The maiden chapter of a new project is nearly over. I will carry out the content editing at a later stage. Yet, I need to review the vocabulary section created for the extract to fish for novel ideas.
The chapter gives a general idea of medieval shipping in the Mediterranean by depicting two broad types of watercraft. Even at this initial stage, I make use of contemporary travelogues written mostly by landlubbers. Besides galleys and round ships, I will speak about the main developments in the construction of ships and the sailors' diet.
In the coming week, I am planning to revise an old article, The Ten Tribes and Other Monsters, from Unit IV of my second project, "The Enchanting Encounter with the East". Authorhouse UK is preparing this manuscript for publication. I wrote a few more letters asking for reusing of photos as book illustrations but meanwhile received only three positive replies. I hope that in some other cases the images do not require copyright permission; most of the pictures belong to the Middle Ages and have far exceeded a common requirement: the author's life plus a hundred years.
From time to time, I make minor encroachments of my Ancient Mesopotamia project, which was covered by my first book, "Dawn and Sunset: A Tale of the Oldest Cities in the Near East". I am seeking a novel approach to this theme. Recently, I tried to figure out the main environmental differences between Upper and Lower Mesopotamia but failed. The paleoclimate is a tough thing to swallow; there are so many uncertainties and the picture appears too patchy to write a story. Most scholars speak about opposing contours, i.e. highlands vs. lowlands, and different trends in agriculture: rain-fed vs. irrigational farming.
Today, I've had another idea. Maybe, I need to explore the structure of the early cities in Greater Mesopotamia. In my first book, I almost subscribed to Childe's definition of the ancient city; however, I came up with twelve points instead of ten and excluded such items as the area size and population figures. I will flesh out the details some other day.
I would like to check a few hypotheses.
1) Early cities had developed from pre-urban towns and villages.
2) Were such settlements as Jericho, Cayonu, and Catalhoyuk cities?
3) Did full-time craftsmen engage in pre-urban towns and villages?
No comments:
Post a Comment