Week 4 Traits, Environment and Process

Creativity affects society – "Creativity is the engine that drives cultural evolution."                            Source:M. Csikszentmihalyi in Handbook of Creativity, Robert J. Sternberg (ed.), 1999, 320

Society affects creativity – "There are indeed certain instances in which social/cultural realities largely determine the possibility or lack of possibility for developing creativity in a given field."

Source:D. H. Feldman in Handbook of Creativity, Robert J. Sternberg (ed.), 1999, 179

THIS WEEK , I DOING RESEARCH ABOUT CREATIVITY OF MESOPOTAMIA.

FIRST HISTORICAL CIVILIZATIONS 
MESOPOTAMIA

Mesopotamia is a name for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, corresponding to modern-day Iraq and to a lesser extent northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and smaller parts of southwestern Iran.The history of ancient Mesopotamia begins with the emergence of urban societies during the Ubaid period (ca. 5300 BC). The history of the Ancient Near East begins in the Lower Paleolithic period, and ends with either the arrival of the Achaemenid Empire in the late 6th century BC, or with the Arab Islamic conquest of Mesopotamia and the establishment of the Caliphate in the late 7th century AD, from which point the region came to be known as Iraq.
WHAT TRAITS MADE THEM CREATIVE??

War brought new cultures to mesopotamia which expanded and blended.

The art of Mesopotamia reveals a tradition that appears, homogeneous in style and iconography.Art became decorative, stylized and conventionalized at different times and places. Gods took on human forms and humans were combined with animals to make fantastic creatures. Large temples and imposing palaces dotted the landscape. History and poetry for the first time was recorded and set down to music. Lyres, pipes, harps and drums accompanied their songs and dances.The soil of Mesopotamia yielded the civilization's major building material - mud brick. Stone was rare, and certain types had to be imported for sculpture. Variety of metals, as well as shells and precious stones, were used for the finest sculpture and inlays.
Source:http://www.nazarene.ch/barnsley/art/index_files/Page468.htm 
Then they constribute 

•      Agriculture, Plow
•      Cities
•      Bronze and iron ages
•      Wheeled vehicles
•      Writing (Cuneiform)
•      Mathematics (60 and 360)
•      Astronomy and zodiac
•             Bible and monotheism

The invention of chariot

        Chariots were one of the wheeled vehicles that the Mesopotamian people invented. Wheels helped transport them instead of walking everywhere. This was helpful, expecially in taking royal people different places. Since wheels roll they are easy to pull and so, the Mesopotamians decided to attach them to vehicles. And Voila! A wheeled vehicle like a chariot. The Mesopotamian people lived in the land of firsts. They invented many of the devices that aid us today in all that we do.

Source:http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/consortium/vammesopotamia5.html

The invention of cuneiform

 The Sumerians invented their own form of writing. They called it cuneiform. This happened about 3000 B.C.This began in Sumer as a way of keeping business records. For example, a merchant might have to keep track of how much grain he was trading for lumber. Using cuneiform he would be able to keep good, accurate records of what he traded and how much he traded.
By pressing a stylus against the clay, they could make cuneiform. All early civilizations regarded writing as very magical. If one could write a name, then that person was thought to possess power over that person.

Source:http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/consortium/vammesopotamia5.html

What ENVIRONMENTAL conditions existed?

     For the ancient Mesopotamians, their cities were the centers of life. When they looked back to the beginning of time, they did not see a Garden of Eden, but rather an ancient site called Eridu, which they believed was the first city ever to be created. Ancient Mesopotamia is where the world's first cities appeared around 4000 - 3500 B.C

   No one knows for sure why urbanization began in Mesopotamia. The development of cities could have occurred due to environmental conditions. Lack of rainfall might have been the inspiration for people to organize themselves in a common effort to build canals for the irrigation of farmland. Another reason may have been the need for protection on the open plain, which could have led people to gather together to create walled enclaves. Whatever the reasons, this was the first time in history that humankind channeled its energies towards addressing the needs of a community as a whole.

    Imagine three spaces that are sparsely populated, yet well watered and fertile, in a time before written history. Two are river valleys, another lies between two rivers forming a rich plain. Imagine that humans settle in these regions and domesticate plants and animals. The domestication made possible by these riverine territories and the success of that domestication,farming and grazing,lure increasingly greater human and animal migration to these spaces. As these populations increase, so do their needs. These needs give rise to the social and political economic formations that characterize the ancient urban spaces and states of Mesopotamia.

  Mesopotamian civilizations are noted for their dense populations, urbanization processes, and cultural innovation. These elements are tied to the growth of commerce and broader cultural interaction. That is, as empires these civilizations can be thought of as collections of peoples, goods, and ideas whose existence and dynamism were built on movement and exchange. This can be seen in the movement and exchange of people, the movement and exchange of goods, and the movement and exchange of ideas

Source :http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/MUS/ED/TRC/MESO/cities.html
               http://history-world.org/rise_of_civilizations.htm

What was the process of creativity?
       In the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (Mesopotamia) and soon after in the valley of the Nile in Egypt, human beings use their creativity moved from a life in agricultural villages, using tools of wood, bone, shell, and stone, into a much richer and more varied social organization that we call civilization" . That is, instead of merely agricultural villages, we see the beginnings of real cities.Learning to work together for the common good was the beginning of the creative spark that led to the development of civilization mesopotamia first. The Sumerians (Southen Mesopotamia) were highly innovative people who responded creatively to the challenges of the changeable Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Many of the great Sumerian legacies, such as writing, irrigation, the wheel, astronomy, and literature, can be seen as adaptive responses to the great rivers.
Source:http://historymedren.about.com/library/text/bltxtiraq2.htm
              http://socsci.gulfcoast.edu/rbaldwin/mesopotamia.htm