Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Peoples and another sweep

I tried adding more information on Italian prehistory. I've been using Wikipedia for a lot of high level, basic information, and what it has on this period is very sparse, so the next time through, I'll have to do a broader web search. I found the support for French peoples and France in the subdivisions, and for Germanic peoples and Germany, and Northeastern Europe weaker than I had thought, and so will save them for another pass. Asiatic peoples were rather on the edge of what I was considering in the historical periods, so I didn't add much, except that I did add pages for the subdivisions of Southeast Asia. I have four of them; Mainland Southeast Asia, Island or Archipelago Southeast Asia, Australia, and Polynesia. Most of these nations are just stubs, but with the increasing developments in history and parts of it, many of them will be examined more closely on the next pass through.

I added four cities to the list. This reaches the end of cities I had gained from one of my references sites, so I will need to add some more the next time I reach this. I also did a little review of social structure and change, and didn't add much, but I will have some links ready the next time I reach this subject.

In examination of Institutions, I decided to adjust the order or priorities to go from oldest (as far as I know) to youngest, so European Pagan religions will be considered. Although I would like to consider governments from largest to smallest, the largest governments are connected to modern times, and I am looking for earlier foundations. I am not certain yet how to handle economics; but I think I'm going to stick with the largest to smallest, and broaden out a little faster than I would with other areas. Corporations are useless for studying prehistory, but the industries and economic sectors I am deriving from them are important. Families will have to be set aside for much of the early parts of history, because I just don't have enough information about them.

Culture also presents something of a problem. Since I am concentrated on early history, I will have to emphasize material culture more than I would other areas, since that is the only thing available for archaeologists to study. Anthropology, personal studies, and science are important and will be brought in, but I don't want to bite off more than I can chew just yet.

With this sweep done, there is little to do except begin another. With history in general, since the four nations I added weren't on the critical list, I set them aside for another sweep. I did tackled a re-examination of African peoples. East Africa has been growing and is almost ripe for subdivision. West Africa does need one, so I will be doing that when I get to those peoples. Most of the other aids to history have been developed far enough that I didn't need to do much rearranging; they will come up at appropriate times.

In Prehistory, I had left Latin peoples somewhat incomplete, with the connections of Italic peoples and Italy, and French peoples and France implied rather than explicit. I got those connected, I did the necessary rearranging of Middle Eastern nations. Other parts of Asia don't need much rearranging, but the divisions of Southeast Asia do need to be extended here, and African peoples also need some rearrangement. I took some notes on the extension of various other aids to prehistory which need to be worked on.

In Early prehistory, Western Civilization is in order as far as it is developed. The Middle East and the rest of Asia except for Southeast Asia are also in order, and African peoples need to be properly arranged. In Middle and Late Prehistory, Western civilization is now on order, and the Middle East is up for consideration.

I also did some expansion of Antiquity. Western Civilization is already in order as far as developed, and the rearrangement of the Middle East indicates that I can finally begin examination of the Sumerian and Babylonian peoples of Antiquity. I have mentioned how there are Greece and Portugal shaped holes in Western Civilization, but there has also been a Mesopotamia shaped hole in Antiquity which I can now start to fill. Asia up to Southeast Asia is also connected. I will also be taking a few cautions steps toward considering other aids. I stopped at the top of this section for now, and intend to resume with the particular millennia of antiquity.

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