User talk:Rj.gutierrez

Congratulations! You logged in (mostly) correctly. Note that I've moved your sign-in from the top of my talk page to the bottom. Please don't hesitate to let me know if you have any other questions about this assignment. Hoopes (talk) 02:43, 18 October 2012 (UTC)

Welcome
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=Mexican-Egyptian Parallels= Please note that there is a fundamental problem with the premise of your entry. In fact, there are NO "unexplained similarities" between features of ancient Mexico and Egypt. All of the similarities actually have explanations. It's just that many authors question or do not want to accept these explanations. (Not that we have discussed the fallacy "unexplained is not unexplainable" in class.)

Another problem with your entry is the issue of claims about the "start" of these "civilizations." In fact, the main issue is about what is implied by the terms "start" and by the term "civiization" (which I have defined in class as an ethnocentric term meaning essentially "like us." The terms that would be used by archaeologists include complex society, stratified society, or state, not "civilization."

You are correct in drawing attention to the chronological issues, given the more than 1000-year disjunction between the "Pyramid Age" in Egypt and the Olmecs of Mexico, who did not build stone pyramids. Hoopes (talk) 22:43, 26 November 2012 (UTC)

There are a number of other problems with your research. For example, you say that some "high priest magicians of ancient Egypt" wore jaguar skins. However, jaguars are not found in Africa and the main feline for Egyptian culture was the African lion. Zoomorphism is actually quite common in many ancient and modern cultures (think of the KU Jayhawk), so its presence is not especially remarkable. You suggest that Quetzalcoatl was an Olmec deity, but this has not been demonstrated. Most mythical culture heros are associated with wisdom but this does not mean that they are equivalent to Thoth.

The main problem with your entry is that a great deal of the information that you cite comes from unreliable websites rather than published academic sources. Rather than exercising critical thinking and spotting logical fallacies, you have made a number of mistakes based on uncritical reading. For example, you make assertions about both cultures using hieroglyphic writing even though the characteristics of Mayan and Egyptian writing are quite different. You make a claim about "the same base measurements" about pyramids that is simply not true. Your entry is fraught with problems that come from a lack of critical thinking and analysis when it was supposed to demonstrate how critical thinking works in presenting a balanced, unbiased interpretation. Hoopes (talk) 23:09, 26 November 2012 (UTC)