Analysis Of The Lost City Of Petra

Ever since ancient times, humans have used their uniquely creative minds to organize and construct awe-inspiring architecture. Our planet, once an empty canvas for human innovation, is now coated with manmade constructions. But before towering skyscrapers, grand hotels, and modern chapels came into existence, the world was bejeweled with ancient forms of engineering. Two of the more popular constructions from the ancient world include Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids at Giza. These incredible megaliths are seemingly very different, but share various similarities, and both help archaeologists gain insight to the religious beliefs and socio-political organization of the people who constructed them.

Mesopotamians had the tendency to build their courtyards hidden from the front door view. In order to protect their house from street dust, they were placing them behind the corner of the passage.

This is proof of the Sumerian architectural abilities. The architecture in Mesopotamia are considered to have been contemporary with the founding of the Sumerian cities, but there was some complexity in the architectural design during this Protoliterate period (c. 3400-c. 2900 BC). This is shown in the design of many religious buildings. Typical temples of the Protoliterate period--both the platform type and the type built at ground level--are, however, much more elaborate both in planning and ornament. The interior was decorated with cones sunk into the wall, covered in bronze. Most cities were simple in structure, but the ziggurat was one of the world's first complex architectural structures.

During the years of 3500 BC to 2500 BC, the geography of a land often impacted a civilizations development in great measures. Depending on the resources available or the detriments present due to certain topographical characteristics like rivers or deserts, a civilization could flourish or collapse. By studying the geographic features of growing societies like the Nile, Euphrates, and Tigris Rivers as well as the Mediterranean Sea of Egypt and Mesopotamia, the link between developing cultures and geography will be examined through sources, including Egypt: Ancient Culture, Modern Land edited by Jaromir Malek and Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization by Paul Kriwaczek. To determine the extent

It is undeniable that the natural environment of ancient Mesopotamia had a profound effect on the earliest civilizations known to the world. Humankind’s ability to control irrigation waters directly correlates with the rise of mass agriculture. With this mastery of their river environment, early farmers were capable of supporting large urban populations. However, in Mesopotamia the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were both a source of life as well as destruction for early societies. In many ways, the geography of ancient Mesopotamia fostered a sense of catastrophic determinism within the Sumerians, Akkadians, and Babylonians. The scarcity of resources as well as the untamable nature of their deluge environment led these early people to

Egypt and Mesopotamia were successful civilizations because they were able to adapt to their harsh surroundings because of the influence of their powerful leaders. This is first example of this when it mentions that their only building tool was mudbrick due to their lack of resources(document 1). They were able to brilliantly adapt to their surroundings and were able to invent things like the arch and the dome out of hardened mud. Mud brick was also used to create the ziggurat(document 7). Mud brick was their only resource because they were so isolated from everything else. They also could really only inhabit the euphrates river because the Tigris river would flood a lot, so that’s why all of the cities are on the Euphrates (document 2).

Göbekli Tepe is a very interesting archaeological site that is located at the top of the mountain limestone ridge in Southeastern Turkey near the Syrian border (Banning 620). It is known as the earliest monumental building, or temple, that mankind has ever created and it was built even before the stage of agriculture, which dates back to some 11,600 years ago (Mann 1st page). Göbekli Tepe belongs to the PPN (Pre-Pottery Neolithic) in terms of its chronological context in world prehistory (Banning 620). In fact, the site can be divided into three different stratigraphic levels that are level 3, level 2A, and level 2B (Banning 620). Level 3 is the oldest level which appears to date back to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) (Banning 621). Each of the buildings measured 15 m by 10 m and contained T-shaped monoliths surrounded by a wall made of stone and mortar (Banning 621). Two U-stone shaped entrances could by identified in two of the buildings (Banning 621). However, the most monumental aspect of the Göbekli Tepe can be attributed to the sophisticated carvings of wild animals, such as scorpions and boars, on the pillars which appears in the pillars of level 3 and level 2A (Banning 621). Moreover, Level 2A, which dates to Middle PPNB, has smaller and more rectangular buildings than Level 3 and it contains delicately implemented tiled floors and T pillars without any decorations (Banning 621). Level 2B dates to the time between level 3 and level 2A, however,

In 1950, V Gordon Childe drew up a list of traits of to what he considered to be the common characteristics of early civilizations. According to Fagan & Scarre, a recent archaeologist Charles Redman divided Childe’s list into primary and secondary characteristics. The primary characteristics included cities and states, together with full-time specialization of labor, concentration of surplus, and a class-structured society. For the secondary, the characteristics included symptoms or by-products of these major economic and organizational changes: monumental public works, long-distance trade, standardized monumental artworks, writing, and the sciences (arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy)(Scarre and Fagan 2003). One of the most common characteristics involve was a large, dense population living in a city. This essay well state and describe two early cities in Mesopotamia and explore the layouts and characteristics of these two cities. Also, whether each city is unique or share common characteristics with each other. The two cities are Maskan-shapir and Ur.

An essential need of the city and urban life, for bringing people together and seeing architecture as a social form. (147-148 writing on cities)

Ever since man began building structures and settling land, art has manifested itself in our architectural creations. Whether it be to celebrate or worship a God or Gods, a grand sculpture to bury a powerful leader or remember them by, or to show a culture’s dedication to specific values, our architectural constructions have led to some of the finest art this Earth has ever seen. The Taj Mahal and Palace of Versailles are two great examples of such art. By examining each of these individually, and then comparing and contrasting them, it will become clear that no matter how different looking these buildings may be, they still serve the same purpose to the civilizations that erected them.

Long, long ago, before the invention of TV, the radio, and phones, people lived in ways that are very questionable and thought provoking to us today. Their traditions, customs , and culture are very different than ours. Many questions have arisen, and many have been answered. But, as always, the are those few questions that were never given an answer. Today we will be looking at many questions, yet there is one question that we will be thinking about throughout this entire essay. How did geographic challenges lead to the rise of city-states in Mesopotamia? This question and much more will be answered within this text, And who knows? Maybe you'll find a question of your own to answer!

the tremendous structures, monumental artwork and over all architecture of the ancient civilizations are an extremely important part of their individual cultures. These monumental works are some of the last remnants of this civilization, proving evidence of their existence. The architecture in each ancient civilization is vastly different, helping to give archaeologists and historians some insight on these people and their history, culture, religious beliefs, wealth, economic capabilities, etc. Two monumental structures that show the unique characteristics of the civilization that created them are the Ancient Egyptian pyramids and the Mesopotamia ziggurats. Both of these ancient civilizations were large and prominent cultures that had many similar features that each great civilization had. But one of the most noteworthy features these two civilizations shared was their astounding architecture. The culture and the

November 4, 1922 a huge discovery was made by a band of Egyptian workers were excavating in the hills of Thebes. While digging in the hills of Thebes they soon chipped away a piece of rock which was guarding a famous tomb pathway. As they were digging they immediately alarmed the archaeologist named Howard Carter. As the excavation team kept on digging to uncover what was hidden they seen “priestly seals, including two of great significance”. Which was the sign of the jackel with nine captives, it also shown marks of royalty on the tomb; on the lower part of the tomb it had the sign of Nebkheprure which was a sign for anyone who seen it was coronation name of the pharaoh that was buried, which was King Tutankhamen.

What is most riveting however, is its age. Using organic material embedded in the façade of its stone pylons, Gobekli Tepe’s lower levels have been carbon to as early as 12,000 years ago, making them the earliest architectural forms ever discovered (German Archaeological Institute). This predates nearby sister site Nevali Cori by about 500 years (Author unknown), and the world’s first city Catalhoyuk by 1,500 years (Symmes 2010:48). The vast, more complex scale, as well as the marked artistry and sophistication above that of its cruder sister sites, makes the very existence of Gobekli Tepe practically an impossibility. Ian Hodder, director of Stanford’s archaeological program states that Gobekli Tepe is “unbelievably big and amazing, at a ridiculously early date; many people think it changes everything [that] all our theories are wrong.” (Symmes 2010:46 ).

Through the archeological discoveries, we can infer some details into the lives of the people who originated in the cities of Mesopotamia. The root word of Mesopotamia refers to ‘between rivers’, this infers to the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, figure 1. Because the environment influenced people to settle, we can see a change in their political, social, and economic structure as they begin to form a complex society. This is the period where we see a complex engineering system as people started to develop canals and other technologies for a more efficient agricultural development. An early culture to settle in the lowlands of Mesopotamia were the Hassuna culture, their civilization were characterized by “small settlements with a few hundred inhabitants, who lived in rectangular houses with several rooms” (Feuerbach, 2015). Another culture to settle in this area were the Samarran culture; even