- •Approaches to studying history
- •Передмова
- •I. Look through the words and expressions and learn them:
- •II. Read and translate the text: history
- •What historians study
- •III. Find English equivalents of those expressions in the text:
- •IV. Say whether these statements correspond to the information of the text:
- •V. Answer the questions to the text:
- •VI. Finish the sentences according the information of the text:
- •VII. Insert necessary words and expressions using those from the box:
- •Unit II
- •II. Read and translate the text: history and prehistory
- •III. Particular studies and fields
- •IV. Study the given below lexical units and provide their Ukrainian variants:
- •V. Interpret the following in English:
- •VI. Find English equivalents for the following:
- •VII. Give synonyms to the underlined words:
- •VIII. Look through the text and write out the key historical terms.
- •IX. Answer the following questions:
- •Unit III
- •I. Look through the words and expressions and learn them:
- •II. Read and translate the text: theories of history
- •The development of historical writing
- •III. Find English equivalents in the text:
- •IV. Define the key sentences of the text.
- •V. Interpret the following in English:
- •VI. Arrange the following in pairs of synonyms:
- •VII. Error correction. Define false statements and give their right versions:
- •VIII. Answer the questions trying not to give a one-word answer, add some information to develop the idea:
- •IX. Give the summary of the text.
- •X. Render the text close to its original variant.
- •XI. Translate the following passage in written form; entitle it; put 5 questions (of different types):
- •XII. Write an essay on the following topics:
- •Unit IV
- •I. Look through the words and expressions and learn them:
- •II. Read and translate the text: historical methods
- •III. Study the given bellow lexical units and provide their Ukrainian variant:
- •IV. Define the key sentences of the text.
- •V. Complete the following statements to develop the idea:
- •II. Read and translate the text: historycal analysis
- •III. Study the given below lexical units (provide Ukrainian variant):
- •IV. Find English equivalents for the following:
- •V. Interpret the following in English:
- •VII. Find synonyms in the text for the following words and word combinations:
- •VIII. Look through the text and write out the key historical terms.
- •IX. Gap filling:
- •X. Answer the following questions:
- •Unit VI
- •II. Read and translate the text. Periodization
- •III. Give synonyms to the underlined words:
- •IV. Find English equivalents for the following:
- •V. Study the given below lexical units (provide the Ukrainian variant):
- •VI. Explain the expressions in other words:
- •VII. Look through the text and write out the key historical terms.
- •VIII. – Match the historical terms listed up in column a with the definitions provided in column b.
- •IX. Complete the following statements to develop the idea:
- •X. Answer the questions on the text:
- •XI. Insert prepositions in the gaps and translate the text.
- •Origins of periodization
- •XII. Put the following words in their correct place in the passage below.
- •Periodization of origins
- •XIII. Give the summary of the text.
- •XIV. Render the text close to its original variant. Unit VII
- •I. Look through the words and expressions and learn them:
- •II. Read and translate the text: history of science
- •III. Find English equivalents for the following:
- •IX. Fill in the blanks using the information from the text:
- •X. Questions to be answered:
- •XI. Give the summary of the text.
- •XII. Render the text close to its original variant.
- •XIII. Make a written translation of the following passage: The origins of the discipline
- •Unit VIII
- •I. Look through the words and expressions and learn them:
- •II. Read and translate the text: the methods of doing history of science
- •III. Match the words with their definitions:
- •IX. Answer the following questions:
- •Unit IX
- •II. Read and translate the text: chronology
- •III. Give synonyms to the underlined words:
- •IV. Explain the expressions in other words:
- •V. Study the given below lexical units (provide the Ukrainian variants):
- •VI. Look through the text and write out the key historical terms
- •VII. Find English equivalents for the following:
- •VIII. - Find the following adjectives and nouns from the text (column a and column b):
- •IX. Scan the gapped sentences and fill in the blanks:
- •X. Answer the questions on the text:
- •XI. Give the summary of the text.
- •XII. Render the text close to its original variant.
- •XIII. Make a written translation of the text. Entitle and retell it. Put all types of questions covering the plot of the text.
- •Chronological subjects
- •Anno Domini
- •I. Look through the words and expressions and learn them:
- •II. Read and translate the text: chronicle
- •III. Find English equivalents for the following:
- •VIII. Look through the text and write out the key historical terms.
- •IX. Select endings for the given statements to develop the idea:
- •X. Check how well you remember the text:
- •Unit XI
- •II. Read and translate the text: historiography
- •III. Give synonyms to the underlined words:
- •X. Say whether these statements correspond to the information of the text:
- •XI. Give the summary of the text.
- •XII. Render the text close to its original variant.
- •XIII. Make a written translation of the following passage. Put all types of questions. Modern historiography
- •XIV*. Use the sources available to find some additional information on the issue. Present your reports in the class. Unit XII
- •I. Look through the words and expressions and learn them:
- •II. Read and translate the text: ancient historiography
- •Greek historiography
- •Roman historiography
- •VII. Interpret the expressions in other words:
- •VIII. - Find the following adjectives and nouns from the text (column a and column b):
- •IX. Read the gapped statements and fill in the blanks using the knowledge of the text:
- •X. Answer the questions on the text:
- •XI. Give the summary of the text.
- •XII. Render the text close to its original variant. Unit XIII
- •I. Look through the words and expressions and learn them:
- •II. Read and translate the text: eastern historiography Chinese historiography
- •Muslim historiography
- •III. Give synonyms to the underlined words:
- •IV. Find English equivalents for the following:
- •V. Study the given below lexical units (provide the Ukrainian variants):
- •VI. Look through the text and write out the key historical terms.
- •VII. Explain the expressions and sentences in other words:
- •VIII. - Find the following adjectives and nouns from the text (column a and column b):
- •IX. Fill in the gaps:
- •X. Check how well you remember the text:
- •XI. Give the general idea of the text.
- •XII. Render the text close to its original variant. Unit XIV
- •I. Look through the words and expressions and learn them:
- •II. Read and translate the text: antropology
- •IX Answer the questions on the text:
- •X. Gap filling:
- •XI. Give the summary of the text.
- •XII. Render the text close to its original variant. Unit XV
- •I. Look through the words and expressions and learn them:
- •II. Read and translate the text: the "four field" approach
- •III. Match the words with their definitions:
- •IV. Look through these words and expressions and provide their Ukrainian equivalents:
- •X. Give the summary of the text.
- •XI. Render the text close to its original variant.
- •XII. Make a written translation of the text. Entitle and retell it. Put all types of questions covering the plot of the text.
- •Unit XVI
- •I. Look through these words and expressions and learn them:
- •II. Read and translate the text: archaeology
- •III. Match the words with their definitions:
- •VIII. Questions to be answered:
- •IX. Insert prepositions in the gaps and translate the text:
- •Goals of archaeology
- •X. Give the summary of the text.
- •XI. Render the text using additional information on the issue.
- •Importance and applicability of Archaeology
- •Unit XVII
- •I. Look through the words and expressions and learn them:
- •II. Read and translate the text: history of archaeology
- •III. Look through these words and expressions and provide their Ukrainian equivalents:
- •V. Find English equivalents for the following:
- •VI. Explain the expressions in other words.
- •VII. Look through the text and define the key historical terms of the text.
- •VIII. Say whether these statements correspond to the information of the text:
- •IX. Answer the questions on the text:
- •X. Make up a plan of the text in the form of statements.
- •XI. Give the general idea of this text.
- •XII. Render the text using additional information on the issue.
- •Excavation
- •XIII. Sum up the contents of the texts from units XVI, XVII under discussion. Unit XVIII
- •I. Look through the words and expressions and learn them:
- •II. Read and translate the text ethnography
- •Ethnohistory
- •III. Give synonyms to the underlined words:
- •IV. Study the given below lexical units (provide the Ukrainian variant):
- •V. Find English equivalents for the following:
- •VI. Look through the text and write out the key historical terms.
- •VII. – Find the following adjectives and nouns from the text (column a and column b):
- •VIII. Select endings for the given statements to develop the idea:
- •IX. Explain the expressions in other words:
- •XI. Give extensive answers:
- •XII. Give the summary of the text.
- •XIII. Render the text close to its original variant.
- •XIV. Make a written translation of the text. Retell it. Put all types of questions covering the plot of the text.
- •XV. Give a brief presentation of ethnography, ethnohistory and ethnology and explain difference among them. Unit XIX
- •I. Look through the words and expressions and learn them:
- •II. Read and translate the text: folkloristics
- •III. Find English equivalents for:
- •IV. Give Ukrainian equivalents of those expressions in the text:
- •V. Interpret the following in English:
- •VI. Match the words with their definitions:
- •VII. Choose the facts from the text to characterize:
- •VIII. Answer the fact-finding questions trying not to give a short answer, add some information to develop the idea:
- •IX. Choose the most significant points of the text for you to give the general idea.
- •X. Put the following words in their correct place in the passage below.
- •XI. Read the text to yourself and write the annotation.
- •And ‘Native Faith’ in Contemporary Ukraine”
- •Unit XX
- •I. Look through the words and expressions and learn them:
- •II. Read and translate the text: museology
- •III. Study the given below lexical units and provide their Ukrainian variant:
- •IV. Find English equivalents for:
- •V. Give synonyms to the underlined words:
- •VI. Contradict the following statements:
- •VII. Answer the following questions:
- •VIII. Divide the text into logical parts and make up an outline of the text.
- •IX. Speak on the major points of the text in accordance with your plan.
- •X. Read the text and make its written translation.
- •XI. You are suggested the following points for discussion:
- •XII. Combine 2 texts and distinguish the main characteristic features of discipline “museum studies”. Unit XXI
- •I. Look through the words and expressions and learn them:
- •II. Read and translate the text: arhival science
- •III. Find English equivalents of those expressions in the text:
- •IV.Arrange the following words in pairs of antonyms:
- •V. Study the given below lexical units and provide their Ukrainian variant:
- •VI. Arrange the following words in pairs of synonyms:
- •VII. Try to explain the following notions connecting with the discipline “Archival studies”. Pay attention to the different meaning of the words “storage” and “preservation”:
- •VIII. Select the endings for the given statements to develop the idea:
- •IX. Check how well you remember the text:
- •X. Divide the text into logical parts and make up an outline of the text.
- •XI. Review the text.
- •XII. Read the text to yourself and write the annotation.
- •XIII. Can you enumerate all the duties and abilities the archivists must have?
- •Unit XXII
- •I. Look through the words and expressions and learn them:
- •II. Read and translate the text: oriental studies
- •III. Find English equivalents of those expressions in the text:
- •IV. Look through these words and expressions and provide their Ukrainian equivalents:
- •V. Give the synonyms to the underlined words:
- •VI. Give the antonyms to the underlined words:
- •VII. Explain the meaning of the following words and word combinations in your own words:
- •VIII. Contradict the following statements:
- •IX. Answer the fact-finding questions trying not to give a short answer, add some information to develop the idea:
- •X. Insert necessary words and expressions using those from the box:
- •XI. Give the general idea of this text.
- •XII. Render the text using your plan.
- •XIII. Read the text to yourself and write the annotation: From "Oriental Studies" to "Asian Studies"
- •Unit XXIII
- •I. Look through the words and expressions and learn them:
- •II. Read and translate the text: egyptology
- •III. Find English equivalents of those expressions in the text:
- •IV. Look through these words and expressions and provide their Ukrainian equivalents:
- •V. Arrange the following words in pairs of antonyms:
- •VI. Arrange the following words in pairs of synonyms:
- •VII. Explain the following notions, which constitute the range of Ancient Egyptian cultures:
- •VIII. Error correction. Define false statements and give their right versions:
- •IX. Answer the fact-finding questions trying not to give a short answer:
- •X. Present the general idea of the text.
- •XI. Review the text.
- •Some sentences have been extracted from the text and given below. Decide where they suit the best. Assyriology
- •Some expressions are underlined in the text. Try to explain how you understand them. Unit XXIV
- •I. Look through the words and expressions and learn them:
- •II. Read and translate the text: political history
- •III. Find English equivalents for the following:
- •IV. Study the given below lexical units and provide their Ukrainian variants:
- •V. Give synonyms to the underlined words:
- •VI. Explain the expressions and sentences in other words:
- •VII. Look through the text and write out the key historical terms.
- •VIII. – Find the following adjectives and nouns from the text (column a and column b):
- •IX. Gap filling. Read through sentences and think about missing information:
- •X. Answer the questions on the text:
- •Unit XXV
- •II. Read and translate the text: universal history
- •VII. Select endings for the given statements to develop the idea:
- •VIII. – Match the historical terms listed up in column a with the definitions provided in column b.
- •IX. Look through the text and write out the key historical terms.
- •X. Give extensive answers:
- •XI. Choose the most significant points of the text for you to give the general idea.
- •XII. Render the text close to its original variant. Unit XXVI
- •I. Look through the words and expressions and learn them:
- •II. Read and translate the text: world history
- •Big history
- •III. Look through the text and write out the key historical terms.
- •IV. Find English equivalents of those expressions in the text:
- •V. Give Ukrainian equivalents of those expressions in the text:
- •VI. Give synonyms to the underlined words:
- •VII. Interpret the following in English:
- •VIII. Find in the text a word or phrase that means:
- •IX. Agree or disagree with the following statements:
- •X. Questions to be answered:
- •Unit XXVII
- •II. Read and translate the text:
- •Intellectual history
- •III. Look through these words and expressions and provide their Ukrainian equivalents:
- •IX. Choose the facts from the text that may help you characterize:
- •X. Answer the fact-finding questions trying not to give a short answer, add some information to develop the idea:
- •Unit XXVIII
- •II. Read and translate the text: cultural history
- •VII. Look through the text and write out the key historical terms.
- •VIII. – Match the terms listed up in column a with the definitions provided in column b.
- •IX. Complete the following statements to develop the idea:
- •X. Scan the gapped sentences and fill in the blanks using the knowledge of the text.
- •XI. Check how well you remember the text:
- •Unit XXIX
- •II. Read and translate the text: cultural heritage
- •III. Find English equivalents for the following:
- •IV. Study the given below lexical units and provide their Ukrainian variants:
- •V. Look through the text and write out the key historical terms.
- •VI. Give synonyms to the underlined words:
- •VII. Explain the expressions and sentences in other words:
- •VIII. Select the endings to the given statements to develop the idea:
- •X. Fill in the gaps using the knowledge of the text:
- •XI. Answer the fact-finding questions trying not to give a short answer, add some information to develop the idea:
- •Unit XXX
- •II. Read and translate the text: genealogy
- •III. Find English equivalents for:
- •VIII. Try to explain the words and expressions in other words:
- •IX. Error correction. Define false statements and give their right version:
- •X. Check if you remember the text:
- •XI. Present the general idea of the text.
- •XII. Review the text.
- •XIII. Read the text to yourself and write the annotation. Ethnic group
- •XIV. According to the written information answer the question:
- •Unit XXXI
- •I. Look through the words and expressions and learn them:
- •II. Read and translate the text social history
- •Natural history
- •III. Find English equivalents for the following:
- •IV. Study the given below lexical units and provide their Ukrainian variants:
- •X. Gap filling. Read through the gapped statements. Think about what information might be missing:
- •XI. Answer the following questions:
- •Unit XXXII
- •II. Read and translate the text: futurology
- •III. Find English equivalents for the following:
- •IV. Study the given below lexical units (provide the Ukrainian variant):
- •V. Give synonyms to the underlined words:
- •VI. Explain the words and expressions in other words (give the Ukrainian translation):
- •VII. Look through the text and write out the key historical terms.
- •VIII. Finish up the statements to develop the idea:
- •X. Answer the fact-finding questions trying not to give a one-word answer:
- •XI. Scan the gapped statements think about missing information:
- •XII. Present the main idea of the text.
- •XIII. Render the text close to its original variant.
- •XIV. Make a written translation of the text. Put all types of questions covering the plot of the text. Retell it.
- •Unit XXXIII
- •I. Look through the words and expressions and learn them:
- •II. Read and translate the text: psychohistory
- •III. Study the given below lexical units (provide the Ukrainian variants):
- •IV. Find English equivalents for the following:
- •IX. Select the endings to the following statements:
- •X. Questions to be answered:
- •Unit XXXIV
- •II. Read and translate the text:
- •Military history
- •III. Find English equivalents for the following:
- •IV. Study the given below lexical units (provide the Ukrainian variant):
- •V. Give synonyms to the underlined words:
- •VII. Look through the text and write out the key historical terms.
- •VIII. – Find the following adjectives and nouns from the text:
- •IX. Finish up the statements:
- •X. Give the extensive answers:
- •XI. Present the general idea of the text.
- •XII. Review the text. Unit XXXV
- •I. Look through the words and expressions and learn them:
- •II. Read and translate the text:
- •Military history
- •III. Find English equivalents for the following:
- •IV. Give Ukrainian equivalents of those expressions in the text:
- •V. Give synonyms to the underlined words:
- •VI. Find in the text historical terms that mean:
- •VII. – Find the following adjectives and nouns from the text:
- •VIII. Choose the facts from the text that may help you characterize:
- •IX. Complete the following statements to develop the idea:
- •X. Answer the questions on the text:
- •History in faces Historian
- •Historical analysis
- •Historiography in Antiquity
- •Twentieth-century developments
- •Education and profession
- •In popular culture
- •Herodotus
- •Thucydides
- •Thucydides versus Herodotus
- •Sima Qian
- •Rashid al-Din
- •Ibn Khaldun
- •Dionysius Exiguus
- •Joseph Justus Scaliger
- •Edward Gibbon
- •Leopold von Ranke
- •Lewis Bernstein Namier
- •Geoffrey Elton
- •Vikentij Khvoika
- •Panteleimon Kulish
- •Dmytro Yavornytsky
- •Dmytro Doroshenko
- •Nataliia Polonska-Vasylenko
- •Ivan Krypiakevych
- •Omeljan Pritsak
- •Orest Subtelny
- •Supplementary texts Copper Age
- •Bronze Age
- •Iron Age
- •The History of Ukraine”
- •East Slavs
- •Six ages of the world
- •Way to Wisdom”
- •Iranian Studies
- •Indology
- •Ethnicity and nation
- •Ethno-national conflict
- •Definitions
Bronze Age
The term Bronze Age refers to a period in human cultural development when the most advanced metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use) consists of techniques for smelting copper and tin from naturally occurring outcroppings of ore, and then alloying those metals in order to cast bronze. The Bronze Age forms part of the three-age system for prehistoric societies. In this system, it follows the Neolithic in some areas of the world. In many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, the Neolithic is directly followed by the Iron Age.
The place and time of the invention of bronze are controversial and it is possible that bronzing was invented independently in multiple places. The earliest known tin bronzes are from what are now Iran and Iraq and date to the late 4th millennium BCE. Arsenical bronzes were made in Anatolia and on both sides of the Caucasus by the early 3rd millennium BCE. Some scholars date some arsenical bronze artefacts of the Maykop culture in the North Caucasus as far back as the mid 4th millennium BCE, which would make them the oldest known bronzes, but others date the same Maykop artifacts to the mid 3rd millennium BCE.
The Bronze Age is divided into three main periods (the dates are very approximate):
EBA - Early Bronze Age (c. 3500-2000 BCE)
MBA - Middle Bronze Age (c. 2000-1600 BCE)
LBA - Late Bronze Age (c. 1600-1100 BCE)
Metallurgy developed first in Anatolia, modern Turkey. The mountains in the Anatolian highland possessed rich deposits of copper and tin. Copper was also mined in Cyprus, the Negev desert, Iran and around the Persian Gulf. Copper was usually mixed with arsenic, yet the growing demand for tin resulted in the establishment of distant trade routes in and out of Anatolia. The precious copper was also imported by sea routes to the great kingdoms of Mesopotamia.
The Early Bronze Age saw the rise of urbanization into organized city states and the invention of writing. In the Middle Bronze Age movements of people partially changed the political pattern of the Near East (Amorites, Hittites, Hurrians, Hyksos and possibly the Israelites). The Late Bronze Age is characterized by competing powerful kingdoms and their vassal states (Assyria, Babylonia, and Hittites). Extensive contacts were made with the Aegean civilization in which the copper trade played an important role. This period ended in a widespread collapse which affected much of the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East.
Iron began to be worked already in Late Bronze Age Anatolia. The transition into the Iron Age c. 1200 BCE was more of a political change in the Near East rather than of new developments in metalworking.
Parpola, Asko (2005), "Study of the ancient script", Transactions of the 50th International Conference of Eastern Studies
Iron Age
In archaeology, the Iron Age was the stage in the development of any people in which tools and weapons whose main ingredient was iron were prominent. The adoption of this material coincided with other changes in some past societies often including differing agricultural practices, religious beliefs and artistic styles, although this was not always the case.
The Iron Age is the last principal period in the three-age system for classifying pre-historic societies, preceded by the Bronze Age. Its date and context vary depending on the country or geographical region.
Classically, the Iron Age is taken to begin in the 12th century BC in the ancient Near East, ancient India, and ancient Greece. In other regions of Europe, it started much later. The Iron Age began in the 8th century BC in Central Europe and the 6th century BC in Northern Europe. Iron use, in smelting and forging for tools, appears in West Africa by 1200 BC, making it one of the first places for the birth of the Iron Age.
The Iron Age is usually said to end in the Mediterranean with the onset of historical tradition during Hellenism and the Roman Empire, in India with the onset of Buddhism and Jainism, in China with the onset of Confucianism, and in Northern Europe with the early Middle Ages.
By the Middle Bronze Age, increasing numbers of smelted iron objects appeared throughout Anatolia, Mesopotamia, the Indian subcontinent, the Levant, the Mediterranean, and Egypt. In some places, their use appears to have been ceremonial, and during the Bronze Age iron was an expensive metal, more expensive than gold. Some sources suggest that iron was being created in some places then as a by-product of copper refining, as sponge iron, and was not reproducible by the metallurgy of the time.
The earliest systematic production and use of iron implements originates in Anatolia. West African production of iron began at around the same time, and seems to have been clearly an independent invention. Recent archaeological research at Ganges Valley, India showed early iron working by 1800 BC. By 1200 BC, iron was widely used in the Middle East but did not supplant the dominant use of bronze for some time.
People made tools from bronze before they figured out how to make them from iron because iron's melting point is higher than that of bronze or its components, which makes it more difficult to make tools from iron.
During the Iron Age, the best tools and weapons were made from steel, which is an alloy consisting mostly of iron. Steel weapons and tools were superior to bronze weapons and tools. But steel was difficult to produce with the methods available at the time, and most of the metal produced in the Iron Age was wrought iron. Wrought iron is weaker than bronze, but people switched anyway. Iron is much cheaper than bronze, since it is much more common than copper and tin, which are the ingredients of bronze.
At around 1800 BC, for reasons as yet unascertained by archaeologists, tin became scarce in the Levant, leading to a crisis of bronze production. Copper itself seemed to be in short supply. Various "pirate" groups around the Mediterranean, from around 1800-1700 BC onward, began to attack fortified cities in search of bronze, to remelt into weaponry.
Bronze was much more abundant in the period before the 12th to 10th century and Snodgrass and other authors suggest a shortage of tin, as a result of trade disruptions in the Mediterranean at this time, forced peoples to seek an alternative to bronze. This is confirmed by the fact that for a period, bronze items were recycled from implements to weapons, just before the introduction of iron.
Iron working was introduced to Europe around 1000 BC, probably from Asia Minor and slowly spread northwards and westwards over the succeeding 500 years.
The early 1st millennium BC marks the Iron Age in Eastern Europe. In the Pontic steppe and the Caucasus region, the Iron Age begins with the Koban and the Chernogorovka and Novocherkassk cultures from 900 BC.
Along with Chernogorovka and Novocherkassk cultures, on the territory of ancient Russia and Ukraine the Iron Age is to a significant extent associated with Scythians, who developed iron culture since the 7th century BC. The majority of remains of their iron producing and blacksmith's industries from 5th to 3rd century BC was found near Nikopol in Kamenskoe Gorodishche, which is believed to be the specialized metallurgic region of the ancient Scythia.
The Iron Age spreads west with the Celtic expansion from the 6th century BC. The ethnic ascriptions of many Iron Age cultures have been bitterly contested, as the roots of Germanic, Baltic and Slavic peoples were sought in this area.
Parpola, Asko (2005), "Study of the ancient script", Transactions of the 50th International Conference of Eastern Studies
Drew, David (2004)
“Three Periods of Maya History”
New edition, London: Phoenix Press
The Maya civilization is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as its spectacular art, monumental architecture, and sophisticated mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Preclassic period, many of these reached their apogee of development during the Classic period (c. 250 to 900), and continued throughout the Postclassic period until the arrival of the Spanish. At its peak, it was one of the most densely populated and culturally dynamic societies in the world.
The Maya civilization shares many features with other Mesoamerican civilizations due to the high degree of interaction and cultural diffusion that characterized the region. Advances such as writing, epigraphy, and the calendar did not originate with the Maya; however, their civilization fully developed them. Maya influence can be detected as far as central Mexico, more than 1000 km (625 miles) from the Maya area. Many outside influences are found in Maya art and architecture, which are thought to result from trade and cultural exchange rather than direct external conquest. The Maya peoples never disappeared, neither at the time of the Classic period decline nor with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores and the subsequent Spanish colonization of the Americas. Today, the Maya and their descendants form sizable populations throughout the Maya area and maintain a distinctive set of traditions and beliefs that are the result of the merger of pre-Columbian and post-Conquest ideologies (and structured by the almost total adoption of Roman Catholicism). Many different Mayan languages continue to be spoken as primary languages today.
The Maya area is generally divided into three loosely defined zones: the southern Maya highlands, the southern (or central) Maya lowlands, and the northern Maya lowlands.
While the Maya area was initially inhabited around the 10th millennium BC, the first clearly "Maya" settlements were established in approximately 1800 BC in the Pacific Coast. This point in time, known as the Early Preclassic, was characterized by sedentary communities and the introduction of pottery and fired clay figurines.
Archaeological evidence suggests the construction of ceremonial architecture in Maya area by approximately 1000 BC. The earliest configurations of such architecture consist of simple burial mounds, which would be the precursors to the stepped pyramids subsequently erected in the Late Preclassic. Prominent Middle and Late Preclassic settlement zones are located in the southern Maya lowlands. The important early sites of Izapa, Takalik Abaj and Chocolá at around 600 BC were the main producers of Cacao.
The Classic period (c. 250–900) witnessed the peak of large-scale construction and urbanism, the recording of monumental inscriptions, and a period of significant intellectual and artistic development, particularly in the southern lowland regions. They developed an agriculturally intensive, city-centered empire consisting of numerous independent city-states. This includes the well-known cities of Tikal, Palenque, Copán and Calakmul.
The most notable monuments are the pyramids they built in their religious centers and the accompanying palaces of their rulers. The palace at Cancuen is the largest in the Maya area, though the site, interestingly, lacks pyramids. Other important archaeological remains include the carved stone slabs (the Maya called them tetun, or "tree-stones"), which depict rulers along with hieroglyphic texts describing their genealogy, military victories, and other accomplishments.
The Maya participated in long distance trade with many of the other Mesoamerican cultures. Important trade goods included cacao, salt, sea shells, jade and obsidian.
For reasons that are still debated, the Maya centers of the southern lowlands went into decline during the 8th and 9th centuries and were abandoned shortly thereafter. This decline was coupled with a cessation of monumental inscriptions and large-scale architectural construction. Although there is no universally accepted theory to explain this “collapse,” current theories fall into two categories: non-ecological and ecological.
Non-ecological theories of Maya decline are divided into several subcategories, such as overpopulation, foreign invasion, peasant revolt, and the collapse of key trade routes. Ecological hypotheses include environmental disaster, epidemic disease, and climate change. There is evidence that the Mayan population exceeded carrying capacity of the environment including exhaustion of agricultural potential and overhunting of megafauna. Some scholars have recently theorized that an intense 200 year drought led to the collapse of Mayan civilization. The drought theory originated from research performed by physical scientists studying lake beds, ancient pollen, and other data, not from the archaeological community.
During the succeeding Postclassic period (from the 10th to the early 16th century), development in the northern centers persisted, characterized by an increasing diversity of external influences. The Maya cities of the northern lowlands in Yucatán continued to flourish for centuries more. After the decline of the ruling dynasties of Chichen and Uxmal, Mayapan ruled all of Yucatán until a revolt in 1450. The area then degenerated into competing city-states until the Yucatán was conquered by the Spanish.
Shortly after their first expeditions to the region, the Spanish initiated a number of attempts to subjugate the Maya and establish a colonial presence in the Maya territories of the Yucatán Peninsula and the Guatemalan highlands. This campaign, sometimes termed "The Spanish Conquest of Yucatán," would prove to be a lengthy and dangerous exercise for the conquistadores from the outset, and it would take some 170 years before the Spanish established substantive control over all Maya lands.
Unlike the Spanish campaigns against the Aztec and Inca Empires, there was no single Maya political center which once overthrown would hasten the end of collective resistance from the indigenous peoples. Instead, the conquistador forces needed to subdue the numerous independent Maya polities almost one by one, many of which kept up a fierce resistance. Most of the conquistadores were motivated by the prospects of the great wealth to be had from the seizure of precious metal resources such as gold or silver; however, the Maya lands themselves were poor in these resources. This would become another factor in forestalling Spanish designs of conquest, as they instead were initially attracted to the reports of great riches in central Mexico or Peru.
The last Maya states, the Itza polity of Tayasal and the Ko'woj city of Zacpeten, were continuously occupied and remained independent of the Spanish until late in the 17th century. They were finally subdued by the Spanish in 1697.
James P. Mallory
“Chernyakhov Culture”
Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, 1997
The Chernyakhiv culture (also known as Cherniakhov culture) (the second century to the fifth century) was found in Ukraine and parts of Belarus. The eponymous site is the village of Cherniakhiv in Ukraine's Kyiv Oblast. It existed in the 2nd-5th centuries AD. Around the year 300, the culture extended into Romania where it is called the Sîntana de Mureş culture. It is attested to in thousands of sites.
The archaeological record shows that the population of the Wielbark culture had settled in the area and mixed with the previous populations of the Zarubintsy culture. This cultural movement is interpreted as the migration of the Goths under the leadership of Filimer, of which the Goth scholar Jordanes wrote in the sixth century.
In the last decades of the second century, the Goths appear to have settled in Masovia, Podlachia and Volynia regions, but some of them moved to the area just north-west of the Black Sea.
The second wave of Germanic migrants arrived in the mid-third century, and most of them settled between the Dniester and the lower Dnieper, including the Cherniakhiv area.
Most of the population appears to have been Sarmatians who lived between the lower Danube and the Sea of Azov, as well as Slavs. In the west, there may have been some Dacians and Getae. The Sarmatians practiced inhumation while those deriving from the north, i.e., elements descended from the Zarubintsy culture, continued urnfield practices.
In linguistic terms, it is said that this is the time and place where Slavic and Iranian borrowed lexical items from each other, and where Slavic picked up many of its Germanic loanwords. (Gothic, however, has few Slavic loanwords).
Archaeologists have found fibulae, combs and amulets showing contacts with not only Scandinavia, but also with Central Europe.
Anna Reid
“Borderland: A Journey Through