Mid-Term Reflection on Anthropology - Essay Example

Mid-Term Reflection on Anthropology Archeology is defined as the study of human activities in the past. This is donemainly through recovery and analysis of materials left behind. The materials could be artifacts, landscapes, architecture, and related materials. The study of human activities during prehistoric period is also part of archeology. A related discipline to archeology is anthropology. Anthropology examines humankind from the distant past to the present. Archeology adds important information to present understanding of past societies.

Popol Vuh is the creation story of the Maya. Maya were a group of highly civilized people who inhabited the Americas before the Spanish conquered them. The Maya has had advanced in mathematics and astronomy. The story says that God created people from maize after several attempts. The idea of a God who creates people from maize is reasonable for the people of South America because they depended on maize. Maize cultivation provided them with enough calories to settle in cities and invest time in pursuit of mathematics and other intellectual pursuits (Morgan 23).

The story is almost similar to biblical story because the Heart of the sky creates from nothing. Other than Heart of the sky, another deity of the Mayas was the feathered serpent. This god was part of pantheon of deity believed to have created the cosmos from scratch. This deity is equivalent to Greek gods. In ancient American religions, shamans were people who could achieve altered consciousness and communicate with the spirit world. They played the role of leading in religious rituals and in practicing divination.

Based on the story about Mayas, tribal people, their creation, the gods, and the role of shamans in society, it is clear that humanity and civilization goes through the same steps. The first step towards civilization is settlement. Without settled living, it is hard for people to live a civilized life. In South America, the discovery of maize changed the course of the history of Mayas. Maize allowed the Mayas to lead a settled life. Even today, millions of people rely on maize to provide their daily calorie requirement.

Maize is a highly productive grain and a single cob produce considerable calories. Once the people have enough to eat through farming, they start engaging in intellectual activities. This explains why the Mayas had made huge advances in mathematics and astronomy. Presence of enough food allowed them the luxury of pursuing these intellectual activities. Another aspect of intellectual pursuit is religious. Tribal people often have simple religious beliefs. As people get more civilized and sophisticated, their religion becomes even more complex with complicated ceremonies (Smith, McPherson, and Davies 56).

These ceremonies require priests, shamans, and other people who act as go-between people and deities or metaphysical world. This process of civilization is evident in other ancient cultures as well. In Egypt and Mesopotamia, the region is fertile and good for agriculture. These people had also domesticated high yielding crops. This allowed a small number of people undertake farming activities but at the same time produce enough food for everybody in the town or village. Those who were not producing food started trading, adventure, exploration, thinking, and inventing.

In the process civilizations developed. All ancient civilizations developed in fertile crescents and not in other areas. Therefore, food and civilization are related. Even in England, agricultural revolution freed huge amount of labor that used to change the country industrially. The role of archeology in anthropology is that it excavated ancient artifacts that are used to determine how people lived in the past. Works CitedMorgan, Lewis Henry. Ancient society. Tucson, Ariz.: University of Arizona Press, 1985. Print.Smith, Cameron McPherson, and Evan Davies.

Anthropology for dummies. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley Pub., 2008. Print.