Mesopotamia:
- written language
- Agriculture: mainly farming grains
- Did not believe in life or anything beyond death
- Realized city states required authority and order
- Hierarchy
- Gender inequality
- Men owned land
- Military forces




Olmec:
- written language
- Agriculture: mainly maize, beans and squash
- Ceremonial Centers: temples, tombs for rulers, alters, pyramids. Partook in ritual sacrifices
- Realized city states required authority and order
- Hierarchy
- Men owned Land

A Paleolithic Woman in the Twentieth Century

1.     Through Nisa’s personal account, one is able to get an idea of how gather-hunters might have lived in the Paleolithic era. She speaks of egalitarian gender roles, hardships, and her spiritual beliefs. Although modern day society is much more advanced, it seems as though some things have not changed. Like Nisa’s society, most of our society too believes in the power of God, couples have affairs that lead to conflict, gender roles exist, and the emotional aspects of love and loss are equivalent to how one would feel today.

2.      Nisa describes her attitude towards sex in a liberal and casual way through speaking about her multiple husbands and affairs. One can relate these actions to our modern day “hook ups” where sex is a casual pleasure. In relation, our modern day philosophy about affairs is very much like Nisa’s where affairs are perceived in a negative way however, many people, even those who are married, still partake in this action. She had mentioned that many have killed others because of affairs. In modern day society, we constantly hear of cases where people kill over affairs. On the contrary, some couples might both be having affairs while both accepting that they are like Nisa did and many other couples do today. In addition, the concept of re-marrying is accepted in Nisa’s society as well as accepted by many in ours. Though, like Nisa’s first marriage one can be completely in love and decide to stay loyal to their significant other. In both societies, a marriage can go in many different directions.

3.     Nisa seems to believe that God is an all ruling all-powerful God that can control life situations. Through the many tragedies and heartbreaks Nisa had to withstand, she begins to question Gods motives and believes she is being targeted. To Nisa, curing rituals are sacred and honored. She enthusiastically describes her experiences. Through the way the healing rituals are described, it seems as though a drug, equivalent to our modern day hallucinogens, is used in order to awaken the senses and have a new understanding of oneself and their environment.

4.     From my perspective, Nisa’s overall assessment of San life is short and somewhat vague to a modern day busy urban resident. Although Nisa’s account seems to be mostly critical, it is realistic. Nisa describes tragedy where the death of soulmate and children took a great toll on her. Here, we see an example of a life without modern day medicines. In addition, through modern technology, urbanization and diversity modern day society has become more entertaining with a multitude of options to choose from. While in Nisa’s Paleolithic- like society it seems that most entertainment comes from tragedy, sex and spiritual healing rituals, similar to what we see in our modern day soap operas.

Chapter 1

In chapter one, I learned valuable information about the origins of human life and human nature. The hominid species were the first to walk up right. Walking up right was very valuable in many different ways. After imagining all the possibilities an individual can do when they are walking up right, I then began to wonder how long it took for them to begin to run. I imagine that the quicker the group learned to run, the more their hunting strategies improved. In addition, running could have made it easier for individuals to escape from danger. On the contrary, the more they ran the more calories they would burn causing them to require more caloric and protein rich foods, like meat, in order to survive. Another point I found interesting was that women were respected and equal. If not, possibly viewed as divine. As the community grew and became more spiritual, it was found that there was a special interest in fertility and the cycle of life. Given that women are able to bear life, our ancestors could have respected women at a much higher level than they do today. Stone artifact female figures, Venus Figures, could have been proof that women were honored.  However, I can imagine that the more the individuals practiced their running the more meat they would need to consume putting a special emphasize and dependency on the males who hunted. This could have possibly been one of the many reasons men were began to be seen as "superior".  In addition, the migration and traveling of different groups across harsh lands tell us that curiosity, restlessness, and courageousness is human nature. The human instinct to follow food along with the restlessness and curiosity of our human nature gave rise to agricultural intensification. Agricultural intensification allowed us as human beings to grow in numbers and being to dedicate our time to exploring and discovering. This led to the diversification of languages and the exchange of different crops and cattle with other regions. However, along with the good, there was also a bad. Not only did groups benefit from exploration and exchange, but they were negatively affected. Through exploring different regions, different diseases and climates came into play resulting in the death of many. If a member of your community suddenly dies it is traumatic and painful. A situation like this one could have given rise to the blaming and discrimination of another group for the killing of a community member. Also, they could have thought that there was a certain "evil" lurking within that region. Fear can generate a multitude of feelings and ideas. It is interesting to look at examples throughout history and ponder on the idea that along with the good, bad must come too.