How long to develop a culture?

[countrcultur]

They date pyramids and structures and sites to whatever age. So say they date this one city to have been built 2500 years ago. How do you go back from there to say that the people that built the city must have been in the area, or developing as a culture for X amount of time to get to that point. I assume in egypt or south america or anywhere where the people eventually built pyramids or cities they must have developed as a culture for a long time previous to that. So are there measurements of that time of occupation prior to these momuments and constructions?

[kbs2244]

Good question.
And a somewhat controversial one.

A “Culture” often includes a religion.
And to use your pyramids as an example they show up everywhere.
Babylon and Egypt come to mind first.

But India and China have equally old pyramids.
And they all have some kind of recorded history, even if of dubious accuracy, to trace the culture that built them.
(BTW, In addition to pyramids, the same can be said for “standing stones” in straight lines or circles.)

But your Western Hemisphere pyramids seem to show up out of nowhere.
And interestingly, on the west coasts.
With no history to trace the cause of their appearance.

Is that because of trans ocean migration or just the local environment causing the records to rot away?
You can get passionate responses either way.

[Digit]

In some cases the reason will simply be that the particular culture is an alien one, brought in fully fledged from outside. As in the New World and other colonial based cultures.

Roy.

[kbs2244]

In the case of the Western Hemisphere pyramids, I would agree.
I don't think any of them show themselves to be "home grown."