Essay- day 2

Today I also did my essay, finished most of Art & Arch. So, what else is there to say?

Essay

Today I started my essay and finished my first two paragraphs. There isn't anything else really to say.

SORRY =(

I am so veeeeeeeeeeery sorry that so many of my blogposts didn't publish, as you will probably see from the blog. But really, everyone else's didn't either, so.......... today we had a planning day and so did we yesterday. that's basically it.

Blogger wasn't working...... sorry!

I missed about two days worth of blogposts, due to the fact that it just didn't connect. So, I'm making up for it now. The first day in the lab I used the online enxyclopedias that proved to be a good source. On Grolier, I found 9 pages worth of information, which proved to be quite useful, and with lots of nice details that I otherwise wouldn't have gotten. Focusing on the governmental characteristic, I managed to find enough informatinon on Grolier, and on the Multimedia Site links.

Lab- sorry that I haven't written in an age.... :? he he...

Hey there. Sorry that I haven't written. Today's is going to be a "double-lesson" one. Yesterday I focused on how the Indus Valley was governed and who governed it, and that kinda stuff. Today I tried to find more info by asking direct questions instead of just googling: "indus valley government"; I wrote sentences like: " who governed the indus valley?", "what type of government did the indus valley civilization have?", etc. It's a shame that archeologists & language experts still haven't deciphered the Indus script, because there is soooo much info hidden in their writing. But I guess they're doing their best, *sigh*. 

I'll write again tomorrow (promise).

See ya!

Simone ^-^

LAB: first- and second day.

Today I found some very good info from some of the sites mentioned in the Multimedia Resources page. The one set up by the British Museum on Ancient Civilisations was very helpful, and so was the BBC one about the IVC. Another good site was (as usual) Wikipedia , as well as Harappa, which offers ton of information on the Harappans. Google Images also helped me find some images about the artifacts. Yesterday we also had to write a summarizing "paragraph" for each characteristic, but I did one page for each. The holdiay is here and so I can have a rest and come back full of energy and ready to work. :)

Bibliography

Shuter, Jane. The Indus Valley. Chicago, Illinois: Heinemann Library, 2003.

Richardson, Hazel. Life in the Ancient Indus River Valley. Ontario, Canada: Crabtree Publishing Company, 2005.

Aronovsky, Ilona and Gopinath, Sujata. Life in the Ancient Indus River Valley. Chicago, Illinois: Heinemann Library, 2005.

Kirkpatrick, Naida. The Indus Valley. Chicago, Illinois: Heinemann Library, 2002.

Art

I found out about the art of Mohenjo-Daro. They Ancient Indians really valued education, religion and art. Art was mostly used in drawing, on seals. Seals had drawings like cows, elephants and a lot of unicorns. Researchers think that the unicorn was either a symobol of god, or of strength and unity. I wonder if they'll ever figure it out. But most of the information about the IVC hasn't been accesed yet because their language hasn't been deciphered (yet). It'd be so much easier for me if they had, because I'd have a lot more info that way. I hope to find more stuff on the Internet.
Simone :)

Mohenjo-Daro Research

Today I researched aboutthe characteristic of "Architecture" in Mohenjo-Daro. It was one of the most important cities of the Indus Valley area. It was separated in two: the Higher Mound and the Lower Town. Amazingly, the Higher Mound was 18 meters (59 feet) high! I hope to find more about the buildings in Mohenjo-Daro in future research in the library and on the Internet.
Till next time! :)

Art & Architecture: Female Figurenes

To answer to my question "How were people portrayed in art?", I did research on the sculptures that have been found in the IVC sites. I focused on the above question of the concept of "art and architecture", but find much. I hope that I will find more on the Internet (bit redundant, but hey, where else can I expect to get the info from?).

"Why did the civilization die?"

Look at the title and you'll know what I spent my lesson doing. I focused on the decline of the Indus Valley Civilization, and discovered that there is hardly any evidence to support the theories that exist. There are four main ones: 1. Aryan invasion; 2. Changing course of rivers; 3. fall of the rulers; and 4. End of trade with Mesopotamia. In my opinion, it was the latter that seems most likely, although it could have been a combination of all of them! More info in the Internet, I hope!

Government and Law: beggining.

I couldn't find much information in the book 'Life in the Indus River Valley' about government, but I did learn some facts about the Aryans. They lived in tribes called ganas (very near to the Spanish word gammas which means 'class' (as in hierarchy), and also near the Greek letter gamma), which meant 'collection' in their language. A gana was made up of several families. Each gana had its own territory and raja (king). This shows that they lived in tribes, and therefore didn't have one specific ruler (like the old Sheikh system in Qatar). This suggests that they might not have had the same laws, although they would have shared the same concept in their ruling, and- oops. I'm saying too much already. Oh, well. Visit my Wiki for more info, I guess. By the way, if the info isn't there yet it means I don't have much time to write, I'm not that lazy, you know! :P

2nd Day: The Writing Mystery.

Yep, as you probably read in the title, I started researching education in the IVC. As I had discovered that the Indians had a very complex writing system, I wanted to get out of the shallowness and dig deeper into their past. I found out that archeologists had found almost 4,000 objects with inscriptions, mostly in the main cities of the valley. These objects were predominantly seals, made from faience and soapstone. Curiousely, 60% of these seals had kind of unicorns engraved. Was the mythical creature a god or hero of theirs? We don't know. I know that I can't put all my info up here (a pity), but visit my wikipage for more info!

First Day in the Library:

Today we had 20 minutes in the library. Although it wasn't much, I found some background information on the Ancient Indus River Valley Civilisation (IVC). They had a writing style that was written from right to left, and 400-450 different characters. It's quite amazing to believe, don't you think? Anyhow, I'm going to leave deep researching for next time. Bye!