As I mentioned in my last post I thought that it was interesting how there has been a switch in focus from the Mesopotamians and Egyptians to digging for new "first civilizations." When I was looking at my text again the map on page 59 of Strayer's Ways of the World shows the Indus Valley civilization to be located in NW India on the brinks of current day Nepal and Pakistan. While obviously it is not what we would consider as "close" today to other civilizations it is located the closest out of the rest of the first civilizations highlighted in this chapter to the Egyptians and Mesopotamians. This made me wonder, why has the Indus Valley civilization only been recently investigated?
Other first civilizations like the Olmec or China have been studied in past history classes that I've taken however this is the first time that I have began to learn about the Indus Valley civilization and since it's new I'm finding I have more intrest in what their civilization is all about, where it came from, why and how it ended. In the text it shows a picture on page 63 of a discovery of an Indus Valley city. This city looked structurally sound and planned for. The text also goes on to say that the place where this city was discovered, the city of Mohenjo Daro, had a population of around 40,000, an awfully large number for a civilization. 40,000 people is bigger than my home town of Foster City by 10,000 people and to think that in 3500 years no one would know that a small civilization lived there is unbelievable.
Also another thing that struck me was how well planned the Indus Valley civilization was. Their cities were mapped out in a grid fashion, with indoor plumbing, and luxurious houses of two to three stories. It's also unbelievable to think that people 3500 years ago had the brainpower and advanced technology to accomplish all of these tasks. I know that if I was asked to build a temple or small city I would have absolutely no idea where to even begin. It's astonishing that these first civilizations all link back to have one thing in common, they all gained their start from the Agricultural Evolution.
The Agricultural Evolution really sparked and gave beginnings to all of the first civilizations highlighted in the chapter. In order to sustain a large civilization of 40,000 like the Indus Valley you need a surplus of goods, commerce, economy, and workers. From just the development of growing and creating a surplus from agriculture goods it is impressive that these civilizations could figure it all out. I know that now I would not be able to figure out how to get a donkey or horse to plow my field. Their advancements of technology back then is very similar to our advancement in technology now. They invented and developed items to aid their needs and today our society has done the same.. Maybe it's a humanistic quality to developed technology for your needs and wants.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Ways of the World
I've been trying really hard to make sure that I've been keeping up with all the readings in my classes and recently I have found that they have started to interlink each other. This semester I'm taking five general education classes, I'm getting lucky that some of the material is being covered in more than one class.
In Ways of the World chapter three Strayer talks about the first civilizations including the Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Notre Chico, Indus Valley and China. These civilizations are deemed to be the first five that began to represent a new particular type of human society that was made possible through the progression of the Agricultural Revolution. The surplus of food that was starting to emerge from the Agricultural Revolution made it easier for civilizations to start to build communities. The surplus of food also brought not only development of communities but also the freedom of decision making aspects for what extra food should be used for. While it may seem that this may be a common practice to many of us today, the development of civilizations and communities were a slow and evolutionary process that took thousands of years of development.
Something that became prevalent after the development of civilizations was the difference in levels of equality. Hierarchical genders started to emerge and human rights and authoritative roles of society started to come into play more and more as well as the increase of power over others. Inequalities began to exist in gender roles, wealth, status, and power. Gender roles specifically began to change. Women in civilizations began to have more children and instead of work in the fields or gather foods for their families began to focus on work in the home and care after their children. Humans rights started to come into question as the idea of slavery and power over another person came into play. The authority over people to drive them into slavery disregarded all human rights and deny any liberties to that person. The Paleolithic probably did not have any slaves as there was no surplus of goods or power for any need of them. The Agricultural Era stimulated the economy and created this new use for slaves. Power was reflected through terror, authoritative roles in new civilizations used terror as a way to scare people and intimidate them into completing tasks similar to the way slaves were treated.
I think it was interesting in the chapter how Strayer began his discussion about the development of the first civilizations and ended it with comparing two of the more well known civilizations. Most people have learned about the Mesopotamians and Egyptians but little about the Notre Chico or Indus Valley civilizations. While the latter may not have the same interesting aspects surrounding war fare I wish he had spent a little more time on the development of why these new found first civilizations are categorized with the famous Mesopotamians and Egyptians. I feel like if the Notre Chico or newer Indus Valley civilizations were given the chance to be studied in depth they would be as interesting as the Mesopotamians.
In Ways of the World chapter three Strayer talks about the first civilizations including the Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Notre Chico, Indus Valley and China. These civilizations are deemed to be the first five that began to represent a new particular type of human society that was made possible through the progression of the Agricultural Revolution. The surplus of food that was starting to emerge from the Agricultural Revolution made it easier for civilizations to start to build communities. The surplus of food also brought not only development of communities but also the freedom of decision making aspects for what extra food should be used for. While it may seem that this may be a common practice to many of us today, the development of civilizations and communities were a slow and evolutionary process that took thousands of years of development.
Something that became prevalent after the development of civilizations was the difference in levels of equality. Hierarchical genders started to emerge and human rights and authoritative roles of society started to come into play more and more as well as the increase of power over others. Inequalities began to exist in gender roles, wealth, status, and power. Gender roles specifically began to change. Women in civilizations began to have more children and instead of work in the fields or gather foods for their families began to focus on work in the home and care after their children. Humans rights started to come into question as the idea of slavery and power over another person came into play. The authority over people to drive them into slavery disregarded all human rights and deny any liberties to that person. The Paleolithic probably did not have any slaves as there was no surplus of goods or power for any need of them. The Agricultural Era stimulated the economy and created this new use for slaves. Power was reflected through terror, authoritative roles in new civilizations used terror as a way to scare people and intimidate them into completing tasks similar to the way slaves were treated.
I think it was interesting in the chapter how Strayer began his discussion about the development of the first civilizations and ended it with comparing two of the more well known civilizations. Most people have learned about the Mesopotamians and Egyptians but little about the Notre Chico or Indus Valley civilizations. While the latter may not have the same interesting aspects surrounding war fare I wish he had spent a little more time on the development of why these new found first civilizations are categorized with the famous Mesopotamians and Egyptians. I feel like if the Notre Chico or newer Indus Valley civilizations were given the chance to be studied in depth they would be as interesting as the Mesopotamians.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Human history and growth
Ending the week in Math class our
homework was to write a paper on the History of Pi. When I started the
assignment this weekend I realized that not only is the history of how humans
came to be extremely interesting and unique, but also the history of how the
things humans have created may be even more interesting. The fact that humans
could adapt to the evolving ecosystem and still manage to out compete and live
many other species is an amazing accomplish in itself. However, the fact that
humans could accomplish all that they have in surviving and then develop
complicated mathematical problems and solutions from nothingness is even more
amazing.
Some believe that the history of pi
started over 4000 years ago with the Egyptians through their pyramid construction.
It is interesting that over 12,000 years ago homo sapiens began to develop from
basically nothingness and it only took them around 8,000 years to finally start
putting together technical math sequences such as pi. While 8,000 years may
seem like an awfully long and dragged out time to finally start putting
together mathematical sequences when you break it down and start to analyze the
time that it took homo sapiens to simply stay alive and out compete other
species it is an amazing accomplishment that should not go unnoticed.
Our history as a unique species is
so fascinating and diverse that someone should never get bored learning about
it. There are so many different parts to our history that are being discovered
still that bring us closer to our ancestors. Sometimes I think it is easier to
think about the development of human species as a game show such as Survivor.
There were small bands of people who were in remote locations like the tropics
or the middle of African forests. They had little to no materials to hunt with
leaving them to gathering local fruits, plants, and vegetables to live off of.
The foods that they did find lacked many nutrients that all humans have a
necessity for making them weaker and malnourished directly leaving them vulnerable
to disease and easy fast deaths, or eliminations from the game show. However,
once one tribe figured out an efficient way to gather and hunt providing enough
nutrients and nourishments for their tribe or band of people they were able to
out compete other bands or teams. These teams or bands that figured out how to
advance in the game or in life were able to reproduce and generate the
following generation that followed the same techniques that could supplement a
whole community. These communities that could survive in such harsh
environments successfully is the same as the one winner of the Survivor show.
That winner represents someone who outlived, outplayed, and outwitted all other
contestants or bands of people leaving that winner the ability to spread their
hints or secrets on what it takes to be successful, similar to oral traditions
passed from successful tribe to tribe extending that species life.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Early Historical Eras
The differences between the Paleolithic Era and the Neolithic Era when thinking about them through a general aspect seem vastly large. However, when comparing them in smaller broken down groups they are actually quite similar.
During the last week and a half of class we have been discussing four main parts to each of these eras. First we covered the Paleolithic Era which involves many basic aspects to our history as Homo Sapiens. Through studying the Neolithic Era we discussed the advances in the Agriculture Revolution and the direct effects it left on the Neolithic Homo Sapiens.
In the first part of both eras we evolved, not only as Homo Sapiens, but as competing successful creatures. The way in which early humans taught themselves basic survival techniques such as gathering and hunting is simply amazing. It is crazy to think of life without all of the technologies that our ancestors and previous generations have provided for us but to look back on what early Homo Sapiens had to figure out with very limited knowledge is almost even more impressing. In the Neolithic Era we evolved again by out competing all of species of the genius Homo. During this era it seems as things started to click in our brains and we grew physically as well as mentally. Like I said earlier these Eras may seem so different at times but when broken down and compared side by side play off each other in more ways than not.
Through these Eras we also began developing tools to help advance us further as a functioning group of species. In the Paleolithic Era Homo Sapiens developed super basic stone tools probably sharpened rocks and maybe spear heads to defend themselves with. However in the Neolithic Era the Homo Sapiens that outlived all other Homo genius species began to develop even more stone tools and put them to use in more complex situations.
Next in the Paleolithic Era small bands of gatherer hunters began to form. These bands of groups migrated from place to place on Africa using the basic gathering and hunting techniques they taught themselves. When you think about how difficult it must have been to test out food that is suitable enough to provide enough nutrition it's almost unbelievable that any of these gatherer hunter bands survived. Today we take for granted how easy it is for us to go out and get almost anything that we want. Comparing back to the Paleolithic Era it must have been extremely difficult to use moderately weak tools in order obtain any type of food. In the Neolithic Era a big switch in food development happened. The Agricultural Revolution struck and changed the way small bands of Homo Sapiens functioned. Instead of small bands of gatherer hunters they began to transform into small groups of agriculturalists who could now produce their own food and sustain a seemingly healthier nutritional lifestyle.
Lastly in the Paleolithic Era the small bands of gatherer hunters began to migrate out of Africa into other countries and continents. Again, when thinking about how easy it is to travel now compared to trying to move your whole community from one spot to the next it's amazing to actually think how advanced and intelligent these Homo Sapiens were. Not only did they migrate to surrounding countries but they crossed oceans and landed as far as the surrounding islands of Australia. The last step of the Neolithic Era was the completion of the human population. Homo Sapiens too what they knew from the Paleolithic Era and utilized it without knowing it into the Neolithic Era. The advancement and knowledge from migrating from country to country helped with the spread of agriculture directly affecting population growth. The Neolithic Era left an impression on the next era, Ancient Era, just as the Paleolithic Era left an impression on the Neolithic Era. Without each Era developing and changing I don't think that we would be here today as humans reading or typing any of this.
During the last week and a half of class we have been discussing four main parts to each of these eras. First we covered the Paleolithic Era which involves many basic aspects to our history as Homo Sapiens. Through studying the Neolithic Era we discussed the advances in the Agriculture Revolution and the direct effects it left on the Neolithic Homo Sapiens.
In the first part of both eras we evolved, not only as Homo Sapiens, but as competing successful creatures. The way in which early humans taught themselves basic survival techniques such as gathering and hunting is simply amazing. It is crazy to think of life without all of the technologies that our ancestors and previous generations have provided for us but to look back on what early Homo Sapiens had to figure out with very limited knowledge is almost even more impressing. In the Neolithic Era we evolved again by out competing all of species of the genius Homo. During this era it seems as things started to click in our brains and we grew physically as well as mentally. Like I said earlier these Eras may seem so different at times but when broken down and compared side by side play off each other in more ways than not.
Through these Eras we also began developing tools to help advance us further as a functioning group of species. In the Paleolithic Era Homo Sapiens developed super basic stone tools probably sharpened rocks and maybe spear heads to defend themselves with. However in the Neolithic Era the Homo Sapiens that outlived all other Homo genius species began to develop even more stone tools and put them to use in more complex situations.
Next in the Paleolithic Era small bands of gatherer hunters began to form. These bands of groups migrated from place to place on Africa using the basic gathering and hunting techniques they taught themselves. When you think about how difficult it must have been to test out food that is suitable enough to provide enough nutrition it's almost unbelievable that any of these gatherer hunter bands survived. Today we take for granted how easy it is for us to go out and get almost anything that we want. Comparing back to the Paleolithic Era it must have been extremely difficult to use moderately weak tools in order obtain any type of food. In the Neolithic Era a big switch in food development happened. The Agricultural Revolution struck and changed the way small bands of Homo Sapiens functioned. Instead of small bands of gatherer hunters they began to transform into small groups of agriculturalists who could now produce their own food and sustain a seemingly healthier nutritional lifestyle.
Lastly in the Paleolithic Era the small bands of gatherer hunters began to migrate out of Africa into other countries and continents. Again, when thinking about how easy it is to travel now compared to trying to move your whole community from one spot to the next it's amazing to actually think how advanced and intelligent these Homo Sapiens were. Not only did they migrate to surrounding countries but they crossed oceans and landed as far as the surrounding islands of Australia. The last step of the Neolithic Era was the completion of the human population. Homo Sapiens too what they knew from the Paleolithic Era and utilized it without knowing it into the Neolithic Era. The advancement and knowledge from migrating from country to country helped with the spread of agriculture directly affecting population growth. The Neolithic Era left an impression on the next era, Ancient Era, just as the Paleolithic Era left an impression on the Neolithic Era. Without each Era developing and changing I don't think that we would be here today as humans reading or typing any of this.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Chapter 1 Readings
I just finished reading the assigned homework for this weekend and found it to be a good review of what we covered in class as well as from previous History courses I've taken. Topics that stuck out to me were that no matter what event it is in History it has importance. I had never thought of History that way because I have never had much of an interest in it. However through this reading I became more conscious to the fact that our human history while short has such an unbelievable existence. Another thing that stuck with me were the percentages around the Paleolithic Era. Human's time on the planet have been spent in the Paleolithic Era for 95%, however that time is only represented by 12% of the Human population. One last thing that stuck with me was form the section Why World History? It talked about how no matter what problems we face as humans whether economical, social, or environmental they don't just affect us personally they leave an ever lasting affect on our History and leave a footprint on the Global structure as well.
Some of Chapter 1 I found myself getting distracted while reading, especially during the final few pages. I'll have to go back and reread the final pages but overall I like the way that the Author writes because it is not like many other History textbooks.
Also my textbook has not arrived in the mail and I was getting a little nervous because the readings were due Wednesday. I googled the book and it showed up in Google Books! If anyone doesn't have their textbook for this class or possibly another class that's another way to try and see if you can get it quick.
:)
-Rachel O
Some of Chapter 1 I found myself getting distracted while reading, especially during the final few pages. I'll have to go back and reread the final pages but overall I like the way that the Author writes because it is not like many other History textbooks.
Also my textbook has not arrived in the mail and I was getting a little nervous because the readings were due Wednesday. I googled the book and it showed up in Google Books! If anyone doesn't have their textbook for this class or possibly another class that's another way to try and see if you can get it quick.
:)
-Rachel O
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