Part THREE = The Egyptians

The Egyptians.

Okay, lets whizz forward a few, well about 50,000 years to Ancient Egypt. You know what that is right?!?

It's where the pyramids are (which are the square pointy buildings in the middle of the desert)... Did you know that the deserts are the remains of seabeds from long, long ago?.. Well they are!

So, what are the pyramids exactly?

Well, they were tombs for the pharoh's kings when they died.

In fact they are very BIG TOMBS, if you ever manage to get to see them!
But why were they SO BIG you ask?

Well, the reason that the pharoh's were put in such an EN-OR-MOUS structure, was that the pharoh's were considered to be gods by their people... so ONLY the BIGGEST would do!

And it WASN'T JUST the pharohs, who were put in the tombs. Along with their bodies, there was put loads of gold, food and wine to feed the pharoh's and to help them when they travelled to the afterlife.

Mummified animals were also put in. This was to keep the pharohs company - so that they wouldn't get lonely! Aaaaaah...

Cats were a very popular animal to be put in, as these were believed to be the embodiment of Bastet, who was the goddess of the sun's warmth and life-giving power. (The Egyptians had an awful lot of gods... Check them out for yourself if you've got a spare hour or so.)

Like the pharohs, the cats bodies were also mummified and put into their own little (aaaaarghhhh) sarcophagus's (coffins) in the pyramids. The most famous mummified cat was found in King Tutankhamun's tomb and was called Tiddles (well, as close as it could be in Egyptian hieroglyphics...)


ALSO, did you know that Tutankhamun is more commonly known as King Tut? Now that name is much easier to say and spell don't you think? (I blame the parents myself!)

Not that long ago, in 1922, King Tut's tomb, which has remained hidden for over 3,000 years, was discovered by Howard Carter and his sponser (and bestist mate... probably...) Lord Carnarvon.

They were very lucky to find it though, as everyone else thought that there was nothing else to find in the Valley of the Kings...

Did they prove everyone wrong or what?!

The amount of treasure that was found totally AMAZED everyone then and since. A lot of this treasure has since travelled the world in mannnnny exhibitions.

Until this time, stories passed through the generations changed with each telling = just like 'Chinese Whispers' really. So the Egyptians invented HIEROGLYPHICS, which is a pictorial alphabet. This became essential to communication as it helped to STOP the embellishment and changing of stories through time.

When first discovered in modern times, the hieroglyphics were thought to be JUST pictures (as if!) But the discovery of the ROSETTA STONE, which had THREE (not just one or two...) different languages on it, which enabled the hyroglyphics to be translated for the very first time!

Stories were also started to be written down on papyrus, a paper like material made from plants. In fact that's where the word paper originates from, papyrus. These written down stories enabled text and pictures to be shared with others = basic communication.

Part TWO = Modern Man

                                                                    
The first bit of our history = modern man.

RIGHT, let's get down to business then. 

When I said history of 'MAN', what I am more precisely going to be writing / talking about is the subject of human communication, innovation and particularly media in general.

Okay, according to CREATIONISM and CREATIONISTS (look this bit up yourself if you don't know what it means), the world / earth, as we know it, is ONLY (about) 6,000 years old (yeah right!) And would you believe it but some of them either don't believe in dinosaurs or that they were about at the same time as early man. They say that they were used like horses and cattle are today in agriculture etc... Make your own mind up about this but DON'T take too long to do it. Remember, it's not a hard question to answer and (hint) there is only logical answer...

In MY view, the first sort of 'man' that started us as a human race onto the what we are today, started with the HOMO-SAPIENS, (about) 200,000 years ago. (Now that is an awful lot of episodes of your favourite TV series to watch to make up that time span!) The first 'MODERN MAN', that we would recognise as being similar to ourselves (if somewhat vaguely) was about 50,000 years ago (= about 1/4 of your TV viewing of the above mentioned favourite TV series!)

 

This modern man, STARTED to make and use tools made out of bits of flint / stone; they caught food (partially with the tools that they had started to make); they even started to farm. Just like our leisure time today, all of these things gave them more time to do other things.  

But REMEMBER, there was NO TV in those days, despite what the cartoon series "The Flintstone's" would have us believe. (So think. What on earth did they do in the evenings?!?!) Well, without TV and all the other gadgets that we take for granted today, they had to make their own entertainment.

But what did they do to

entertain themselves? 

Well, with the introduction of fire, groups would spend time in a communal space, sitting around it, keeping warm from the heat given off. Whilst heating themselves up and now cooking on it, they would sing and tell stories (in whatever language that they spoke way back then.)

Part ONE = Year Dot...

So, when did our history start?

Well, quite some time ago, the world and the universe was created. (Bit of an argument here on many fronts about when and by whom if anyone, so we won't go into that and let you make your own mind up about it!)

Anyway, eventually, the start of us as a human species came along. We'll agree on here that it started one by one cell, until we ended up looking vaguely like we do today...

But, what is our history from say... year dot?

  

Well, on this blog, I will try to give YOU a (very) brief overview. Yes, just you and absolutely NO ONE ELSE, cross my heart, fingers crossed behind my back, no body else but you and ONLY you... 

And YES, that is me to the left of this text by the way, giving you a BIG happy smile... because you're worth it! (hopefully) And YES, I REALLY am that Simpson yellow colour! 

Actually, it's a real pain when I get the holiday photos processed, as THOSE people at the lab CONSTANTLY try to make me look inhuman PINK! Grrrrrrr!!!

Just to prove a point, here's a photo of me in Jersey, taken some time ago now...

 

Now, ask yourself... does my face LOOK pink in this properly colour corrected photo or what?!?! NO!!! Of course I DON'T!

Right, enough of that.

Let's get back to our history lesson then...

How about we start somewhere B.C. = Before Computers, in case you don't know what it stands for. Oh, and A.D. = After Draughts (were invented). Easy to remember, eh?