Unit Reflection: Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

5/6/2011

• What I learned this unit?
• Egyptian Art and Map
• Learner's Profile

What I learned this unit?

As we approached to the last quarter, we didn't have that much time to focus one topic and others that were associated with it; we had to rush through a bit. As soon as I knew the topic was Ancient Egypt, I thought that short amount of time wasn't enough, since Ancient Egypt was a strong Kingdom, which maintained a lot of histories until today. From my perspective, we focused more on the geography and more of religion, art, cultures instead of big topics such as government, rulers etc. What really interested me was the fact that the Nile River gave a lot of importance to Egyptians. Though Nile is known as the biggest river in the world, I didn't knew, it was an important source to others who lived along the coast. The 6650km long river gave fertile soil, trading relationships, and even food resources for the Egyptians and others to be developed in trading relationships and be open minded in traveling. On the other hand, what I enjoyed in this unit was the architecture. I especially liked this was because I had an opportunity to explain it and the architecture was just incredible. As many archaeologists say, when Mesopotamian built ziggurats, Egyptians constructed Pyramids; both were for same reasons, but there were huge differences. There are endless sentences about Egypt, as like today, famous subjects are more worth to write for.

Egyptian Art and Map

• Art

As I observed Egyptians arts drawn on stones and papyrus, I was stunned due to their creativity. I found that Egyptians were interested in writing and drawing daily lives and hieroglyphics on stones and papyrus. What is good about stones was that, it will stay for a long period but papyrus is portable and light however could be worth nothing when water is poured.

Another reason why I chose art to discuss about was because we had an privilege to draw god and goddess; as my previous blog entry accounted for the importance of my drawing, I chose to explain about it. What really was unique about mine was the difference between others; while other tend to draw about god's vocation, I drew about the opinions of citizens.

" If there is a period of joy, there is a period of sorrow," was the point of my drawing. As today, though a country might be rich, it will always have weakness. Therefore, I found that it would be better drawing about the people's view.

• Map

The map project was fun since it was partner project and everyone loved to draw. This was one of the best moments in humanities where I got to decorate, show my creativity and finish it up with writing some importance of the Nile River. Since it was a decorating project, I had to be organized and a participant, which influenced my organization and participation in a good way.

Learner's Profile: (Thinkers and Communicators)

Thinkers:

This unit required a lot of thinking to do especially when it got to the final visual project where each one of us gets to pick a topic to talk about. According to what I think, I needed to think a lot since I had to think about the importance about Egypt and what could be the best thing to talk about my topic. Even in the Atlantis project, I had to fight for my opinion, so I had to consider a lot of what will make me confident. As a result, those reasons made me think more, and be more knowledgeable.

Communicators:

What I thought that this unit had to do with communication was that, sometimes, we had to be discussing about the ancient Egypt and the present Egypt, the differences similarities. Also, we were discussing about Egypt and their relationships with other countries, making us communicative. To add on, Mrs. Moore let us watch horrible histories video to learn and communicate about the Egypt, to know better. I believe so that those small stuffs (games, jeopardy, quizzes) made us know better about the topic.

Egyptian Art Design

Egyptian Art

4/18/2011

Kyle C.

As you can see above, the picture explains everything that you can imagine. While others focused on mostly gods and other important part of the Egyptian designs, I managed to draw one based on the life differences of Egypt. To summarize, this is the part where Osiris (Far right) and his son Horus (Next to Osiris) is checking if the world is balanced, meaning how the world is changing. Starting from the left, you can tell by the size and the action, they are peasants and farmers working. The tools are not that sophisticated and the clothing isn't either, it’s even perhaps worse, since they don't have any ornaments with them. Next up, it’s the artisan group, where he is trying to build something. The size of one is bigger than but not as great as one on the right sides. As we go on, there is the pharaoh, looking at the poor wondering what to do (that’s why hieroglyphics above says "Wonders of the Egypt.") He maintains some nice jewelry and some cross representing the religion/royalty. Next two up stands for the same level "Gods," except the one on the right edge, is located in a higher position. They are more colorful, holds authority, and what I like about is that they have a nice hat. Lastly, as you can see above the two gods, there are the symbols representing, to stand out. Overall, I have drawn this nice piece of art to emphasize that "once Egypt was mighty as a stone, but over time, it was weak as a beggar coveting food.

How do natural features such as rivers, lakes, and mountains help unite people or keep them isolated from each other?

How do natural features such as rivers, lakes, and mountains help unite people or keep them isolated from each other?

3/30/2011

Kyle C.

Weather and Geography Conditions:

In the ancient times, communities and groups dwell together to form a place; when the population of groups increased, the space dominated by a certain group became smaller and there were level-headed leaders to charge the land. As the communities/lands were all isolated from one another, there were lack of communication going on; to add insult to injury, there were severe weather and disasters (flood for example), which caused people there to suffer. Though each community had an idea to prevent this accidence, they needed extra support. The only solution they had was to gather together and create a stop to this by inundating; by uniting, their lives could've been easier from the harmful disasters.

On the contrary, as the small groups united, there had to be a particular leader. Due to the fact that there had to be one, all the contenders were in a fight causing troubles in this. It was not the problem of geography conditions, it was all about who was capable of ruling the land. But back to what I said, another impact that could had isolated the nomes, was the fight of the charge of one's land, due to the fact that in the past and still today, people (especially farmers) prefer surfaces where it is easy to farm, meets the weather condition they want, and best of all, the water (lakes, rivers etc.) for the crops. When the land where one was in charge was in a stage of lack of crops, one had to invade and conquer to suit him/herself. In conclusion, the natural features of the world led to unite or to keep apart from others.

Going Along the Nile River

Trip along the Nile River

Kyle C.

Am I heading down or up, doesn’t matter it is still going to be Nile; there it is Nile again, trying to greet me. I see the Nile’s beauty, beauty of 6,670 km, and 22% of Nile course going through Egypt. I am heading down; I see the sun, with its luminous and glaring light, pointing at my golden ring. On the right it’s the farming lands, on the left it’s the pyramids; I’m between them. That is the beauty of the nature, Nile the longest river letting me goes through, fishing, touring, trading. Oh my I say, there is a goat grazing, there is a servant wearing some cloth I know from ancient times, I see the kids doing their laundries, oh I see, the lifestyles of along the Nile. Wait, the sun shines again, the energy of the sun warms my face. I feel different, is it because of the exceeding temperature or the beauty of Nile.

The New Words from the Article

The New Words from the Article

Kyle C.

• Define the word Mummy

A dead body of a human (usually kings), which was prepared as a burial, according to ancient Egyptians. The oldest known mummies, which date back to 7,000 years ago, were found in northern Chile near Arica, a port town of 160,000 at the edge of the Atacama desert.

Experts define a mummy as any ancient cadaver whose soft tissue has partially or wholly resisted decay.

• According to current scientific beliefs, what are some reasons people were intentionally mummified?

Ancient Egyptians mummified dead people to preserve the human remains; they had believed in an afterlife, they thought that the spirit would live for eternity in the after life. The dead bodies were buried next to the belongings since ancient Egyptians believed that they need them after life as well.

• What features of the natural environment can cause bodies to be mummified unintentionally?

Features of the natural environment, which cause bodies to be mummified are surgery.

• In what parts of the world have mummies been found?

Mummies have been discovered all parts of the world however the excavations and the traditions we all know are Egyptians.

• In what types of places (physical geography&climate) have mummies been found?

Ancient Egyptian mummies were found in the pyramids, located in the Sahara Desert is to be known as the hottest place. The physical geography of the pyramid is located at the ancient Giza, the tremendous pyramids consists of traps in-order for invaders to abduct the goods.

• How did Ancient Egyptians preserve their dead?

As I mentioned before, ancient Egyptians had preserved their cadavers in the pyramid. Throughout the century, many traders had failed to steal the goods in the pyramids due to fatal traps; however as more traders became to be interested in ancient goods, the goods and mummies had been stolen.

• Why do you think ancient Egyptians took such care to embalm their dead if the desert could do the job for them?

Ancient Egyptians had to take care of the dead in-order for the cadaver to be jubilant when they are dead; also it could had been a possibility that Ancient Egyptians cared so much due to security.

• List a least FIVE questions that you would ask about a place to determine whether it might be a promising location to find human mummies. Your questions should relate to climate, culture, religion and other factors that you think are important. Include images...

Which Pharaoh of Egypt was the first mummy and why?

How many traps against invaders were installed/made?

In the weather and climate condition, would've the mummy been in a bad position?

Why did you locate the mummy in the pyramid and how was the pyramid built?

How did Egyptian religion/beliefs influence their culture and lives.

Ancient Civilization Poster

Ancient Hittites

Hittite Empire

Kyle C.

3/8/2011

Adrian, Sophia, and I had created a poster based on an ancient civilization Hittites. Hittite Empire was famous for its inventions; some are sophisticated wheels and iron. As said that, Hittites economy and food crops were based on conquer and invasion, which provided solution to them.

Unit 3 Reflection - Mesopotamia and Fertile Crescent

Unit 3 Reflection - Mesopotamia and Fertile Crescent

Kyle C.

2/10/2011

1. In 2-3 sentences for each topic, summarize what you learned about the following:

a) The domestication of plants and animals

b) The transition from hunter-gatherer communities to the first civilizations

c) Early religion and beliefs

A) Domestication of Plants and Animals:

From the past, Domestication and farming lives had influenced the early civilizations; plant, animal domestication made possible for agriculture. Evidences show that by 11,000 – 8,000 B.C, people from Middle East knew how to farm. Domestication had been started when nomads had settled and became group of people who wanted to dwell in the region. By farming crops, people in the region could raise much more food (surplus of food meaning agricultural revolution) than Hunters and Gatherers; this could show that people had slowly adapted in an advance way or becoming civilized.

B) Transition from Hunter- Gatherer communities to Civilizations

As larger communities were formed, more advantages were made. By turning to Civilizations, the lives of the civilization became more advanced; trade relationships were created, larger communities were formed, and Division of labor had to be a deal. This tells us that, people who lived in communities instead of Hunter – Gatherers formed greater lives than others.

C) Early Religion and Beliefs

People from the past had been to known to believe in many Gods/Goddesses. Each God/Goddesses had symbolized each region or state; People believed that each God who symbolized the region gave protection; God/Goddesses supported others against the forces of nature such as flood or lack of crops. God/Goddesses sat at the highest level, they were the protection of the regions from the past and we still acknowledge that our Gods can protect us as well.

Learning about the Sumerians isn't very important since they're long gone! Let’s change their minds

Sumerians were successful in many ways; they had formed a well-balanced civilization. They maintained trading relationships, technology, Government etc. However the principal contribution of the Sumerians that we should know is the technology and inventions. Sumerians had invented the Wheel (science power), plowing techniques (animal power), and sailing (wind power). By inventing all of these followings above, Sumerians were an advanced civilization in trading, lifestyles.

2 Photos to show I identified and learned:

Mesopotamia, the region along the 2 Rivers, Euphrates and Tigris, this region was divided into Empires and the whole region was ruled by the greatest kings of Mesopotamia Sargon.

Fertile Crescent (Green) is the area which maintains “lush” in vegetation. This area was a huge support to regions located at this area.