Focus on the stories. History lessons can get bogged down by dates. Understanding the chronology of history is critical, but sometimes we focus so much on the dates that we forget many of the important events that happened.
To help your students remember these events and people, tell them the stories of history. What is History? History helps us understand change and how the society we live in came to be. When they study the past, historians ask themselves questions. The answers to the questions help historians draw conclusions about the past.
What do archaeologists do? Answer: This scientists learns about early people by digging up and studying things like artifacts and fossils. For archaeology, the trowel is probably the most iconic and most-often used tool. It is the same tool that masons use to apply mortar to brick walls, though in archaeology it is used to excavate in a unit when the space no longer allows for the use of a shovel.
Archaeologists use trowels to scrape away thin layers of soil from test units , or holes in the ground. Of course, archaeologists use many other tools in the field and lab. They need equipment to dig, sift, measure, and analyze artifacts.
There is a wide array of brushes used to excavate archaeological material. Each has its unique purpose and ability. A hand brush has soft bristles and a strong wooden handle. It is used for to brush back loose sand and soil. Today, researchers supplement bioarchaeology with 3D photography, lidar, satellite imagery, and more.
Q2: Why do historians and archaeologists use various sources to study about our past? Ans: … Once these sources are found, learning about the past becomes an adventure, and gradually history is reconstructed.
That is why historians and archaeologists use various sources to study about our past. Just like detectives investigate and collect evidence, archaeologists and historians find archaeological clues such as broken pots from earlier time periods, written records and manuscripts to know about the past. They use two types of clues that are the sources of history; archaeological and literary. A person who studies history is called a historian. A person who studies pre-history and history through things left behind by ancient cultures is called an archaeologist.
Answer: Archaeologists reconstruct the past by a study of the artefacts which they unearth such as seals, coins , remains of buildings, clay, pots or burnt grains.
Archaeologists try to find about the prevalence of agriculture by finding the remains of burnt grains. Come back next month to dig even deeper and explore how archaeologists know where to dig in the first place! Archaeology Exhibit Dr. Purchase Museum Admission online here. Alt Sidebar. Introduction After digging deeper into what archaeology is last month, you now know that archaeology is the study of human history, prehistory, and past cultures through the excavation of sites and the analysis of material remains.
Archaeologists use smaller tools such as brushes to carefully remove dirt from artifacts. A Total Station Theodolite is an electronic tool used during a survey that measures distance, slope, angles, and the elevation of a feature at an archaeological site. Conclusion Archaeologists use many different tools when surveying and excavating sites. Previous Artifact of the Week: Chinese Dinnerware. Some of the most valuable written records are everyday items, such as shopping lists and tax forms.
Latin , the language of ancient Rome, helps archaeologists understand artifacts and features discovered in parts of the Roman Empire. Many ancient civilizations had complex writing systems that archaeologists and linguist s are still working to decipher. The written system of the Maya n language, for instance, remained a mystery to scholar s until the 20th century. The Maya were one of the most powerful pre-Columbian civilizations in North America, and their Central American temple s and manuscripts are inscribe d with a collection of squared glyph s, or symbols.
A series of circles and lines represents numbers. By deciphering the Mayan script, archaeologists were able to trace the ancestry of Mayan kings and chart the development of their calendar and agricultural seasons.
Understanding the basics of the Mayan writing system helps archaeologists discover how Mayan culture functioned—how they were governed, how they trade d with some neighbors and went to war with others, what they ate, and what gods they worshipped. As archaeologists become more fluent in Mayan writing, they are making new discoveries about the culture every day. Today, some archaeologists work with linguists and poets to preserve the once-lost Mayan language.
People have dug up monument s and collected artifacts for thousands of years. Often, these people were not scholars, but looter s and grave robber s looking to make money or build up their personal collections.
For instance, grave robbers have been plunder ing the magnificent tombs of Egypt since the time the Pyramids were built. Grave robbing was such a common crime in ancient Egypt that many tombs have hidden chambers where the family of the deceased would place treasures. In Egypt in the mids, an Egyptian man searching for a lost goat stumbled across the tomb of Pharaoh Ramses I. Many archaeologists doubt this story and say grave robbers, working as an organized group, routinely scouted and plundered many tombs in the area.
Ramses I ruled for a short time in the s BCE. Besides the body of the pharaoh, the tomb held artifacts such as pottery , paintings, and sculpture. The man sold the mummies and artifacts from the tomb to anyone who would pay. The mummy of Ramses I wound up in a museum in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, where it remained until the museum closed in The Canadian museum sold the Egyptian collection to the Michael C.
Ramses I was returned to Egypt in One of the most well-known archaeological finds is the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun , also known as King Tut. Unlike many other Egyptian tombs, grave robbers had never discovered King Tut. His resting place lay undisturbed for thousands of years, until it was discovered in In addition to mummies of Tutankhamun and his family, the tomb contained some 5, artifacts. Many early archaeologists worked in the service of invading armies. When Gen. Napoleon Bonaparte of France successfully invaded Egypt in , he brought artists, archaeologists, and historians to document the conquest.
Some archaeologists of this time were wealthy adventurers, explorer s, and merchant s. These amateur archaeologists often had a sincere interest in the culture and artifacts they studied. However, their work is often regarded as an example of colonialism and exploit ation. The so-called Elgin Marbles are an example of this controversy. In , Greece had been taken over by the Ottoman Empire. The British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Lord Elgin, received permission to remove half of the sculptures from the famous Acropolis of Athens, Greece.
These marble sculptures were a part of buildings such as the Parthenon. Lord Elgin claimed he wanted to protect the valuable sculptures from damage caused by conflict between the Greeks and the Ottomans. The government of Greece has been lobby ing for the return of the Elgin Marbles ever since. Most Greeks view the sculptures as part of their cultural heritage. Greece has cut off diplomatic relations to the United Kingdom several times, demanding the return of the sculptures, which remain in the British Museum in London.
Eventually, archaeology evolved into a more system atic discipline. Scientists started using standard weights and measures and other formal ized methods for recording and removing artifacts.
They required detailed drawings and drafts of the entire dig site, as well as individual pieces. Archaeologists began to work with classicist s, historians, and linguists to develop a unified picture of the past.
In the 20th century, archaeologists began to re- assess their impact on the cultures and environments where they dig. Today, in most countries, archaeological remains become the property of the country where they were found, regardless of who finds them. Egypt, for example, is scattered with archaeological sites sponsored by American universities. These teams must obtain permission from the Egyptian government to dig at the sites, and all artifacts become the property of Egypt.
Disciplines of Archaeology Archaeology is based on the scientific method. Archaeologists ask questions and develop hypotheses. They use evidence to choose a dig site, then use scientific sampling techniques to select where on the site to dig.
They observe, record, categorize, and interpret what they find. Then they share their results with other scientists and the public. Underwater archaeologist s study materials at the bottom of lakes, rivers, and oceans.
Underwater archaeology encompasses any prehistoric and historic periods, and almost all sub-disciplines as archaeology. Artifacts and features are simply submerge d. Artifacts studied by underwater archaeologists could be the remains of a shipwreck. Ballard and other scientists used sonar to locate the wreck, which had been lost since the ocean liner sank. Underwater archaeology includes more than just shipwrecks, however. Sites include hunt camps on the continental shelf of the Gulf of Mexico, and portions of the ancient city of Alexandria, Egypt, submerged due to earthquake s and sea level rise.
This basic framework carries across many different disciplines, or areas of study, within archaeology. Prehistoric and Historic Archaeology There are two major disciplines of archaeology: prehistoric archaeology and historic archaeology.
Within these groups are subdiscipline s, based on the time period studied, the civilization studied, or the types of artifacts and features studied. Prehistoric archaeology deals with civilizations that did not develop writing. Artifacts from these societies may provide the only clues we have about their lives.
Archaeologists studying the Clovis people , for instance, have only arrowheads—called projectile point s— and stone tools as artifacts. The unique projectile points were first discovered in Clovis, New Mexico, in the United States, and the culture was named after the town. So-called Clovis point s establish the Clovis people as one of the first inhabitants of North America. Archaeologists have dated Clovis points to about 13, years ago.
A subdiscipline of prehistoric archaeology is paleopathology. Paleopathology is the study of disease in ancient cultures. Paleopathology is also a subdiscipline of historical archaeology.
Paleopathologists may investigate the presence of specific diseases, what areas lacked certain diseases, and how different communities reacted to disease. By studying the history of a disease, paleopathologists may contribute to an understanding of the way modern diseases progress.
By studying the teeth of ancient people, for example, paleopathologists can deduce what kinds of food they ate, how often they ate, and what nutrient s the foods contained. Historic archaeology incorporates written records into archaeological research. One of the most famous examples of historic archaeology is the discovery and decipherment of the Rosetta Stone.
The Rosetta Stone is a large slab of marble discovered near Rashid, Egypt, by French archaeologists in It became an important tool of historic archaeology. The stone is inscribed with a decree made on behalf of Pharaoh Ptolemy V. The decree was written and carved into the stone in three different languages: hieroglyphic, demotic , and Greek. Hieroglyphics are the picture-symbols used for formal documents in ancient Egypt. Demotic is the informal script of ancient Egypt.
Before the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, Egyptologist s did not understand hieroglyphics or demotic. They could, however, understand Greek. Using the Greek portion of the Rosetta Stone, archaeologists and linguists were able to translate the text and decipher hieroglyphs. This knowledge has contributed vastly to our understanding of Egyptian history. Historic archaeology contributes to many disciplines, including religious studies. The Dead Sea Scrolls , for instance, are a collection of about documents.
The tightly rolled parchment and other writing sheets were found between and in 11 caves near Qumran, West Bank, near the Dead Sea. Discovery of the scrolls has increased our knowledge of the development of Judaism and Christianity. A subdiscipline of historic archaeology is industrial archaeology. Industrial archaeologists study materials that were created or used after the Industrial Revolution of the s and s.
The Industrial Revolution was strongest in Western Europe and North America, so most industrial archaeologists study artifacts found there.
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