The Egyptian Hall at the Carnegie Museum is an excellent way to study ancient Egyptian culture. I was surprised to see all of the interesting facts I could gather about the culture I once knew very little about. The research project for my anthropology class taught me a lot about the history of Egypt, and now I know more about the culture than I ever thought I would.
             The first topic about Egypt we were to study was its geography. The Nile River is an important part in Egypt's geography. The Nile is probably the most important resource the Egyptian people have. It provides water for many things: growing crops, fish and birds, and materials for bricks and pottery. It also serves as a means of transportation between different settlements. The Nile River is unique because every summer, it overflows its banks and floods the surrounding area with water and rich slit. Africa is characterized by an usually rainless environment, but this yearly inundation generally allows Egypt to raise enough food for itself. Aside from providing much needed water, the Nile's valley also contains other resources such as rocks, minerals, and metals.
             After geography, we studied Egypt's mythology. Every culture has creation myths; Egypt has several. The first and best known occurs in the city of Heliopolis. There, Atum, a part of the sun god Re, appeared out of a watery void (Nun) on a hill. He created himself out of air (Shu) and moisture (Tefnet). Atum also established the order of Egypt's universe. Atum's offspring gave birth to the earth (Geb) and the sky (Nut). They, in turn, gave rise to other Egyptian deities such as Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys. Another story about Egypt's creation occurs in the city of Hermopolis. There, eight paired divinities defined the void before creation. In this version, Re was creator because without the sun, life could not exist. Re supposedly cried, and the tears he shed became humankind....