When did the European exploration begin around the world? The encyclopedia of Arkansas history and culture tries to explore Arkansas culture for the last 12000 years. The website universal resource locator is http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryid=395 and was accessed on date 28th March 2013. The website describes how most of the historical evidence has been lost because of weather changes and human settlement. The website is a good source of history for it tries to describe settlement within Arkansas from the Paleo-Indian period to when the European explorers arrived in the continent.
The website is a chronology of social and cultural changes of early settlers of Arkansas. The website divides the period from Paleo-Indian period to Mississippi period that saw the arrival of Europeans who eventually became the colonizers of the new World. The Mississippi period is described as a period when human beings abandoned nomadic life to settle down because of the change in the climatic conditions. The Mississippi period was characterized by rise of the class system where people were grouped as rich, poor and middle class. The website is owned by the Encyclopedia society. The website is able to maintain its objectivity by detailing the periods using ages that are accepted by other historians. The website shows how the inhabitants of Arkansas first used stone and wooden tools marches with evolution theory by Charles Darwin. The theory details how man evolved from an ape to the modern man who settled to start farming shying away with nomadic way of life. The agenda of the site is to show that human beings development did not happen on a short period like 10 years but took thousands of years. The website keeps details of its contents to the Arkansas societies without diverting to other places around the world making it to maintain relevance from the beginning to the end. The target audiences of the website are student who would like to study early settlements within Arkansas. Archaeology students can get important facts from the site by using key words without any problem.
The website divides the history of Arkansas into different periods with the first period being Paleo-Indian period. The period is shown to have had cool climate, which allowed animals to breed freely. These animals provided food for the different members of the community. The website describes that people made settlements on family basis. The family basis settlement would shift a couple of times in search of food and to where the weather was good. The family had laborers who searched for food while leaving the other members of the family behind. Human settlement is attributed to change of weather after sometimes during this period. The other period described on the website is the Dalton period that lasted between 11000 and 13000 years ago. This period was marked by change of weather, which led to extinction of some animal and plant species from the earth ground. The occupants of Arkansas made stone tools with most of their settlement taking place along the rivers. The next period was the archaic period, which began in 6,000 BC and was characterized by hunting and gathering. The period saw changes in weather characterized by long dry spells that led to food scarcity among the occupant of Arkansas. In the year 2,500 BC the woodland period arose where wide use of plants in making food and tools begun. The period saw pottery begin shape among the Arkansas. The Mississippian period saw rise of farmers with America and arrival of European explorers who eventually became colonizers in America. The website is objective in describing the development of human beings in North America before the colonization of the land.
The website is directed towards social and economic development of early inhabitants of Arkansas. It leaves out the political aspect of human development, which is important in man’s way of living, and that depicts its pitfall. On political point, the website was supposed to talk about how man started forming government in form of council of elders and eventually leading to a modern form of government to rule the communities. The weaknesses are shown by looking at other historical materials that show human development during different historical times was associated with the three aspects of life, which are political, social and economic. The website does not detail how the society that arrived in America during the Mississippi period came to be colonizers of the new world during the sixteenth century. The website lack of clear data on colonization of America makes it a weak source of historical data on colonization of the new world.
The website suitability on historical data on people of Arkansas has been well detailed up to the 16th century. The website dividing development of humans into periods makes it under stable to historians with knowledge of different theories of human beings development. The human beings tool making industry from using stones to wood has shown development in artisanship skills of the inhabitants of Arkansas. Man developing from a nomadic human being to a settled human being has been shown to be contributed by changes in weather in Arkansas. The change in weather saw eradication of some species of animals and plants from the earth surface. The human development was long period event on the earth surface.
Bibliography
Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Accessed 28 March 2013, http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryid=395
Rothschild, Friedrich S. Creation and evolution. New Brunswick, N.J: Transaction Publishers, 2000.
