Thursday, 27 January 2011

Enheduana of Sumer

What did books look like during the time that Enheduana was writing?
The books were written on clay tablets, so the books looked like small clay pillows.

How were these books written?
the books were written by using writing utensils to write out the words in lines on the tablet.

Where did Enheduana and her family live? What did her father do?
Edheduana father was king, and her family lived in the Akkad Palace the was surrounded by the city (Akkad.)
What was Enheduana's job? List three of her duties. How did she lose her job?
Edheduana's job was high priestess. Her duties contained.... She lost her job due to her nephew because he wanted his daughter to be high preistest.

The author says that enheduana's poems were so popular that they were like bestsellers today. What evidence does she use to support this claim? That archaeologists found about 20-50 copies of tablets on one of of Enheduana's poems/stories.
Enheduana's writjing are hymns of praise, but they also tell us about the times she lived in. Describe one "current event" that enheduana wrote about.
The one where she tells 'an exciting account about her father.' "At one point, the city-states that Sargon had taken united in revolt against him. They besieged the city of Akkad and exiled the goddess Inanna from her temples. Sargon finally broke the siege, beat the rebels, and made them recognize the goddess Inanna as all-powerful."

Saturday, 15 January 2011

From earliest times, people have changed their environments. How have people today changed their environment? Discuss both the good and the ba

Over a period of thousands of years we as humans have changed our environment drastically. There are several different ways that early humans effected their environment. First of all you don't really think about it but humans lives revolved on the game they hunted and the things that they gathered in order to stay alive. By doing so they were hunting and killing animals. Which was working for them then, but today we have many endangered and extinct animals. Could this have been what lead up to the endangered, and extinct animals? Is this how poaching started? Thinking of this also lead me to wonder if one of the causes of poaching was trade.

Hunters and gathers eventually turned into farmers which lead to specialization of labor. Due to farming early humans diet was beginning to be a lot more stable, therefore we were healthier. Which lead to the ability to have more children. Farming was also giving us a surplus of food. However, today about every second 5 people are born! The fact that every 3 seconds our population goes up by 9 people (2 die every second 5 are born) this has lead to a surplus population rather than a surplus of food, this is the opposite of how our early ancestors lived.

Today we are dealing with many environmental issues such as; deforestation, air pollution, water pollution, surplus population, not enough food to feed all of us, all of this is adding up into global warming. What had Earth become, a planet that is having its recourse's natural and man made used up in a heart beat by today's humans. This is all due to the development of our civilization, over the years people have proposed changes that we could make in our life styles however not many have acted upon them. This is why some people are saying that it would have been better if we had stayed as hunters and gatherers. I however disagree, I think that if everyone made an effort to recycle, expose the air and water from less toxins then we could help slow down global warming.

Wednesday, 12 January 2011

Why is Catal Hoyuk an important archaeological find?

Catel Huyuk was an ancient Neolithic town around 8000 years ago. The town was built with no streets, lanes, or alleys, the doors of the houses opened up to the rooftops of the town leaving people to get around by climbing up series of ladders. There are several reasons for why i think that Catel Huyuk was an important discovery.

I think this firstly because; Catel Huyuk in its day was probably the religious center for several towns. Archaeologists are saying this because in the village several of the rooms are shrine's (sacred places of worship.) All the shrine's are elaborately done with; paintings (which were probably done of real events,) there were also statue's in the shrine's. The shrine's were showing that humans were starting to develop burial practices and having a beleif system.

Catel Hoyuk was also one of the most important trading towns in its area and during its time. Because of farming giving them more 'free' time they were able to experiment with different crafts. By learning new skills they began making luxury goods (some luxury goods were made from Obsidian.) By having crafts and new ideas other villages began becomeing interested in what they had to offer therefore Catel Hoyuk began developing relationships between different communities. Of course money hadn't even been thought of yet in this timer therefore all items were traded through barter/bartering, usually people think that stuff must not have gotten far from the word of mouth and just bartering off goods, however a piece of obsidian (from Catel Hoyuk) was found 600 miles away from where it originally came from!

Some crafts and materials used for making crafts are:

Bone:

- Needles

- Beads

- Hairpins

- Fish hooks

Weaving:

- Woolen cloth, baskets

- Fashioned leather pouches

Wood:

- Bowls

- Boxes with lids

Eventually Catel Hoyuk started farming and then they began domesticating animals. The domestication of plants and animals was making Catel Hoyuk a self-sufficient city (it didn't need the assistance of surrounding towns.) Due this our diet also was stabilizing and become more consistent an reliable. Because of our more steady diet our bodies were become healthier which was; causing a surplus of food, and increase in population and being able to have more children.

All of these reasons; domesticating plants and animals giving more free time in order to experiment with different industries, which gave us the opportunity to trade and how our religious culture's developed are all tied to more clue's in how our civilization has developed into what it is today. This is why I think that the discovery of Catal Hoyuk was an important archaeological find.