Blog 3: Battle of the Classes

In reading chapter two, I was most interested in the section "Hierarchies of Class". As differentiation occurred within the jobs of early communities, the gaps between the wealth. status, and power of each community member grew. Interestingly, I had never really considered that this was not always the way of a community. I had assumed, and perhaps wrongly, that there were always inequalities among peoples based on their jobs, and the income they reaped for those jobs.

Perhaps more interesting was the Code of Hammurabi, which dictated laws about violations against different classes. I had not previously thought that different classes would get different punishments for crimes, or rewarded differently for crimes perpetrated against them. I would hope that was not the case in today's society, but there are plenty of examples of the rich being over looked for some of their crimes, or being convicted differently because of their position in society.

Ultimately, I'm more surprised that we've grown to little as a culture and a society.

Blog Post 2: Nisa's Story

Admittedly, I was fascinated by the story of Nisa, most particularly the description of the relationships between adults within the tribes. In my previous ideas about early man, I had always assumed, and perhaps to my detriment, that "married" couples, or at least the women in a marriage, were faithful to their spouses. I had developed this opinion based on the notion of the importance of lineage. Even today, paternity is of relevance in our society. I assumed this would arguably be more so due to the trials of early man in raising a child and protecting the continuation of their gene pool.

However, after reading Nisa's story, I'm surprised to read that "married" couples, in particular the women, were having affairs. While I knew the prehistoric man was not a monogamous society, but once marriage ceremonies became part of ritual and culture, I did not think infidelity would be a part of culture anymore. According to Nisa's story though, my assumptions were without basis. Yet, the problems I foresaw with incorporating affairs into a strongly monogamous society were evident, as Nisa's story describes deadly battles between scorned lovers or spouses.

Ultimately, this story makes me wonder about the value of monogamy to mankind. If even our ancestors in early times could not commit to monogamy, when times were much simpler in many respects, how can there be hope for modern man?

Blog Post 1: Dreamtime

In the first reading assignment, I was most captured by the small passages in the "Into Australia" segment on Dreamtime. As someone who is fascinated by storytelling, in all its forms, I found this section to be particularly intriguing. Dreamtime refers to the the storytelling techniques early peoples used to document how all things began. These techniques included rock art, ceremonies, and stories. According to the Dreamtime, there had been beings before the hominids, arguably gods, who had created the features of the land. Dreamtime also recounted the ways in which hominids inhabited the earth, as well as their relationships to both human and animal alike.

Ultimately, I felt that this segment could have been flushed out further, based solely on my interest in Dreamtime. How did dream time come to have its name? What exactly were the stories and ceremonies involved in Dreamtime? Do the Dreamtime stories correlated with any more modern fairy tales or fables of colonized homo sapiens? Based on the reading, I can't answer these questions, much as I wish I could. With a variety of questions such as these, I should perhaps continue on to do my own research into Dreamtime.

Below is a photo I found on photokunst of some of the Dreamtime rock art.