Back in Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was considered a civilization because of the six qualities used to determine whether a group of people are a civilization. These include cities, writing, government, religion, art, and social structure. Ancient Egypt possessed all six of them in the following ways:
Not long ago (in the time scheme of the earth) the Ancient Egyptians lived their lives surrounding their gods and families. Connected to these aspects of life were thousands of possessions ranging from family heirlooms to holy items used in the worship for the gods. It was extremely important to the Egyptians to have these objects, even though the most wealthy and powerful owned the beautiful and intricate objects. Throughout history, humans have learned that inner beauty is often more important than material objects, however 7,000 years ago, valuable objects were sometimes the sole reason for a families importance in society.
Even some items that weren't of great value were still important to the Ancient Egyptians. For instance, as pictured to the right, oil lamps were used as light sources that didn't let the flame burn the carrier of the lamp. However, not all of these everyday objects were extremely important to the people. Some ancient items were tossed away lacking any value at all, like clay pots. Even if they had been decorated with paint and carvings, they were so common that they were not valued in ancient times. Today, we have found some of these because they were well preserved in the Egyptian ground. Yet most of the preserved artifacts that we have from Ancient Egypt exist because they used to be buried with pharaohs and other powerful individuals. From expensive treasures to their children's toys, together these tombs contained thousands of years of history, all in small rooms built to house the dead. King Tut became a king at only eight or nine years old. Sadly, before he was even twenty years old, he suddenly died from unknown causes. At the time he had a wife whom he loved very much but his children had been stillborn; there was no heir to the throne. His tomb was filled with golden treasures, as well as common everyday objects. His children were put into coffins and laid to rest in King Tut's tomb. Although this collection has traveled the world to display the magnitude of it, it has always been returned to it's rightful place: Egypt. Unfortunately, many other tombs throughout history have been raided and have had their objects stolen and illegally taken to other countries. This misplacement of ancient artifacts was influenced by events in the following years:
|