Ancient Pueblo Peoples Assyrians Aztecs Celts Chinese Egyptians Greeks Hebrews Incas Mound Builders (North America) Mayans Indus Valley Vikings/Norse (Scandinavians) Persians Romans Scythians Sumerians Phoenicians Carthaginians Indus Valley Authors The Ancient Pueblo people were a Native American culture also known as Anasazi, but descendants of the people prefer not to be called that. They are the ancestors of modern Pueblos. Their culture dates back to 1200 B.C. The Ancient Pueblo people lived in what is now the southwestern United States of America. They lived in a high desert area filled with flat-topped hills called mesas. Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona meet at a point called “Four Corners”. The area surrounding Four Corners was the home of the Ancient Pueblos, which is probably why the "Four corners." nickname is "the pueblo corners". The Ancient Pueblo people built large buildings made up of many individual rooms. Families built the buildings over generations. Different families lived together in a single building, like an apartment complex today. The Spanish called the buildings pueblos. Pueblo is a Spanish word that means "village". It is from these pueblos that the Ancient Pueblo people get their name. These buildings were made of wood logs, adobe and stone. Adobe is a natural building material made from water, dirt and straw. The Ancient Pueblo builders used stones to make the walls of each room. Then they covered them with a layer of smooth adobe. The color of the walls is often the same as the color of the ground nearby. One very famous pueblo is Taos Pueblo. It has a multi-storied residential complex of reddish-brown adobe. The Rio Pueblo River runs through the middle of the pueblo. Pueblo people built this pueblo between 1000 and 1450 A.D. About one hundred and fifty people still live there today. They also built enclosed pits called kivas. Religious rituals and ceremonies were held inside the kivas. Most kivas built by the Ancient Pueblo people were round underground rooms. A hole in the roof was both a door and chimney. There were benches and alcoves in the walls. A fire pit was in the center. The Ancient Pueblo people are famous for their cliff dwellings. Mesa Verde in south western Colorado has several built into its sides. Cliff Palace is a particularly well known dwelling there. It has 220 rooms, in several stories and 23 kivas. The design of Cliff Palace seems random. Different people added new rooms slowly. Over many years, it took shape. People who lived there grew their food on the top of the mesa above them. They had to climb the face of a steep cliff to get home. They used small hand and foot holds carved in the rock. The Ancient Pueblo people were very good farmers despite the harsh and arid climate. They ate mainly corn, beans, and squash. They knew how to dry their food and could store it for years. Women ground the dried corn into flour, which they made into paper-thin cakes. They cooked these on a hot rock. Today their ancestors call these cakes "piki." They also cooked stews in clay pots over a fire. Since they lived in the high desert, food was hard to come by. They had bows and stone-tipped arrows. They hunted and ate animals like mice, rabbits, squirrels, deer, elk, and turkey. They also gathered wild foods like piñon nuts, yucca bulbs, and sunflower seeds. They kept turkeys and ate their eggs, but they may not have eaten the birds themselves. Instead, they used these birds to control insects. The birds would eat the bugs before the bugs ate the plants. Ancient Pueblo people wore many different types of clothing. They wore shirts and loincloths made of animal hides and furs. As animals were scarce, so was leather. They made sandals with thick soles from the matted fibers of the yucca plant. Yucca fibers were also used as thread. About 1,000 years ago, they began trading and growing cotton. They used cotton to weave shirts, dresses, loincloths and blankets. They decorated their clothing using natural dyes made from plants and minerals. Some common colors were ochre yellow, rust red, and pale blue-gray. The Ancient Pueblo people were expert weavers and they would decorate the fabric they wove. They painted or embroidered abstract geometric designs on the fabric. The weather was hot during the summer, so they wore little clothing then; however, they experienced cold winters. To make robes and coats, they wrapped feathers around Yucca fibers which they then sewed together. They also wore jewlery. They crafted pendants, earrings and necklaces from turquoise. They traded for shells and beads and wore these as well. No one knows for sure what the Ancient Pueblo people believed. We can make some good guesses, though. This is because we know what modern Pueblos believe. They did not believe in a single god. They believed in many mystic beings and gods. Today their descendants call some of these kotchinas. The kotchinas could speak directly with gods. People would ask the kotchinas to help them. Dancing was a main way that people connected with kotchinas. According to Pueblo history, their ancestors entered this world from another world. The people who entered this world are the First People. A flute-playing locust led them on the journey. An important concept in Pueblo history and religion is the sipapu. A sipapu was a place where people could communicate with the spirits. It could be an alcove in a kiva, a mountain, a body of water, or some other place. Ancient Pueblo Indians believed that the dead pass into the spirit world through the sipapu. When someone died, their spirit went to a different world for a time. Then they were reborn in this world as a new baby. Ancient Puebloans did not have a written language. They did create pottery, cloth, and rock carvings with abstract designs, though. These designs identified groups or spirits. They also made rock carvings that had pictures of people and animals. A Pueblo medicine man named Popé led a revolt against the Spanish in 1680. The revolt was in response to the cruel treatment the Native Americans received from the conquering Spanish. The Pueblos managed to force the Spanish out of New Mexico but two years after Popé's death, the Spanish regained control. Maria Martinez is a famous pottery maker known for her recreation of traditional Puebloan designs. Her most famous pots have matte black designs on a shiny black surface. There are still Pueblo people living in New Mexico and Arizona. Some live other places in the American south west. There are around 25 pueblos today. Taos, Acoma, Zuni, and Hopi are the most well known pueblos. Modern Pueblo people are descended from the Mogollon and Hohokam people as well as the Ancient Pueblo people. The Aztecs lived in what is now Mexico. The name Mexico comes from the Aztec word Mexica, a name they used to describe themselves. Their capital city, Tenochtitlan, was located where Mexico City currently stands today The Aztec's city, Tenochtitlan, was built on a self-made island. When they first arrived in the area, there was nothing but a swampy island in the middle of Lake Texcoco. They developed a system, called the chinampa system to dry the land by setting up small plots in which they produced all the food they needed. When enough land was dry they would begin to build there. Over time, they added to the size of the island using this system. Tenochtitlan was divided into four zones (called campan). Each campan was divided into 20 districts (calpullis), and each calpulli was crossed by streets, or tlaxilcalli. There were three main streets that crossed the city and extended to firm land; the calpullis were divided by channels used for transportation, with wood bridges that were removed at night. Each calpulli had its own tianquiztli (marketplace), but there was also a main marketplace in Tlatelolco. Tenochtitlan was created symmetrical, that is, a mirror image on both sides. At the heart of the city lay public buildings, temples and schools. Inside a walled square, 300 meters to the side, was the ceremonial center. There were public buildings, the main temple, the temple of Quetzalcoatl, the ball game, the tzompantli, or rack of skulls, the temple of the sun, the platforms for the sacrifice of gladiators, and some minor temples. Outside was the palace of Moctezuma. Nearby was the cuicalli or house of the songs, and the calmecac, or school. All construction had to be approved by the calmimilocatl, a person in charge of city planning. Moctezuma's palace had 100 rooms and bathrooms for the lords and ambassadors of allies and conquered people. It also had two zoos, one for birds of prey and another for other birds, reptiles, and mammals. There was also a botanical garden and an aquarium. The aquarium had ten salt water ponds and ten fresh water ponds, containing fish and aquatic birds. Aztec men wore the cloth around their waists and cloaks around their shoulders. Aztec women wore sleeveless blouses and wraparound skirts. Nobles dressed in brightly colored cotton clothes decorated in gold and feathers. This was done to attract attention to themselves. The poor wore clothes made of maguey fibers, and slaves did not wear much at all The Aztec army dressed differently from everyday people. Warriors wore vests made of quilted cotton, feathered plumes that are dusted with stones and precious metals. They also wore collars, bracelets, and earrings made of the same materials. Depending on how many enemies they captured, warriors could earn the right to wear animal costumes. Chiefs wore layers of gold or silver with feathers underneath. Both chiefs and warriors wore wooden helmets shaped like animals and carried shields made of woven reeds and feathers. Common soldiers did not have these items. They painted themselves in the colors of their chief's banner and wore a simple girdle. When sacrificing humans to the gods, priests wear black blood-stained robes, while the victim was painted with chalk. Often, masks were worn during the ceremony. Like the Mayans, the Aztecs wrote using a series of glyphs, or pictures. For example, a snake (coatl) was represented by a drawing of a snake's head. Numbers below 20 were represented by a series of dots. Numbers larger than 20 were represented by glyphs. For example, the number 500 would be represented by a feather and four flags (400 + 5*20 = 500). To show that glyphs belonged to a single group, a line was drawn to connect them. Next, a line was drawn to the object being counted. According to Aztec legend, the ancestors of the Aztecs came from a place in the north called Aztlán. They were guided by a god named Huitzilopochtli, meaning "Left-handed Hummingbird." There was a prophecy that said that they should build their home where they saw an eagle eating a snake while perched on a nopal cactus. When they arrived on the island in Lake Texcoco, they saw this, and settled there. The Aztecs also believed that their ancestors were considered by other groups to be uncivilized. However, they decided to learn, and took knowledge from other peoples, especially the Toltec. They believed all culture came from them. The Aztecs had several creation myths. One said that there were four ages before our time, each of which ended in a catastrophe. Our age – Nahui-Ollin, the fifth age, or fifth creation – escaped destruction because of the sacrifice of Nanahuatl ("full of sores", the smallest and humblest of the gods), who was transformed into the Sun. Another says that Earth was created by the twin gods Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl. Tezcatlipoca lost his foot in the process of creating the world and all representations of these gods show him without a foot and with a bone exposed. At the time of the arrival of the Spanish, Emperor Moctezuma ruled over Tenochtitlan. His name in Nahuatl, pronounced Mo–tekw–so–ma, meant "he who makes himself ruler by his rage." Legend has it that ten years before the Spanish arrived, eight things happened that signaled the fall of the Aztec empire. They were: A comet appeared in the sky during the day. A pillar of fire (possibly the comet) appeared in the night sky. The temple of Huitzilopochtli was destroyed by fire. A bolt of lightning struck the Tzonmolco temple. Tenochtitlan was flooded. Strange people with many heads but one body were seen walking through that city. A woman was heard weeping a dirge for the Aztecs. A strange bird (quetzal) was caught. When Moctezuma looked into its mirror-like eyes, he saw unfamiliar men landing on the coast. In the spring of 1519, Moctezuma received reports of strange men off the coast of his empire. At first, the emperor sent an ambassador with a costume of Tlaloc, and another of Quetzalcoatl. When the ambassador met conquistador Hernán Cortés, he thought he looked like Quetzalcoatl. He told Moctezuma, who tried to stop him from coming to Tenochtitlan. He sent gold, wizards, priests, and even one of his ambassadors, Tzihuacpopoca, who pretended to be the emperor. Eventually, Moctezuma met Hernán Cortés. He believed he was the god Quetzalcoatl. He took him to his garden and gave him flowers, the greatest honour he could give. When Cortés ordered a halt to the human sacrifices, he agreed. He even offered to be baptized a Christian and become a subject of King Charles I of Spain. When Cortés went to meet other Spaniards on the coast, deputy governor Pedro de Alvarado took over. He stopped the Aztecs from celebrating Toxcatl, and killed most of the important upper class Aztecs in what is known as "The Massacre in the Main Temple." Between 350 and 1000 people died. This enraged the Aztecs, who revolted. Moctezuma was then taken by the Spanish. On July 1, 1520, Moctezuma appeared on the balcony of his palace, pleading with his people to retreat. Instead, they threw rocks at him, and he died shortly after the attack. After the death of Moctezuma, there were only two other emperors. One died of smallpox, the last Aztec emperor was named Cuahutemoc, and to make him confess where the Aztec wealth was kept, they burned his feet until finally his death came very possibly from shock, or so Mexican scholars say. One year later, the Aztec empire had crumbled. Techichpotzin, Moctezuma's daughter, inherited his wealth. She was baptized a Christian and given the name Isabel Moctezuma. She married a total of five times before she died. Although the Aztecs no longer exist, their influence is still felt in Mexico. More than 60% of the population are mestizo or mixed. This means that some of their ancestors were Aztec. There are also over 1.5 million people in Mexico who speak Nahuatl, which comes from the Classical Nahuatl spoken by the Aztecs. The Nahuatl language has given many words to English, usually through Spanish. Here is a list of some English words of Nahuatl origin: avocado: from ahuacatl (fruit) chilli: from chilli (vegetable) chocolate: from xocolatl (drink) cocoa: from cacahuatl (fruit/nut) coyote: from coyotl (mammal) ocelot: from ocelotl (mammal) shack: from xacalli (structure) tomato: from (xi)tomatl (fruit/berry) The Assyrians were fierce warriors who lived in northern Mesopotamia from 1900 – 612 BC. Their kingdom was upstream on the Tigris River, across from their enemies, the Babylonians. The Assyrians were a much more warlike people than the Babylonians. They were also known as great traders. Their caravans traveled all over the place, bringing goods to trade as well as food and wine to various cities in Mesopotamia. About 1200 BC, the Assyrians finally conquered Babylon, the greatest city of the time. The Assyrians leveled the city. They turned it into rubble. After they leveled the city, the Assyrians began to worry about Marduk, the chief of all the Babylonian gods. They were afraid Marduk might punish them for destroying his city. The Assyrians decided the smartest thing to do would be to rebuild the city, and to return the statue of Marduk to his temple. They really did not have any use for the city. So, they rebuilt Babylon, but left it an empty city. Eventually, people returned to the city and Babylon rose again. During the height of its power (8th – 6th centuries BC), the Assyrian civilization expanded to cover the whole of Mesopotamia (including Babylon, Syria, Palestine and Cyprus) as well as northern Arabia and north-eastern Egypt. Assyrians still exist around the world. The history of the Assyrian Empire can be divided into three segments (or parts), the Old Assyrian Empire, the Middle Assyrian Empire, and the New Assyrian Empire. The Old Assyrian Empire was formed around 1900 B.C. and lasted until around 1363B.C. It was a time of conquest. The Assyrians attacked their neighbors, such as Sumer and Akkad, and grew more powerful, though still not as powerful as some of their other neighbors. During Middle Assyrian Empire, the Empire was very powerful and still growing. This stage in the life of the empire lasted from 4000 - 1000 B.C. Iron swords, lances, and armor strengthened the Assyrian army because iron weapons were stronger than the bronze weapons used by other civilizations of that era. The Assyrians used iron to create powerful battering rams. A battering ram is a large, heavy log carried by several men and propelled with enough force to break down city walls. The Assyrians added wheels and canopies to their battering rams. A canopy is a small roof that protected Assyrian soldiers from rocks and spears thrown down at them. The invention of spoke wheels made Assyrian chariots lighter, faster, and better prepared to outrun soldiers and other chariots. Arrows from their deadly crossbows could penetrate the armor of rival soldiers. About 1000 B.C., the Assyrians introduced the first cavalry. A cavalry is an army that fights on horseback. The saddle had not yet been invented, so the Assyrian cavalry fought on the bare backs of their horses. The New Assyrian Empire occurred during the pinnacle, or top, of the empire's power. The Assyrians owned most of their known world. In fact, the kings thought that the gods chose them to rule, and that made them representatives of the gods on earth. This was a form of what is known as Theocracy. Theocracy is a form of Government where ruler's power comes from religion. The kings were given titles and names like, "King of the Universe." Because of their power they were not only in charge of the army but the temples too. During this time magnificent palaces and temples were constructed, partly to show off the wealth (or money) of the kings. The last great king during the was Ashurbanipal (pronounced Ash-er-ban-ee-pol). He ruled from 668-627 B.C. After his rule the country soon fell. The Medes and Babylonians invaded and finally defeated the nation in 612 B.C. Assyrians built magnificent temples and palaces, decorated with beautiful reliefs and statues of winged bulls, known as cherubs (though you must be careful not to confuse these with angels of the same name). The Assyrians built in rectangles. Their rectangular homes were built of stone. They had doors but no windows. The roofs were flat with layers of earth on sturdy beams. This made their homes nearly fireproof. They built walled towns with huge rectangular buildings. They decorated their buildings with huge demons to protect the building, and possible the town residents, from evil influence. First and foremost, the Assyrians were deeply religious warriors, and their construction reflected this. Assyrians ate a platter of ground lamb, wheat, pine nuts, and other middle eastern spices. This was called Kidbei (Kid-be). Their bread was called lehmo or pita. Yogurt was a main part of the Assyrians diet. Assyrians had two main desserts. One is a pastry filled with a buttery paste. This is called Kadee. The other dessert is called Baklava. Baklava is a dessert found in many other middle eastern civilizations. Richta, an Assyrian rice dish that is tasty. Booshala is a creamy soup with many delicious ingredients one of which is ground lamb. The men wore long coatlike garments and were bearded. Women wore a sleeved tunic and a shawl over their shoulders. Knee-length and full-length tunics (a garment like a shirt) with short sleeves were the most common types of clothing worn. They were worn along with some type headdress. Shawls were also worn. The two were generally worn together, but sometimes not. The Assyrian cavalry was well outfitted for war, with chain mail and leather boots. Chainmail is a type of armor consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh. While other armies fought in sandals, leather boots protected Assyrian soldiers while they were around horses, and prepared the Assyrian army to fight in rough terrain and in cold weather, rain, and snow. Though there are no actual pieces of clothing around today, archeologists can still infer with some help from the Old Testament of the Bible that rich coloring was prominent. Colors probably included: Blue: dark indigo, though sometimes lighter. Red: A lot Indian red. Yellow Green Purple: Dark, and a little brownish. Assyrian writing was called cuneiform (kU-nee-u-form).The cuneiform is one of the oldest known forms of writing. Cuneiform writing began as a system of pictographs. Over time, however, its letters simplified and became less of a picture. Cuneiform was written upon clay tablets, on which symbols were drawn with a blunt reed called a stylus. The indentations left by the stylus were wedge shaped, which gave rise to its name, cuneiform ("wedge shaped"). Around 600 BC, before the people of ancient Mesopotamia were conquered by the great Persian Empire, the last Assyrian king started a project. He began collecting a library of clay tablets of all the literature of Sumer, Babylon, and Assyria. When discovered in modern times, over 30,000 tablets still remained in the great library in his capital city of Nineveh. These tablets are our single most important source of knowledge about ancient Mesopotamia. The Assyrian king was believed to be the earthy representative of the gods. His enemies were punished with violence. The message was simple – mess with Assyria and you will face the consequences. Like the Babylonians, the Assyrians believed that there were many gods that ruled different parts of the universe. They built each of their gods a primary temple that was considered the home of the god. People would bring sacrifices to the gods and the priests would try to attend to the needs of the gods through ceremonies and festivals. The Assyrians did not believe in a happy, busy afterlife. They believed that after death every soul went to the underworld. The underworld was considered a dark and dismal place. This made death a dreadful event as there was no hope of ever having anything better. In the funeral ceremony itself, they would place the hand of the deceased on a plate of food, so that they would have something for the trip. They would bury their dead with a few of their favorite possession. The Assyrians, however, liked to keep their dead at home. The poor would dig a hole somewhere in the house, and bury their dead at home. The rich would build a room just for the burial. In both cases, an oil lamp would be kept burning near or at the gravesite, to remind everyone that this person is near and cares for them. Babylonian and Assyrian religion had much in common: most of the myths and the gods were the same. One difference though was that in Assyria the king of gods was Assur, the patron god of the city of Assur, unlike Babylonian Marduk, the patron of Babylon. The following is a list of gods worshipped by the Assyrians: Ishtar, the goddess of love Adramelech, A sun god Anshar, the national god As Shalla, the Assyrian goddess of grain Anasas, god of medicine Nishraeli Nisroch, god of farming Nimrod Oannes Nabu, god of Wisdom and Writing Samnuha Gubaba Ashur/Assur, king of the gods now Assyrian Christians believe in God. King Ashurbanipal is known for his library of cuneiform tablets. It was the largest collection of the books in the ancient world. Many masterpieces of ancient literature and many facts from ancient history are known to us from the documents of Ashurbanipal’s library. Also, the Assyrians are mentioned in the Bible as the people who conquered Israel over a hundred years before Judah's conquest. We can also see, in the Bible, that the Assyrians were conquered by the Babylonians, who conquered Judah later on. Assyrian people still live in northern Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine (specially Jerusalem) Jordan (Medaba), Canada, Australia, and the USA. They speak Aramaic language and most of them are Christians. In around 400 BC, the Celts ranged from Britain and Ireland all the way across Europe to northern Turkey. Today, Celtic descendants live in Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom, Brittany in France, the Isle of Man and the Republic of Ireland. Other Celtic people live in countries where their ancestors moved to. Men wore a loose fitting tunic down to the knees and trousers called Bracae. Women wore long, loose fitting dresses. They made their clothes from linen woven from the flax that Celtic farmers grew. They were very concerned about their appearance and used dye from berries to colour their clothes. Both men and women also wore great cloaks when travelling, women used a decorative brooch to fasten their cloak at the neck. These cloaks were very heavy and often used as sleeping bags for the men when they were away hunting. The Celts used lime to bleach their hair, preferring light hair and both men and women wore their hair long. Most Iron Age Celts in Britain lived in roundhouses; circular houses of wood or stone with thatched straw roofs shaped like a cone. Most roundhouses were made up of wooden posts, with the walls made out of "wattle and daub." Wattle and daub consists of wooden sticks (wattles), covered with a mixed mud and clay plaster (daub). In Scotland most roundhouses were built of stone rather than wood, yet retained the cone-shaped thatched roof. This type of roundhouse is called the Atlantic roundhouse. Celtic houses in mainland Europe were rectangular. The Celts in Ireland built many forts and settlements, the most popular design was the ringfort. Inside a ringfort wooden, circular houses were built using wattle and daub. Celts also built fortified defensive structures, which can still be seen today, especially in the highlands and isles of Scotland, as well as Ireland. Celts ate like most other Europeans, subsisting mostly on grains supplemented by meats, fruits, and vegetables. Exactly what they ate varied by area, and Celts grew local crops. Scottish highlanders were famous for supposedly subsisting almost entirely on oats, though this was not entirely true. However, oats remain the favorite grain of Scotland, and Scottish cuisine is full of them. Potatoes serve this role in Ireland, although they were not introduced until after Columbus reached the New World. The Celts in Ireland farmed the land and reared cattle and sheep. In the spring, they would get milk, butter and cheese from the cattle, killing them later in the year for meat. Cattle were not only a means of food for Celts, the Celts wealth was measured in the amount of cattle they owned. One ancient Irish tale tells of Queen Maedhb (May-ev) and another rival king, and their battle over the Táin Bó Chuaille (a bull). This doesn't just show the importance of cattle in Celtic society, but also the fact that they thoroughly accepted the idea of women as leaders, unlike other societies of that time. The most famous example of food of any Celtic people is probably the Scottish haggis. Many people aren't quite clear on what a haggis is, and one survey conducted in the United States found that over half of the people they surveyed thought that the haggis was a small rodent native to Scotland. In reality, a haggis usually consists of a sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver, windpipe and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, which is traditionally boiled in the animal's stomach for about an hour. Celts took a great interest in their clothes when they could afford to do so. Many more modern Celts had colourful designs woven into their clothes called tartan, still shown in Scottish Kilts and Trews today. Celts also had a great fondness for jewellery, and both men and women wore quite a bit, when they could afford it. Finally, many warrior Celts wore their weapons (swords, more often than not) as normal attire. This became very complex during the late Middle Ages with Scottish highlanders, who were sometimes seen with a broadsword at their waist, dirk (long knife) on their belt, one or more pistols also attached to their belt, a long hunting rifle, and a small dagger in their sock, called a Sgian Dubh (Gaelic for "Black Dagger"). Celts didn't have a very high opinion of the written word. Instead, they recorded their history and culture in an oral tradition; that is, they recorded their past by telling stories. Early examples of Gaelic Celtic writing have been recovered in Europe, based on the Phoenician alphabet. In Ireland, a different alphabet was used, primarily in Gaelic Celtic languages like Irish, Manx, and Scottish Gaelic. This alphabet was called Ogham, sometimes referred to as the "Celtic Tree Alphabet." It developed as a way for Irish monks to write in stone. After Christianity was spread throughout the Gaelic world, Ogham fell into disuse, in favor of the Latin alphabet (largely because Christian writings were all in the Latin alphabet). Celts were polytheists; they believed in many gods and goddesses (deities). Unlike many other civilisations, different groups of Celts worshipped various deities, although there were some patterns. Beira was the name that Celts gave to Mother Earth, and some of them believed her to be the mother of all their deities. Most Celts believed in an afterlife, we know this because archaeologists have found many grave goods within their burial tombs (Dolmens, Cairns). Many, though not all, Celts worshipped in sacred groves. Yes! Today, the British Isles (along with Ireland) are probably regarded to be Celtic more than any other area in the world. No one is quite sure who lived there before them, and they were certainly well-established by the time the Romans came there in AD 43. After 20 years of Roman rule, the chieftain of the Icenii tribe, Prasutagus, died. Though by tradition, his wife Boudicca would have assumed leadership of the tribe, the Romans took Icenii land, brutally humiliating Boudicca and her two daughters. This enraged the Icenii people, and Boudicca raised an army to fight the Romans and liberate Britain. She gained support of many other Celtic tribes, and almost succeeded in toppling the Roman Empire in Britain. She is revered as a national hero in Britain. The world-renowned Scottish poet, Robert Burns, was a Celt. Many famous Celts are alive today. The famous Scottish actor, Sean Connery, is proud of his Celtic heritage. Celts are alive and thriving today! Much of the population of Europe are seen as descendants of the Celts, and the nations of Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany and Isle of Man are considered to be made up of primarily Celtic peoples. As well, the Celtic diaspora, the descendants of Celts around the world, is vast, being spread greatly through the British Empire. In particular, Nova Scotia, Canada, is a hotbed of modern Gaelic Celtic culture. Despite its being one of the four greatest ancient civilizations, the Chinese civilization had a slower progress than any other. The Chinese civilization has made countless contributions to the world, including the invention of compass, paper, gunpowder, silk, noodle, porcelain, and paper money and other things that are a part of our lives today. There were also many great works of architecture, such as, the Great Wall. The Chinese is the only of the four greatest ancient civilizations that managed to survive throughout the five thousand years of its history and one of a few ancient civilizations that have lasted into modern times. The Chinese civilizations is normally divided in four characteristic periods (Pre-history and Shang, Han Empire, Qing [Manchu] Empire 1644- 1912 and Modern age). Due to their extensive record keeping little mystery is left to us, much unlike the Egyptians and Babylonians. The influence of Chinese civilization also spread to most its neighboring regions predominantly Japan, Korea, Mongolia and Vietnam. The present-day China culture is still marked by this continual evolution but now China is part of the globalized human civilization. The geography of ancient China is often described by geologists in a system of three steps: The first step is to the far west near present day Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) (Tibet or Xizang for short). With the highest mountains on earth the climate is quite cold and in the summer quite warm. This area is widely considered inhospitable, from -40°C (-40°F) in the winter to 37°C (100°F) in the summer. Because of these extremes, there aren’t many villages and the villages that are there are quite small. The next step is the middle of China. It’s covered with desert and a small amount of grassland. People there raise yaks, a type of grazing cattle. There are some low hills but no snow. With cold winters and hot summers this area was never densely populated. Eastern China supported most of China's ancient population. Three rivers flow through this area: the Huang He in the north, the Chang Jiang (Yangzi Jiang) in the center, and the Sikiang in the south. The Huang He is the main river and is more commonly known in the Western World as the Yellow River. This is because the water and the soil around this river is yellow. There was plenty of water for crops and agriculture flourished. Wheat was the main crop in the north, and rice was more common in the southwest. Most ancient Chinese buildings have not survived because they were made of wood. A small number of buildings were made of stone. However, the forbidden palace, which is still located in China, Beijing, has survived, and many tourists visit it every day. The Temple of Heavens, or Tian Tan, is also a famous tourist attraction. Chinese architecture has curved roofs to resemble the wings of a bird. Roof colors also hold significance; blue was usually reserved for religious buildings, orange/yellow was reserved for imperial buildings, etc. Northern Chinese people prominently diet was based on wheat; southern Chinese people on rice; and they ate with chopsticks, still common in the Asia today. Many of them ate noodles, which are long, thin pieces of dough that they boil in hot water. A main meat was pork. They also grew fruits like lemons, oranges, peaches, apricots and ginger. In ancient China, the wealthy wore silk, while commoners wore cotton. The color yellow/gold could only be worn by the emperor and other royalty. A dragon was sometimes sewn on the Emperor's clothes, and gold was often woven into clothing. The color red indicates celebrity or happiness and is usually worn on holidays. They also sometimes wore jade depending on what they were doing, since jade was highly valued They wore a style of clothing known as the Hanfu, which was robes tied together with a sash or belt. Hanfus vary from simple versions worn by commoners to scholarly versions worn by court officials to elaborate versions worn by the rich. The Hanfu very much resembles and is the predecessor of the Japanese yukata/kimono, the Korean hanbok, and the Vietnamese Áo tứ thân. In the 17th century, Manchurian nomads invaded the Ming Dynasty, and created the Qing Dynasty. They ordered everyone to wear Manchurian clothing, which is now known as the Cheongsam; Changshan (male) and the Qipao (female). This type of clothing is what most westerners picture when they think of Chinese clothing. The ancient form of writing evolved into the character system that is still in use today. Traditional Chinese script includes cursive, semi-cursive, wild cursive, clerical, seal, etc. Today, mainland PR-China uses simplified Chinese script, introduced to improve literacy rate, but criticized by historians. Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao continue to use traditional script. During the Bronze Age most of China worshiped many gods and spirits. The most important of these being Ti or “Deity Above". He was believed to help those that pleased him and punish those that didn’t. Ti was in charge of all the gods and goddesses in the pantheon. The gods and goddesses all represented something in nature, e.g. the “God of Soil". Some of the emperors brought their servants with them to the after life. Priests and Priestess’s main job was to act as mediums between the gods and goddesses and the worshipers they specialized in sacrificing and ceremonies of specific gods and goddesses. A special type of medium was an Augur. An Augur asked questions of the gods and goddesses or read oracle bones. After the Bronze Age, Three Doctrines or Ideologies became important Chinese Religions. The Three ideologies can also be viewed as philosophies but they also have a spiritual element, which is why they are classified as religions. Daoism and Confucianism were native to China and developed in isolation. The Third Doctrine, Buddhism was brought from China by traveling monks from India. Confucius was alive during when the Chou dynasty (a part of the Zhou Dynasty) was decaying it was riddled with corruption. Confucius experienced the corruption firsthand as he held a position in government. He believed that decline was because the Chinese had abandoned old traditions and old concepts of honor, politeness morality and social roles had been forgotten; this is the base of Confucianism. Confucianism filtered into different aspect of Chinese culture. Confucius’ teachings became the basis for education in China and his writings became the classics that every child in China reads. The basis of Daoism is the concept of Dao. Dao is translated as “the path” or “the way.” The term has no conclusive definition it refers to a wide force in nature and is the source of all things. Daoism in its purest form calls followers to pursue Dao. This means he or she should not try to alter nature or force it to do what it was not meant to do. A follower must remain inactive and not make plans. A follower must not do anything contrary to Dao for example building a house or damming a river. Daoists were members of the educated wealthy elite. Some of the less privileged did learn about it but altered it to be more about magic and alchemy than the purest form of Daoism. Siddharta Gautama founded Buddhism around 500 BC; He was later called The Enlightened One or the Buddha. Buddhism spread to China via the Silk Road. When it first arrived it was considered part of Daoism because of how similar Daoism and Buddhism are. How ever a number of Buddhist monks came from India to China and kept the religion from being incorporated into Daoism. Buddhism encourages followers to throw off self-interest. Through meditation and right living, a Buddhist can reach Nirvana or absence of suffering which was a similar concept to Dao. All three religions were not intolerant of each other although they did not always agree. Many people were subscribers of more than one religion and all three subtly influenced each other. The first step of the Chinese civilization was started by the rule of the Shang dynasty (kings), who ruled a group of towns and cities. They ruled from 1766 - 1027 BC. They were mostly located in the North West of the present-day China, and the rest of the land was run by other tribes who the Shang could not reach. In 1027 BC, the Shang king was replaced by the Zhou Dynasty, and these people ruled for 400 years. They extended the kingdom southwards and towards central China. In 772 BC, barbarians destroyed the capital Hao and a new capital was built at Luoyang. But the Chou were never as powerful again and from 772 - 481 BC the land was split into many small kingdoms run by chiefs. Around 500 BC the hundreds of tiny kingdoms had turned into around 20 states. Peace was proposed to end the wars in the area, but war returned in 481 BC. This lasted until 221 BC in a period known as "The Warring States". After this time, there were seven big kingdoms. Starting in 230 BC, one of them, the Qin kingdom defeated everyone and Prince Cheng named himself Shi Huangdi, the First Emperor of China. The name Qin was also given to the land, and it still remains today as China. Confucius (known in Chinese as Kongzi) is widely known as the prototypical Chinese sage. He spawned a whole school of philosophy. His follower, Mencius, is also known today. There are other ancient Chinese people known today, although their origin is thought of as legendary: Laozi, writer of the Daode jing, one of the five major classics of ancient Chinese wisdom; Sunzi, the military theorist who wrote the "Bing Fa", know in the West as "The Art of War". Historiographically, there is a rather important name: Sima Qian, the first major Chinese historian, dating from Western Han. Politically, there are maybe two major figures: Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor and the first builder of the Great Wall of China. Originally named Ying Zheng, he conquered the remaining Chinese kingdoms and became the first "Son of Heaven" to aggregate "All-Under-Heaven", the whole territory. Nearly 60 years later, Emperor Wu of Han (Han Wudi) rose to power, marking the true beginning of Confucianism as "the" building block of the Imperial State. Zheng He is another famous person. He explored the world on big ships in 1405, almost a century before Ferdinand Magellan set sail. Zheng He visited India, the Persian Gulf, Egypt, and possibly even the most southern tip of Africa! Egypt is in northeastern Africa. The Ancient Egyptians lived along the River Nile, the "fertile river." This river flows from the central part of Africa. The Nile's water flows north and empties into the Mediterranean Sea. At the northern most part of the Nile, the Nile forms a delta. The delta is the wider, triangular mouth of river, where it leaves behind dirt and other sediment. The Nile was very important to life in Egypt. Seasonal floods every year covered the land near the river with fresh silt, making the land very good for growing food. In order to grow more food, people built irrigation canals to move water from the river to nearby areas. The Sahara Desert makes up much of the surrounding area, so most people didn't travel very far from the Nile. The surrounding desert land made the rich soil of the Nile very important for growing crops. Egyptian transportation systems included boats that traveled north and south along the river. Boats could easily travel north, with the current of the river, but they could go south easily as well. The winds along the river usually blew to the south, so the Egyptians would raise sails on their boats and head against the current with the help of the wind! The Greek historian Herodotus traveled the river thousands of years after the Egyptians started their civilization. He is often quoted as saying that "Egypt is the gift of the Nile." This means that, without the Nile, civilization in Egypt would be impossible. There were two types of buildings that the ancient Egyptians lived in. One was called the worker's home. The other was the town house, which was for wealthier people. Both types of houses were built from bricks. Stone was only used for building permanent structures, such as the Pyramids. The bricks were made from a mixture of mud, pebbles, and straw. The builders would pour the mixture into wooden frames and leave it in the sun to dry and harden. Buildings made from such bricks eventually crumbled, and new buildings were constructed right on top of the ruins. This led to the formation of tells or hills. Houses were often built along the Nile River, but they had to be high to avoid flooding. A worker's home was usually one-story high and had up to four rooms. There was a yard and a kitchen in the back of the house, as well as two underground storage cellars. The roofs of the Egyptians houses were flat, and people spent much of their time there. Egyptian families slept, cooked, and ate their meals on the roof. It was a bit like having a living room, kitchen, dining room, and bedroom all up on the roof. The Egyptians did not have running water in their homes, but water could be taken from nearby wells. Workers' homes had very little furniture, including beds and storage chests for clothes. The houses of the wealthy were much larger and up to three stories tall. Because the walls were much higher, they had to be supported by wooden beams. The walls of the first floor were sometimes made of stone for added strength. Different levels of the house served different purposes. The first floor was where business and work was conducted. The second and third floors were the living space for the family and had nicer furnishings. The roof was used for preparing and cooking meals that were then brought in by the servants. Wealthy homes had gardens, pools, and small shrines for worship. Some houses were decorated with tiled floors, barred windows, fancy staircases, and painted walls. The ceilings were high and held up with columns. The pyramids were large stone structures built to house the bodies of the Egyptian rulers, or Pharaohs, after they died. The pyramids were built high, because it was believed to be the ruler's staircase to heaven. Although the most famous shape is the familiar three-dimensional triangle, pyramids were built in a variety of shapes. They were all built with the help of simple machines, including pulleys, inclined planes, and levers. The inside walls of the pyramids were decorated with hieroglyphics, the picture-based writing of the Egyptians. The tomb of the Pharaoh was located in a room deep in the heart of the pyramid, and was filled with gold, jewels, and other riches. It was also filled with other everyday objects that might be needed by the dead Pharaoh during his journey to the afterlife. This could include food, clothing, utensils, pottery, and furniture. Sometimes, even servants were sealed up in the tomb! Because of all the treasure inside the tomb, robbers sometimes broke into the pyramids, but their maze-like interior could cause them to get lost and die of starvation. Another defense against robbers were the curses written at the entrance of the pyramids. Most ancient Egyptians were very superstitious, and the curses were frightening enough to keep them away. Unfortunately, as centuries passed, thieves grew less afraid of the curses and managed to steal many of the ancient treasures that had been in the tombs for ages. The ancient Egyptians ate food that is not much different from what we eat today. Because the Nile River supplied them with a constant water source, the Egyptians were able to grow many different kinds of crops in their desert environment. Common crops included grains, vegetables, and fruit. It was expensive to raise animals. Therefore, most domestic animals were used as work animals rather than as food. Often, Egyptian families hunted wild animals to eat. The Egyptians ate many different kinds of bread. The dough was made from grain, yeast, eggs, butter, salt, milk, and spices. In early times, it was cooked over an open fire. Later, pre-heated stone slabs were used. The bread could be plain or filled with beans, vegetables, or other ingredients. If sweet bread was desired, it would be flavored with honey, fruit, or dates. Honey was the main sweetener for the Egyptians, because they had not discovered sugar. They also believed that honey had healing properties. Because the Nile provided lots of water, fruits and vegetables made up a large part of the Egyptian diet. Common vegetables included: cucumbers, onions, cabbage, garlic, radishes, leeks, and more. Green vegetables were often served with a dressing, usually made of vinegar and oil, not unlike the salad dressings we use today. Fruits like figs, pomegranates, dates, melons, and grapes were readily available. Wealthy people could import fruits like coconuts, apples, and peaches. Fish was also a large part of their diet, although many rich people would not eat it. Fish was usually eaten fried, boiled, or roasted. It was also often sun-dried. Most Egyptians wore white tunics made of linen. Linen was by far the most common textile. It helped people to be comfortable in the heat. Linen is made from the
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