The Study of Pre-History Unit 2 Lesson 2 The Study of Pre-History

Perspectives on the Past 1. How old is the universe? ______ years old 2. How old is the earth? 3. When did humans appear on earth? ______ years ago Perspectives on the Past

Age is Relative! 1. What do you think is the oldest thing in our classroom? 2. How old do you think it is? Record your response on your post it note. 3. Place your post it note on the object

Why does this matter? SCIENCE CONNECTION! HOW OLD IS THE AIR? Why does this matter? SCIENCE CONNECTION! All objects are made of _________________ _________________ can neither be created nor destroyed What does this mean for our historical perspective?

Timeline Refresher In composition books write down what B.C.E. and C.E. stand for. What do these mean to us? What might B.P. stand for? Draw a timeline and label The beginning of time The present 0 C.E. Where all years B.C.E. and all years C.E. fall

Timeline Creation and Analysis Organize your events from oldest to most recent Write B.C.E. or C.E. on each event card Add the following numbers to your card. They start with the oldest and move to the most recent. 0, 7.8, 64.7, 69.3, 70.9, 96.11, 98.4, 99.11, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100

Perspectives on the Past 1. How old is the universe? 13 Billion years old 2. How old is the earth? 4.5 Billion years old 3. When did humans appear on earth? 200,000 years ago Perspectives on the Past

Exploring a Timeline BP = Before the Present ACTIVITY Exploring a Timeline BP = Before the Present

Video

How does the video and pace of history change at the half way mark? DISCUSSION What types of artifacts seem to be left behind at the earlier parts of human history? How does the video and pace of history change at the half way mark? What surprised you about the video? What questions does the video raise for you?

This year This unit 500 BP 1500 CE 200,000 BP 200,000 BP 6000 BP 4000 BCE

The Challenge! How do you study people who lived so long ago and who did not leave written records of the way they lived?

Mammoth Bone Pile North Central Wyoming

Excavations at this site produced the bones from at least seven mammoths

Chopper found in the bone pile

What was going on at this site? Archaeologists believe that this site was a mammoth killing and processing center.

Chelsea Michigan, October, 2015

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The Vast Funerary Complex

Tomb 26

Inside the Tomb

The Great Altar The essence of religious communication

The Inner Chamber and sarcophagus

The Ceremonial Burial Cap An extraordinary headdress made especially for the deceased

The Sacred Pendant Found lodged in the floor of the sarcophagus

Musical Instruments Two trumpets on the right. The instrument on the left is probably of the percussion family.

The Sacred Urn The most holy of relics The focal point of the burial ceremony The ranking celebrant, kneeling before the Urn, would chant into it while water from the sacred spring flowed in to mix with sheets of Sacred Parchment.

The Sacred Collar Worn by the ranking celebrant at the final burial ceremony Dated at 2008 CE

Dr. Carson’s assistant dressed as the High Celebrant

Dr. Carson and the Sacred Urn

How difficult would it be to make good guesses about life in the past? DISCUSSION What types of artifacts might humans 10,000 or 30,000 or even 200,000 years ago have left behind? How difficult would it be to make good guesses about life in the past?

Charcoal Drawings of Two Rhinoceroses ? Charcoal Drawings of Two Rhinoceroses

Panels of Three Lion Heads ? Panels of Three Lion Heads

http://donsmaps.com/chauvetcave.html

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http://donsmaps.com/chauvetcave.html

Entrance to the Chauvet Cave http://donsmaps.com/chauvetcave.html

http://donsmaps.com/chauvetcave.html

How can we figure out how old these paintings are???? http://donsmaps.com/chauvetcave.html How can we figure out how old these paintings are????

Artifacts in this layer Artifacts in this layer are older than http://donsmaps.com/chauvetcave.html

http://donsmaps.com/chauvetcave.html

Carbon-14 is present in living things. It decays at a measurable rate. http://donsmaps.com/chauvetcave.html Archaeologists measure the carbon-14 in the remains of plants and/or animals to date excavation sites.

These were charcoal drawings… charcoal is made from wood and therefore can be used for carbon-14 testing.

Testing of three samples taken from the charcoal showed that the paintings were approximately 30,000 years old!

These markings were also found in Chauvet Cave. What do you think they are?????

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Lesson Summary The universe is probably13 billion years old and the earth is probably between 4 or 5 billion years old. However, modern humans are relatively new to the planet. Archaeologists construct accounts of the past from artifacts left behind by early humans. The story of pre-history can be found in clues from a wide range of sources from traces of DNA to murals in Ice Age caves. The questions archaeologists and historians ask of these artifacts shapes our understanding of the past. Collaboration between archaeologists and historians allows us to study a past with no written records.