Creation Stories: Genesis and Popol Vuh(09/20/12)

Jose Betancourt

World History 1

Pan Andrews

09/25/12

                                         Creation Stories: Genesis and Popol Vuh

God has been an idea and a reality for many through out human History. In ancient civilizations, there were those who viewed God in nature during the Paleolithic era. Then God moved to the sky when the invention of agriculture came to be (Religion and Technology Notes). Furthermore, in comparing to older creation stories, it makes one see how the society f the Popel who wrote about the stories grew together and lived and interacted. In the stories of genesis, there is a God who is creating animals, plants, and all the other sea creatures, and birds in the sky (38). Different form the account of Popul Vuh. Pupol Vuh has a creation, but there is a silent world. It can make one think on how the society lived and maybe that they were a society who were very peaceful. It seemed that the creation accounts of Popol Vuh slowly began to create different types of live, “then out of nowhere the mountains and valleys were formed”(39). The sense that things come out of nothing is very similar to the accounts of genesis, and how the God of Israel makes and creates as he Wishes. “God said, ‘Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky”(33).

            Popol Vuh is much more simple it seems. They are quieter. The notion of quietness changes towards the end of the story. “Like the mist, like a cloud, and like a cloud of dust was the creation, when the mountains appeared from the water; and instantly the mountains grew”((39).  The society of the people of the Popul  Vuh is one that appreciates peace, and that also requires humility. “There shall be neither glory nor grandeur in our creation”(39). People in that society cared a lot about mutual respect and not becoming egocentric. In comparison to the people of Genesis, which their God tells them that they could in a subversive way use animals for their own good and not limiting their actions against the animals. Further more, the Popol vuh community had a sense of respect that was not common in many agricultural communities. The Mesopotamians made laws as well as other civilizations, but most of the laws were favoring the elite, or men. It Popol vuh there is much more of a respect for the common people. It also seems that the community of the Popol Vouch had some sense of remaking things if they made mistakes, or people who had a lost connection with their creator (they might have gone through hardships with their crops). The story tells the story of the Gods making humans out of mud at first and was very fragile. Then the second time they made them with wood, but now the problem was that the humans did not remember the God and did not venerate them.  The complexity of the story shows the Popol Vuh people acting in natural human ways. IF we do not get what we want we tend to reject all that exists and try to tell the rest of the world that we are right and they are wrong. So, if there was no rain in a season, the Popul Vuh people lost their crops and probably lost their faith on the God of the sky.

           

Chapter 3: Cities, States, and Unequal Societies (3500 B.C.E.-500 B.C.E)

Jose Betancourt

First Civilizations

Pan Andrews

09/19/12

                            Cities, States, and Unequal Societies (3500 B.C.E.-500 B.C.E)

            After the Paleolithic and Neolithic times, there is an encounter with a new way of thinking for humans: A new paradigm, or shift of understanding of the world. Around the year 3500 BCE, there are some historical records to show that civilizations begun to rise. There were three civilizations that rose around 3000 BCE and 500 BCE. One of them was the ‘cradle’ of the middle eastern civilization, expressed in the may and competing city-states of summer, and southern Mesopotamia”(56).  The Mesopotamian civilization is modern day Iraq. Written language was first known as coming from the Sumerian civilization. The language used was used to “record the good received by various temples”(56). The second civilization was growing through out the Nile River. The second civilization was the Egyptian civilization. The Egyptians are known for their pharos and their triangular pyramids. Finally, the third civilization was the Peruvian civilization, which could have risen around d the years 3,000 BCE through 1,800 BCE. “Norte Chico was distinctive in many ways. Its cities were smaller than those of Mesopotamia and show less evidence of economic specialization”(57). Therefore, one could say that these civilizations were very smart and innovative. They were able to move out from the forests, create cities, invent city tools, and in may ways create a new reality for the future humans.

            Furthermore, it is vital to know and to at least think about the question of how all this civilizations came to exist. Some speculate that the reason for the rise of civilizations were the warfare and trade. A scholar argues that, a growing density of population, producing more congested and competitive societies, was a fundamental motor of change”(62).  To add more, “such settings provided incentives for innovations, such as irrigation or plows that could produce more food, because opportunities for territorial expansion were not readily available”(62). Therefore, the competitiveness of who had more of a specific plant, vegetable, animal, were reasons to grow in culture, grow in understanding as ones culture to be better than the other one, and either creating war, or making the neighboring city slaves. In addition, it is interesting how now, humanity looks at the past and thinks that maybe they were not thinking, and that all that happened were random guessed and speculations, but it seems when analyzing the data, and information’s, that they knew what they were doing, and understood what actions could give them power and which actions gave them glory to overcome hunger, but also manipulate people. Ancient people also had developed ways of doing economy in a city-state. “All of them were highly productive agricultural economies”(62), and “Various forms of irrigation, drainage… enabled early civilizations to tap the food-producing potential of their regions”(62). In that case, people could see that ancients did know what they were doing, and knew that if they could control floods, and if they could maintain stability in their region, they would be able to produce a lot and store more, either to ale, or have power over neighboring peoples.

            Finally, it is also interesting how the hierarchies of classes were born, and ho they have impacted society to this present time. “At the bottom of the social hierarchies everywhere were slaves”, and it seems that, “Slavery and civilization, in fact emerged together”(65). It is odd and uncertain how the idea of slavery came to be, but it is true that maybe it could have risen because cities who controlled large amounts of stored produced foods and merchandise needed working people, and in the lack of ways of making people work, they went around making war, and criminalizing people, and to make people who owed them something their slaves, to work hard and produce more, to become “wealthier”(65).

Friday Notes: Paleolithic and Neolithic Era

Jose Betancourt

World History 1

Dr. Andrews

09/18/12

                                    Friday Notes: Paleolithic and Neolithic Era

1.)   It was about 20,000 thousand years ago we, the homosapiens evolved. According to some scholars about 10,000 thousand years later the last ice age occurred. Towards the end of the ice age many ice bridges formed (Bering strait). Through ice bridges is that many of our ancestors crossed to the new land. Their basic food were sea animals, which was the basic nutrition they had. Similarly there were other band of humans migrating to Asia, Australia, and the pacific islands. It also said that Homo sapiens out competed all other species. Like the homfabilis, Homo erectus and many others. The main reason we outcompeted them was because we had a bigger brain and we could stand on two legs and use the two hands to aid us.

2.)   After that we developed basic stone tools to aid us for hunting. During the Neolithic era there were advanced tools. Different types of knives, some to cut raw meat, and others o hunt. Some others to protect the band fro other bands.

3.)   On the Paleolithic era there were people who lived in bands, moving form one place to another, surviving and learning how to be more productive. Late on during the Neolithic times, there were agricultural communities formed. The agricultural communities are said to be formed maybe after the last ice age. The reason for that idea is that the ground was probably more fertile after the ice melted completely. The rain also aided the land and now one knows what happened to change the paradigm.

Chapter 2: First Farmers

Jose Betancourt

First Farmers

09/11/12

                            (The Revolutions of Agriculture): 10,000 B.C.E. -3000B.C.E.

          On this chapter there is a focus on the so-called agricultural revolution. It is interesting how now humans, both men and women were not only using nature but were changing what they found through technology. "They were consciously 'directing' the process of evolution. The actions of farmers n America, for example, transformed corn from a plant with cob of an inch or so to one measuring about six inches by 1500"(Ways of The World, A Brief Global History, Robert W. Strayer, 36). Innovation is what strikes my thoughts when I read about how ancient peoples were very innovative and how they were in some aspect changing moving or accelerating the processes of evolution. 

         Some historians suggest that towards the end of the ice age about 11,000 years ago, agriculture rose. "The end of the last Ice Age, However, Coincided with the migration of homo sapiens across the planet and created new conditions that made agriculture possible"(37). Once again, it reminds me of my first post about the innovative Homo sapiens reality. What I mean by that, is that ancient peoples were very innovative and figured out to understand agriculture, with the most basic technology. Some scholars also say that when humans found wetter, and more humid grounds, it made it possible for humans to grow different plants. It seemed that the evolution of the world, was paving the road for future humans and future generations. Furthermore, in different places around the world, people grew different plants or just a different variety of vegetables. For example in Mexico, corn was part of their daily diet.

            Furthermore, although agriculture was a great new innovation, it also brought a lot of health issues. The reason for that it’s because farming asked for more workers and for people to work harder than the usual work one did during the Paleolithic times. “The remains of early agricultural people show some deterioration in health-more tooth decay and anemia”(47).  It is just so interesting to know how agriculture was a good innovation, but also one that totally changed the lives of all humans. It in many ways forced them to stay in one place (now they have to simply feel satisfied without moving, and disregard their desire of moving). Lastly, the reality about agriculture also brought another question. That question was of whom would lead the people or what rules must be followed. Some agriculture in Mesopotamia used the rule of chiefdoms. The chiefs would be generous people, or were supposed to be generous people. Chiefs would have to be kind to the people. For example some temple priests 6000 BCE, would set and organize irrigation systems and they controlled the trade between societies (51). Finally chiefdoms begun to come about in other places around the world, but it seemed that chiefdoms and many ways and forms were the primal way of doing law or having rules.

Chapter 1: First peoples Populating the Planet to 10,000 B.C.E

Chapter 1: First peoples

Populating the Planet to 10,000 B.C.E

• Humans adapted to different environments?
• Instead of using metal tools (Page 12), they used stone and that is why they are called the Stone Age or Paleolithic peoples.
• Many historians disregard the Paleolithic era because there was no writing.
• The 150,000 first years were African adventure, the first human’s steps of humans began and that helped to relate and create a new culture.
• 250,000 years ago is when Homo sapiens first came to be.
• (13) 100,00 years ago is when the first humans started to move out of Africa into Eurasia, Australia and Americas, sometime later they also moved to the pacific.
• Ice age 20,000 years ago.  Created bridges for humans to cross to different places. Humans did this entire long journey with stone tools and some hunting technology to help them survive.

Into Eurasia:

First humans and the first migration happened and that was into the middle east (16). Then westward to Europe about some 40,000 years ago and also east into Asia. Some evidence also shows that the ice age climates around “20,000 years ago pushed north Europeans to the south t warmer climates. There is where they increased their hunting skills”.

Into Australia:

Over ten thousand years all these people have developed many skills, including speaking about 250 languages, collected roots, seeds, fish, and other Marine life.

A drug that guides them through their circles in the fire with songs, dances and stories helped them ritualize or have rituals. That drug altered the state and usually shaman like humans will be in that altered state.

Into the Americas:

There is a Debate. Historians say that the move was, between 30,000 and 15,000 years ago through the Bering Strait, or by sea, downs the west coast of North America.  The first culture found is the Clovis culture, 12,000 thousand years ago to 11,000 years ago.  This is the people who according to archeologist were hunting the big animals, like the mammoth and basin. It’s interesting how the single killing of a mammoth could provide food for weeks for a small community. The thing is that later on in about 10,900 years ago the Clovis people begin to disappear because of the extinctions of mammoths and other species. There is still a debate over what happened but some call it the mega faunal extinction.  Although hunters on the plains kept hunting the basin and others learned how to live on the dessert. The Clovis people still somehow disappeared.

Into the Pacific: The last human migration happened in the Pacific Ocean. Some say that it happened about 3,500 years ago near Bismarck. It was a water migration on canoes. Different from other migratory this people were agricultural smarts and carried plants, and animals in their canoes. Therefore everywhere they went they generated a new way of thinking or developments were created. One was “the creation of highly satisfied societies to chiefdoms, of which ancient Hawaiian society is a prime example”(19).  The other development was the impact that the migrations made to these new environments with their domesticated animals and their new plants. Many animals became extinct and “especially the large flightless birds”(20).

I am just amazed about how intelligent all this Paleolithic people were. What is also interesting is how they thought of carrying plants, fish, and other things with them while traveling to use in their ne place.

          We often have the kind of thinking that our ancestors were superstitious people that were vague and did not know how to deal with problems. It is interesting how innovative many of the tribes were. Some of them like the Chumash (29) had their own currency and own way of making business. It is very interesting on how the San from South Africa who were in someway living some utopia dream. They were very equal. One example that makes me realize how great it would have been to live with the San during that time was the fact that they did not let anyone feel better than others. One way that I will always remember them is because; when the young would go hunting and than would hunt a big animal the San elders will demonize the animal to make the young boy realize that he is not better than them, to humble him and to make him a simple person. I wonder how they got that idea. That also makes me understand that maybe that’s why we, even now, have those principles of morality and prudence (how to be humble and why it is important to be humble). I believe that instead of criticizing our ancestors, we should thank them because it is through them that we are who we are.