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.