History Detectives
This type of social scientist acts like a detective by digging up and studying objects left behind by people long ago.
What is an Archaeologist?
In 1940, four teenagers in Lascaux, France, accidentally discovered a cave filled with paintings of these.
What are Animals?
This word means the time period before people began writing down history.
What is Prehistoric?
Early humans made paint by grinding up colorful minerals and mixing the powder with animal fat or this liquid.
What is Oil?
Which social scientist asks, "When did they live here?"
What is a Historian?
This social scientist reads old documents, letters, and diaries to write down what happened in the past and why.
What is a Historian?
Scientists think cave artists built scaffolding out of wood because some paintings were found here.
What is high up on cave ceilings/walls?
Everything around you in a place—including the land, water, plants, animals, and weather—is called this.
What is the Environment?
Early humans used prehistoric tools like scrapers, grinding stones, and tools for doing this to wood or bone.
What is Engraving (or carving)?
Which social scientist asks, "How did they use their environment to survive?"
What is a Geographer?
This expert studies landforms, water, plants, animals, and maps out human-made features like roads and bridges.
What is a Geographer?
Many handprints found on cave walls are very small, leading scientists to think they were made by these people.
Who are Children?
A special action or ceremony that is done for religious or community reasons is called a..
What is a Ritual?
One reason scientists think early humans painted animals was to capture the animal's...
What are Magical powers?
Social scientists who study prehistoric times face this huge challenge because writing hadn't been invented yet.
What is a lack of evidence (or written records)?
Any object that was made or used by people in the past—like a spear, tool, or pot—is called this.
What is an Artifact?
Researchers noticed that when they sang in a cave in France, the sound was loudest near these specific spots.
What are the painted areas?
How something feels when you touch it, or how its surface looks, is known as its...
What is Texture?
If an ancient carved spear thrower is found, it tells us that the person who owned it was likely a...
What is a Hunter?
If you want to know who creates maps of Earth's natural and human-made features, you'd ask for this expert.
What is a Geographer?
People who study the past are most like this type of job because they look for clues to solve mysteries.
What is a Detective?
Cave art helps us answer what kinds of animals lived long ago, but it is very hard to use cave art to figure out this detail about the painters.
What is WHY they painted them (or what language they spoke)?
Shapes like triangles, squares, and circles found in cave art are called this type of pattern.
What are Geometric shapes?
Historians read old letters and diaries to find out not just what happened in the past, but also...
What is WHY it happened?
Ancient history covers the distant past, starting from the earliest humans all the way up to these.
What are the first great civilizations?