Along the River Nile

I see the sun setting in the west, alighting the calm blue waters for one last moment before night. I feel the sun resting and warming on my face, and reminding me the ach in my bones from the long hours I’ve spent with the sun protruding in the sky. I look along the vast blue waters, miles and miles long. Looking at this long everlasting river. We’re traveling from Memphis down to Dendera, we are traveling up stream so it will take a long time, but we shouldn’t have trouble. So I just rest and gaze into the ever--changing river banks, I see unstinted amount of crops, but like I said the scene changes living me staring in awe for hours on end at the abundance of our great river, never ending.

Mummification: Homework

What are five questions that you would ask about a place to determine whether or not it is a promising location to find human mummies.
I would probably ask myself the following questions:

1. Is the climate a common one for finding a preserved mummy?
2. Is there a possible way of preserving mummies in this way naturally (bog, sand, etc...?)
3. Did the culture of this region have anything to do this mummification
4. Did the ancient people who lived here believe in preserving their dead?
5. Did their religion have something to do with mummification?

Mummies Reflect Primal Urge to Extend Human Life (National Geographic)

Definition of word Mummy: A mummy is an ancient cadaver whose soft tissue has partially or wholly resisted decay.
According to current scientific beliefs what are some reasons people were intentionally mummified? In order to preserve the lives of the dead so that maybe they can return for future life. Mummification can be used for preserving the lives of children. Today some modern people are attempting to deep-freeze them selves or having a process called Summun Mummification happening as well.
What features of the natural environment can cause bodies to be mummified unintentionally? They can be preserved by the frozen climate. From mossy bogs, or lack of air also in deserts, caves, salt, sand, cellars, and crypts.
In what parts of the world have mummies been found? Lots of people think that mummies have only been found in Egypt however, mummies have been found all over the wold. For example, the oldest mummies that have been found date back to 7,000 years ago, and were found in northern Chile. Thousands of mummies have been found in mossy bogs in in England and Northern Europe. Some have bee found in Asia, and Oceania and of course lets not forget the most popular mummies which are found in Egypt.
In what types of places (physical geography and climate) have mummies been found? Mummies have been found in cold, dry climates.

How did ancient Egyptians preserve their dead? The earliest ancient Egyptians buried the dead in small pits in the desert. This worked as purposeful, natural mummification, this worked because the hot desert sand wold dehydrate the bodies very quickly. Later on, the ancient Egyptians began developing their own form of unnatural mummification, the point of this was to preserve the bodies so they would continue looking life like. They did this by embalming the bodies and wrapping in linen strips.

Why do you think ancient Egyptians took such care to embalm their dead if the desert could do the job for them. Because the Egyptians wanted their dead to remain looking life like and the desert couldn't do this for them. Also the main reason was in order to protect the bodies form wild animals.


Words that I don't know from the article:
Cadavers: The dead body of a human being.
Chinchorro: A group of ancient people from Chile.

Mesopotamia, The Fertile Cresent (Unit Reflection)

a) The domestication of plants and animals
By domesticating plants and animals humans have asspired new skills, and expanded their capabilities. I think that by domesticating plants anceient humans had more free time, giving them the option of exploring/trying out different skills, or crafts. By doing so hunting and farming were no longer the only aspects of survival. Seeing as ancient humans now had time and had found a way to make crafts, they had given themselves a reason trade. Also by domesticating animals the physical labor involved in their lifestyles decreased because animals could carry heavy objects for ancient humans. b) The transition from hunter-gatherer communities to the first civilizations
By transitioning from hunter-gatherer communities to the first civilizations was a large change. To me, I think that this began when gatherers made the transition to farmers which lead to trade (see a) also by developing trade people began making relationships, building walls to defend themselves (also built enemies,) and all in all building a civilization.
c) Early religion and beliefs: Early Religious beliefs were very important to ancient people of early civilizations. They were believed to control everything, there was also many gods. Nearly every area was said to have had their own supreme god, that was the all powerful. Due to such devotion to their religion priests were rulers in a sense only after kings did they lose some of their power.
2. Imagine someone saying to you, "Learning about the Sumerians isn't very important since they're long gone!" What would you tell them in order to change their mind?
Though the Sumerians are "long gone" they were probably some of the most important inventors ever. The Sumerians were thought to have invented the wheel, a writing system for record keeping, they are responsible for many of today's modern sciences.

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."

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.

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.