Good morning, is it really too early to begin planning for next school? Today, we are continuing with an exploration of Ancient Egypt in the Enteral Egypt series. Oh boy, but I am watching this series so you do not have to. I will complete this series and then move on to more documentaries. The run time for this episode is 51:56 and is called The Desert.
The episode kicks off with the contrast between the desert and the Nile River delta. The desert covers 96% of modern Egypt and is home to less than 1% of the population. The Egyptians would have considered the desert the land of the dead. It was the land of the god Seth. Seth tried to kill Osiris. The ancient Egyptians would have feared the desert. They could never control the people or the desert. The Nile weaves its way through Egypt like a green snake. Travelers and goods made their way across the desert. Invaders also made their way across the desert. The narrator introduces the viewer to the Wadi Al-Hitan an oasis for the living from the dead. It is a place that does not see rain for five years. When it does rain, it is a torrential downpour. It was not always a desert place. In fact, it was home to animals. One man walks along the wadi and looks at the animal bones that are scattered across the wadi. The Wadi is nicknamed the Valley of the Whale. Water would have covered the area and it would have been filled with creatures swimming. There are whale bones found in this wadi. Dinosaur fossils were also found in this area too. The documentary continues and talks about how the Egyptian climate changed and how the Pharaoh used climate change to consolidate power. The Giza Plateau would have been in the savannah and the Ancient Egyptians would have encountered a variety of animals. The next stop on this tour is an oasis. The only way travelers could survive in the desert would be to encounter an oasis. Today, oases continue to be carefully cultivated and it is here that you can grow dates. Date trees thrive in this landscape and have various uses such as weaving the leaves for hats to shelter from the sun. Other crops are cultivated in the oasis such as wheat and rice. The money maker in the oasis is the date. This oasis has a tour of an abandoned village from the Medieval period. It is a tourist site in the desert. This village was abandoned because it was hard to keep the building in repair. Only a few people remain on site. It is here we encounter a potter’s studio. Pottery was essential in the ancient world for storage and transportation. Pots enabled trade across the desert. It was here I wished I was watching an episode of the Time Team and listening to their pottery experts. Although, it was kind of interesting to see the potter say that doctors recommend you drink out of pottery to get the minerals. It was also neat to hear that pottery was a difficult skill to learn and that nobody wants to learn how to make a pot. Then there was a discussion about the mastabas, which were used to bury the pharaohs. One man decided to stack the mastabas which would create the initial pyramids. For a while, pharaohs were buried in these stacked mastabas. However, the burials would eventually be elsewhere. The desert would be the place where the pharaohs would be buried. In other words, the desert would eventually be the kingdom of the dead. The desert would protect the mummies from moisture. Finally in this section, a tour guide goes into the tombs and discusses what makes up the tomb. Additionally, this man also talks about the trade routes between Sudan and Egypt. I still do not recommend this documentary for use in the classroom. There was way too much focus on modern Egypt and not enough on Ancient Egypt. It was also way too fast again. Why emphasize that this documentary series is about Ancient Egypt, I will never know and never understand. Give me a Joann Fletcher documentary any day of the week.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Author
The reviews I do are my opinion and my opinion only. My opinions should always be taken with a grain of salt. I just want to help teachers out selecting documentaries. Worksheets
My Teachers Pay Teachers Store! Worksheets available as a Word Document.
Lulu Store
I am also on Lulu! If you're interested in genealogy I have several books available!
Archives
May 2024
Categories
All
Privacy Policy
HistoryDocTube will not collect any personal information and will not sell any personal information to a third party. We will not request any personal information.
The purpose of this blog is to share information on what can be used in a classroom, private school, or home school setting as well as serve as a portfolio of my personal and professional work. The reviews are my opinions and should be treated as such. I just want to provide a tool for teachers to select documentaries for their classrooms. |