Ancient inventions
Last week, you read about the increasing complexity of technology during the Copper Age, and discussed the increasingly complex social and political structures that developed alongside these prehistoric inventions. This week, your course materials are on the highly developed Bronze-Age civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt, where humans lived in the first cities under the rule of the first kings, establishing the first colonies, fighting the first wars, engaging in the first international trade, developing the first organized religions and rigid social hierarchies, and creating the first written records (prehistory ends here).
*First, what is bronze, and what is one way you think the invention of bronze itself affected international relations or the relationships among these early states? Then, choose one of the following aspects of early civilization in Mesopotamia and Egypt: trade; warfare; colonization; government; social inequality; economic inequality; religion. What are four technologies developed from 3000-2000 BC and discussed by Hodges in Chapter 4 that can be related to the aspect of early civilization in Mesopotamia or Egypt you’ve chosen to write about? For instance, if you’ve chosen to discuss the early development of warfare, what are four technologies or technological developments from Hodges, Chapter 4, that you can relate to warfare? Make sure to explain clearly in each case what you think the relationship between the early-Bronze-Age technology you’re discussing and the social/economic/political/cultural development (i.e., trade, warfare, colonization, government, social inequality, economic inequality, or religion) you’re focusing on is. And make sure to use examples from and references to this week’s course materials.
Then, "pseudoarcheology" is a term used to describe non-scientific theories about the past–the types of non-evidence-based speculations developed and promoted especially by racist and nationalist groups, conspiracy theorists, and television shows like Ancient Aliens. Many pseudoarchaeological theories are focused on the early Bronze Age and on the civilizations we’re covering this week. From page 252-257 of his chapter on "Mysterious Egypt" (in Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology), Feder specifically discusses "diffusionist" pseudoarchaeological theories. Other examples of diffusionist theories about the ancient world include ideas about a super-civilization from the Lost Continent of Atlantis (Atlantis isn’t a real place; it was a story made up in the 4th Century BC by the Greek philosopher Plato to illustrate a philosophical point) and ideas about an original Aryan super-race genetically engineered by extraterrestrial aliens (an idea popular among some white supremacists).
*First, what is your sense of what a diffusionist theory about the ancient world is, based on what Feder writes about? What would an example of a diffusionist theory about Egypt be? What is one fact about ancient Egypt discussed by Feder from page 257-272 that you could use to debunk or disprove such a theory? What are three technologies possessed by the ancient Egyptians from either the Feder reading or from our other readings that you think could have been used to build the pyramids of Giza instead of their having been built by extraterrestrial aliens or some other super-species? What is another commonly-held misunderstanding or baseless idea about ancient Egypt discussed by Feder from page 272-276 or on page 282 (another claim lacking any evidence in addition to the claim that aliens or an original super-race built the pyramids)?
Image-based component:
Search online for an image of any one ancient technology you discussed in your answers to the Week 2, Unit 1 questions, or a reconstruction of it, if there are not surviving examples of it itself. Include the image of the ancient technology in your post, along with a link to the website where you found the image. Look around you for a modern technology or device we use to perform the same function or accomplish the same task as the ancient technology or device you found the image of. Take a picture of that modern technology or device and include the picture in your post.**
**Please make sure this is your own picture of something you see around you–a picture that you’ve taken yourself.
Week 2, Unit 2 Questions:
Written component:
During the late Bronze Age (ca. 2000-1100 BC), the civilizations of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia expanded into new territories, encountered new people, imported new technologies, and established and became dependent on a complex and far-reaching set of trade routes that could be called a miniature "global" trade network. Until now, we’ve been studying ancient technology as something progressive, something that builds on itself and keeps advancing along with the civilizations that develop it. But at the end of the Bronze Age, the sophisticated and powerful Bronze-Age states collapsed, beginning what’s often called a "dark" age (and also beginning the Iron Age).
*First, what is an example of a technology that progressed or advanced between 2000 and 1100 BC from Hodges, Chapter 5 (a technology that already existed but become more sophisticated during the late Bronze Age)? What is an example of a new group of people the ancient civilizations we’ve been covering came into contact with during this period, and what is an example of a new technology, product, or idea that appears in the Near East from 2000-1100 BC because of this contact? What are two examples of goods that were traded across the vast trade networks of the late Bronze Age and that you think show the increasing sophistication either of the civilizations we’ve been covering or of their trading connections?
*Then, what is Eric Cline’s main argument in "The Collapse of Civilizations: It’s Complicated?" After reading Hodges, Chapter 5, and Cline’s article, what do you think the two most likely causes of the late-Bronze-Age collapse are? Why does Cline think such a collapse could happen again? Do you agree with his statements? What do you think about his (and many others’) attempts to use examples from the ancient world as lessons for our current society?
*Finally, after this period iron eventually became the dominant metal used in the Middle/Near East (and, in fact, retains that dominance today as steel, which is carbonized iron). Iron is much harder to work with than bronze. What is one difference between working with iron and working with bronze? Any ideas about why people turned to iron after the late Bronze-Age collapse despite the fact that it’s a more difficult metal to work with?
Image-based component:
Search online for an image of any one ancient technology you discussed in your answers to the Week 2, Unit 2 questions, or a reconstruction of it, if there are not surviving examples of it itself. Include the image of the ancient technology in your post, along with a link to the website where you found the image. Look around you for a modern technology or device we use to perform the same function or accomplish the same task as the ancient technology or device you found the image of. Take a picture of that modern technology or device and include the picture in your post.**
**Please make sure this is your own picture of something you see around you–a picture that you’ve taken yourself.
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