So tonight I got hit hard by nostalgia.
I bit the bullet, mad the rpg group in the VR world and two people, that for some strange reason feel safe in my company, joined immediately.
I got a bit emotional and so many things popped into my head to write but I ended up going through my servers review channels and re-reading every single one from the past 2 years.
Then....I went into my notes.
Papers I wrote while traveling.
And realized, aside from sending copies to some educators I respected the opinions of I'd never fully published them and some still need some heavy editing.
I've only met one other person that can take my mad ramblings and turn them into something coherent.
Hopefully there's an editor out there that has the stomach for such a task because there's enough floating in there to make a few books.
Anyways, here's an excerpt from a paper I wrote about how war influences art. Still needs some heavy editing and sources properly filled in but I think it gives a decent idea of how I keep notes.
Marketing and Trade in an Ancient Bizarre
Imagine a marketplace that is selling a specific food stuff, drink, soup, or other commodity that were important to the people of the ancient world as well as today. Instead of calling these dishes and plates on display in the museum “ceremonial” I view them more like signs above a business's door.
A container of a certain shape or size, elaborately decorated and displayed as a centerpiece surrounded by many less ornate versions of it.
Seeing images of a bird could represent jerky or a dish made from that bird. Certain decorations representing the spices or preparation method of that dish.
Then, especially after mass production of clay and ceramic containers, containers of the same shape and slightly simpler carvings or paintings on the exterior would tell the person looking to purchase which containers to seek out in that market, and markets down the road with traders from the same areas.
In a time and region when domesticated and pack animals were a rarity, travelers and traders were severely limited by what they and those following them were able to carry. The marked containers would easily communicate their trade needs when unable to communicate with one other on a verbal level.
Now, taking a look at the shapes of containers and dishes as the crafting methods, trade, and materials progress I began taking a closer look.
A wide mouthed container would have been, and still is, used for collecting liquids.
Closed containers with narrow openings for protecting the contents and keeping them cool or warm depending on the need.
One of the most interesting things I saw was the Greek influence on the Asian pitcher design. Namely the beading around the top representing fruit drinks. Dancing adults and fire possibly representing those that contained alcohol. Imagery of children and more subdued scenes for the ones that did not. Or maybe it was the other way around. Regardless they both had similar imagery on nearly identically shaped vessels dating within a few years of each other.
Plates and bowls with imagery on their interiors would, arguably, have been used to display and hold whole fruits and vegetables and other dry food stuffs, where as the ones with the art and imagery on the exterior would have denoted more refined dishes like soups, porridges, mixtures and elixirs.
And of course, lids and covers to place over the top during events so that people could know what they were reaching for even without being able to read.
It’s beautiful when you really think about it.
