Ancient Worlds Chapter 2 Puzzling Pieces Copy the blue print, it means they are Key Ideas or Key Words 1
Artifacts: Pieces of the Past Artifacts are human made objects that teach us about the society and people who made them within that time period. It is difficult to find out about the ancient past, as there is little evidence left behind, other than skeletons, tools, and fossils When we look at artifacts we need to infer, or use educated guesses to decide whom it came from, what time period, what it was used for etc. 2
Archaeologists scientists who collect and study the remains of past human activity. try to explain what life was like for ancient peoples look at items such as stone tools, pottery (shards), animal and human bones, and paintings most common artifacts found called shardsbroken pieces of pottery can use advanced technology to date artifacts 3
Learning how to put the pieces together There are no real written records of prehistoric societies, making archaeologists depend on skills to analyze artifacts They must make a hypothesis (educated guess) then look for additional evidence to prove if their guess was right or wrong. 4
How to make Hypotheses 1.Define the Question What do you want to know? 2.Collect Evidence What you know, ask questions, research 3.Examine Evidence Analyze, organize, summarize 4.Make your Hypotheses Write your guess in a sentence 5.Test your Hypotheses Experiment, get more info, common sense, does it make sense? 5
Activity! With a partner, discuss the artifacts below. Speculate about what they are and what they tell you about the lives of the people who used them. Justify your hypotheses to your partner. 6
Digging Up the Past Trash can be useful as remains have been found in early settlement sites or on floors of caves, such as bones of animals people have eaten Find most evidence buried in ground where they plan an excavation-a dig where they look at the different layers in the soil which reflect the different environmental factors or human activities, and look for various artifacts Where the archaeologists find the artifacts is important as they can look at their location in relation to other artifacts Excavators use fine brushes to uncover breakable objects 7
Earliest Human Settlement Isernia La Pineta earliest known human settlement Europe, 700 000 years ago Found while building highway river flooding - silt (fine sand in a river) ; volcanic ash natural processes buried the ancient artifacts layers protected artifacts from atmosphere; preserved them Found 14 habitations, or human settlements at different depths Plant and animal remains meant these people hunted and gathered for food. The bones showed they ate the marrow, the soft material on the inside of a bone. 8
How do you think they made this inference? Scientists found more plant-eating animal remains than meat-eating, and more older animals than younger What kind of hypothesis could you make from this information? 9
Scientific Techniques Comparison- archaeologists compare finds with similar ones found at other sites Statistical analysis - archaeologists count the various types of remains Chemical analysis archaeologists measure the amount of chemicals in the remains Dating - carbon-14 dating, a common test measures how much of this is in an object, it decreases over time so it gives a timeline Remote Sensing - special satellites that can measure light reflecting off earth s surface, shows hidden ancient roads, field, buildings 10
Cool Story! Over 30 years ago, in a city called Laetoli, Tanzania, something very cool was discovered! Listen to your classmates presentation on THE LAETOLI FOOTPRINTS! 11
Cool Story! Over 30 years ago, in a city called Laetoli, Tanzania, something very cool was discovered! In ancient times, an active volcano erupted and covered the area in ash, which then turned to mud after a heavy rainfall. During this time animals walked across the mud leaving their inprint. Along with these prints, three Australopithecus hominids (very early humans) also dug their feet in the mud! These prints were discovered by Mary Leaky, the famous anthropologist (study human beings and human society). Casts (moulds) were made and Leakey made the wise decision to cover this amazing discovery so that scientists of the future to analyze them using more advanced technology. 12
View this Video on the discovery at Laetoli, Tanzania http://videos.howstuffworks.com/sciencechannel/29288-100-greatest-discoverieslaetoli-footprintsvideo.htm?sort=most_watched&page=3 13
Experimental Archaeology Scientists pretend to be the people they are studying through role-play of ancient times Choose a site with same climate as the one they are studying. They build homes with the same materials used thousands of years ago and live in these homes, using similar tools that were once used. Gives them a better look into the lifestyles of that civilization 14
An Amazing Find! Iceman-a man who lived and died in Europe over 5000 years ago Read the story about the Iceman on pg. 34-35, and look at the picture and read the captions on pg. 36-37, then answer #1 on the Think For Yourself on pg. 39 in a full paragraph answer. 15
ICE MAN 2 Great Internet Sites + Youtube http://www.wilderdom.com/evolution/otziic emanalpspictures.htm http://www.mummytombs.com/main.otzi.ht m Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa3ai Nup7fY WHAT IS SO AMAZING? CREATE YOUR TOP TEN TAKE-AWAYS! 16
So What Do We Know? We are forced to piece together the information and speculate what humans and civilizations were like thousands of years ago History is studying change over time, which helps us understand how cultures are influenced by the changing environment and how people developed skills CE stands for Common Era, which includes all years after and including Year 1. BCE stands for Before the Common Era Stonehenge is believed to have been made around 2550 BCE 17
The Origin of Humans There are two widely held hypothesis It is up to me to educate myself on both, but believe in what I want to believe! 18
1 - CREATIONISM The universe and everything in it was created by a divine being 19
2 - EVOLUTION Is the scientific theory that explains the origin and development of humans has changed gradually over many generations into more complex forms. 20
Big Question What do you think is the most important role of the archaeologist? 21