Who? What? Where?
What is a historian?
A person who studies and interprets the past using evidence.
This is the word for closely examining a source and using evidence to figure out what it tells us.
What is analyzing?
This is the term for evidence created during the time period being studied, by someone who was actually there
What is a primary source?
These are the two rivers Mesopotamia was located between.
What are the Tigris and Euphrates?
You find an old drawing of a farmer working near a river. Before trusting it, this is the first question you should ask
What is "who made this (and when)?"
What is the difference between a fact and an interpretation?
A fact is something supported by evidence; an interpretation is an explanation or conclusion based on evidence.
When a historian compares two sources to see if they agree or disagree, this is called what?
What is corroborating
A diary, a photograph, and a law code are all examples of this type of source
What is a primary source?
Rivers gave Mesopotamian farmers water and this, which let crops grow.
What is fertile soil?
Source A says irrigation made Mesopotamian farming successful. Source B says flooding made farming hard. This is what a historian should do with these two sources.
What is corroborate (compare) them?
historian looks at an ancient letter and asks, "Who wrote this?" This is an example of asking about the source's what?
Author or Creator
If a source leans unfairly toward one side or opinion, we say the source shows what?
What is bias?
This is the term for a source made later that explains or interprets the past.
What is a secondary source?
This is the term for an independent city that governs its own surrounding territory.
What is a city-state?
A king's inscription calls him "beloved by everyone." Name one reason a historian should be cautious about this claim.
What is bias — the king wanted to look good?
A historian asks, "What was going on in the world when this was written?" This is called looking at the source's what
What is the context?
: A king's inscription brags that he is "the greatest ruler who ever lived." A smart historian should NOT do this one thing
Believe it/What is accept it as fact without question?
A history textbook written in 2026 about ancient Mesopotamia is this type of source
What is a secondary source?
This was one of the earliest writing systems, made of wedge-shaped marks pressed into clay tablets.
What is cuneiform?
A law gives wealthy people lighter punishments than poor people. This tells a historian that Mesopotamian society had this
What is unequal treatment / social classes?
A historian asks, "Why did this person make this, and what did they want people to believe?" This is called examining the source's what?
: What is the purpose?
A Babylonian law gives rich people lighter punishments than poor people for the same crime. This is evidence that Babylonian society had these.
What are social classes (inequality)?
An archaeologist finds a clay tablet written by a Mesopotamian scribe thousands of years ago. This is what type of source, and why does that make it valuable
What is a primary source — because it comes directly from the time period?
Historians often call Mesopotamia this nickname, because it was one of the first places with cities, government, and writing
What is the "cradle of civilization"?
One source about Mesopotamia was written by a king; another was written by a modern archaeologist. Which one is automatically more trustworthy?
What is neither — a historian has to check each one's evidence and purpose