The Genie is back In the Bottle No More Secrets

The Law South of Universal Mind 

Who Is Watching Who 

Texas And Rick Perry's Secret Illegal Militia
 Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

“Maybe my plea will awaken justice, who is seated in every man’s heart, if he knows her or knows her not.”

No More Secrets

 It's Never What You Think It's What You Do
What Do You Do?

Everything I had to say, I have said and have kept my oath of allegiance to my country and fellow patriots. Whatever transpires from here is in hands of the United States Justice department. “Maybe my plea will awaken justice, who is seated in every man’s heart, if he knows her or knows her not.”

God Bless America 

G. N. O’Dell 04/18/2013

Man or Mankind: “God made man in his own image, male and female he made him”

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Who Let The Dogs Out?
Go Huskeys!

Update 04/19/2013 The Simple Essay That Turned Into my nightmare

"One By Land Two By Sea Can Elephants Actually Swim"

Update 03/31/2013

Part [Wish] 3 "Your Final Wish Is My Command"

‘Benghazi’ Oxymoron: ‘Military Intelligence’

 @John McCain Is This U Are Looking For?

Update 01/24/2013

Part 2 "Your Wish Is My Command!"

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2 More Wishes Left
Choose Wisely

Somebody let this Jennie Out of the Bottle?

Part 2

"Your Wish Is My Command!"

"Payday Loans is a Window of opportunity! 

Who needs credit when got cash? 

**********************

Update The Real Iranian Threat:

Project Rubber Ducky

The Feds Can't Catch the Cartels' Cocaine-Filled Submarines
By Adam Clark Estes | The Atlantic Wire – 12 hrs ago.

With three-quarters of potential cocaine shipments sliding under their noses, United States authorities are having a hard time keeping up with the Latin American drug cartels. Part of the problem, a new report in The New York Times says, is the fact that the famously daring and elusive drug-running submarines aren't just operating in the Pacific Ocean any more. These diesel-powered vessels have taken the Caribbean by storm, and the technology powering them is getting more sophisticated.
Read Full Article: http://news.yahoo.com/feds-cant-catch-cartels-cocaine-filled-submarines-010821526.html

I Will Reveal To You What Was Revealed To Me

The Only Secret Is What You Don't See

And If You Don't Know I Will Give You A Clue

It's Never What You Think It's What You Do

Clue: 'Bayou Billionaires'
Or Why Mitt Romney's And Everybodies Tax Returns Are So Important?

 

I Know I Appear Strange To Thee

But It's Really What You Want To See

I Can Only Say What You Understand

And Welcome You To Promised Land



The Solution: Operation Web Feet!

Is There Honor Among Seals?

http://educationbalancedhealthymeaningfullif.blogspot.com/2012/07/one-by-
land-two-by-sea-can-elephants.html



Update July 28, 2012 

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Understanding The Tex Mex Border-less Border

It would misleading, to write about all my worldly travels were joyful experiences without sad circumstances and if not for the grace of God and miracles in my life, I would not be here today to tell my story. A miracle is a positive event in our lives that seems to oppose the laws of physics or the natural order of things. Perhaps beyond the realm of human reasoning that gives hope in times of despair or uncertainty.

 There have been times in my life when some people seemed so commonplace in my daily affairs, they seem to be non-existence or completely invisible. At times, cultural groups seem to ride in a perceptual blind spot of social recognition such as the Fall of 1992. I was between jobs living in Thailand as I came upon a group of people while walking the beach, which not only worked but lived on the sea that still today I call, Sea Gypsies. 

Today it would seem odd, I did not think in late twentieth century there still existed pirates on the high seas. Could it be that there is an everyday ordinary common god, as close as the invisible nose on my face, working miracles in my life?

It was just another bad exit from another third world misfortune, “Thirty Days and a wakeup call” was all it really said, the twelve page ex-pat contract describing the terms and conditions of a work aboard agreement for a U.S. wetback seeking livable wages outside his own country. Why did I expect more than a blackball one way ticket to Hong Kong, a pounding alcohol-induced migraine, that beat to the rhythm of “Kum Bay Ya” as a group of graduating hippies, class of ‘1992’ sang. They clapped their hands seated together in the back, on wooden benches of our 1930’s 1st class passenger rail car, encouraging everybody to join in with the singing. 

In response, I turned in my seat and look back toward the group and all it took was one glance at my pale face, blood shot eyes, and the music stopped as everyone’s eyes rolled to the view of passing scenery through dirty windows, discarded plastic bags, garbage, and sewer-soaked rice patties as if it were the mountain scenery of the Italian leg of a trip on the Orient Express. Then Bam, it hit me, an epiphany! How much did I hoard away in my Hong Kong bank account? It must have been the glow of inspiration that set the whole car off to singing once again, “Kum Bay Ya my lord, Kum Bay Ya…!” 

The money, that’s what it was all about wasn’t it? No, if it was the money I would have spent it. Now I remember, I am on my way back to the U.S., that’s the depressing part, a one way ticket back to the USSR. No, it’s not the land of the free my father fought for at the battle of Chosen Reservoir, which by the way, all he has to show for it is a lift of the shirt to show three bullet holes through the back. When I talk to him again, I’m sure he’s  going to tell me the Veterans Administration turned down his disability pension again, and repeat the story of being stranded on a frozen lake as he watched his fellow comrades get mowed down by Chinese gun fire; U.S. generals, still today, say did not cross the Chinese border into Korea.

That’s it, it is the money, just enough for a bungalow on a beach on an island in the South China Sea, somewhere, anywhere, I wondered. “How far is Thailand from Hong Kong?” I ask my better half, still staring me down for my three day alcohol binge, as she packed our belongings to leave China, before pouring me on this train. “Bad exit O’Dell,” that’s all she said, then chimed in with the foreign exchange students, “Kum Bay Ya my lord, Kum Bay Ya…!” 

“Remember our honeymoon stay in Phuket Thailand last year?” She refused to acknowledge my presence, so I continued, “You know, you remember, you got in an argument with old Frenchie, the stuck-up hotel proprietor and we left the next morning on an ancient bi-plane to Koh Samui Island and had the most wonderful time, stayed there for two weeks for the price of a one night stay in Phuket!” 

 “I am not flying on a bi-plane again!” she said, and chimed in again, ‘“Kum Bay Ya my lord,…!” “Let’s take a train to Sarantoni Thailand and then a small boat to Koh Samui and rent a bungalow on the beach and see how long we can stay until I land another contract, say maybe Hungary or Saudi Arabia,” I suggested what she had already planned.

My mind satisfied that my sins of the past were now water under the bridge; I jet to the ancient past, wondering if it were true that elephants actually can swim? They routinely made the trip from main land Thailand to the scores of surrounding islands, swimming low in the water with their trunks high, taking in air going places accessible only to me by boat or aircraft. Then bam, it hit me, the original motion picture version of “Moby Dick” as the lad leaves home with buttons in his pocket, his mother hands him the family Bible, and by faith followed the nearest stream to the sea where he found adventure, signing onto a whaling ship. 

The words of Melville’s “Moby Dick” first published in 1851 is much more inspiring, “Take almost any path you please and ten to one it carries you down into a dale, and leaves you there next to a pool by a stream. There is a Magic in it. Let the most absent minded of men be plunged in to the deepest of reveries – stand that man on his legs, set his feet a going, he will infallibly lead you to water… (Melville).”  The sunlight dimmed as the train came to a stop in Hong Kong station and we arrived at our hotel within minutes by cab. 

The next morning we boarded a Thai Airways Boeing 737 on our way to Bangkok to transfer by cab to the domestic train station with prepaid first class sleeper tickets to Sarantoni waiting for us. We waited, and waited, then finally about 7 pm  a station attendant told us the sleeper was canceled, but we could use the tickets for bench seats on the last passenger car leaving the station at midnight or wait until 3:00 am for the private sleeper.

 Fortunately, my traveling partner had a first aid kit disguised as a carry on makeup case, two Dixie cups, napkins for toilet paper, a ream of saltine crackers, a wedge of imported cheese, and a bottle of gin, so we decided to wait for the 3 am sleeper.

The station was packed, standing room only, but we eventually found a place on the steps to the platform to sit and have a snack while we waited. My partner unfolded a silk handkerchief, laid it on the dirty steps and sat down gracefully next to me and said, “One of those guys in the maroon robs is starring at you again… don’t turn around,” she said. I whispered back, “I know. They have been watching me all day. I can feel them burning the back of my neck with their stares.” A few moments past, then I added, “These monks don’t seem as friendly as the Buddhist in Tibet or maybe it’s just me?” I turned back at to take a look at my stalker and when my eyes hit his, we knew each other instantly, he’s concerned we’re several bandits casing us out for some quick cash armed with knives.” 

Then in the native tongue, the station speaker announced, “All aboard for Sarantoni. I grab my partner’s arms and said, “Let’s catch this train now, forget the sleeper.” We stood and she bent down to get her make up bag and I pulled her hard toward the now rolling train and said, “Leave It.” We both jumped aboard the moving packed bench passenger train with standing room only, grabbed a standing strap secured to the ceiling of the car and moved on to Sarantoni in the night as I look out the window for my would-be attackers.

Some time passed until a bench was available and my traveling companion, a little on the short side, lay down to sleep as I stepped out on to the platform between rail cars and smoked. I watch the shadows of the jungle passing by, the silence, then some sound by a creepy thing, then silence again, wondering about the Bengal tiger that has haunted my dreams with its sudden attacks only to awaken in the safety of my bedroom. Maybe this is the moment, maybe he is out there waiting for me or worse, sprawled in a tree branch waiting for the train to pass as he lunges at me and we tumble to the jungle floor. Well, on the bright side, he can only kill me once, or was I dreaming again? Time rolled by quickly as I stared at the shadows until daylight broke and a beautiful landscape of high mountains with sides that shot straight up like the desert in the Midwest but covered with jungle foliage and occasional coconut tree.

Daylight just broke the horizon over the South China Sea as we bumped and clanged to a halt at the small rail station of Sarantoni, a fishing village that resembled the Mississippi delta but the Thai faces and colorful fishing boats seemed out of place. These people, I coined sea gypsies,  live on their boats and beach wherever they please for an occasional reunion. The men sewing holes in the torn nets as they dry in the sun and the women chartering around a communal fire roasting shell fish and boiling fish soup. Then once again, an epiphany, PIRATES!

Yes pirates, a decade ago they were unheard of outside of fiction novels, a few months from our departure from the Orient, a fellow ex-pat found temporary work aboard a surviving boat and told me they had to stand guard for fear of pirate attacks; especially at ports in Indonesia. I could understand more easily now, getting among the sea gypsies that lived a free communal life without any documentation or patriotism to hold them. We boarded a small wooden ferry for the one hour trip to the virgin island (at that time 1992) of Koh Samui.

We secured a palm leaf- roofed bungalow made of coconut lumber, with a small kitchen, bedroom living room area, a small shower, not hot water, and a seat less toilet, the kind you run into in Asia that consist of a porcelain plate about 3-4 inches thick flat on the floor resembling foot pads that one stands, squats, and uses a small water hose to squirt a stream said to be more sanitary then toilet tissue, which by the way was a hard to come by commodity in those days. What a bargain, eight U.S. Dollars a day for a house by the sea and it included TV satellite. “Mash” and other American sitcoms were still running and we watched nightly at 7:00pm sharp Monday through Friday. 

As stated, the shower water in our bungalow was not heated and even in this tropical environment it was freezing cold- most foreign visitors just bathed in the clean, blue, salty sea that was much warmer or seemed that way when you up jump in head first. This is where I met Bert, a large dog of unknown breeding that would swim out to me and dunk my head under for fun, which was irritating, but once people started calling Bert my dog, families, children, locals complained constantly about Bert and kindly asked me to control my dog. My usual response was, “That is not my dog, see he speaks Thai and I cannot utter a word of it!” Never-the-less, I did not feed Bert who followed me wherever I went and stay at some other bungalow, I thought, in the evenings. 

At that time, American and European ex-pats spent their time, swimming, drinking, and bar-b-queuing Thai Style on coconut charcoal which I could never successfully start and paid a young school girl that lived in the area to start mine- then one day she just said “no” just like that and I resorted to using gasoline from my little Italian style-looking motor scooter which was also eight dollars a day rental. Another pastime was playing chess or at least we proved that we knew the name of, and how to move each piece and of course beach combing. 

No matter what time of day or night, if I wanted to walk the beach  Bert would come out of nowhere and he if saw somebody in the water, as we walked along the shore, he would go out and sink them as the swimmer would yell back, “Your Dog, control your dog.” I would yell back. “It’s not  my dog,” until the small population had a communal meeting about MY Dogs’ behavior. 

I thought his behavior pretty fine as we explored virgin white sand beaches. Anyways, not much to do on an Island in the South China Sea fishing for a job, any place but the U.S. Don’t get me wrong but I hit the job market in the recession of 1975 after Vietnam, and could never make monthly ends meet, no matter how prestigious or technical the job was, which in my case was Jet Mechanic. So, you go where the jobs and money are if it does not come to you, which was Asia and Europe for me during the Clinton years, then a disability put me on the rosters of Social Security U.S land locked and nothing left to do but go back to school, which I did and graduated with the “Fall Class of Economic Crisis 2008” University of Texas.

Each, Morning, Bert and I would comb the beach  and each day we would extend the trip a little longer and occasionally we would run into obstacles that blocked a direct route by beach and the undertow was a powerful tug. One day, Bert led me to his owners who I first called Sea Gypsies in a kind way of course. I tried to explain that their dog’s behavior is getting me in trouble with my neighbors and a young girl passing the other direction and not a part of the Sea Gypsies group said, “Our dog?" "Why we see your friend Bert always with you?” “You, that bathes with dogs!”

The sea gypsies ignored the conversation gathered here and there around at least eight thirty foot hand carved transom beams [word of the timber that stretches from bow to stern] and the planks pegged or dove cut without nails, fishing boats which they lived their whole lives, with an occasional beach reunion for weather, a repair of fishing nets or to trade the catch with the local fish mongers. The term gypsies came from a Thai trying to tell me in broken English that these people live off the sea and have no place they call their home, and I said, “You mean like sea gypsies,” and he said “yes, yes, yes of course.” 

I have known of many other cultures that live in boats, such as the east coast of China, and was told that the daughters never step foot on land outside of marriage. And there are cultures that live on junks, such as the mooring of Hong Kong, mostly unusable except they do float as floating communities forever moored in the same place which are these peoples’ homes because they cannot afford an apartment or a home. I guess we could include the Peruvians of Lake Titicaca who had been evicted from their homes in Northern Peru and the only space available was floating refuse such as plants, dead trees, logs and mostly grass, called the floating islands of Peru. There developed a floating Island building technique that is wonderfully developed over time as more people, became skilled in building these man-made Islands that were evicted from their land because they could not afford the rent. 

The sea going vessels in China may be the homes of the fisherman but they are registered and have special visas, and government leniencies to fulfill a function on the coast, be it fishing, towing, transporting goods, or rescue to name a few. And the poor moored in the Hong Kong harbors would really be considered house boats because that is the boats only function.

 I guess we could call the arctic Eskimos Sea Gypsies but today they do not live on their boats, they live in sheltered communities with postal address and electricity; although there is a connection between the Eskimos and the Thai Sea Gypsies, they consider the sea their garden and their God or a better word would be Divinity. Of course my preference would be universal self because the early Inuit and Thai Sea Gypsies knew no distinction or separation between themselves and the world about them. 

The earliest evangelistic missionary to the arctic were surprised to find out when translating words from the Inuit vocabulary, the name or term for ‘God” was nonexistent. They had a difficult time trying to establish a God in a sense where he gets involved with everyday affairs, which include good and bad aspects of an absolute Deity much of which is tailored by Christian beliefs. 

With these beliefs along came the idea of Animism. The concept of religious ritual grew out of beliefs in nature as a result of human reasoning.  The western Ideologies of human development supporting animism confuse ritual and religion with the development of the human intellect. We know little of the religious patterns before the appearance of art; however animism is believed to be established before the pre-pottery stage of early humans. 

The point is, those that live off the sea did not develop from primitive minds; they developed techniques and tools to a point of self-sufficiency,  which to the Sea Gypsies and the pre-missionary Eskimo is Health, Wealth, and Happiness. Balance, Excellence, Medical Care, protection from pirates, government control, and family unity can be found in and on the sea; “there is a magic in it” as Melville would say, but it is really a highly developed communal living that has insured the Sea Gypsies’ survival from the first human feet that trod the earth.  

Western behavioral sciences sometimes approach a culture or race of people such as head hunters of the Amazon and Huaquero’s, Peruvian grave robbers action as taboo. Most discouraging, is archaeologist Max Uhle, who was the first person to scientifically excavate cemeteries containing Nasca polychrome style of pottery.  The first recorded artifacts of Rio Grande de Nasca were published as archeological excavations by Max Uhle, although discounted in 1999 as purchased goods from Huaqueros by Donald A Proulx of the University of Massachusett. Huaquero’s or Peruvian grave robbers have been practicing the ritual of locating and uncovering ancient graves that may hold gold and polychromate pottery, some of the  most expensive pottery on the black market. 

The Huaquero’s religious ritual as explained by a local to me on site in Nasca Peru April 2004.  The Huaquero’s Grave Robbers religious ritual grew out of beliefs in capitalism, not nature as a result of human reasoning. Partly and indirectly encouraged by collectors, the deed has become ritualized as a rite of passage and honor to the dead. Most male citizens of Nasca participate in grave robbing some time in their lives!

Some cultural traditions such as grave robbing are taboo to most but for others their rituals are a rite of passage that involves the whole community in the desert grave yards of Nasca Peru and a old tradition across Peru that is no longer practice but the evidence can be seen along the road side as open graves and paintings with open graves that seem to represent the resurrection of the soul from the temporal body that is now dead and buried.

The Earth has gone through some dramatic geological changes over the last 20,000 years, and yes there is a different theory for every historian except when they describe the people that survive climatic and geological catastrophes. 

The development of the Mycenaean civilization in Crete is credited to Egyptian and Near East trade. After Crete’s catastrophic destruction of earthquakes around 1700 BC, cities were constructed clearly influenced by Bronze Age advancement. 

The Knossos palace and town of Gournia are good evidence showing complex social systems unknown to other Mediterranean locations. The island of Crete is perfectly situated south of Greece with port access to the south with Egypt and Syro-Palestine to the East (Cunliffe p 240).  

The importance of the Minoan trade lies with archeological evidence unearthed in the Nile Delta. Pottery fragments and wall paintings of Minoan style have been recently discovered at Tell el Dab’a and ancient Avarus. Manfred Bietak excavated the sites and believes the artifacts come from a Minoan sanctuary settled around 1550 BC. The wall paintings depict bulls and bull-leapers against Labyrinth-like background lines. Such cultural differentiations are evidenced on clay-table archives of Near Eastern communities (Cunliffe p 240). 

Egyptian influence has been documented well before 2000 BC. Two-way trade is evident by scarabs found in tombs at Archanes, Gournes and Lebena. Minoan exports such as pottery have been recorded as far as Aswan, Abydos, and Kahun. Likewise, silver vessels discovered at Tod parallels with Cretan pottery and metal work (Cunliffe p 239).  

The downfall of the Minoan civilization is usually attributed to colossal eruption and earthquakes of the Thera volcano around 1450 BC.  Some scholars argue that Crete survived this catastrophic event and civil demolition is credited to a Dorian evasion.

The Minoans had a well-established naval fleet and trade may have prevented threats from external forces for many centuries. Although the down fall of the early Crete civilization is unclear, economic development is unlike other Mediterranean culture as evidenced by artifacts showing two-way trade as far as Egypt and the Near East (Ancient). 

Ancient Pueblo Dwellings were constructed by intelligent beings from the resources that they had available. Many archeologists believe that the Pueblo Indians did not migrate to the west coast, but were loan survivors of a great plate upheaval that sank many of the islands in the pacific and changed waterways and drought killed off the vegetation that sustained life. They have good evidence that the builders of the Pueblo Dwellings sailed and towed their boats into the Snake River and made their way inland to the pueblo in Colorado. 

The earliest communities have remarkable similarities in regards to using  available resources to survive,  still used in architectural engineering today and a way to honor the dead. Where did they learn these techniques, from the Flintstones University? The same could be said of the Lengyel culture that made their way landward from small boats after another social, geological, or climatic catastrophe.

The Lengyel culture of northern Europe developed in to agriculture groups around 5000 BC. The Lengyels are identified as a “linear pottery” culture which is one way archeologist Identify agriculture transition of ancient Europe (Cunliffe p 156).  Artifacts related to this Neolithic group have been uncovered in modern-day areas Moravia, western Slovakia, western Hungary, and southern Poland.  These people may have been influenced by trade with late Neolithic Balkans by way of modern-day Austria, Slovenia, and Croatia (Wikipedia).

Early farm settlements of central and Western Europe are usually found at the edge of river valleys on fertile ground. Linear pottery represents agricultural expansion believed to be from the Carpahtian basin found in clusters of regional groups . Linear pottery has been found at Lengyel sites along tributaries of the Rhine River (Cunliffe p 158).

Lengyel settlements are noted for wooden buildings called longhouses such as is found at the Brzesc Kujawski (BK) site north central Poland dated around 4500 BC. Nearly Fifty houses have been uncovered at the BK site to date along with evidence of graves (Bogucki).  Typically BK type sites are a cluster of multiple dwelling places that may represent a small village which includes the southern Dutch sites; Stein and Geleen in the Mass valley (Cunliffe p 158).

Many Lengyel sites have ditch enclosures believed to be of the later stages post linear pottery.  Most are enclosing a few acres with deep V shaped ditches dug in circuits, single or multiple. The ditches may have performed a defensive strategy or could have been livestock enclosures.  The Tesetic-Kyjovice site in southern Moravia is enclosed with a broad circular ditch 55-60 meters in diameter, broken by four opposed entrances. Shattered figurines and house remains have been found outside of the enclosures which may have been a ritual arena with a pattern of settlements.

Most Lengyel sites were distributed across fertile soil in clusters of communities termed “settlement cells.” Perhaps such grouping or settlements reduced risk and minimized social distance. The types of farming practices are not clear; however, a typical model would include intensive cereal cultivation in small fixed plots or garden on cleared ground near the settlement (Cunliffe p 157). Cereal cultivation and domesticated animals may have been imports frNear East om the through the Balkans; however, little evidence supports a Mesolithic population in the Balkans or Greece.

During the latter Neolithic Caucus, trade routes linked Northern Balkan and Carpathian populations to complex societies of the Near East. Movements of populations and technical innovations migrated north introducing northern European cultures Copper Age (Cunliffe p 171).  

Beidha is another site or the best-known archeological sites of the Grater Middle East. The structures are built not by primitive man, but stranded man. Beidha is one of the best-known archaeological sites of the Greater Middle East. The settlement is one of few sites of the early Neolithic period; a period which followed the Pleistocene epoch around 10,000 years ago (Epipaleolithic). Nomads erected stone shelters here; perhaps for the rough terrain that provided a wealth of resources such as game, herbs and grain.  Archaeologists suggest there is good evidence that ancient cultures favored differentiated landscape in order to exploit those resources (p 26). 

Although, pottery is evidence of a more complex social pattern, Beidha is not void of a well thought construction plan, and artistic trimmings. The excavated portion of Beidha reveals buildings whose walls were built of thin stone slabs and plastered in white. Red Bands are still visible on the walls of the structure. Compared to other sites of the same building size, Beidha is constructed of chambers of irregular shape to support the generous living area.

Beidha’s position amongst mountains and its high elevation also has one to believe that human encroachment from neighbors could cause conflict. The site is well perched to detour any unwelcome travelers. Beidha is not only the best-known site of the Greater Middle East, it is the best archeological sample of the early Neolithic period supporting the differentiated land theory.
Cities of the Ancient Middle East developed from choice camps of nomadic bands roaming the biblical frontiers of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.  

Cities are distinguished from populated settlements by the degree of organizational development used to administer activities of city life. Archeologists piece together evidence of religious, political, and economic systems into groups called analytical segments of cultures.  These groups correlate to social patterns, or models used to simplify and better understand the organizational stages of city development. We understand Ancient Middle East cities as well as other archeological sites by comparing social patterns deciphered from artifacts.

The earliest settlers of Mesopotamia, known today as Iraq, were wandering nomadic bands arriving in the area as early as the Paleolithic period (p15). These early settlers met their needs by moving from one location to the next. Scarcities of food created by drought or seasonal climatic changes were resolved by moving away from poorer conditions.  Some regions were more desirable, prolonging the stay.  Hunting gathering bands formed on choice differentiated hinterland providing a wider variety of resources of game, herbs and grain. The basic social patterns of these settlers were assumed by a clan leaders, or chiefs, ruling by consensus.

As populations increased in the newly settled land, more complex social system developed. During the period of 6000-3200 BC, isolated settlements dominated choice lands with access to water. Evidence of food production and food storage were already highly developed before this period (p 39). 

The Halaf period 5300 B.C. “named after Tell Halaf in Northern Syria” marks the earliest pottery period of finely painted pieces produced from homes. Painted pottery created a demand for specialists which slowly progressed into trade (p 45). As populations grew and centralized, townships emerge around local villages, creating more complex social patterns. The rules of social interaction between villages now formed to a consensus of people not of the same descent administrated by group of chieftains.  

An increasing population created a need for more crops and irrigation systems appeared during the Neolithic period of 6000 B.C. (p 5). Irrigation systems required workers and administrators to manage the construction, maintenance, and flow of water. The irrigation theory suggests that complex societies of Mesopotamia developed into complex social systems from the administration of irrigating canals. These social systems grew more complex as workers were paid by food rations which in turn created diverse niches of economic opportunities. 

Sudden ecological changes around the third millennium B.C. created a need for more hectares of farmland for irrigation, and new technologies to irrigate. As sea levels continued to fall, less water was accessible to irrigate. The fall in sea level also allowed some river tributaries to dig deeper making irrigation impossible (p 129). Water courses changed and land-locked townships. Populations migrated to regional centers which created a demand for a more diverse administration in order to manage growing populations of workers of various skills. 

The first cities emerged from a need of a complex centralized control of leaders both religious and political. Regional control of isolated settlements became necessary, especially settlements of northern Mesopotamia controlling the head waters.  Written accounts of the early Dynastic period around 3100 BC reported a continual dispute for borders and borderland controls (p 135). The cities Umma and Girsu were in conflict over the eastern arm of the Euphrates. Conflicts between cities of this era solved conflicts strategically with soldiers.

Rival city states ruled by warlords created a similar political structure found today. Religious leaders maintain power by developing rituals that support their own position. While the elite class of inheritance dominates commerce and trade.

Many substantiated conclusions can be made by comparing oppositions between centralization and decentralization of city states. Centralization of power is marked by hierarchical subordination of surrounding powers (p 9). Cities are understood by comparing patterns of religious, political and economic systems. 

Archeologists also consider population growth and geographic size as important means of measuring city development; however, a city is best known by complicated social systems synonymous with city life.

You can take off points of syntax and spelling, or edited properly for me for free, then post it back to this blog, if you please………

G N O’Dell July 7 2012