Time Travelers Project Reflection.

Time Travelers

Project Description:
For the humanities part in the times travelers project we were required to write a research paper and draw pillar based on our civilization. Each civilization had four different pillars. Art & Architecture, Science & Technology, Government, and also Religion & Society. So depending on the pillar you got, that's what you had to write about. For example say your in the Aztecs civilization and you got government as your pillar, then you would right a research paper on the art & architecture from the Aztecs civilization. Same with the pillars design, you had to paint a picture based on your pillar and civilization. For example I painted a temple and sun, the temple was for architecture and the sun was for their art.

Reflection:

Through out this project i learned a lot. I mainly learned about the Aztecs art & architecture since that was my pillar and civilization. I also learned how to write a bibliography for our research paper. At first it was a little confusing but the activity that we did with Alyssa helped me understand it more. A challenged that I really had was writing the research paper. I missed a day which put me behind and made me do more work and it was more confusing. I also missed the day that they did foot notes in class, and that was one of the requirements for our paper and made harder for me. This would help me later on in the future because if I have to write a research paper I would have to write a bibliography and now I know how to. This projected also helped me with my personal life and I'm happy that I got the Aztecs civilization, because my grabdpa is really into that stuff and I'm a bit more familiar about what he's talking about.

Research Paper

The Aztec Civilization
Art & Architecture

What is a civilization? Civilization has many different definitions. A civilization has art & architecture, religion & society, technology & science, and government. All this makes a successful civilization. Sometimes if you have all these things included doesn’t mean that it’s successful. The reason why I say that is because they’re all split up into four different parts. Just because one part is a success doesn’t mean that the whole civilization is a success. Even though the art & architecture was a success for the Aztecs, doesn’t mean that the science & technology was.

By 1325 the Aztecs started building a fine city called Tenochtitlan. The reason why they called it Tenochtitlan was because Aztecs were also known as Tenochcas. It means “Place of The Tenochcas.” Tenochtitlan is a number of small islands in the middle of Lake Texcoco. It took the Aztecs awhile to actually settle down and make their own city because different civilizations in Mexico attacked and pushed the Aztecs out of land that they tried to claim. One thing that is unique about this civilization is their art. The drawings that they made for their Codices books were very colorful. The way that they got colors was dye from fruits and vegetables.

Art was a strength that the Aztecs had. It was unique because you could tell that they took their time. Their art pieces were so colorful and beautiful. Their main strength is the Codices books. One of the main reasons why we know so much about Aztecs today is because of their art. It thought us more about their gods and religions. They also have a strength in architecture. Tenochtitlan was full of magnificent buildings, their temples, and palaces. You can tell they took their time on making their art and temples look nice and beautiful they weren’t just a civilization that worried about attacking people. They made sure that their temples and art looked nice in respect to their gods.

In my pillar there weren’t really a lot of weaknesses. The reason why I say that it because the way they got their paint and stuff was from dyes. But maybe a weakness is that if they weren’t attacked as much at the time by other civilizations and tribes around them, they would have been able to have more time to build their temples and make them look nicer without having to worry about people attacking them. And if they were a richer civilization they could have made their art & architecture look better then it already was. Also with the other civilizations taking over their land made them lose materials, and if that didn’t happen they would probably be richer.
The Maya civilization was similar with the Aztec civilization. They were very religious, intelligent, artistic, and had good architecture. Their art pieces represented their gods and the temples to honor the gods. Same with the Aztecs they did that to. I would have to say that the Aztecs and Mayans were both on the same level in art & architecture. Both civilizations took their time honoring their gods with their art & architecture.

The art & architecture for the Aztecs was a success because today they still have some of their art. And since today the main reason why we know so much about the Aztecs was through the art that we found. The architecture was also a success. Since the Aztecs instead of breaking down a whole temple to build a new one, they built it over the old one that made it last longer. So I would say over all the art & architecture pillar for the Aztecs civilization was a success.

The buildings and the art has remained till this day. Over all the Aztec civilization was powerful and a successful civilization, because they used their resources wisely. With building temples instead of re-building a whole new temple, they reused what they already had. Also the color for painting they used what they had to make the different colors. And also with their paintings they used what they already had to get the paints. This made the Aztecs save on materials instead of wasting them, which also helped them be more successful in their art & architecture.