"Sometimes, In Oder To Create, You Must First Destroy"

For the setting that was supposed to by Skye, if we move it to Chauvet where it actually might have happened (theoretically), that was not a "civilization" yet by any means of the imagination. Sumer morphed into a Semitic dominated culture and was slowly transformed, not destroyed. The same is true of Egypt (more or less), though there was also a great deal of Greek influence there. The Mayan culture and language family is still alive and quite well in Mexico and Guatemala. Hawai‘ians flourished continually on their islands after the given date for the petroglyphs until Cook showed up. Ugarit was [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugarit#Destruction]destroyed from the sea[/url] (Phoenicians ??) not the sky. I think it much more likely that David's rather ominous maxim is more in line with something like the idea of the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur_extinction]dinosaur extinction event[/url], than the abandonment of the Mayan cities.

That is a very valid point and I do stand corrected about the extinction concept, but in the same sense, how would all of these civilizations know to warn others to stay away if they didn't somehow receive knowledge about this being a bad place or having experienced hostility by the engineers over time? Especially if it was physically and factually proven that these civilizations had no interaction with each other as they were centuries or continents apart?

The notion "somtimes in order to create you, you must first destroy" is just there to stress the theme of sacrifice that is present throught the movie.

Well, it's conceivable that some of the civilizations could have communicated with each other (Sumerian and Babylonian for example) but it's clear that a few had absolutely no contact with any of the others. The only thing I can assume is that the Engineers were still visiting Earth until at least 680 CE... which would make little sense seeing as all the Engineers on LV-223 supposedly died out some 2000 years ago. Good point, SpE3dSt3r.

@Stexem... most people missed the Hawai'an drawing. And I think that David phrases things to mislead, when his programming will not allow an outright lie. He knows, from her dreams, how Shaw's subconscious mind works. And he says something vague to trigger her worst fears. - Armageddon - which nicely bookends the creation exo-Genesis theme at the start of the film. However, as I've mentioned, if this Space Jockey is Igor working for a galactic Dr. Frankenstein, then the create and destroy relates to the specimens he's going to fetch for the lab.

[u]which would make little sense seeing as all the Engineers on LV-223 supposedly died out some 2000 years ago.[/u] Well, we can't say that all the ones who were on LV 223 2000 years ago died out except one... We can say that all the ones found in 2093, appear to have been dead or in stasis for 2000 years. The other 4 or 5 Domes may have been evacuated and quarantined, and if that was done by ORDER then a warning beacon would not be necessary, unlike for example an emergency landing on LV 426, caused by an outbreak on board, where the dying space jockey set the beacon.

There is a "faction" theory for the Egineers' civilization and within that conceptual framework it is possible (though I think likely ill advised) to surmise that there are different groups of Engineers (who may be at odds with each other). Some other group that is not directly related to LV-223 may be visiting Earth right now in the fictional context of the film's story. Perhaps they're having drinks on the beach in Kauai. A concoction out of a pineapple with a toothpick umbrella sticking out of it. The staff at the resort are mumbling something about their being from the cast of [i]Twilight[/i]. :•)