Photo By Nara National Research Institute/AFP (c) 2012, Used without permission.
by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger
In the 5th Century CE, the world was a much more isolated place than it is today but it was still interconnected. Most people lived and died within 30 miles of where they were born. Yet even then, the world was an interconnected place where the far reaches could touch one another. Travel was restricted to by foot, horseback or boat. Regular communication depended upon trade routes or carrier pigeons. However, distance and geographical isolation did not prevent distant parts of the world from knowing about each other. The impact of foreign countries within a given country in the ancient world, both near and far, raises some interesting questions about interconnectedness, influence and the impact of telecommunications and air travel on the modern world. For context, let’s consider this recent archaeological find announced by the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties.
On Friday, they announced that they found three glass beads in a tomb near Kyoto that can be traced to ancient Roman manufacturing techniques. The tomb itself dates back to the Yamato period of Japanese history, an era marked by inter-provincial warfare when the Imperial capitol was located in Nara. The definition of the Yamato period (named for the clan that became the Imperial dynasty during that time) is somewhat disputed. Conventionally assigned to the period 250–710 (including both the Kofun period (c 150-538) and the Asuka period (538-710)), the actual start of Yamato rule is disputed and the Kofun period is considered an archaeological period while the Asuka period is considered an historical period. This distinction is unpopular with modern Japanese historians, but the period does contain demarcations in Japanese culture. The Kufun period marks a time when Chinese and Korean culture are impacting Japanese culture and the dominate religious influences were the domestic Shinto religion and the Chinese imports Confucianism and Taoism. The Asuka period marks both the rise to Imperial supremacy by the Yamato clan and the introduction of Buddhism to Japanese culture which was to have a long and profound effect. The tomb the beads were found in dates from the late Kofun period which is named for the style of burial mounds commonly used by nobles and dignitaries of the time.
To provide context, at the height of the Roman Empire under Trajan and Hadrian in the 1st and 2nd Century CE, the Empire stretched from modern day England south across the Mediterranean and in to what is now Iraq. The glass making techniques of the beads utilized natron – a natural salt best known for being part of the Egyptian embalming process for creating mummies. Although the process had been used by the Romans since at least the peak of their Empire, the beads found in the Kofun near Kyoto date from a tomb created as the Roman Empire of the late 400’s and early 500’s was in decline and rapidly losing territory. While it may come as a surprise to some, this is not the first evidence of radically distant and disparate contact between East and West that pre-dates Marco Polo‘s famous trade mission of the 13th Century CE.
In 1954, in Helgö on Ekerö Island in Lake Mälaren in Sweden, archaeologists were excavating a Viking ruin dated to the 8th or 9th Century CE when they found a small bronze buddha subsequently dated to the 6th Century CE and of suspected Indian origin. Some suspect the buddha came along for the ride with Vikings travelling the “Amber route”, one of the vast Viking trade networks which utilized rivers to transport amber, silk and others goods to the north through the Russian rivers and stepps although others think it was taken from treasure obtained raiding Ireland although how the Irish would have came to be in possession of such a statue remains a mystery. In 2010, archaeologists and genetics researchers examining a Roman graveyard near Vagnari in Southern Italy found a 2,000 year-old skeleton with mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) that showed a body buried there had East Asian lineage.
If the interconnectedness of the ancient world is to be believed on the evidence (and I think it should), what does that say about the modern world where cultures can influence each other via telecommunications at the push of a button and easy air travel – discounting the hassles of airport security – is readily available? Is “globalization” inevitable as cultures meet, merge, and share ideas or will geographical isolation still shape individual pockets of relatively homogeneous culture? Will geographically closer cultures tend to have dominant influence such as the relationship between ancient Japan and China or modern Mexico and America or will technology make geography increasingly irrelevant? Are we moving toward a universal human culture or not? If so, are we moving toward a universal set of laws or not? Is this a good thing? A bad thing? Something in between?
What do you think?
Source(s): Yahoo! News, Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, “Town Origins and Development in Early England, C.400-950 A.D.” by Daniel G. Russo (p.177), Science Daily
Mike/Berliner,
That is probably the one advantage culturally speaking the West has over the superior number of Chinese; the comparative ease of learning Germanic and Romance languages, especially in their written forms. The simplicity of the Latin alphabet is one of its strongest points especially when compared to ideographic/logographic systems. Although Chinese (and Japanese for that matter) have simpler phonetic alphabets in their toolbox (a hodgepodge of phonetic usage that is highly colloquial and Hiragana respectively), they are both highly dependent upon specialized ideograms that often employ rebus like structures that allow for words to have more than one clear meaning. While English has similar issues with things like homophones and the like, it doesn’t present nearly the opportunity for mistaken meaning as Chinese does. So not only is it easier to learn, it’s less prone to error and ergo has a utilitarian advantage.
MikeS,
Interesting point you make about the Chinese language.
I’ve had the privilege to watch Chinese opera in Shanghai in 1980. It was indeed meant to be a performance for the comman man, not for tourists. As our few “round-eye” numbers and the miserable cold conditions we endured in the auditorium attest.
The opera was called “The White Snake”, on the surface a love tale, but it had been forbidden during the time of the “gang of four”, and that it now was being performed was of importance to the people—accustomed
as they were in following each turn of the wind.
The audience, speaking different dialects, ie some visitors, were assisted by the rolling text above the scene in script.
In spite of no assistance than a short translation of the plot, many moments were moving to me. Far more than I had expected. Some had hoped for the usual spectacle we see in TV. It was instead a drama with depth which gave resonance to the words not understood.
So maybe the Chinese culture will spresd, and the concepts it conveys will be úsed in other cultures.
For those unaccustomed, it was amusing (?) to see the audience split the seeds in their bags of sunflower seeds with their teeth, and spit the hulls on the floor. Oh, to see that in popcorn land.
“At any rate it is in our interest that states can not be blatantly overrun by corporations”
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AYE
“Genetically modified grass blamed for mass cattle deaths in Texas”
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wow, that plus the chemical poisons from oil drilling and fracking and pretty soon everyone will be running to paint the door posts with lambs blood….
Lotta says heads up! cows are dying from eating bermuda grass in Texas. It is not apparently keyed to Montsanto Roundup but is GMO, but could be regarded as a form of hyperbreeding…if you know what I mean.
Shano, comes with the notice on 50 per cent abortions in cattle. I correct that to be 50 per cent miscarriages in first time birthing heifers. These are FDA figures. And are matters of concern
in the large agro sector concentrating on producing calves for our meat factories. AGRO IS CONCERNED.
He also notes that the state of Vermont was faced down on the GMO labeling issue by a Montsanto suit.
OS comes with his check with a qualified scientist, and will return with better info after the scentist does some study (when?).
We both agree that hyperbolic press news should be checked.
The problem is that verified and true news gets snuffed out when it is counter to the interests of Monsanto. Just as the decisions within the state of Vermont.
WHAT CAN WE DO??? ANYBODY STILL HERE? SAY AYE.
The article linked by Lotta mentions that California is holding a referendum on labeling of GMO food products in November.
Now the leadup to the CA referendum is an opportunity to creat clarity in the issues. The publics right to info, AND the corporate control of our governments.
Would somebody with influence make a csse for action?
At least to begin with a blawg by JT or guest.
This is public service law, or whatever his specialty is. At any rate it is in our interest that states can not be blatantly overrun by corporations
Can JT policy permit the site become the starting point of activation on a public issue? Any answers?
Moving it then is no problem. It is ignition that is neaded.
Homeland Security — Fighting Terrorism Since 1492
HEADSUP FOLKS
HERE HAS LOTTAKATZ discovered something big.
Shano FYI:
“Genetically modified grass blamed for mass cattle deaths in Texas”
Well “globalization” (at least at the individual, consumer level and on the cultural front) *has* a distinctive American taste to it. I think there is no way denying it.
But that isn’t because Americans are evil people (or corporations) bent on world domination, but because most obvious signs/means of cultural globalization are, at least to some extent, language based (movies, TV, music, internet based media). And you guys are simply the biggest block of native speakers of our eras lingua franca.
That isn’t your fault, you just happen to be the de-facto heirs of the Empire On Which The Sun Never Sets, or at least its language.
Bollywood churns out at least as much films as Hollywood, but almost everyone speaks English and only Indians speak Hindu, so Finns and Namibians and Brazilians and Thai and all the rest see a (fictionalized) American view of the world but not an Indian one.
“That isn’t your fault, you just happen to be the de-facto heirs of the Empire On Which The Sun Never Sets, or at least its language.”
Berliner,
A really excellent point that is almost completely overlooked in discussion of these issues. It causes me to ponder whether even though the Chinese are rising due to their economy and population, perhaps their cultural impact will remain marginal simply due to the fact that their language and its’ writing is so complex.
I like the comment above regarding Europeans having discovered America. We feed all this crap about Columbus and a bit about the Vikings to our school children but never talk about the outlook of the Americans who watched these Christian schmucks wash up on shore with all of their Holier than thou crap. Churchill would not even own up to being part Iroquois in his own lifetime. Dog only knows how WWII would have turned out if he did not have some Iroquois in him. Hell the Brits hardly knew that his mommy, Jenny Jerome, was an American, much less part American Indian.
idealist707 1, June 24, 2012 at 5:33 pm
BettyKath and GeneH,
There you are putting the blame on America again.
What happened to Michiavelli (sp?) and Rothchild and the nobles and the RCC. Share the blame.
Actually I agree with both of you, but are we so good
at dominating the world?
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You made the assumption that my comment was just about US corporations or the US elite. Not so. I should have been more specific: Multi-national corporations and global 1% which includes the Rothchilds et.al. These folks are not nationalists, they are globalist who consider the world is theirs for the taking. My example of OWS was an example that I expect everyone here is aware of. But it’s happening everywhere – the protests and the military-like response.
There is a plan to break up all parts of the world, starting with Africa, into much smaller entities – states, rather than countries, making it easier to control.
Are we so good at dominating the world? Well, the US does seem to be dominating pretty much everything one way or another, but not for the benefit of anyone except the multi-national corporations and the global elite.
lotkatz, that was not a GMO, but a hybrid grass. So, imagine what can happen if a GMO goes wacky, being filled with bits of viruses and bacteria, pesticides and other unknown chemical agents.
They just approved a Round Up Ready Blue Grass that is going to cause havoc for the Thoroughbred Horse industry.
50% of cattle fed GMO wheat aborted, and I do not see any testing done on this Blue Grass. The pollen from this perennial will spread to all Blue Grass, as will GMO Alfalfa. A real tragedy in the west where we have wild alfalfa everywhere.
LK, I have a good friend who is a Ph.D. biochemist and who understands more about biologically based poisons than anyone I know. He and I corresponded about this issue just a few minutes ago. I don’t want to break any confidences, but this is the essence of the email he sent:
“…”regular” Bermuda grass is cyanogenic. This has been known for decades. I suspect that it was the growing conditions rather than the GM modifications, because under certain conditions Bermuda (and several other grasses) can do this.”
He went on to say he is going to follow up on the story with some real research, because he has about the same level of trust in hyperbolic news media stories that I do. I will keep you posted when he comes up with something.
It does take excellent PR to claim to have discovered a land people already inhabited and have so many people still believe it centuries later, OS. The best PR Spain could buy. 😀
Shano FYI:
“Genetically modified grass blamed for mass cattle deaths in Texas”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/06/23/genetically-modified-grass-blamed-for-mass-cattle-deaths-in-texas/
This is an interesting find. Every time something like this turns up, it raises more questions than answers. There were probably far more ancient trade routes than we can begin to suspect. One of the more interesting mysteries is the ancient runestones and ruins found in North America that appear to be pre-Columbian. Ol’ Chris, it turns out, was a latecomer to these shores, but he had better PR.
OT, but speaking of history, this is Bannockburn Day. It was on this date in 1314 that Robert the Bruce kicked Edward II out of Scotland. The Battle of Bannockburn was one of the most decisive battles in history. The Bruce later observed that it was easier to take a country from the son than a yard of land from the father. Before the battle, Robert the Bruce exhorted his troops in an impassioned speech. Later, Robert Burns wrote the speech as he imagined it and set it to music as the immortal song, Scots Wha Hae. It must have worked. There was not a battle more decisive until Custer’s ill considered attack on Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse at Little Big Horn.
In honor of past heroes, here is Burn’s timeless song with lyrics:
Interesting paper, Oro. I just skimmed it, but I saved a copy to give a more careful once over later. I don’t know much about the coastal trade of pre-Columbian societies in the West, but first blush what that paper lays out certainly makes sense geographically and technologically speaking.
When first introduced to lo mein, I referred to it as Chinese spaghetti – then I remembered Marco Polo’s trip and now I refer to spaghetti as Italian lo mein.
BTW, the tomato which serves as the foundation of many great Italian sauces is a New World vegetable (even though it is referred to as a fruit).
Maybe not as broad in distance, but a heck of a lot earlier – and in our own backyard:
http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=ssci_fac&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Dearly%2520north%2520american%2520trade%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D7%26ved%3D0CG0QFjAG%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fdigitalcommons.calpoly.edu%252Fcgi%252Fviewcontent.cgi%253Farticle%253D1000%2526context%253Dssci_fac%26ei%3D683nT4vTGcrC2QXoz9DZCQ%26usg%3DAFQjCNEg4pfA0edU_z7uNh8juE-E7Q-m1Q#search=%22early%20north%20american%20trade%22
“but krispy kreme is a health food when the hot donuts sign is on.”
~pete
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and look! this one has little gold fleks…. it is their 1% donut…. mmmm
idealist: “When do governments, with the eventual influence of the people, become subordinate to the corporations. We see in effect that now in so many countries. In our own many claim now.”
We saw this recently in the state of Vermont. the majority of the people want labeling of GMO food. The majority of the politicians, farmers, business people and grocery stores in Vermont want to require labeling of GMO food.
Monsanto threatened a legal case if the labeling law passed in Vermont. Vermont politicians had to back down because they CANNOT AFFORD to fight Monsanto in court.
The State of Vermont, the will of the citizens living in Vermont are subordinate to Monsanto.