Introduction to history

Question 1

Name 8 things historians are interested in

Answer 1

1. The types of houses people lived in 2.The type of food they ate 3.The types of clothes they wore 4.Tools and weapons
2. Burial customs 6.The jobs at which they worked
3. How they spent their leisure time 8.The sports people played

Question 2

What is the prehistoric period?

Answer 2

The prehistoric period is before writing was used – we rely on archaeology for our evidence of this period

Question 3

What is the historic period?

Answer 3

The historic period is when people used writing

Question 4

What is the difference between prehistory & history?

Answer 4

Prehistory is the time before writing was used and history is the time when writing was used

Question 5

What is a source?

Answer 5

It is evidence, for example documents and pictures, used by historians to find out what happened in the past

Question 6

Name five types of things that could be a source

Answer 6

It can be written, spoken, visual or an object from the past

Question 7

what is evidence?

Answer 7

your basis for belief or disbelief

Question 8

how are historians like detectives?

Answer 8

Historians try to piece together the story of what happened from the evidence available
These sources are like clues

Question 9

What is a primary source?

Answer 9

a source that comes directly from the past

Question 10

What is a secondary source?

Answer 10

Evidence that comes at a later date – they are written after the event and based on primary sources

Question 11

where might a historian go to look at a source?

Answer 11

They may visit a place where written sources are stored
•Archives
•Libraries
•Museums

Question 12

what is the first step a historian takes when investigating a source?

Answer 12

read or look at the source carefully

Question 13

what are the questions a historian first asks about a source?

Answer 13

Where was it created?
•When was it made?
•Why was it made?
•By whom?

Question 14

what are the last steps a historian takes? to do with checking a sources reliability?

Answer 14

1. Examine how close the author was to the event being described – this is the time and place rule i.e. an eyewitness account is more important 2.Judge if the source is reliable - Bias, Propaganda, Accuracy, Exaggeration, Time and Place, Opinions.
2. Use as many sources as possible to make sure their story is accurate – this is called cross-checking

Question 15

how will historians measure time if the event is very detailed or over a short period of time?

Answer 15

months, days or even hours

Question 16

What does BC mean?

Answer 16

An event that happened before Christ

Question 17

What do we use to describe an event that happened before Christ?

Answer 17

BCE - Before the Common Era

Question 18

What does BCE mean?

Answer 18

Before the common era

Question 19

What is AD?

Answer 19

Anno Domini - After the birth of Christ

Question 20

What do we use to describe after the birth of Christ?

Answer 20

CE - the Common era

Question 21

What does CE stand for?

Answer 21

the common era

Question 22

what is a century?

Answer 22

100 years

Question 23

what is a millenium?

Answer 23

1000 years

Question 24

what are two things historians use to show the order in which things happen?

Answer 24

a timeline and dates and times.

Question 25

what do historians mostly put when studying the lives of famous people?

Answer 25

When studying the lives of famous people, historians will put the year they were born and died in brackets after it i.e. Michael Collins (1890 – 1922)

Question 26

when do historians put the year that someone was born and died in brackets after their name?

Answer 26

when studying the lives of famous people

Question 27

what is archaeology?

Answer 27

The study of the remains left by our ancestors

Question 28

what are artefacts?

Answer 28

Objects made by humans, e.g. coins, tools and pottery

Question 29

What is to excavate?

Answer 29

When archaeologists dig in the ground looking for remains from the past

Question 30

what are sources?

Answer 30

Evidence, for example documents and pictures, used by historians to find out what happened in the past

Question 31

What is history?

Answer 31

Definition of History : The study of events that happened in the past and the story of human activity

Question 32

give some ways that objects end up in the ground

Answer 32

Some are lost •They can be put in the ground for safe-keeping and forgotten about •In pre-Christian times they were buried with dead people •Buildings abandoned and over time covered in soil

Question 33

what was done in pre-Christian times that led to the burial of artefacts?

Answer 33

In pre-Christian times they were buried with dead people

Question 34

when are bodies often well preserved?

Answer 34

if they are found in… •very cold conditions •very wet conditions •very dry conditions

Question 35

give an example of bodies that were well preserved because of certain conditions

Answer 35

e.g. bodies have been found in bogs in Ireland and the pharaohs were found very well preserved in the desert in Egypt

Question 36

what ways are sites chosen for excavation?

Answer 36

Research archaeology Rescue archaeology Accident

Question 37

What is research archaeology?

Answer 37

when a site is chosen because there is evidence that objects could be found

Question 38

what is rescue archaeology?

Answer 38

archaeologists sometimes dig on a site before a new road or building is built to make sure no evidence from the past is lost

Question 39

what does it mean by accident?

Answer 39

people can find a historical site by accident.

Question 40

name things that may be done in preparation for excavating a site

Answer 40

``` Survey •Geophysical survey •Dig test trenches •Aerial photographs •Detailed plan ```

Question 41

what is a geophysical survey?

Answer 41

Geophysical survey refers to the collection of information associated with subsurface features, such as burials on land or shipwrecks underwater.

Question 42

what are test trenches?

Answer 42

exploratory trenches which are excavated to find out the presence, condition and date of any archaeological remains which may be present.

Question 43

what are aerial photographs?

Answer 43

Aerial photography is the taking of photographs of the ground from an elevated position. Usually the camera is not supported by a ground-based structure.

Question 44

what is a detailed plan?

Answer 44

a drawn record of features and/or artefacts

Question 45

what is the first step that is usually taken during a dig?

Answer 45

the topsoil is removed with a JCB

Question 46

Name archaeological tools other than a JCB

Answer 46

- a hand-pick - Brushes - A sieve - A camera

Question 47

What is a JCB?

Answer 47

a type of digger

Question 48

what do archaeologists do after the dig?

Answer 48

Archaeologists record and date what they have found | Objects are cleaned, bagged and labelled

Question 49

What are the methods we use to find out how old an object is?

Answer 49

Stratigraphy Dendrochronology Carbon or Radiocarbon dating

Question 50

what can we learn from a skeleton?

Answer 50

``` Male or female •Height of the person •The age •Cause of death •Facial reconstruction Their diet DNA evidence ```

Question 51

what is stratigraphy?

Answer 51

Stratigraphy is a method of dating that dates objects depending on how deep they are found in the ground. As a rule, the deeper an object is found, the older it is.

Question 52

what is dendrochronology?

Answer 52

a method of dating used to date wood by studing the number of rings in the wood and the patterns of them. Each year a tree grows a new ring.

Question 53

What is carbon dating?

Answer 53

a complex scientific method of dating objects that once lived by measuring the amount of carbon 14 left in it (when they die the amount of carbon 14 decreases, the older it is, the less carbon 14.

Question 54

what is the main rule of stratigraphy?

Answer 54

the deeper an object is, the older it is

Question 55

What is one thing dendrochronology measures?

Answer 55

the number of rings in the wood

Question 56

each __________ a tree grows a new __________

Answer 56

each year a tree grows a new ring

Question 57

does the amount of carbon in something that once lived increase or decrease when it dies?

Answer 57

it decreases

Question 58

what happens to objects that once lived when they die?

Answer 58

the amount of carbon 14 in them decreases