This is the History Skull Project!
The other people in my group were: Hammad Sadiq, Harsha Chittoor, and Jay Patel.
Latin America is the region that my group was assigned to.
Theme #1 - In this picture, it's talking about agriculture for the Olmec people. In the skull, the picture shows a man working on his field. Outside the skull, the picture shows people looking at villages prospering because of the surplus of food from agriculture. I made this choice because it shows the true meaning of how early people in Latin America lived and thrived. I believe this picture best represents the life of the average human in Latin America because foraging became hard from the lack of certain animals such as cows and chickens, so agriculture became the better method of food supply.
Theme #2 - In this picture, it's talking about the development of architecture in Latin America. In the skull, the picture shows laborers carrying large blocks down from a pyramid and this shows how they made such great architectural achievements. Outside the skull, the picture shows a ruler who is making the laborers build a head statue. I made this choice because it shows how elites had so much power and they could get anything they wanted. The picture best represents the life of the average humans in Latin America because it gives a vivid image of how life was back then.
Theme #3 - In this picture, it's talking about conflict that rose between different people in Latin America. In the skull, the picture shows a man from another village plotting to attack the king of another. Outside the skull, the picture shows the outsiders killing a king from another village. I made this choice because it shows how disputes between different peoples led to wars and conquering of other villages. The picture best represents how people solved their problems and gained knowledge.
Theme #4 - In this picture, it's talking about trading of people in Latin America. In the skull, the picture shows workers using obsidian and jade into making various things such as jewelry and sharp objects. Outside the skull, the picture shows two people from different places in Latin America trading goods that they each don't naturally have. I made this choice because it shows how different people interacted with others and how relationships were formed. The picture best represents the life of the average humans in Latin America because they were living by what they had and they rest of the world didn't know about the Americas until much later on.
Theme #5 - In this picture, it's talking about social classes in the Olmec society. In the skull, the picture shows laborers building a giant head for the elite. Outside the skull, the picture shows laborers bowing to the king's every whim. I made this choice because it shows how society was similar to other societies across the world and the unfairness of the social classes. I believe this picture best represents the life of the average humans in Latin America because there wasn't much option for laborers and people of lower classes than to serve the elites.
Hi Prateek,
ReplyDeleteYou're project was awesome and caught my attention because of the way it was neatly organized. The way you split up the head and the external pictures made it easy to follow and was extremely clear. I also thought that the way that you depicted trading among farmers in Latin America (for theme four showing the interaction of peoples) was quite clever since the arrows established the fact that these men were trading different items, and that the arrows go in a continuous cycle, suggesting that trade was constantly occurring in virtually every society. Although your project was pretty good, every project can always be improved in some way. One way this could have been improved is by using color, thus making it more appealing to the eye. Another way this could have been improved is by cutting out the head, and using the construction paper as a site for external papers, rather than trying to squeeze both the internal and external pictures on the single white piece of paper. Not only would have this been a bit more appealing, but it also would have given you more external room to perhaps draw more detailed pictures or add a few more. Additionally, perhaps you may have wanted to refrain from using two similar pictures (laborers working on heads) for two different themes. After comparing Mesopotamia (my society) and Latin America, our posters were similar in the fact that they both addressed the that laborers (commoners and slaves in the social pyramid) were responsible for community projects and were supervised by the ruling classes. We both stated that this led to a stratified society containing multiple social (and unfair, as you suggested) distinctions. However, our societies differed in the fact that foraging was much more difficult in Latin America then it was in Mesopotamia. This may have been because of excessive hunting in the Americas and/or extreme climate changes. Lastly, I wanted to leave you with a few questions: Did you intentionally leave the pictures uncolored (perhaps for some artistic reason)? Also, why did you chose to depict laborers building a head statues rather than temples? Do you think head statues were very prominent in Latin American societies?