See Directions: J2a, J2b, J2c, J2d, J2e

ARCHAEOLOGY RESEARCH JOURNAL J2 a-e
Student’s Name
Course Title
Date
J2a: “Jomon Hot Spot: Increasing Sedentism in South-Western Japan in the Incipient Jomon:
Archeological sites have remained the most important ways of understanding the way of life of the people who lived long before the history of recorded. One such group is the Jomon people of Japan. Pearson (2006) compiles interesting archeological findings that provide evidence of the Jomon people having been a sedentary community. From the findings of ecologists and archeologists, it appears that the earliest sedentary communities in the country could have lived in Kyushu Island, and could have been the Jomon people.
The journal contains a chronology of events that seems to indicate that these people left activities which are far from sedentary in nature, to those which suggested a high level of sedentism. The occupation of Sojiyama dating to about around13,500 BP could have been site that was occupied during winter, while Kakoinohara, during the same time was occupied during summer. Kakuriyama, Kaseda City a site dating about 9800 cal. BP must have had occupation for the whole year. There are other factors that suggest suggests steps towards sedentism, including the evidence of house pits, decorated pottery and other lasting objects (indicative of some rituals) in Uenohara Section 4 (c. 12,800 BP) as well as Uenohara Section 3 (9500 to 8250-7400 BP) village sites.
There are also indications from the journal that the people slowly moved away from depending solely on hunting to cultivating crops, which would suggest that they remained at the same place for long periods of time.

The evidence is in replacing of coniferous forest with deciduous nut-bearing trees (from 12,000t o 9000 cal. bp). There is also an indication of the move from hunting large animals to smaller ones and depending on plants for food. Harvesting of food, including nuts, also indicated some storage.
J2b: The Nubians
They are called Nubians, and there is not much new about this ancient culture. The era of the Nubian is among the most ancient not only in Africa but on Earth; also one of the ancient cultures. Nubia is a region located somewhere along River Nile, which presently makes up Northern Sudan and Southern Egypt. The ancient cultures of the Nubian are those who used the Nubian languages as a means of communication. The language is only used by these people, making them different from any other culture around the region or beyond, including the Egyptians. These languages originated from the Saharan Desert and were originally used by hunter- gatherers, who were nomads before their settlement in the abundant Nile Valley. They lived on sophisticated stonework, with the tools being used for hunting and also trading them with the early Egyptians. They also traded in wood and iron products.
Unlike other ancient cultures around the world, the Nubians have received minimal attention from scholars. There are various reasons for this reality including the fact that the western scholars have a greater preference for agricultural societies, while the Nubians used hunting and gathering as their primary source of livelihood. In most cases, only the agricultural societies appear to have had a lasting impact worth scholarly interest. The Nubians did not amount to an ancient civilization worth being studied by the Western scholars. Africa has a history of colonization which might have masked the interest of the western scholars on some of the ancient cultures in the region including the Nubian. The region has been characterized by a conflict which has also affected the significance of the regions.
J2c: Ancient Mesopotamian Cultures
Mesopotamia is an ancient civilization, talked about in the Bible, as among the oldest civilizations. Careful study of the civilization directs one back to the Garden of Eden. Mesopotamia is a world of the Bible, which represents the earliest forms of civilization. The civilization has been regarded as amongst the hubs of ancient civilization by the Western world. Bronze Age Mesopotamia was not just a single civilization, but one that was made up of three great civilizations: Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylon, and Assyria. The civilization sat in the region that is currently known as Iraq, with all the three civilizations being native to the present-day Iraq. During the Iron Age, Mesopotamia was under the control of Neo-Babylonian and Neo-Assyrian Empires.
Discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls in 1947 presents some of the historical texts that spoke about some of the lost civilizations of the world including Mesopotamia. The civilizations are evident within the five books of the Bible, the Torah, which provided evidence of the existence of those civilizations. Historians have presented the theory on the existence of such civilizations, but the recent discoveries including the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Moabite Stone (discovered in 1868), a stone that validated the stories given in the Bible, provides evidence of the once-upon at a time existence of the civilizations. As among the most influential civilizations in the world, during the Neolithic Revolution, it has been argued to have contributed a lot to human histories, such as inventions such as the wheel, astronomy, mathematics, and agriculture, and cultivation of cereals and the cursive script’s development.
J2d: “Erlitou and the Formation of Chinese Civilization: Toward a New Paradigm”
Historians have tried to provide a detailed analysis of how states and ancient civilizations developed. Some civilizations developed from simple agricultural societies to highly complex cultures whose impacted lasted for centuries. One such civilization is the Chinese civilization, which developed through a complex interrelation of some competitive kingdoms. The civilization is one of the greatest cultural hegemonies in the world. However, there has not been any agreement regarding the theory explaining the development of these civilizations. Efforts to study the civilization have been made by authors such as Allan (2007) who presents an alternative paradigm in studying the dynastic history and the formation of the state.
The elite culture has been argued to have started by crystallizing during the early second millennium BCE. The process started in Henan Province’ Yanshi Erlitou were bronze became the basis for the development. The region was the center of the most centralized kingdom. Bronze developed as an important religious symbol, especially based on offerings to the ancestors. With this development, the civilization developed as a hub of culture during the early Shang Dynasty. It was the development and use of the bronze for religious purposes that the region became the hub of culture at the time and for centuries later. The need to develop a new paradigm for studying the development of the civilization is based on the fact that the Chinese civilization developed differently from others, for instance, those founded on agriculture and Neolithic cultures. The Chinese culture had the room to develop because it did not have any influence or challenger.
J2e: The Three Archeological Sites
The recent media article on Angkor Wat suggests that this is one of the medieval cities that remain hidden beneath the jungle. The article presents important information on the existence of this archeological site which should be given the attention, greater than it has. Archaeologists in Cambodia revealed the existence of the ancient temple city. Those interested in learning about the history of Southeast Asia have the chance to do so by visiting this interesting site. This is one of the many 900 and 1,400 years old cities beneath the floor of the tropical forest.
According to an article in the New York Times, there has been recent discovery of aspects of the Indian culture in the Coxcatlan Cave-Tehaucan Valley, Mexico. The discovery has been that of about 30 burials in different parts of the cave, which present important information the culture of the Indians who resided in the region through 7,000 to 9,000 years. The discovery has been one of the most recent explaining the cultures that existed at the time in the New World.
According to a news article in the Los Angeles time, recent discoveries in La Venta-Olmec ceremonial center have revealed that the Maya civilization might be more complex than originally thought. Archeologists have in the recent past revealed that the birth of the culture might go way beyond what is revealed within the monumental pyramids. It is possible that the Maya civilization was born from the Olmec civilization in the Gulf Coast Mexico.
Bibliography
Allan, Sarah. “Erlitou and the formation of Chinese civilization: Toward a new paradigm.” TheJournal of Asian Studies 66, no. 02 (2007): 461-496.
BBC Lost Kingdoms of Africa: Nubia, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMh8Zzuvl18
Brown, Eryn. Evidence suggests Maya roots more tangled than previously thought, The LosAngeles Times April 25, 2013.
Dunston, Lara. Revealed: Cambodia’s vast medieval cities hidden beneath the jungle, TheGuardian, June 11, 2016
Fagan, Brian M. 2012. Ancient Lives an Introduction to Archaeology and Prehistory. UpperSaddle River, N.J. Pearson Education, Inc.
Kennedy, Paul P. Indian cultures traced in a cave, The New York Times, June 29, 1964
Lost Civilizations: Mesopotamia, http://youtoube.com/watch?=MKs5Ww1-14
Pearson, Richard. “Jomon hot spot: increasing sedentism in south-western Japan in the IncipientJomon (14,000–9250 cal. BC) and Earliest Jomon (9250–5300 cal. BC) periods.” WorldArchaeology 38, no. 2 (2006): 239-258.