🔎 History detectives
What is History?
The study of the past.
What do we call an object made or used by people in the past?
An artefact.
What does BCE stand for?
Before Common Era.
On which continent did modern humans first appear?
Africa.
Where was Ötzi found?
In the Alps / mountains.
What is a primary source?
A source created at the time being studied.
What is an archaeologist?
Someone who studies the past using artefacts and physical evidence.
What is chronology?
The order in which events happened.
What does bipedalism mean?
Walking on two legs.
Why was Ötzi's body so well preserved?
He was frozen in glacier ice.
What is the difference between a primary and secondary source?
Primary = created at the time; secondary = created afterwards.
What is stratigraphy?
The study of layers in the ground.
What is an anachronism?
Something that appears in the wrong time period.
Give ONE reason early humans migrated.
Food, water or better living conditions/new places to live.
What scientific method was used to work out how old Ötzi was?
Carbon dating.
An archaeologist finds an ancient cooking pot. Give ONE thing they could infer from it.
E.g. what people ate, how they cooked, their technology, materials they used.
An artefact is found in the lowest undisturbed layer of an excavation. Is it likely to be older or younger than objects above it? Explain.
Older; lower layers are usually older.
Which dating method would be best for an ancient piece of wood: stratigraphy, radiocarbon dating or guessing from its appearance?
Radiocarbon dating.
According to the Out of Africa Theory, what happened around 60,000 years ago?
Groups of modern humans began leaving Africa and migrating to other continents.
Scientists found an arrowhead embedded in Ötzi's shoulder. What could they infer from this evidence?
He was attacked/shot with an arrow and it may have contributed to his death.
Two historians examine the same source but reach different conclusions. Does this automatically mean one is wrong? Explain.
No. Historians can interpret evidence differently and must support conclusions with evidence.
Why must archaeologists record and photograph an artefact before moving it?
Moving it destroys its original context; its location and surrounding evidence provide important information.
A bone is found underneath a coin in an undisturbed site. What can relative dating tell us, and what can it NOT tell us?
The bone is probably older than the coin, but relative dating cannot give its exact age.
Give TWO types of evidence scientists use to learn about early humans.
Any two: fossils, DNA, ancient tools/artefacts.
Ötzi had worn bones, injuries, clothing, weapons and preserved body tissue. Why is using several pieces of evidence better than relying on just one?
Together they provide stronger evidence and allow historians/scientists to build a more reliable picture of his life and death.