Test on Egypt

Today we took our test on  Egypt. We had a while in the beginning to study before we took the test, i think that i could have spent more time at home studying and preparing. I had all the notes on my blog and in my journal i just didn't study efficiently.

last notes on Egypt

Two lands

• upper Egypt- 500 mile log strip of fertile land along the Nile
• lower Egypt- wide land of Nile Delta that emptied into the Mediterranean Sea      

Pharaohs 

• powerful, worshiped as a god 
• Egyptians relied on harmony and balance of the universe, which they call "maat"
• Pharaohs had multiple wives 
• women could inherit money and land and divorce their husbands 

Writing 

• Hieroglyphs- pictures
• Hiertic- symbols that represent a letter/word 
• papyrus- paper that was used to make scrolls, these scrolls can be stored for a long time

Calendars and Sailboats 

• created Calendar off a 12 month cycle 
• used organs from the dead to create potions and cures 
• wooden sailboats made to increase transport on the Nile 

Pyramids and Temples 

• massive stone tombs 
• originally covered in marble but not anymore 
• painting and sculptures are always done in a profile image 

Build a Pyramid

Today in class we had to build a pyramid by doing an activity online working with a partner. My partner and i had a difficult time figuring out which materials to use and how many workers you need and etc. It was a challenge and really got you thinking.

Egypt videos

mummification
              Ancient Egyptians came up with mummification to preserve the body for the after life. They take out certain organs, then they cover the body with salt and let it settle for 40 days, oils were put on te body, then they would glue down the linen to the body, then they place the mummy on a wooden board and wrap some more, then they put a pouch on the chest for a religious meaning, finally they put a cover on the mummy. After all of the preaping hey would paint symbols on the outside of the cloth.

About Egypt
             Ancient Egypt civilization lasted from 3000 BCE - 332 BE. This civilization lasted so long because of their many resources, like the Nile River. Every summer the river flooded which left lots of rich soil to plant. The Nile was well tamed with the simple use of irrigation and the use of canals. Egyptians were buried with precious items because they believed in after life. There are three different time periods in Ancient Egypt, The old Kingdom, The middle Kingdom, and The new Kingdom.

Pyramid Quest
           A young man went on a quest to look for treasures in the pyramids. He didn't bring warriors but he brought architects. He ended up not finding anything inside, this left him questioning. But today we have discovered way more about the chambers in the Pyramids, we know that there is more than just a tum that was put in the massive Pyramid. There is an underground tunnel in the Pyramid too.
 

Cyber Day assignment

Five Technological breakthroughs in ancient Egypt 

1. Hieroglyphics - this is a form of writing that the Egyptians came up with. This allowed the Egyptians to record records to help form and maintain their growing empire. Jean-Francois Champollion was a brilliant sixteen year old, he understood eight different languages in all, being able to do this helped crack the hieroglyphic code. He could do this because he knew how to translate them into Egyptian words. He is the one who established the Hieroglyphic letters.

2. Astronomy -  The influence of astronomy greatly changed the life of the Egyptians. They developed a calender, this aloud them to build monuments and point them in the cardinal directions to help tell what time of the year it is. The calender helped in many ways, especially when months were changing. This helped to tell when to grow crops and etc.

3. Medicine - The ancient Egyptians had a wide variety of medicines and spells to get rid of the evil spirits that they would use on the sick. The medicines they invented were strange but they help provide a lot of information to today's historians about their ways. For one of their medicines they used honey and human brains to cure eye infections.

4. Shipbuilding - Having the Nile River being a main aspect in living in Egypt, the Egyptians had to use the river for not only growing crops but for transportation. they started with small boats using papyrus reeds but later used wood to make larger boats.


5. Makeup - Every Egyptian wore makeup, even men. They wore it for fashion reasons but also for protecting their faces from the sun; just like football players use today. The black makeup is called kohl, which is made from different minerals. This invention is still  used today because of the Egyptians.

Egypt

Today in class we review our tests we just took on Jared Diamond, we corrected them so we can use them to study for exams. The second part of class we discussed more about the daily life in Egypt, like rankings and the tasks of each person on the pyramid. We also spent time talking about how the Egyptians were not as advanced it the artistic way like the Romans and Greeks, they drew things more 2D instead of 3D. They also put animals together with human parts. For example, they would put a lion body with a human head to how that they were strong. Egyptians also believed in afterlife... this means they believe that once they are dead they will come back to life.  

Cyber day assignment - more notes on Egypt

Daily Life

• slaves and servants helped the wealthy with household and child raising duties
• raised wheat, barley, lentils, and onions
• artisans would carve statues and reliefs showing military battles and scenes in the after life 
• money /barter system - merchants might accept bags of grain for payment 
• scribes kept records, told stories, wrote poetry, described anatomy and medical treatments
• scribes wrote in hieroglyphics
• solders used wooden weapons with a bronze tip 
• upper class, know as the "white kilt class" 
• religious and political leaders      

Egypt - Day 1

Ancient Egypt 

Geography

• centered around the Nile River
• flows from South to North
• 3 branches of the Nile River 
• over 4,000 miles log 
• water is for drinking, bathing, irrigation, and transportation
• Egyptians invented the sailboat 
• every July it floods
• every October it leaves behind rich soil 
• Delta is a broad, marshy triangular area (like a D) of fertile soil
• manage river required technology breakthrough 

Pyramids

• the Great Sphinx of Giza                                                                                                                      - built 2555 - 2532 BC                                                                                                                    - a recumbent lion with a human's head                                                                                          - oldest monumental statue in the world                                                                                               

Daily life

1. Pharaoh
2. government officials 
3. solders
4. scribes
5. merchants
6. artisans
7. farmers
8. slaves/ servants 

Test on the movie

Today we took a test on the video about Jared Diamond. I think i did alright on this test, i could have studied the material better and put better notes on my blog from the notes i took in class. We also got our Mesopotamia tests back and reviewed them, all of this information will be on our final exam so we corrected them, so everyone had the correct answers. Tomorrow we will start learning about Egypt.

video day 3 - lock down

for the first part of class today we had a lock down drill. For this, we all had to move one side of the room where we could not be seen from the door, we had to stay quiet for 10-15 min. After the drill was over we talked more about staying safe in the building if a situation occurs. Then we watched the Guns, Germs, and Steel video for a little bit. Once they started learning that they could control fire and make steel, they started advancing and learning more techniques to construct things to build homes, weapons, and tools.

Guns, Germs and Steel - Day 2

the use of animals....

     kill them, clothing, milk, human can control them 

168 animals over 100 lbs. ..... but only 14 of them have been domesticated.

     goats, sheep, pigs, cows, horses, donkeys, bacttian camels, Arabian camels, water buffalo, lamas,        reindeer, yaks, mithans, and bali cattle. 

The people there haven't advanced much because they spend all their time just trying to survive, by farming and gather food to supply to with. They do not have any type of ruler there, basically the best hunter in the group is the one that the others listen to or look up to. They dont have animals to do the work for them, they use human strength to do everything. They use pigs but they dont weigh ebough like the other animals to do the heavy work.  

     

Guns Germs and Steel - Day 1

Today we started watching a video called Guns Germ and Steel. Jared Diamond goes to an isolated island called Panigue. Black man in the beginning asked Jared Diamond why the whites have so much more Cargo than they do. This got Jared Diamond thinking and wanted to figure out for himself why they have not advanced like everyone else in the world when they can live in a time like the Neolithic Era. These people hunt and gather 24/7 and do everything with their hands, they don't use tools or anything. They are intelligent people, they know just as much as we know. maybe even more. Women gather food while men hunt, Women gather food from a tree called Sago, this tree has very little supply of food in it, and takes a long time to prepare. While the men use techniques to hunt different kinds of animals for the people to eat. Jared Diamond will find out why these people haven't advanced like other parts of the world have.