Reflection on Ancient Civilisations
What Did I Learn?
Humanities Reflection I have learnt just how religious ancient Egypt was and that they worship over 700 gods and goddesses and they take great pride in making these deities happy by performing series of rituals such as placing a decorated crescent shaped wand on a woman giving birth to ask the god and goddess that specialise in child birth and protections of mothers and their children (Bes and Tawaret) to ease the pain and hard work of childbirth. I didn’t realise they believed that all unexplained illnesses were caused by evil forces and to cure the person they would perform spells and magical potions over them. I was surprised how advanced these spells were in terms of vocabulary and word structure. One of these were to cure somebody turning bald: "Fat of lion, fat of hippo, fat of cat, fat of crocodile, fat of ibex, fat of serpent, are mixed together and the head of the bald person is anointed with them.” I didn’t know what anointed meant until now and they did;t just have good vocabulary but they also had great knowledge on different species of animals. They knew of the existence of lions, hippos, cats, crocodiles, serpents, hawks, scorpions and rams and associated the appearance of most gods with them (e.g. using Ra’s head as a hawk head). I expected the average life expectancy of the average ancient Egyptian to be at least 50 or 60 because of all the exercise they must have done since all the transportation methods we use today such as bikes and cars, didn’t exist so they would have needed to walk everywhere. I also wouldn’t have thought that such advanced medical conditions such as gangrenous stomatitis and tuberculosis to occur in ancient Egypt. I was super surprised with the amount of knowledge they possessed over medicinal properties of certain substances such as the opium plant, willow tree leaves and beer. I learnt that the opium plant and beer was an effective substance that prevented pain and acted as a pain killer. I also learnt that willow tree leaves would act as an effective aspirin like we use today. I was surprised how similar their medicinal knowledge is to ours and how accurate it was for their time. I would not have expected a civilisation which formed so early in history to posses such advanced knowledge as they did and how valuable it is in todays society and how much it has impacted our lives we live today. I have learnt how precious gemstones were in their civilisation and how much meaning they resembled. They took into consideration the colour of each crystal and used that in their religious meanings. For example the deep blue in apis Lazuli was used as a spiritual difference from the colour of their arid desert and the gold flecks within this cobalt blue symbolised the stars in the night sky. This meant that when they meditated with it, super natural forces would change their life. I think that the concept of observing the colours the stones and then perceiving it as a comparison to their surroundings is quite advanced and detailed. I learnt about the existence of the Schistosoma and Guinea Worm which lived in the Nile River. I didn’t know they could dig through the skin and access a vein to then lay their eggs in your bloodstream. I would have thought that to have been a deadly condition so I was surprised when I learnt that the consequences were only a weakened body, more prone to other diseases which could kill you. I learnt that obsidian was 100-110 times sharper than steel and that the ancient Egyptians were the first to discover this and that they used it to reduce scaring in their surgical procedues. I didn’t realise that the ancient Egyptians were capable of performing proper surgery on people and that they were actually very skilled at it. I was surprised that the ancient Egyptians didn’t require any general anaesthetic to perform surgery because I couldn’t imagine having somebody cut me open while remaining completely conscious. I also learnt how much nutritious foods were available to them such as figs, melons, pomegranates, lentils and lettuce! I did’t expect them to have such a vast variety of fresh fruits and vegetables that were easily harvested.
The thing that I learnt which was most interesting was their advanced method of irrigating crops apart from using the nutritious silt left by the annual flooding. This was called basin irrigation and I learn that the dug earthen holes in the ground. The water when the Nile River flooded would sit it these banks for roughly a month so the soil was saturated and then they drained the remaining water out. This unit also taught me that the ancient Egyptians had invented their own sluices to direct water which is a pretty advanced item for that long ago. Finally, I learnt that the ancient Egyptians knew the times of annual Nile River flooding of by heart and that they separated their year into three seasons: Akhet: Flooding season, Peret: Growing season and Shemu: Harvesting season.This shows that the ancient Egyptians had an accurate concept of time and had the ability to be prepared for the floods before they arrived. Overall I learnt so any things over this unit that were all very interesting and surprising to me since most things in ancient Egypt were so advanced!!
What part did you most enjoy and what was most challenging?
I most enjoyed researching about the health issues in ancient Egypt. My parents work in that profession so I found it interesting to compare the ancient Egyptians usage valuable ingredients to what we use now and how effective the ancient Egyptians were, in healing prevalent health diseases in their civilisation such as tuberculosis and teeth disorders. I also found it interesting to learn about the process of mummification since it is a very unfamiliar practice to me. Additionally, I like the use of a webpage in this assessment because many people haven’t even created a website or know how to, s it was very fun to choose your own template and than vary it according to your chosen ancient civilisation. Anybody who has wanted to make a website in the past, knows how to after this unit, and it gets people to try something new. Even if they’re not a technology kind of person, like me. The most challenging task for me, was to research ancient Egypt’s sanitation processes and whether they were effective. They used very complex systems which in some parts, I found hard to understand. It was hard to accurately understand their sanitation concepts but eventually I figured it out and I had the ability to write it down in my own words. Overall I am happy with the end result of my assessment however if I were to repeat this assessment I would improve my time management. I mainly stuck to my guideline and plan but when the assessments for other subjects such as english were assigned, I had to use some of the time I had assigned to working on my humanities assessment, to work on other assessments. Next time I will take that into consideration and keep some time allocated for other subjects. However we were given a good 3-4 weeks to complete this assessment which was very good, especially if you participate in extra curricular activities after school such as a sport.
Would you recommend this unit to following year groups?
I would definitely recommend this unit to following year groups because for me, it was a topic I wouldn’t usually choose if I had the option. However once you have completed this unit, you have a wide range of knowledge about something not commonly thought about in schools. This unit definitely took me outside of my comfort zone ad it challenged me to research (in great detail), specific aspects of ancient Egypt’s error that I wouldn’t normally even consider learning about. I have learnt so much over this unit and ancient Egypt is most definitely interesting to learn about.
With regards to the final assessment presentation answering the following questions.
How and Why did you choose the format you used for your presentation?
I chose to use Weebly because it was recommended as an easy format to follow and it contained many creative and appealing themes which I could work with to make it look great with pictures that were relevant to Ancient Egypt. I hadn’t made a website before so it was important that the process was simplified and not too hard, as I am not a wiz with technology like other people.
What problems did you encounter?
I only encountered a few minor problems regarding the format and the layout of my website. I wanted to add visual features to enhance my website’s appearance so I needed to figure out how to do that. After exploring the options and the tool bar, I eventually figured out how to do everything and I am very happy with the appearance of my website.
Regarding the gathering of the data, explain what went well? What didn’t go well? What aspects could you improve on?
My style of completing an assessment is different to many people. I prefer to gather research as I write my actual answer to the question. I don’t record all the research first and separate the research into each question before I write it, I prefer to write it out as I go. This method is effective for me because I finish tasks very efficiently and I am able to feel organised throughout the assessment. I didn’t find that I encountered any specific problems and I felt that I worked in an order that made sense to me and as long as I consistently met deadlines, my process of writing up an assessment is effective. I don’t think there is anything to improve of my assessment writing process because I always finish on time and write the tasks out in the correct format.
Humanities Reflection I have learnt just how religious ancient Egypt was and that they worship over 700 gods and goddesses and they take great pride in making these deities happy by performing series of rituals such as placing a decorated crescent shaped wand on a woman giving birth to ask the god and goddess that specialise in child birth and protections of mothers and their children (Bes and Tawaret) to ease the pain and hard work of childbirth. I didn’t realise they believed that all unexplained illnesses were caused by evil forces and to cure the person they would perform spells and magical potions over them. I was surprised how advanced these spells were in terms of vocabulary and word structure. One of these were to cure somebody turning bald: "Fat of lion, fat of hippo, fat of cat, fat of crocodile, fat of ibex, fat of serpent, are mixed together and the head of the bald person is anointed with them.” I didn’t know what anointed meant until now and they did;t just have good vocabulary but they also had great knowledge on different species of animals. They knew of the existence of lions, hippos, cats, crocodiles, serpents, hawks, scorpions and rams and associated the appearance of most gods with them (e.g. using Ra’s head as a hawk head). I expected the average life expectancy of the average ancient Egyptian to be at least 50 or 60 because of all the exercise they must have done since all the transportation methods we use today such as bikes and cars, didn’t exist so they would have needed to walk everywhere. I also wouldn’t have thought that such advanced medical conditions such as gangrenous stomatitis and tuberculosis to occur in ancient Egypt. I was super surprised with the amount of knowledge they possessed over medicinal properties of certain substances such as the opium plant, willow tree leaves and beer. I learnt that the opium plant and beer was an effective substance that prevented pain and acted as a pain killer. I also learnt that willow tree leaves would act as an effective aspirin like we use today. I was surprised how similar their medicinal knowledge is to ours and how accurate it was for their time. I would not have expected a civilisation which formed so early in history to posses such advanced knowledge as they did and how valuable it is in todays society and how much it has impacted our lives we live today. I have learnt how precious gemstones were in their civilisation and how much meaning they resembled. They took into consideration the colour of each crystal and used that in their religious meanings. For example the deep blue in apis Lazuli was used as a spiritual difference from the colour of their arid desert and the gold flecks within this cobalt blue symbolised the stars in the night sky. This meant that when they meditated with it, super natural forces would change their life. I think that the concept of observing the colours the stones and then perceiving it as a comparison to their surroundings is quite advanced and detailed. I learnt about the existence of the Schistosoma and Guinea Worm which lived in the Nile River. I didn’t know they could dig through the skin and access a vein to then lay their eggs in your bloodstream. I would have thought that to have been a deadly condition so I was surprised when I learnt that the consequences were only a weakened body, more prone to other diseases which could kill you. I learnt that obsidian was 100-110 times sharper than steel and that the ancient Egyptians were the first to discover this and that they used it to reduce scaring in their surgical procedues. I didn’t realise that the ancient Egyptians were capable of performing proper surgery on people and that they were actually very skilled at it. I was surprised that the ancient Egyptians didn’t require any general anaesthetic to perform surgery because I couldn’t imagine having somebody cut me open while remaining completely conscious. I also learnt how much nutritious foods were available to them such as figs, melons, pomegranates, lentils and lettuce! I did’t expect them to have such a vast variety of fresh fruits and vegetables that were easily harvested.
The thing that I learnt which was most interesting was their advanced method of irrigating crops apart from using the nutritious silt left by the annual flooding. This was called basin irrigation and I learn that the dug earthen holes in the ground. The water when the Nile River flooded would sit it these banks for roughly a month so the soil was saturated and then they drained the remaining water out. This unit also taught me that the ancient Egyptians had invented their own sluices to direct water which is a pretty advanced item for that long ago. Finally, I learnt that the ancient Egyptians knew the times of annual Nile River flooding of by heart and that they separated their year into three seasons: Akhet: Flooding season, Peret: Growing season and Shemu: Harvesting season.This shows that the ancient Egyptians had an accurate concept of time and had the ability to be prepared for the floods before they arrived. Overall I learnt so any things over this unit that were all very interesting and surprising to me since most things in ancient Egypt were so advanced!!
What part did you most enjoy and what was most challenging?
I most enjoyed researching about the health issues in ancient Egypt. My parents work in that profession so I found it interesting to compare the ancient Egyptians usage valuable ingredients to what we use now and how effective the ancient Egyptians were, in healing prevalent health diseases in their civilisation such as tuberculosis and teeth disorders. I also found it interesting to learn about the process of mummification since it is a very unfamiliar practice to me. Additionally, I like the use of a webpage in this assessment because many people haven’t even created a website or know how to, s it was very fun to choose your own template and than vary it according to your chosen ancient civilisation. Anybody who has wanted to make a website in the past, knows how to after this unit, and it gets people to try something new. Even if they’re not a technology kind of person, like me. The most challenging task for me, was to research ancient Egypt’s sanitation processes and whether they were effective. They used very complex systems which in some parts, I found hard to understand. It was hard to accurately understand their sanitation concepts but eventually I figured it out and I had the ability to write it down in my own words. Overall I am happy with the end result of my assessment however if I were to repeat this assessment I would improve my time management. I mainly stuck to my guideline and plan but when the assessments for other subjects such as english were assigned, I had to use some of the time I had assigned to working on my humanities assessment, to work on other assessments. Next time I will take that into consideration and keep some time allocated for other subjects. However we were given a good 3-4 weeks to complete this assessment which was very good, especially if you participate in extra curricular activities after school such as a sport.
Would you recommend this unit to following year groups?
I would definitely recommend this unit to following year groups because for me, it was a topic I wouldn’t usually choose if I had the option. However once you have completed this unit, you have a wide range of knowledge about something not commonly thought about in schools. This unit definitely took me outside of my comfort zone ad it challenged me to research (in great detail), specific aspects of ancient Egypt’s error that I wouldn’t normally even consider learning about. I have learnt so much over this unit and ancient Egypt is most definitely interesting to learn about.
With regards to the final assessment presentation answering the following questions.
How and Why did you choose the format you used for your presentation?
I chose to use Weebly because it was recommended as an easy format to follow and it contained many creative and appealing themes which I could work with to make it look great with pictures that were relevant to Ancient Egypt. I hadn’t made a website before so it was important that the process was simplified and not too hard, as I am not a wiz with technology like other people.
What problems did you encounter?
I only encountered a few minor problems regarding the format and the layout of my website. I wanted to add visual features to enhance my website’s appearance so I needed to figure out how to do that. After exploring the options and the tool bar, I eventually figured out how to do everything and I am very happy with the appearance of my website.
Regarding the gathering of the data, explain what went well? What didn’t go well? What aspects could you improve on?
My style of completing an assessment is different to many people. I prefer to gather research as I write my actual answer to the question. I don’t record all the research first and separate the research into each question before I write it, I prefer to write it out as I go. This method is effective for me because I finish tasks very efficiently and I am able to feel organised throughout the assessment. I didn’t find that I encountered any specific problems and I felt that I worked in an order that made sense to me and as long as I consistently met deadlines, my process of writing up an assessment is effective. I don’t think there is anything to improve of my assessment writing process because I always finish on time and write the tasks out in the correct format.