HISTORIAN’S APPRENTICE ACTIVITY:A

1. HISTORIAN’S APPRENTICE ACTIVITY:A How do we learn about the past?

2. DAY ONE

3. Step 1 • Read the following letter from the National Archaeology Society. • While you are reading, I will handout the Field Terminology/Report Terminology Record.

4. Letter

5. How do we find out what’s happening? • AT SCHOOL: • Announcements • School Paper • Bulletin Boards • Letters home • Web Site • Assemblies

6. How do we find out what’s happening? • IN OUR WORLD: • Internet • Newspapers • Conversations • The News

7. 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.

8. 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???

9. “I Phone” • Describe it. • What does it reveal about the owner? • What type of “evidence” would this be? *** Be sure to explain your answers.

10. 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.

11. What would you do if you couldn’t identify a particular “primary source” or its purpose?

12. 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”.

13. 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?

14. 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 one’s own preferences and experiences).

15. 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?

17. 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”.

18. What next??? • Work on your own or with a partner and finish up the “Historian’s Apprentice Terminology Records Handout. • If and when you finish, work on your Historian’s Toolbox Unit Essentials Handout. Due: Thursday 9/1/11 • HISTORIAN’S TOOLBOX TEST: Thurs. 9/1/11

19. DAY TWO

20. 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.

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

22. 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?

23. The Artifacts What were they???

24. 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 it’s modern “Egyptian/Arabic”, and at the bottom the language is “Greek”. • Importance: Allowed historians to interpret the meaning of the hieroglyphics.

25. 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 aren’t sure.

26. 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.

27. 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?

28. A.5 – BABYLONIAN STELE • Reveals a figure and cuneiform on sandstone. • Created to celebrate the rebuilding of the city of Babylon in 672 BC.

29. 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!

30. 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.

31. 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?

32. A.9 – “CAT” SCAN OF KING TUT’S SKULL • CAT scan conducted by Egyptian scientists. • Scan revealed that King Tut’s femur was broken. How did it happen? Why did he die so young? How did he die?