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How do we learn about the past?

But… How do we know if this information is

accurate? Find Evidence Types of

Evidence: Written Sources Artifacts Media

Use multiple sources

Authenticate sources

Analyze author’s intent

Types of Evidence

Written Sources

Primary Sources

Written during time period

Firsthand accounts of events/ people

Documents, photos, letters, diaries, etc.

Secondary Sources

Written about time period

Created by people who didn’t (or couldn’t) witness event

Biographies, textbooks, Internet, etc.

Artifacts

Objects

Anything created/used by humans

Art, tools, weapons, etc.

Fossils

Preserved organic (natural) matter

Human, animal, or plant remains

Any information source

Media

Who is doing all of this?

Anthropology: the

study of humanity; how past and present cultures live.

Archeology: study of past cultures using artifacts left behind.

History: study of past societies/events primarily using written records.

What kind of evidence is this? What does this object reveal about its owner? What does it say about the society? What can we speculate (educated guess

based on evidence) about the values, traditions, society, etc.?

Historical Questioning

But beware of…

Assumptions: guesses made without evidence

Multiple Perspectives: two people can see one object in different ways

Bias: making a judgment based on YOUR beliefs

Object 1

Object 1

Spear head and arrow heads

Object 2

Rosetta Stone 196 BCE The same thing is written

in three languages (Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Egyptian Script, and Greek) Gave historians the

key to understanding how to read hieroglyphs

Object 3

Cave Painting from Lascaux, France.

Over 16,000 years old Uses?

To tell a story To record an event

(history) Religious purposes

Object 4

An incomplete knife/sword with scabbard

Object 5

Assyrian carving Commemorating

Assurbanipal (last king) Inscriptions to describe

Object 6

Roman box flue from England Placed in floors or walls to

allow hot air to rise from below to heat the room

Object 7

Harappa stone seals (from 2500 BCE India) Pressed into wax, etc.

to leave a “signature”

Object 8

Secondary Source about Egyptian sarcophagus.