Process Paper:

               I decided to do a project about the Rosetta Stone after my brothers suggested the topic to me. At first, I was going to do a project about Marie Curie or the history of cartography. However, once I started surface-level research on my potential topic ideas through using Wikipedia, I found myself gravitating towards the Rosetta Stone. I had always been interested in ancient civilizations and the Egyptian culture, so it only made sense to do a project on what fascinated me the most. Upon researching, I discovered that Jean-Francois Champollion deciphered the artifact that cracked the code to ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, which would correlate to the annual breaking barrier theme. I started my research by using Wikipedia to find a general idea of keywords, so I could conduct further research. Using those keywords, I researched using recommended databases, such as Jstor and World Digital Library. I also used many other websites to clarify information, including History and Encyclopaedia Britannica. Using a combination of handwritten and digital notes, I organized my information into multiple categories that would correlate to my finished project. After looking at the project options, I decided to create a website. I chose the website option because I have made multiple websites for my previous classes. I also took a computer science class as an elective class last year, so I have some background knowledge with coding websites. I created my website by using the NHDWebCentral website maker. I started out with planning the topics and subtopics that I would use to organize my information on my final website in a notebook. I then started to make my tabs on my website using the auto navigation bar. I had many troubles making my website design, such as forming my header on every page, margins on images and text, and especially the link blocks that would not change their titles. After getting help from my peers, teachers, and emailing the NHD website email, I was able to create a website design that I am fairly proud of. My project on the Rosetta Stone relates to the 2020 topic of Breaking Barriers because of the stone’s discovery and decipherment. The Rosetta Stone was written in three different scripts: common Egyptian known as Demotic, Ancient Greek, and hieroglyphics. Although people did not know how to translate hieroglyphics, Ancient Greek and Demotic had been documented fairly well. This allowed Jean-Francois Champollion and Thomas Young to use their knowledge of ancient Greek, Demotic, and another language called Coptic to translate the artifact’s message. Their findings would become a historical breakthrough in Egyptian studies. Now that hieroglyphics were no longer an enigma, the field of Egyptology was able to be developed and Champollion would be the first modern person to be able to read the hieroglyphic script. The barrier of the unknown script was broken, allowing other artifacts, temple walls, and papyrus scrolls encrypted with hieroglyphics could be translated. Secrets of the ancient Egyptian culture, languages, and religions could be uncovered.