HISTORIAN

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HISTORIANS APPRENTICE ACTIVITYA

• How do we learn about the past?

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DAY ONE
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Step 1

• Read the following letter from the National
  Archaeology Society.
• While you are reading, I will handout the Field
  Terminology/Report Terminology Record.

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Letter
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How do we find out whats happening?

• AT SCHOOL
• Announcements
• School Paper
• Bulletin Boards
• Letters home
• Web Site
• Assemblies

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How do we find out whats happening?

• IN OUR WORLD
• Internet
• Newspapers
• Conversations
• The News

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How do we verify that the information is accurate?

• What is evidence?
• Evidence Factual information used for analysis
  or evaluation.
• What types of evidence are there?
• - See your Field Terminology Record
  Handout.

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Types of Evidence

• Primary Sources Documents or other artifacts
  created by people present at historical events
  either as witnesses or participants.
• Artifacts Objects that people in the past made
  or used.
• Fossils any remains, impression, or trace of a
  living thing of a former geologic age.
• Secondary Sources An account that is produced
  after a historical event by people who were not
  present at the actual event.
• Examples???

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I Phone

• Describe it.
• What does it reveal about the owner?
• What type of evidence would this be?
• Be sure to explain your answers.

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Refer to your Field Terminology Record
Definitions Handout

• Speculate (take an educated guess)
• What might any primary source reveal about
  a
• - particular person, event, society, or
  historical period?
• Examples values/beliefs, personal
  preferences, climate/geography, level of
  technology, and position in society.

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What would you do if you couldnt identify a
particular primary source or its purpose?
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SPECULATE Do this individually.

• What is its function?
• When might you use this?
• Who might use this?
• Does it have more than one use?
• Give it a name that relates to its function.

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ASSUMPTIONS

• What kinds of assumptions (something that is
  believed to be true without proof or direct
  evidence) did you make about the object? the
  person who would use it? what kind of society did
  you assume that person came from?
• Compare your assumptions.
• Why might there be differences?

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MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES

• These differences are common.
• Different people see things from different points
  of view, or multiple perspectives.
• Can our assumptions reflect any source of
  bias (the tendency to make judgments based on
  ones own preferences and experiences).

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BIAS

• How might bias affect the accurate evaluation
  of a primary source?
• What might you do to be more certain about your
  theories or conclusions?

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WHAT IS THE POINT?

• A preconceived idea will affect what you think
  you see.
• This is a good example of the limitations of
  unsubstantiated assumptions and possible faulty
  conclusions as a result of bias.

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What next???

• Work on your own or with a partner and finish up
  the Historians Apprentice Terminology Records
  Handout.
• If and when you finish, work on your Historians
  Toolbox Unit Essentials Handout. Due Thursday
  9/1/11
• HISTORIANS TOOLBOX TEST Thurs. 9/1/11

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DAY TWO
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GROUP ASSIGNMENT

• Must have 3 people in your group. No more no
  less.
• Fill in and read the Team Assignment Roster and
  Task Sheet.
• After you finish reading, send a representative
  from your group to pick up your first artifact.
• You will have 5-7 minutes to complete the Dig
  Reevaluation Report for each artifact. We will
  then rotate artifacts on my command.

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GROUP ASSIGNMENT

• Staple your Team Assignment roster and Task
  Handout to your individual Dig Reevaluation
  Report and turn them in.

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CLASS DISCUSSION

• How could we use these artifacts from our
  remote past and use them to help make a
  historical account?
• What impact could your assumptions and bias
  have had on your Dig Reevaluation Reports?
• What did you learn that can help you in World
  History class? Your everyday life?

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The Artifacts

• What were they???

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A.1 ROSETTA STONE

• Found along the Rosetta River in 1799.
  Deciphered in 1821.
• Believed to be created in the year 200 BC.
• Writing at the top is hieroglyphics, in the
  middle its modern Egyptian/Arabic, and at the
  bottom the language is Greek.
• Importance Allowed historians to interpret the
  meaning of the hieroglyphics.

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A.2 UPPER PALEOLITHIC CAVE ART

• Cave Art from southern Spain.
• It is a hunting scene.
• Gives us insight into the environment, tools and
  strategies used during this time period.
• Was this a spiritual ritual? Maybe speculation.
  Scholars arent sure.

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A.3 Scapula Bone

• It is a 12 inch ox bone.
• Found along with others in a roadside ditch.
• Believed to have been used as a shovel.

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A.4 IRON ARTIFACT

• Origins Britain around 550 BC.
• It is a dagger made from iron and covered in
  bronze.
• Probably a weapon used by a tribal chieftain of a
  warlike society. Why did he need this?

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A.5 BABYLONIAN STELE

• Reveals a figure and cuneiform on sandstone.
• Created to celebrate the rebuilding of the city
  of Babylon in 672 BC.

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A.6 ROMAN TILE

• Found at a Roman site in England.
• Thought to be a flue tile. This is what we
  would call duct work. Think of your furnace at
  home!

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A.7 HARAPPAN ARTIFACTS

• From the Indus River Civilization.
• Believed to be seals used by civil officials to
  stamp wax.
• Scholars cannot decipher what they say!
• Have found over 2000 of them.

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A.8 NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

• Article tells the story of a recently discovered
  2300 year old mummy.
• Considered to be the most beautifully decorated
  one to date. Why?

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A.9 CAT SCAN OF KING TUTS SKULL

• CAT scan conducted by Egyptian scientists.
• Scan revealed that King Tuts femur was broken.
  How did it happen? Why did he die so young? How
  did he die?