Saturday, August 25, 2018

The Tale of Pharaoh Hatshepsut, The Almost Forgotten Queen of Egypt


Figure 1: Hatshepsut

 
Ancient Egyptians are known for several accomplishments: their great pyramids, their mummies, their attention to beauty, and their long line of pharaohs.  Individuals like King Tut, Ramses, and Akhenaton are well documented and discussed in both the literature and popular historical record.  While many of the Egyptian Pharaohs were men there were at least four female pharaohs: Merneith of the Early Dynastic Period, Sobeknefru and Twosret of the Middle Kingdom, Cleopatra of the Ptolemic Period, and Hatshepsut, one of the most successful and powerful Pharaohs in Egyptian history (Figure 1).  She is the subject of today’s blog post, which will explore her life, successes, and rediscovery.

Hatshepsut was born in 1508 BCE.   She was his only legitimate child birthed by Thutmose I and his primary wife.  He passed away when she was young, and she was married to her half brother, Thutmose II, who was her father and one of his secondary wife’s son.  At the time of her marriage she was coronated as the God’s Wife of Amun, which gave her the power to dictate policy, participate in specific rituals, and identified her as a divine being.  She ruled alongside her half brother/husband serving as his dutiful wife and Queen of Egypt, and they had one daughter together.  Thutmose II had several concubines or secondary wives, and with one he birthed his only son, Thutmose III. 

Unfortunately, Thutmose II’s reign only lasted two years, and upon his death his son, an infant, was too young to ascend the throne.  Hatshepsut initially took on the role of regent, ruling over Egypt in her stepson’s place, but shortly thereafter she seized control and crowned herself Pharaoh of Egypt.  She did so by gaining favor of her father’s former advisors and heads of state, as well as used artistic progaganda to convince the citizens of Egypt that she was the divine ruler of Egypt as she was not only the Wife of Amun but also his daughter.  Several reliefs, including the one at Djeser-djeseru, portrayed this tale.  She also installed herself as a male ruler in artistic depictions of herself, dawning male clothing, crown, and wearing a beard.  Ultimately, she won over both the Egyptian elites and commoners, and she began her twenty-year rule as Pharaoh in 1478 BCE.

Figure 2: Hatshepsut's temple in the Valley of the Kings
 
During her tenure as Pharaoh Hatshepsut was responsible for restoring monuments that has been destroyed during previous invasions by Asian foreigners.  She also created new trade networks with outside kingdoms throughout Asia and the Mediterranean, improving the economic conditions for all throughout Egypt.  She fostered in a new artistic movement that was softer than previous styles, as well as commissioned the building of various temples, obelisks, and her own mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri (Figure 2).  She commissioned her stepson to be the general of the Egyptian army, married him to her daughter, and allowed him to keep his status as King, although he had less power than she did as Pharaoh.    

She died in early 1458 BCE, and Thutmose III ascended the throne, finally taking his place as Pharaoh over Egypt.  Sometime after his ascension he commissioned the removal of all of Hatshepsut’s names from the records and buried her tomb.  He took credit for all of her accomplishments and it does not appear that he had any independent of hers.  She was largely erased from Egyptian history, although some scholars were able to learn a little about her but without her full name.  Howard Carter eventually discovered her tomb and rediscovered her story in 1903, which is how and why we know about her today.

References

Biography.com Editors. (2014, April 2). Hatshepsut Biography. Retrieved from The Biography.com website: https://www.biography.com/people/hatshepsut-9331094
Cullman, D., & Cullman, L. B. (2006). Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh. Retrieved from Metropolitan Museum of Art: https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2006/hatshepsut
Mark, J. J. (2016, October 19). Hatshepsut. Retrieved from Ancient History Encyclopedia: https://www.ancient.eu/hatshepsut/
No Author. (2006, March 15). Hatshepsut. Retrieved from PBS: https://www.pbs.org/empires/egypt/newkingdom/hatshepsut.html
No Author. (No Date). Hatshepsut. Retrieved from Brooklyn Museum: https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/place_settings/hatshepsut

Saturday, August 18, 2018

Rethinking Neanderthals: Neanderthals as Original European Cave Artists?

Figure 1: Cave Art Believed to Have Been Created by Neanderthals, with additional pieces by humans

 
Neanderthals are typically considered the failed hominid ancestor who could not survive along early Homo sapiens.  Popularly identified as big, dumb, and clumsy the term Neanderthal is considered an insult, but the reality is that Neanderthals were anything but.  Subsequent discoveries have demonstrated that Neanderthals were avid artisans who created jewelry, cared for their ill, buried their dead with potentially elaborate mortuary rituals, and even successfully bred with anatomically modern Homo sapiens.  A study that came out earlier this year has caused a reexamination of the species by making a fairly lofty claim: that Neanderthals are the artists of the earliest cave paintings in Europe.  This blog post will discuss the evidence that supports this claim, as well as the implications these results have on our understanding of both Neanderthals and what it means to be human.

Cave paintings in Europe have fascinated scholars for decades.  When originally discovered in the 1800s they were initially written off as a hoax, but as more and more paintings were discovered the nay-sayers could no longer successfully argue against their authenticity.  They have been widely studied in regards to the subject matter and potential meaning.  The cave paintings depict abstract images, such as lines and geometric shapes (Figure 1); hand prints; human figures; and animals that were presumably eaten by the artists themselves.  Many of the cave paintings exist in the dark, uninhabited recesses of the cave, leading scholars to believe that these are the earliest symbolic artistic depictions created by man. 

Well, perhaps not man anymore.  In early 2018 a group of scholars published a pair of ground breaking studies that were the first to chronical successful dating of the cave images and provide inferences on who created them: Neanderthals.  Cave paintings were created with mineral based pigments, such as with red ochre and magnesium.  Because of their inorganic composition the pigments could not be dated using the popular radiocarbon dating technique, which requires organic material to date.  A new method, uranium-thorium dating, is a trace element method that utilizes the calcite deposits formed around the cave paintings and directly from the pigments.  This method is more accurate, as well as does not damage the integrity of the paintings (Figure 2).  A total of three caves throughout Spain were dated, and each produced dates that demonstrated they were created at least 20,000 years before the European arrival of anatomically modern Homo sapiens.  The hominid species that were definitively present, however, were the Neanderthals, which led the investigators to conclude that it was they who created the cave paintings.

Figure 2: Dirk Hoffman and Alistair Pike using the new method

This notion of Neanderthals creating the cave paintings is not necessarily far-fetched.  Neanderthals produced several pieces of art, including necklaces and musical instruments.  This means that they could have created the cave paintings, which is a revolutionary idea as it reopens the debate about whether or not Neanderthals were human and what exactly it means to be human.  This debate has been ongoing for quite some time, with those who feel that Neanderthals are humans promoting the notion of changing their taxonomic classification to Homo sapiens neanderthalensis.  Also, if Neanderthals did make the cave paintings then it means that they were far more creative and symbolic thinkers, which was not seriously considered previously.  There are, however, some scholars who remain skeptical of this conclusion that Neanderthals were the cave painting artists.  They argue that the dates of the cave paintings do not directly identify any specific artists, and that it is premature to call Neanderthals or humans the original artists.  They instead call for more studies into the matter to determine who specifically created these pieces.         

Regardless of the new debate that this study opens up it is clear that this study has provides us additional insights into cave paintings.  We now have a clearer idea of when these cave paintings were created, although we may not be any closer to who made them.  It is also causing a reanalysis of who Neanderthals were, as well as what it means to be human.  All good science is not about answering questions but coming up with new and better ones, and this study definitely does that.  Here’s to more study and results in the near future.

References

Greshko, M. (2018, February 22). World's Oldest Cave Art Found—And Neanderthals Made It. National Geographic.
Jones, J. (2018, February 23). So Neanderthals made abstract art? This astounding discovery humbles every human. The Guardian.
Joyce, C. (2018, February 22). Cave Art May Have Been Handiwork Of Neanderthals. NPR.
Marris, E. (2018, February 22). Neanderthal artists made oldest-known cave paintings. Nature.
Standish, C., & Pike, A. (2018, May 22). It’s Official: Neanderthals Created Art. Retrieved from Sapiens: https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/neanderthal-art-discovery/

Saturday, August 11, 2018

The Hmong: Strangers in Their Own Land


Figure 1: Hmong Children


Today’s blog post will explore a cultural group that has existed for centuries but has been in geographical flux since the end of the Vietnam War: the Hmong (Figure 1).  The Hmong hail from southeast Asia, specifically from Vietnam and parts of Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia, but they can be found throughout the world, including the United States.  The Hmong have a rich history and cultural traditions that govern their daily activities, which will be explored further herein.

Traditionally the Hmong are a group of horticulturalists who grew a variety of crops.  They grew a series of food crops, including rice, corn, and a variety of vegetables and fruits, but their primary cultigen was opium poppy (Figure 2), which they grew for medicinal purposes.  They were aware of the consequences of consuming too much opium poppy and there does not appear to be many incidences of its abuse among them.  This cultigen was traded with outside groups, but it made the Hmong unpopular among neighboring groups, which appears to be the preference among them. 

The Hmong lived in highland villages that isolated them from various other groups.  There was a wide variation in the house styles that existed in any village, but there were common elements among them, including a cooking hearth, altar, and granary (food storage area).  While the house style varied the house placement did not.  Houses were built in areas only after consulting the local and familiar spirits, as well as surveying the practicality of the location for proper house construction.  Once the location was decided upon the community came together to construct the dwelling.

Figure 2: Opium Poppy

The Hmong people are divided into patrilineal clans, but there is greater emphasis and attention on the individual family unit.  The remaining members of the clan, however, are considered part of the extended family network and consulted and contacted accordingly.  Members of each clan are expected to marry outside of their clan, and often the family does not get involved in such matters, allowing individuals to make their own choices on who they marriage.  Prior to marriage being able to take place a bride price is negotiated based on the potential fertility of the woman, meaning younger women who can bare more children fetch higher bride prices.

The Hmong largely believe in animistic religions, which are religions largely based in the belief in spirits existing in all entities.  There are several classes of spirits that the Hmong acknowledge, including the household spirits that guard the home, medicinal spirits that control health, natural spirits that exist among plants and animals, and shamanic spirits that can only converse with spiritual practitioners.  They believe strongly in the notion of maintain a balance between the physical and spiritual world, and that any imbalance can and does lead to sickness and potentially death.  Certain circumstances, such as childbirth and marriages, leave individuals vulnerable to spiritual attacks, so specific rituals are conducted to protect those affected. 

Figure 3: Hmong Refugees
 
During the Vietnam War the Hmong worked closely with the United States Armed Forces to combat the North Vietnamese Communists.  They were secretly trained by the Green Berets to fight alongside US military personnel.  Unfortunately, when the US withdrew from the war efforts in Vietnam many Hmong were displaced.  Those who were not captured or killed fled the country as refugees (Figure 3), braving terrible conditions and dangerous circumstances when trying to escape to freedom and safety.  Several thousand Hmong refugees have been resettled in the US, as well as various other parts of the world.  Unfortunately, their resettlement has not been easy as their way of life is so different from the cultural norms of their host countries.  Several generations of new Hmong have been born since the war, and many of them have assimilated as a means of survival.  Despite this there remains some grip on traditional cultural traditions and values, particularly among the older Hmong who were raised in Vietnam.  Hopefully as time goes on and people learn more about the Hmong there will be less judgement against them and they will feel safe and comfortable enough to practice their traditional ways without consequence.

References

Peters-Golden, H.  (2011).  Culture Sketches: Case Studies in Anthropology. 6th Edition.  Mc-Graw Hill Education.