Pre-Historic America

In class this semester, we have spent a great amount of time discussing the first nomadic lifestyles originating in Mesopotamia and Egypt. We have become knowledgeable about the transformation of nomadic people, which grew into large cities and eventually became civilizations. This theme was no different for America and before Columbus ever embarked on American territory, it was already populated with Native Americans. The cultural development of America also began with various regions containing nomadic lifestyles and were also defined by the change in environment, technology, and populations requiring cultural adaptations. It is very interesting how America experienced the same shifts in revolution as the people of Mesopotamia even though they were oceans apart.

The nomadic lifestyle in the plains of the Americas, relayed on buffalo hunting, pottery making and bow/arrow technology. The first populations of nomads included the Paleo-Indians. This population contained small, mobile populations that used hunter and gathering skills towards plants and animals.

The Archaic hunter and gatherers were less mobile and stuck to specific regions that exploited more of their environment. The Archaic people divided into three divisions including Early, Middle, and Late. This divisions distributed to different sites which caused a greater adaption to their environment.

The Early Ceramic period consists as the woodland period. It represented an increased utilization of the environment and also a number of useful innovations. They began relaying on a greater variety of cultigens which caused specific occupations for the people. Bow/arrow technology also began during this period, along with the production of pottery.

One of the last prehistoric groups includes the Caddoan culture. This population of indigenous took advantage of the natural resources created by the Mississippi River. This is very similar to how the Mesopotamians benefited from being located along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The Caddo where the first to assemble social organizations and was the turn for an agricultural revolution. Villages were constructed by large groups of people and even constructed ceremonial areas which were also very important during the Old Kingdom. Like the other first civilizations, the Caddoan settlement lasted until the domination from surrounding areas.

This post was extremely interesting to me, because it showed the similarities and differences between revolutions in different areas. It is just crazy how humans beings can urbanize in similar ways even though they are miles apart.
http://tides.sfasu.edu/NAPre/index.php?culture=4&chrono=1&index=1

Pastoral Societies

When I was going through my textbook "Ways of the World", an assigned book for my history class, I stumbled upon some interesting facts. I was reading about pastoral societies, and found it intriguing that the women of that culture had a different role in society than those of women in other agricultural civilizations. Women in these societies had better opportunities in public life and had statuses equal to men. They were involved in productive labor as well as their own duties, could initiate divorce, were political advisers and acted in military affairs. Other civilizations scorned upon the equality of women in the pastoral societies. I find it interesting that this ancient civilization was able to adopt the concept of gender equality in things such as tasks, both powerful and mundane. This civilization was very ahead of its time, considering America only recently allowed women to assume masculine roles in society.

If the idea of gender equality was accepted in all ancient societies and given the chance to progress through out history, the struggles of the feminist movements today might not even have occurred. Women in America had to fight for the right to an opinion in the government, or the right to vote, and didn't receive this unalienable right until 1920; even though women in pastoral communities had this power hundreds of years ago. I feel as though communities of today have taken on a more primitive line of action when it comes to gender equality and should learn from the advanced theories of the pastoral societies view on women.

To further explore the methods of the pastoral communities and the active role of women in their society:
Click Here

Great Zimbabwe

In Wednesday's class we watched a very interesting movie about the Great Zimbabwe Empire. Great Zimbabwe was an empire located in southern Africa where the modern-day country of Zimbabwe is located. It is famous for its beautiful stone-building structures; the name "Great Zimbabwe" actually means "stone buildings."

With the exception of Egypt, most people do not know much about African empires prior to 1500. Great Zimbabwe was on of the world's greatest and most unique empires in history yet it is often overlooked. The Africans of the Zimbabwe Empire used dry-stone techniques to build great walls, temples, towers and buildings. The Empire traded with the Middle East and India along the Swahili coast of Africa. Zimbabwe traded gold and cattle for Arab porcelain and cloth.

In the early 1900's white settlers and explorers could not believe that Africans were capable of creating such amazing stone structures. For a long time researchers believed there must be an Ancient white city beneath the stone structures. Over time white people destroyed Great Zimbabwe by excavating it all in hopes of finding evidence of the ancient white city. Hardly any traces of the great Zimbabwe empire remain, which is a major reason why it is overlooked and unknown by most people.

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It is really unfortunate that great African empires like Great Zimbabwe are overlooked so much in history. Everyone knows about the Greeks, Romans and Egyptians. But most people could not tell you anything about Sub-Saharan African empires, even though they played just as an important role in history as other great civilizations. Africa has played a huge role in world trade and introduced many great ideas, yet most people only know it for its history of slavery.

All information was taken from the video documentary seen in Wednesday's class.

The Americas before 1500

The history of North America up to 1500 AD is a story of a continent that started out empty and gradually got more and more crowded. Probably the first people to come to North America came from East Asia, over a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska. We don't know for sure whether they came during an earlier Ice Age, about 30,000 years ago, or about 12,000 BC, during the last Ice Age. It could be both. They were probably following woolly mammoths that they were hunting for food. The people probably didn't even realize they had crossed over to North America. Probably other people came from East Asia in small boats, crossing the Pacific Ocean by following the coast around by Alaska. We don't know when that happened. There's no archaeological evidence for either method, walking or in boats, but people did get here somehow from East Asia, because we have archaeological traces of people that scientists can date to about 12,000 BC.

Osiris tragedy: 1st Soap Opera?

With more twists and turns than an episode of General Hospital, the life of Osiris was filled with life, murder, resurrection and immortality. Osiris is commonly known as the God of Death and Rebirth but was formally the god of agriculture before being killed by his brother, Seth. After killing his brother, Seth chopped up Osiris’ body into 14 pieces and threw them into the Nile. Osiris’ wife, Iris, collected the pieces and performed the “Ritual of Life” spell, which she learned from Thoth, and resurrected Osiris back to life. The time back on earth gave enough time for Iris to become pregnant and she gave birth to a son, named Horus. After dying again, Osiris resided in the underworld as the lord of the dead. Even though he was a god, he could no longer dwell in the land of the living. His son, Horus, gained revenge for his father and showed the triumph of good versus evil.

Information was collected from:

http://www.aldokkan.com/religion/osiris.htm

"What you do not want done to yourself, do not do onto others"

During this last week in class, we began discussing the cornerstones of traditional Chinese culture which included Daoism, Legalism and Confucianism. Each of these systems helped shape the history, structure and people of the Chinese society. Although Daoism and Legalism contributed in large part to the Chinese community, Confucianism was the major ideological system that dominated during the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties.

Confucianism had a great influence in the Chinese government, education and towards all aspects of society. It was a "code of conduct" for how the Chinese should live their life's with the correct personal behavior and the appropriate attitudes towards their own individual duties. It was more then a Religion, it was the philosophy of life.

Confucianism was founded in China when Kung-Futze, also known as Confucius, failed to become the politician he had hoped to be. Confucius was a dedicated independent thinker that spread his knowledge through his preachings. Although his teachings were based on ethical philosophy, political and educational principle, his goal was to please the Gods through good conduct. Essentially, if you were a good person towards your family and society, then God would like you.

The essence of Confucianism can be summarized with two words; social virtue. In order for the Chinese to maintain a social harmony, they would have to live by the virtues of charity, magnanimity, sincerity, respectfulness, altruism, diligence, kindness, and goodness. For a person to be considered virtuous, he must include the three awes:
1. Awe for Heaven's decree
2. Awe for Great men
3. Awe for Saint's words
The society also believed that a well governed country would have to maintain a five stable relationships. Husband and wife, parent and child, elder and youth, ruler and subjects, and also of friend and friend.

When all of these components were met, a society could exist under Confucianism. This idea survived for many years and was even considered a major idea in China once Legalism was established during the Shang dynasty.

http://www.religion-cults.com/Eastern/Confucianism/confuci.htm
http://www.blogger.com/Travel%20China