Chapter 2 Blog Post #3

At this point I'm only on page 66 of this chapter and I can already tell there's a problem with digging into history this old. The text says that "Unlike its Middle Eastern counterparts, the Indus Valley civilization apparently generated no palaces, temples, elaborate graves, kings, or warrior classes." (66 Ways of the World). It seems that a lot of our knowledge about the first civilization derives from our lack of evidence. I am aware that it's very hard to find ancient artifacts that can provide us a plethora of information at this point, but I don't think it wise to base knowledge on lack of evidence. There is that old saying "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence".

It makes sense that early civilizations were all tied to agriculture. Food, water, and shelter are all basic needs on Maslowe's Hierarchy of Needs and if there's one location that can provide all of that, why would anyone leave? They wouldn't. I like that the book moves onto "The Erosion of Equality" after mentioning the gathering of people into cities. It makes sense that once there are a bunch of people living together they would compare socioeconomic status. It's an unfortunate reality of being an urban dweller.

Strayer then comes to the topic about how patriarchy came to be. He assumes that society is to blame because prior to large civilizations men and women were regarded as equal. It's a tough topic to think about at times, and it does make me wonder what nature had truly intended. I am all for equality between men and women, but in other animals there isn't always such equality. Female Black Widows consume their mate after they reproduce. Lionesses do most of the hunting. Queen Bees are the head of the hive. Elephant herds are often led by the largest and oldest female. There are plenty of examples where women are in charge in the natural order of things. I think equality is an ideal and something to strive for, and I would prefer it above inequality of course, but these occurrences in nature make me wonder what the dynamic for humans was meant to be.

Reading Blog Post #3 Claudius vs Xinchen

Based off of the material available, I think that Xinchen was a better leader than Claudius. There is no doubt that Claudius was a great contributor by finishing the drainage canal of Lake Fucine and the aqueduct he had built, but it's also important to look at the reasons why he took on these big projects. It is mentioned in the excerpt that "He made the attempt on the Fucine Lake as much in the hope of gain as of glory." There's no doubt that everyone enjoys recognition and the completion of great feats, but the specific mentioning of this makes Claudius seem like a lesser person. Also, toward the end of the excerpt is it mentioned that he had "30,00 men at work all the time without interruption." Without specifics, I am assuming that this means he worked these men very hard with few breaks. This sounds like a man who is more interested in glory and accomplishing tasks. His people gained from these tasks of course, but it doesn't seem like it is his focus.

Xinchen on the other hand left a "man of the people" impression on me. Reading that he enjoyed farming like the average person and often went in and out of villages and visited them makes him seem like a superior leader than Claudius. I can imagine a powerful Emperor ordering people to do great deeds in his name for Claudius, and I can imagine a well rounded everyday man for Xinchen who just happens to be in a higher position. Xinchen's accomplishments are not as great in comparison, but in terms of leadership qualities he is above Claudius. I also like that he set up legislation in regards to the distribution of water.

Reading Blog Post #2 Nisa

Based off of what I've read about the Paleolithic people, I think Nisa's account is accurate and aligned with what history states. Nisa seemed to have a simple life and gained great pleasure over simple things like her husband bringing home dinner. While we still gain intense pleasure from satiating our hunger, due to intensification we require more abstract flavors and methods of cooking to achieve the same happiness that Nisa would get (in my opinion).  I found it ironic that she felt that her 4th husbamd Besa was odd because he wanted to make love every night. I feel that a lot of people are like that nowadays if they are truly in love with their partner (at least in the early stages). I enjoyed reading that Nisa rated her children, mother, and father equal in terms of love. The death of any of these family members can cause an equal amount of trauma, which makes Nisa's opnion seem credible. To be honest, I felt that she wasn't descriptive enough about how her life was. The Marriage and Loss section combined was about 3 times as long as the Life in the Bush section.

Reading Blog Post #1

In our first reading assignment, a few key concepts stuck out to me that I wanted to ponder about further. First and foremost is the rapid disappearance of the Clovis culture. The book brings up the two viewpoints of how this might have happened; did the Clovis people die out due to dry climate or did they hunt the wooly mammoth to extinction? It's common knowledge that when one species goes extinct it can dramatically affect all surrounding species, especially if one is predator and the other is prey. However, I disagree with the viewpoint that the Clovis people hunted the wooly mammoth to extinction. Throughout this week's readings it's mentioned that we originated in Africa and then our early ancestors migrated across the many continents. If the Colvis people's primary food source had disappeared, could they not have just migrated to another location? The next group of people mentioned in the book hunt on the great plains, which makes me wonder why the Clovis people didn't just try to move to a new location. I suppose we will never know for sure.

Another concept that stood out to me was the lack of desire in the hunter/gatherer people of Australia for material goods that they did not view as essential for survival. They only took what they needed from the land and were perfectly happy with that. When I read segments like these it makes me pessimistic about our current society, because we take a lot more than we need to survive. I know that in today's society, for example, I need a computer to be typing out this very blog post in order to achieve a decent grade, but I don't truly need this computer to survive. Greed and desire were perhaps less prevalent in these Australian hunter/gatherers, which is why Captain James Cook in 1770 was perplexed.

This is my first blog post. Exciting stuff.