The Wonders of Easter Island

Trying to grasp the idea of how ancient people carved and lifted up massive stone structures at locations around the world leaves me in awe. The other day I was reminded of how fascinating such structures are when I was flipping through channels and came across the movie Night at the Museum. In the film, Ben Stiller comes across a museum of artifacts that come to life at night. Among the artifacts is an ancient stone head from Easter Island who can speak and often warns Ben Stiller's character of problems that develop among the other artifacts. However, the ancient people of Easter Island did not have anyone to warn them of how severely they were damaging their island.

Easter Island is about 2,200 miles off the coast of Chile in South America. Although rarely visited, it is known for the hundreds of stone statues, referred to as Moai, that create a perimeter around nearly the entire island. The Moai statues range anywhere from 12-70 feet tall and the heaviest recorded weighs approximately 160 tons. The original inhabitants are thought to be of Polynesian decent and arrived around 318 CE, erecting the first statues near 700 CE. The statues creating what appears to be a border around the island sit on platforms known as 'ahu' which are spaced about a half a mile apart. Each ahu seats multiple Moai statues of which their use and significance are unclear. Scholars suggest that they are a symbol of authority and power between people of the island, and that the people who raised them believed they were a source of spiritual power. Researchers who have surveyed the island report that 288 statues were successfully placed on ahu platforms by the ancient people, 92 remain scattered around the island not having made it to their final ahu destination, and 397 statues in various phases of construction lie in the quarry where they are carved.

When the ancient people arrived to the island, it was extremely plentiful. Vast forests and rich bird life were prevalent until approximately 1400 CE when the environment was completely destroyed due to overuse. The rich resources the island provided gave way to a growing population, leaving no time for environmental renewal. There is debate over whether such environmental decline lead to the societal collapse of the ancient people on the island. Martin Gray, who conducts archeological research, insists that there are other aspects to consider such as clashing encounters with European explorers which evoked a series of slave raids. He goes into great detail about the debate here.

In fact, debate surrounds multiple aspects of Easter Island. Researchers know that the statues were carved in a quarry near one of the island’s volcanoes, Rano Raraku, but how they were transported to their current locations is uncertain. Many scholars claim the ancient people must have rolled them, keeping them upright, on a series of logs to their final destination. Meanwhile, others declare that the statues were transported laying down and then lifted using a system of levers. Researchers debate the origin of the people on Easter Island as well. Most recognize that the first people on the island were of Polynesian decent and believe they could have been lost at sea on a voyage from surrounding islands. Although some scholars disagree such as Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas, arguing that Easter Island is one of the highest peaks of an enormous landmass that may have been submerged when the ice caps melted, forcing people to the area. They discuss the topic in their book Uriel's Machine.

We will probably never be sure of the answers to many of these debated topics. It is such uncertainty that makes the ways of ancient people so fascinating to me. Too bad we do not have ancient talking artifacts to fill us in on what really happened.

Sources:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_journal/workshop/4328400.html
http://www.world-mysteries.com/easter_island.htm

Now There's Ardi?

Image found using Creative Commons: http://www.opride.com/oromsis/ethiopia/445-scientists-ardi-fossil-sheds-light-on-origin-of-human-species.html

So I have been wondering all week, what am I going to write for my blog? Then out of the blue a new page pops up on Yahoo News, Before Lucy came Ardi, new earliest hominid found. I though to myself, wow...I guess I have my topic. All right, so be straight forward right off the back, I am a very devoted Christian, so the past few lectures have been a little awkward. I love learning about history, but some times it is tough to not roll my eyes too much, and accept that I will someday have to be teaching things that I do not always agree with. So, with that out of the way...

I was reading this article and I found it interesting that after just learning about Lucy we get to meet Ardi. The article states that scientists claim Ardi is from 4.4 million years ago near Ethiopia. I also find it interesting that during class we talked about how certain species would die off and only one would survive and that is how the evolution process worked (theory) and that in this article it mentioned that scientists now believe apes and humans did not evolve from the ape but that we both evolved from a different common species. Now, a moment for my skepticism, but when will these theories ever stop changing? I guess, probably never.

In class we also talked about the point when these species began walking upright, on two feet. In this article it mentions that they, the scientists, believe that Ardi's species were able to "climb on all fours along tree branches" but that they could also "walk upright...when on the ground." So, according to the scientists Ardi's race was the changing period between the species that walked on all fours to those that walked only on two feet! Putting my skepticism aside, I suppose this is a great find for historical and scientific benefits.

And I will leave it at that. (as my mind is reeling with skepticism and comebacks to the scientific world)

Article from Associated Press on Yahoo News: Before Lucy came Ardi, new earliest hominid found byRandolph E. Schmid

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091001/ap_on_sc/us_sci_before_lucy

This is Sparta!

As I returned home from work last night, my roommates were watching the movie 300. The movie is based on the Greco-Persian Wars fought between 500 and 450 BCE. The movie highlights the battle of Thermopylae, the famous last stand of the 300 Spartans.

The beginning of the movie shows life in early Sparta, including the growing up process for the Spartan male. Highlights include the inspection of the child, sending him to various military style training facilities, and sending him off into the wilderness where he must fight to survive for an extensive period of time. While this makes for an entertaining story line in the movie, how much of it is actual fact? Where children really treated this cruelly in ancient Sparta, or is this all part of the director's plot to make for a blockbuster film? It just so happens that the book I am reading for our class book report is all about the Battle of Thermopylae, and it sheds some light on the early years of Spartan life.

Sparta was a nation built around its military, and subsequently life was based around it. Emphasis on military discipline and fitness began almost at birth. Shortly after the child was born, the mother bathed it in wine in order to see if her child was strong. Pending the child surviving the wine bath, it was brought before the Gerousia, the Spartan Senate. The child was subsequently inspected by the Gerousia. If it had any deformities or imperfections, the child was taken to Mount Taygetos and abandoned.

At the age of seven the child was enrolled in military training. They lived in dormitories and were trained in discipline and physical activity. By the age of twelve, they were assigned a mentor, who would take over as a quasi-father for the child. Like most of the ancient Greek world, it is quite certain that the pair would have had intimate relations.

At age eighteen they joined the Spartan reserve army. As a final act of their schooling, they were sent into the wilderness with only a knife and their prior knowledge. Their mission was to kill members of the helot population. (The helots were a non-free group of people living in Sparta.)

After reviewing the facts, it can be noted that the movie does have some truths in it. I assumed that it was simply a Hollywood glorified war epic, but come to find out that the opening scenes were quite accurate. It will be interesting to see just how accurate the entire movie is as I keep reading the book.

image came from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifXJcdnrubrqvzBCBDft_DGdnkVa8BJvdt_FyX3df8CNCnXkuZP2SIfkDyDETwQbThCmFHFC3oqDiXiXRvAOnyXx-SO3C7JkdcOhkSiDCvEOoeZij4gHj1DM8M2yWhB98L8SQajGUqZLI/s400/sparta300.jpg

Peasants Throughout the Ages

"The main problem that occupied peasants was how to cope with the hardships and disaster that must befall them.... They were trapped socially, economically, politically, and mentally in their own peasant world of poverty" (Wunderli 34).

Recently, in my European history class, I read Peasant Fires. The book is centered on Hans Behem, a peasant in 1476 Germany who led a rebellion against the wealthy priests of the Roman Catholic Church. This book peaked my interest in peasants throughout the ages, specifically Behem's peasant conditions versus those of peasants in ancient civilizations like Egypt. I am curious about this group because they were a fundamental part of the economy, yet many historical documents do not focus on them. Though they had different technology and roles, the peasants of ancient cultures and the Middle Ages were similar in the way they were oppressed.

The ancient farmers in Egypt used basic technology, while agriculture in the Medieval times was more sophisticated. In ancient Egypt, the peasants had a basic irrigation system with dikes and canals to channel water from the Nile River. Sickles, baskets, hoes, and small plows harvested crops, which were mainly wheat and barley, and there were abundant amounts of farmland (Parsons). However, the peasants in the Middle Ages used technology that included horses, sophisticated irrigation and more effective plows. In Germany, overpopulation, famine, and lack of available farmland were problems (Wunderli 51).

The peasants in ancient Egypt had different roles from those in the Middle Ages as well. In the ancient civilizations, the majority of the peasant's crop yields provided for his family, yet he contributed greatly to the economy. In ancient Egypt, was calendar months were named after the crop cycle. For example, Peret was the month of Emergence, in which the flood waters of the Nile River receded and planting began (Parsons). In the Middle Ages, however, the peasants paid taxes to landlords and clergy before they could provide for their family, and agriculture was less essential in the diverse economy (Wunderli 31).

These groups were oppressed in similar ways. The majority lived on land owned by an authority figure. Wunderli's statement, “What mattered was the legal claim made by the ruling elite on their labor and on whatever they produced” (30), applies to both groups because their lives focused on service to a landowner. In Egypt, scribes regulated the amount of seeds peasants withdrew from granaries, while tax assessors estimated the yearly taxes. Both groups were forced to pay taxes to these authority figures or risk the loss of their home or, in Egypt, beatings (Parsons).

Therefore, the peasants in ancient Egypt and the Medieval Ages were similar. The peasants in ancient civilizations had different technology and roles from those in the Middle Ages, yet the groups were alike in their oppression by authority and connection of agriculture and religion. These peasants throughout the ages were more alike than different.

Sources:

Parsons, Marie. Egypt: Egyptian Societ: the Peasant-Farmer, A Feature Tour Egypt Story InterCity, OZ, 2005. Web. 29 Sep. 2009 .

Wunderli, Richard. Peasant Fires. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992. Print.

A Life of Privileges

When signing up for this class, I immediately thought of "In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue...." So I felt it appropriate to make my first blog about the no one other than Christopher Columbus, himself. As five decades have passed, Columbus still remains the greatest mariners to date and a man of mystery. Columbus's dream of finding a westward route to Asia, begin with his life long career as a mariner. It was not until he moved to Spain did he find someone who would help pay for his voyage. He gained the support of Isabel and Fernando, who at the time were Catholic monarchs. The King and Queen told Columbus if he was to successfully return he would be knighted, appointed Admiral of the Ocean Sea, made the viceroy of any new lands, and awarded ten percent of any new wealth.

According to the blazon specified in letters patent dated May 20, 1493, Columbus was to bear in the first and the second quarters the royal charges of Castile and Leon -- the castle and the lion -- but with different tinctures or colors. (Herring, Hubert. A History of Latin America From the Beginnings to the Present.. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1962)

The earliest graphic representation of Columbus's arms is found in his Book of Privileges. This is a record of all the privileges he received between 1492 and 1502. He gathered several judges and notaries in his hometown of Seville to have them authorize copies of his archival collection of original documents through which Isabel and Fernando had granted titles, revenues, powers and privileges to Columbus and his descendants.

Four copies of his "Book" existed in 1502, three written on vellum and one on paper. The Library's copy, one of the three on vellum, has a unique paper copy of the Papal Bull Dudum siquidem of September 26, 1493, which extended the Spanish claim for future explorations.( Columbus, Christopher. Códice Diplomático Columbo-Americano. Seville: Vellum, 1502.) This book is escorted by a police escort at all times.

Welcome to the Jungle: Pre-Columbian Amazonia

This semester, I am taking a class called Historical Geography of The Amazon. Along with studying the ecology of the region, we have also been learning about the native peoples of the area and their history before the arrival of Europeans. Many people are aware of the Mayan, Incan, and Aztec civilizations, but they usually assume that the Americas were a vast wilderness inhabited by small bands of hunter-gatherers. Because these civilizations did little to contribute to the development of the modern culture, history education has frequently overlooked them. The general public assumed that these peoples lived in harmony with nature and did little to alter their surrounding environment. Many historians and anthropologists now no longer believe this is true. Based on archeological evidence, places such as the island of Marajò, at the mouth of the Amazon River, appear to have had a population of up to 250,000 people, suggesting that the Amazon was home to many more people than previously thought. (Michael Goulding, Floods of Fortune: Ecology and Economy Along the Amazon. New York: Columbia University 1996).
Originally, anthropologists believed that, due to the Amazon basin’s poor soils (most of the nutrients in the soil are leached out with the rainfall or are absorbed right away by the thick vegetation) and inability to support widespread agriculture, no cities or large settlements of people could have existed in the Amazon. Also, since the basin lacks rocks (useful for efficiently clearing forests), and plants and animals that are easily domesticated, anthropologists and historians believed that the Amazon was sparsely populated. Charles Mann, in his book 1491, wrote about the changing views and new discoveries in the Amazon. Archeologists have unearthed large areas of soils, called terra preta or Indian soils, rich in charcoal. The charcoal in the soil holds nutrients longer than the typical soils of the Amazon floodplain thus allowing cultivation. Archeologists have also discovered thousands of pottery shards mixed into these soils, suggesting that people manipulated the soil to grow crops, such as palm trees like the acai (the fruit of the tree is rich in nutrients) and manioc (a starchy root crop). A small group of people could not have produced such a large number of pottery shards. Only a highly complex and organized society based on intensive floodplain agriculture with specialized craftsmen would have been able to build up these earthen mounds. With plenty of different fish species and a variety of tree fruits and nuts, there was more than enough food and resources for large agricultural societies to develop.

“One of the biggest patches of terra preta is on the high bluffs at the mouth of the (river) Tapajòs, near Santarem. The terra preta zone is tree miles long and half a mile wide, suggesting widespread human habitation.”

The myth that American Indians, from the Amazon to North America, did little to manipulate their environment is slowly dissolving. It may become clear that vast complex cultures thrived across the continents just as they did in Europe and Asia. It is hard to develop an accurate picture of the Amazon when artifacts don’t survive long in the moisture rich environment. Diseases brought to the new world by the Europeans decimated the native populations, so their history and cultural traditions were lost. Charles Mann’s book, as well as work done by anthropologists and archeologists, shed new light on our old ideas.

For more information there is a good NPR interview along with an Atlantic article that gives more information about the Amazon floodplain before the arrival of the Europeans.