End-October Update

I am through with the second leg of my FutureLearn course called "Radical Spirituality: The Early History of the Quakers". This is my third history course. Though this learning highway is not designed for professionals it transmits professional info and enables interesting discussions. I am not contented with writing my personal response and not always I have something ready. However, while looking through other replies, I can come up with an original approach. 

Before that, I finished a course, Archaeology of Portus: Exploring the Lost Harbor of Ancient Rome. These tracks are not necessarily linked to my own research but they give me an outlook of the work of historians, a glimpse of a bunch of exact sciences borrowed to pinpoint certain issues, and a chance to confront with the mainstream theories. 

I have reread the account of William of Rubruck and picked up a slew of citations which I need to lace together to finish up a draft of a current chapter. This will be chapter 2 in the last unit of my history book, The Enchanting Encounter with the East. The unit is devoted to the experience of western legates and missionaries sent to the Far East to spread the message of Roman Catholism and to spy the activities of the Mongols. The research is in full swing. My full list includes 14 names but can be cut down to 9 or even less. My next author will be John of Montecorvino, the head of the first Catholic mission to China. 

US Reviews

US Reviews published a very favorable review of my book, Dawn and Sunset.

Dawn and Sunset: A Tale of the Oldest Cities in the Near East 
Michael Baizerman
AuthorHouseUK
HISTORY
978-1-5049-3611-8 Four Stars (out of Five)

Dawn and Sunset is a well researched, nicely written, organized account of early Mesopotamian history.

Some of the world’s first cities emerge, prosper, and decline over the course of several millennia while their citizens chart remarkable advances in art, linguistics, religion, politics, warfare, and other areas. Michael Baizerman explores these developments in Dawn and Sunset: A Tale of the Oldest Cities in the Near East, a scholarly look at the history of ancient Mesopotamia.

Baizerman begins with a brief explanation of the region’s history and geography, and an outline of its different historic periods. He argues that the twelve things required for a settlement to be considered urban were all present in Mesopotamian cities. These include a dedicated religious site for worship and festivals; a temple social hierarchy with priests, administrators, worshipers, and slaves; industrial, commercial, scientific, and cultural centers; a system of record-keeping; a legal center with courts and laws; a centralized government; a military; a “melting pot” of different ethnicities; and a welfare safety net.

A series of sections in the book individually delve into Mesopotamian advances in the areas of writing, agriculture, foreign trade, laws, and warfare. The development of sailing boats, the pottery wheel, the use of irrigation, wheeled carts, kiln-fired bricks, and writing instruments all underscore the region’s growing sophistication.

Dawn and Sunset is a good, fundamental summation of Baizerman’s long-time academic focus. The book contains a wealth of information. However, much of the in-depth research was done on the Internet, and Internet sources are heavily cited. More print sources might have extended the book’s usefulness for students and other scholars, as web-based sources can be fleeting.

New Developments October 2

Not much is going on. I'm still collecting material for a new chapter about William of Rubruck. I have to describe the Mongol society as this traveler witnessed.

My page on Scriggler has reached over 12 K readers. My platform is growing in spite of the fact that I don't publish new articles. My publisher advised me not to upload the whole book on the web. You can read about nine chapters at
 https://scriggler.com/Profile/michael_baizerman
If I write some notes on other topics, I will add them to my list.

I finished the fourth leg of FutureLearn course "The Archeology of Portus". Week 4 was devoted to the development of the port in the III-IV centuries AD. In 337 AD it became a town. We explored Building 5 which is supposed to be a ship shed measuring 240 m in length and 18 m in height. It had 12 bays for ships of various widths, from 4.5 m to 20 m. The researchers are sure that its initial function was to repair and build ships. The ship shed opens both on the Claudian and Trajan basins. We also studied a copper coin minted during the tenure of Emperor Constantine during the 320s-330s AD. We understood how much info can be obtained from the image and recording on the coin and that part of this data can be restored from special digital photography.

I am still confused about scientific methods used in archaeology but they add a lot to understanding of the past events.