would without him. I wonder what he'd think if he ever knew he was now a planet-wide celebrity in a far distant future he never could've imagined?
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  7. Your description of the ancient soul is excellent. There’s often way too many modern assumptions baked in when we hear soul. There’s a reason why the soul is called the breath of life in the Bible for instance
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  8. There sure was a lot going on in Europe before the Romans. Alas, only with them came the practice of writing things down.
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  9. What people tend to forget is what is taboo to us is quit normal to other societies and our ancestors. Some commentors found this gross or off putting. I found it incredibly entertaining and informative. Thank you.
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  10. I love how you talk TO your audience, not AT them👍🏻
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  11. great work Dan!
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  12. The intro was amazing. So sad your books are not available in Poland. The video is great, as allways. Greetings and salutations.
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  13. Yes! finally a video on the Vinca culture ;)
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  14. Visiting West Kennet and Wayland's Smithy was legitimately one of the greatest experiences of my life. Crazy to think that when these were made there were relect populations of wooly mammoths on Wrangle Island.
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  15. Your documentaries are so deeply engaging, Dan, thank you! The narration, the detailed graphics - just exceptional! Happy to be a Patreon.
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  16. Very enjoyable video, Mr. Davis. I remember chatting with people about a Bronze Age European grave that had a body foreign to the local culture; we were wondering how it might have ended up there, seemingly buried with honor. Someone suggested the man was accepted into society through his service to the local chief. Interesting to see that concept expanded upon here! Top quality, as always. Cheers!
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  17. Very interesting! I am very interested in the female tattoos from prehistory and the ancient world. Can you please do a video on the masks of Europe? Where all the European end of year/early spring celebration of the evil spirits going away and the rebirth of nature with masks and jumping over fire. It exists basically in all Europe and nobody truly knows the origins of these similar rituals and customs.
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  18. I wouldn't be surprised if the first person to mount a horse, was a kid who mounted up on the back of their pet, because they didn't know any better. The horse trusted the owner, and the kid didn't weight too much to cause the animal pain and discomfort.
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  19. The Lake District has a unique variety known as 'Long Cairns', dating around 3700 BC. A few examples, notably Raiset Pike Long Cairn, show evidence of stone rows along their spines, and a staggered building process over centuries. Many examples have very close landscape features, either small valleys or crags (rocks) - suggesting they were positioned to overlook them. This may suggest they were built in woodlands. They're also often found in later Bronze Age cairnfields; areas where people dumped field clearance rubble. Rather than treating them like a dump, it seems Bronze Age people chose to cultivate landscapes away from the long mounds, while depositing smaller cairns around them as a way of preservation.
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  20. I actually live very close to where amesbury archer 's burial place was discovered. Beautiful sky, beautiful sunsets. I sometimes feel in touch with those of long ago who must have also watched the wonderfully beautiful sunsets. what a great privilege for me.
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  21. This reminded me of something I haven’t thought about in years. In wales there’s a tradition called the Mari lwyd, a guy hidden in a horse skull costume and a few supporters go around the village trying to get into peoples houses by challenging the families to a singing battle. if the Mari lwyd gains entrance into the house it and it’s supporters help themselves to the households food and drink, this is said to bring the family good luck for the coming year. Seems like an obvious connection.
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  22. Amazing in depth analysis of the man and his times. Finally someone broke the taboo and told the story of the sexual abuse he had to endure at the otoman court. He lived in cruel times and he had to be cruel in order to survive. Though he should have not broken the sacred rule of hospitality. You can't invite people for a feast and then impale them
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  23. 25:00 I work in the oilfield. I use a sledge hammer as one of my main tools. You will almost never find a sledgehammer out there that has not had the handle cut down to make it way shorter. You get less power from the swing. But it's an exponentially more accurate swing. I just wanted to add that to think about.
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  24. This era in Europe is so underestimated. This was a thousand years before Stonehenge and the standing stones all around Europe! And such an early admixture of Yamnaya - very interesting in deed!
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  25. Not quite a myth as much folklore but a group of aborigines had an origin story that millennia previously they'd lived on the did did a mountain that one day caught fire and their ancestors had fled through a jungle and settled where they are now. This was dismissed by anthropologists but later geological analysis etc showed that an extinct volcano miles and miles away had last gone off roughly 12000 years previously and there is been a forest between the volcano and where the people lived in the 20th century. Amazing how a story can survive for so long
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  26. When I saw the thumbnail and title of this video I was a bit skeptical and was hoping it wasn’t (but assuming it was) one of those exploitative, salacious videos from channels that hire some random actor to essentially read out a Wikipedia article and skip all the “boring” parts while focusing on the gory details. Imagine my pleasant surprise when I find the exact opposite of that! This is an extremely educational, informative, well-researched video. You’ve definitely gained a new viewer in me. The state of historical videos on YouTube can be truly pathetic at times, but this is the exact kind of content I’m craving. Maps! Successions! Detailed political maneuvering! Sources! Pictures of things and THEN CLARIFICATION THAT THE PORTRAIT WASNT CONTEMPORARY HOLY SHIT! You know 3/4 of YouTube “history” channels would 100% just throw that portrait in as a visual without clarifying or even KNOWING that no contemporary likenesses exist. It feels like you’re truly going the extra mile to make your videos actually educational with accurate and essential information. Awesome job!
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  27. i cannot tell you how much i love these vids,, but this one is a pure masterpiece for me thanks so much, i have studied Rodrigo since i was a little boy and have walked the streets of Valencia and Vivar and all about as a US Marine. and this vid just brings back so many good and old cherished memories... I also must say you prove Shelby Foote correct when he said historians could learn something from writers, for writers have a way of telling history in an easy way on the mind and much more interesting. i have read so many transcripts from ancient sources on many historical subjects, but hearing a story teller put all those facts in a poetic manner is so pleasant.
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  28. Schifferstadt is my home town, learned about the Golden Hat in primary school. It is on display in the nearby historical museum of the palatinate in Speyer.
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  29. My jaw dropped when I saw it was 43 minutes long! You deserve a thumbs up for sure, just marvelous
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  30. "but I prefer 'axe-hammers' because... that's obviously better" LMAO love your work Dan. Another great video, dense with information and your customary dry humour.
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  31. Better get a big breakfast!
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  32. I checked with my ancestors and we agree that this was very good! rock carvings are very beautiful, when you are looking at these works of art you can literally feel how you travel back in time. Greetings from Sweden!
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  33. Three videos in two weeks?! Thank you, kind sir! Truly a river to his people!
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  34. I'm always annoyed when modern archeologist put forth the idea that we weren't warlike in the times before recorded history. My response: Have you met people!?! All anthropological evidence shows that we weren't that different 6000-8000 years ago to what we are today. Taking that in to account what makes you think Ugg-Mug didn't whack Mug-Ugg over the head because he wanted the shiny new rock he found by the river that morning? Or because his earlobes are too big (seriously, there are people that have been fighting each other over that one for a few centuries)? Disregarding the idea of violence in archeological finds is ignoring one of the defining aspects of human technological advancement. Damn, dirty, hippies :P
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  35. The "chariot first" theory for warfare makes more sense to me. Trying to fight and control a large animal by yourself seems daunting. Having someone else drive leaves you free to shoot and throw. It is also a much shorter leap from wagons to chariots, than wagons to riding.
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  36. Slavs had god called Perun. Today “ pierun” in Polish means thunder.
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  37. Hearing your reconstruction of the circumstances of his death, I think it's very unlikely that whoever killed him were common thieves or sheep rustlers. It seems to me like somebody had some personal vendetta and just really wanted him dead. For what reason, no amount of archaeological evidence could possibly tell us. A prehistoric drama that's been lost to the ages.
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  38. Fascinating! The Neolithic and Chalcolithic had so much variation in culture, both across time and space. And yet it is almost entirely forgotten today, only a few thousand years later.
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  39. I really never knew about Sir Francis Drakes moral compass I’m happy to know that he led a chivalrous life.
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  40. The bronze club being the famed vajra probably has some merit, although  every depiction from babylon to greece to india shows something more similar to a short trident. The club of hercules, ogmios and their equivalents seems to be a better match. More importantly, the weapon is unique. There are no other examples anywhere else in the bronze age of this weapon type. So this man wasn't just a member of a club cult, he was almost certainly the basis for those legends.
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  41. I've waited a long time for a very detailed video about the Bronze Age horned helmets. Finding this made me so happy.
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  42. Another great video! The Minoan women's dresses looked amazing. It's such a shame that with the rise of the Urnfield tradition of cremations we were denied an insight into late Bronze Age/ Early Iron Age fashion in Central & Western Europe. Something similar happened with the shift between Pagan and Christian burials in Early Medieval Britain. There is a wealth of information for the Saxons in comparison to the Britons for example. If only we had Minoan & Mycenaean style frescoes for Central & Western Europe during that era - what an amazing insight that would be! As for the suggestion at the end of the video, an overview of Bronze Age male fashion would be great.
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  43. I stumbled across your channel while doing research on the Tollense Valley battle and have since been going through all the content on your channel like a kid going through his Halloween candy. Love the informative and thought provoking style in which you present these videos. Also picked up the Gods of Bronze series on Audible and am 10 hours into the first book. It has been an absolute blast so far. Can't wait to see your next video, keep up the good work!
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  44. It’s incredible to think that during a period when chaos ruled, pirate raiders looted tombs that were already ancient, or captured a diverse collection of heirlooms from civilizations throughout the region, and created hordes of treasures spanning hundreds if not thousands of years.
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  45. Excellent video. Sometimes we forget just how much the English-speaking world owes this splendid knight for without him, England stood at the mercy of the Capetian monarchy in 1216-1218. Without Marshal, we should have had no lasting Magna Carta for it was he who ingeniously modified and reissued it—it was this charter and not the 1215 version which survives marrow-deep in the Anglophonic world. Also, I applaud the detailed inclusion of Marshal’s loyalty in the dying days of the incomparable and peerless Henry II. It’s deeply moving how the great king rewarded Marshal with a young heiress and the massive fortune that came with it, though tellingly Henry left Richard to confirm it—a sign of how the father wished to allow his son to ultimately gain legitimacy through the service of his own men. I sense more than a hint of Thomas Asbridge’s biography in this video and that’s superb.
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  46. Subscribed. I appreciate that you do not deal with the goulish aspect of this man and his activities but concentrate on the facts of the historical story so far as they are known. Thank you.
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  47. Absolutely brilliant video like always. I'm very happy you brought up, towards the end, how modern historians project onto history 'causes' and effects. To sya it is intentional or not does not matter, but like you said it teaches us as much about 'now' as it does 'then.' Keep the videos coming!:)
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  48. These videos are such a welcome antidote to all the "peaceful diffusion" narratives that seem to be put about when it comes to the spread of ancient cultures.
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  49. I've been a long time fan of yours, Mr. Davis, and a lurker in the comment sections of your videos just as long. I thank you for your work and for your ability to enrich my knowledge regarding the bronze age from not a genetical, but materially cultural view. Your work is adored and appreciated deeply by me, and many others who share my interests. With all respect, an aspiring archeogeneticist from somewhere in the Balkans.
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  50. This is standard (up to this day), the standard weight of the equipment of an infantry soldier going into combat has been and still is 35kg to 40kg (75lbs to 90lbs). The more things changed the more they stayed the same. Armor was one thing, then shield, spear, sword, axe, etc. Added up always the same.
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