The Taj Mahal

I read a story about the Taj Mahal that you can find here.

When the story starts, it is 1592 and India is ruled by the Mughals. A prince is born that year, and he is named Khurram. He grew up, learning from teachers but rarely had any contact with women his age. One of the few exceptions was the Meena Bazaar during a festival celebrating the New Year. He went to the Bazaar with his friends, and found a women selling jewels. He falls in love with the woman and bought a jewel from her. Eventually they married and become a happy couple. The emperor decided to rename the woman to Mumtaz Mahal, which means "Jewel of the Palace".  They lived together happily and Khurram was a successful prince, controlling the armies and conquering other land. His father died and he became the King. He had many children with Mumtaz. However, Mumtaz became sick after having another child. She died, and her last words to Khurram were "I wish that all the world will know of our love." Khurram decided that this was Mumtaz's way of asking for an elaborate tomb. He imagined a white heavenly palace, and decided to have it built. He spared no expense and made it extremely elaborate, importing materials from far away. After many long years of construction, it was finally done.

 It was called "Taj Mahal". A few years later he became ill. He decided that wanted to have an identical tomb built, but in black stone. However, his son was greedy with power and took control of the empire, and locked his father into the Red Fort in Agra, the city near where the tomb was built. He stayed there for eight years until he died.

I've actually been to the Taj Mahal, and although it is very old, it is still a great place to visit. I took the photo above.

The Buddhist Eightfold Path

One of the parts of the Buddhist Eightfold Path is Right Effort. Right Effort means to work hard, and to put a lot of effort into everything you do. I could incorporate this quality into my life by working hard and doing my homework on time, even it it is unusually difficult to do. I think that this is hard to do, because it requires a lot of dedication, but it is not impossible to do.

Maps of India

I made three maps of India:

A 2d Climate map and an elevation map

And a 3d clay physical features map.

How do physical features, climate and elevation relate to each other?
Physical features and elevation often cause the climate to be the way it is. For example, the Himalayas are cold because they are high up. In general, very high places are cold. Also the climate can shape the physical features. Whether an area is rainy or not determines whether it is a desert or not.
What conclusions can you draw? (Think about natural resources, climate/weather, and human settlement.)
I have come to the conclusion that physical features, climate and elevation are significant to humans because they affect where they can settle. The climate determines some of an area's natural resources (e.g. lush fruit trees won't grow in a desert) and they both affect whether an area is settlable. 

Surya - The Hindu God

As I was instructed to do here, I read a section of notes and now I need to write a paragraph about a Hindu god. I wanted to pick a god that nobody else in my class would pick, so I went to the Wikipedia list of Hindu gods and chose a random one. That one ended up being Surya, who is the main solar deity. In other words, Surya is the god of the sun. Surya is a male, and he has multiple wives. The word Surya can be used while speaking in Hindi to refer to the sun.
One interesting thing about Surya is that in Hindu literature, it says that Surya is a god that you can see every day.

Surya is usually depicted with a lotus or flower in each hand, and sometimes with a horse and chariot.
There a many temples around India dedicated to Surya. There is usually a chariot wheel on these temples. Although Surya isn't one of the most popular gods in India, people still worship it. Thousands of people go to the eastern banks of the Ganges river in Varanasi, where they can bathe, get blessings from priests and pray. When they are there, some people pray to Ganga, the goddess of the Ganges river, but others pray to Surya.

Sources
Hartley, C. "Surya the Sun God." Hartwick College | Sites of Students, Faculty, and Staff. 2001. Web. 19 May 2011. <http://users.hartwick.edu/hartleyc/surya.htm>.
"Surya." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 19 May 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravi_(god)>.

Mohenjo Daro

I read this article here from National Geographic. It was about Mohenjo Daro, which was a city in the Indus river floodplain, which is in modern Pakistan.
The article starts out by explaining how Mohenjo Daro was a sophisticated city with a complicated drainage system and an excellent street grid.
The article goes on to explain that archaeologists know about the city and how it was physically, but they do not know much about the inhabitants of the city. To quote the article, "There's no obvious central seat of government or evidence of a king or queen." 
Although not a lot is known about the people, some of their habits are known. Archaeologists know that hygiene and cleanliness were very important to the people. There were bathing areas in almost every house.  
Mohenjo Daro was first found in 1911, and there were excavations and digs until 1954. The city is on elevated language. 
Some statuettes have been found. A nude female statuette was found in 1926, and a few statuettes of men sitting were found. The statuettes of men were called "Priest King" even thought there is no proof of a priest or a king. 

This is a broken "Priest King" figurine.

Another thing that is unknown about Mohenjo Daro is the downfall of the city. All of the statuettes were broken, which suggests that they were destroyed by whoever invaded the city. 


Source
Roach, John. "Lost City of Mohenjo Daro -- National Geographic." Science and Space Facts, Science and Space, Human Body, Health, Earth, Human Disease - National Geographic. Web. 19 May 2011. <http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/archaeology/mohenjo-daro/>.

Ancient Egypt Unit Reflection

Our unit on ancient Egypt is over and like always I have to do a unit reflection.
In this unit, I was an inquirer because I did lots of research on ancient Egypt and found out a lot of information. I was knowledgeable because of all the information that I gained from researching. I think being knowledgeable is a result of being an inquirer.
Out of the ATLs, I tried to work on my organizational skills this unit because I met due dates and I even tried working ahead on our projects instead of leaving them  to the last minute. I also organized my teaching project in a logical way that helped people understand what I was teaching.
And to answer our unit question:
How did the physical environment affect the development of civilizations?
The physical environment was one of the most important factors in the development of civilization. The physical environment dictated where people could live and where they could not. For example, all humans need water to live, and so civilizations need water too. If there is no source of water near the civilization, people cannot live there. The physical environment sometimes also served as a barrier between one civilization and another. Egypt was protected by desert from invaders, which made it a strong and invasion-resistant city. Additionally, the physical environment controlled how people interacted with other civilizations. Egypt had the Nile River which could be use as transport to other civilizations for trade or warfare. Without the river, many things would not exist in Egypt, but one of them is that there would be no trade with other civilizations. All in all, the physical environment is one of the most influential things in the the development of civilization.

My Ancient Egyptian Art

Our latest assignment was to create art in the style of ancient Egyptian art. It had to be realistic so that it could be on a tomb or palace wall, and the subject of the art had to be a something that ancient Egyptian artists would normally paint. I'm a pretty terrible artist, but I tried my best when making my art.

 In my artwork, there is a slave on his knees fanning a pharaoh who is sitting on a chair. Around the two men there are words and phrases written in hieroglyphics. The pharaoh is no pharaoh in particular, it can represent any pharaoh. I'll call him Pharaoh Adrianus. The pharaoh is elevated but the slave is on the ground, which represents the fact that the pharaoh is much more important than the slave. Also the pharaoh is adorned with fancy jewelry while the slave is wearing nothing but a skirt-type thing. This also represents the pharaoh's superiority over the slave.

Questions from the Nile River Area Project

Describe the climate zone/biome of the Nile River area.
One country that the Nile goes through, Egypt, is all desert, but the Nile River goes through more countries than just Egypt. It also goes through Sudan and Ethiopia. Ethiopia has some tropical savanna, mixed forest, tropical seasonal as well as desert. Sudan is mostly tropical savanna and desert, as well as a tiny patch of Tropical seasonal and scrub.
List the Vegetation and Natural Resources Available
In Ancient Egypt, many of the natural resources came from the Nile River. One of those resources was fish. The Egyptians also mined for white limestone, quartzite, sandstone, alabaster and granite. The Egyptians also had copper as well as flint. Flax as well as papyrus were important crops for Egypt.
Explain how water, mud, plants, and animals were all "gifts of the Nile" to the Egyptians. 
The Nile River's water let people travel on it for trade. It was also water that people could use for everyday tasks like bathing, cooking food and swimming. In addition, the water was used for irrigating crops. The floods brought fertile mud called silt, which made farming possible where it would normally have been impossible. 

How Natural Features can Unite or Isolate Cities and People

Especially in ancient times, the natural features of a city and the land surrounding it were very important. If a city was near a river, it had a connection with other cities and allowed for much more trade and travel than if there were no river. In that way, rivers united people. However, deserts can do the opposite. If a city has a desert on one side, it is mostly protected from attack on that side, because any attackers from that side would have to cross the desert, which is difficult to do. That's how deserts can isolate cities and people, as well as serve as a sort of "shield" from attackers. Mountains can serve a similar role as a desert, because if a city is protected by mountains on one side, all attackers must cross the mountains to attack the city.  When you take into account all the ways a the natural geography of an area of a city, it's no wonder that it's so hard to make a successful city.

Even nowadays, the Nile river is used for transport.

As my latest assignment, I was supposed to think of 5 questions that I could ask about a place to determine whether it would be a promising place to find mummies.

Is there any evidence that an ancient civilization has lived in the area?

If there was an ancient civilization, was mummification a part of their culture/religion?

If not, are there natural conditions like mossy bogs that could preserve a human?

Have other mummies been found in the general area?

Are there any locations that might have been used as burial areas?

Mummies: Definitions, Questions and More

In class we read this text about mummies, and had 3 questions to answer. We were also supposed to define any words that we didn't know from the text.


Define the word "mummy":
A mummy is an ancient dead body whose soft tissue has partially or wholly resisted decay.
According to current scientific beliefs, what are some reason people were intentionally mummified? 
A modern belief is that people who were intentionally mummified were mummified because of a primal human urge to extend human life. 
What features of the natural environment can cause bodies to be mummified unintentionally?
People can be unintentionally mummified when they die in a mossy bog. They can also be mummified when they die in a cold area like a mountain, because the frozen climate freezes the body.


Unknown Words
Transgressions:

the act of transgressing; the violation of a law or a duty or moral principle

After answering those questions, I received another set of questions.
In what parts of the world have mummies been found?
Mummies have been found all over the world. I found this map, and it shows that mummies have been found in all continents of the world except Antarctica.
In  what types of places (physical geography & climate) have mummies been found?
Mummies have been found all sorts of different climates, including cold and dry climates.
How did Ancient Egyptians preserve their dead?
Ancient Egyptians preserved their dead by mummifying though a process that involved embalming them and wrapping them in linen.
Why do you think ancient Egyptians took such care to embalm their dead if the desert could do the job for them?
Although the ancient Egyptians probably knew that the desert could do their job for them, the probably thought that it would be more respectful to the dead if they were handled with care and respect and put in a proper coffin rather than put into the sand.

Hittite Poster

A while ago I was in a group with Kyle and Sophia and we made a poster about the Hittites, which were an ancient Mesopotamian civilization. You can't really see that much in this photo, but if you click on the picture you can see a larger version of the photo. 

Unit Reflection - Mesopotamia: The Fertile Crescent

During this unit, I learned about many different topics. 
One of those topics was the domestication of plants and animals. I learned that domestication didn't occur right after humans started settling, but it actually came later. I also learned that when plants and animals are domesticated, they adapt so that they rely on humans for their survival over a long period of time. Domestication led to farming, which led to surplus which meant that not everyone in a group or clan or village was needed for getting food, which led to people having more free time and the development of culture.
Another topic I learned was about the transition from hunter-gatherer communities to the first civilizations. This transition happened slowly over time and was very important. Humans were originally nomadic and followed their food, which was usually a herd of animals. As time went by, people started settling for long periods of time in various places and eventually lived there full-time. This is what happened in the fertile crescent.
An additional topic i learned about was early religion and beliefs. As religion evolved and became more complex, temples were built in large cities and priests were appointed. Sacrifices were also made to the gods. The priests were the original leaders of the city, but they were later replaced by kings.


If someone said to me,  "Learning about the Sumerians isn't very 
    important since they're long gone!" I would tell them about all of the important things that they invented that we still use today, like the sail, the plow, the book and the wheel. Without these contributions to history, our life would be very different.

This is a wheel that the Sumerians made.

This is a fragment of the first book, The Epic of Gilgamesh.

Enheduana, The First Known (Non-Anonymous) Writer

Recently in humanities class I read about Enheduana. Enheduana was a woman who lived around 2300 BC. Her father was King Sargon, an important king who ruled cities like Akkad and Kish in Mesopotamia. She is best known for being the first person to use their name in writing. This is significant not only because of the fact she is the first named writer, but also because at the time, extremely few women knew how to read or write. IN fact, most people were illiterate and literary tasks like recordkeeping in trade were handled by (male) scribes. Enheduana only learned to read because of her father's importance. Her father appointed her as high priestess, which was a very important position at the time.

In the text that I read about Enheduana, there were some questions at the end. Here are the Answers:
1. Books at that time looked a bit like pillows, because they were large clay tablets. They were made by scribes scratching the text into the clay tablet while the clay was still wet, and letting the clay dry.
2. Enheduana and her family lived in a palace in the city-state of Akkad, in Sumer. Her father was the King.
3. Her job was to be the High Priestess to an important god. She did her job by offering prayers and carrying out rituals. She later lost this job when a nephew of her's became king and kicked her out.
4. The author supports the claim that they were so popular that they were like bestsellers by telling that over 50 tablets have been found with one of her poems.
5. Enheduana wrote about how how her father Sargon was revolted against and his city besieged, and how he broke the siege.

This is an image of one of the tablets where one of her poems was written.

How People Today Have Changed their Environment

If changing one's environment is a sign of success, then we as humans are incredibly successful. Pretty much every aspect of most people's environment was created or altered by humans. Let's run through an average person's day, who we'll call Person A.
Person A wakes up in his apartment, in a building made by humans in a city built by humans.
He showers with water from a tap, a system created and controlled by humans.
He eats cereal, which a processed food made from domesticated wheat in an industrial farm with pesticides. That farm has been made many times more productive by humans, with tools like machines that sow seeds, and pesticides that wipe out bugs.
After continuing to get ready, he drives to work in a car on a road. Both of those are completely human inventions. Humans have devised an invention to get them places quickly, along with a system and rules and a whole lot of paving. Where the pavement that Person A is driving on is used to be nature a few thousand years back. On the side of the roads, he sees some fields. It is one of the few elements that hasn't been created or altered by humans that he will see throughout the day.

I won't go through his whole day.
Along with all this human modification to the world what makes our lives easier and more pleasurable, come some downsides.
The car, which I mentioned earlier puts CO2 gas into the air which causes global warming. Humans have also contributed to the extinction of many animals.Some people could also argue humans were happier with a simpler, hunter/gatherer lifestyle without a mortgage to pay off or taxes to pay.

Why is Catal Hoyuk an important archaeological find?

Why is Catal Hoyuk an important archaeological find?
Catal Hoyuk was a significant archaeological find because it was a big step for humanity, as it was the largest town at the time in the world and was also a culmination of human development with things like trade, and farming. It was also important because it showed the state of human development, of farming, weaponry for hunting, craft-making.
I personally think that it is an interesting site because of the way all the houses were grouped together and people walked on the roofs, but that's not really relevant.