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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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?

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

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

9. Video

10. 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?

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

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

15. Mammoth Bone Pile
North Central Wyoming

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

17. Chopper found in the bone pile

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

19. Chelsea Michigan,
October, 2015

26. ACTIVITY

27. ACTIVITY

28. ACTIVITY

31. The
Vast
Funerary
Complex

32. Tomb 26

33. Inside
the Tomb

34. The
Great Altar
The essence of religious communication

35. The
Inner
Chamber
and
sarcophagus

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

37. The
Sacred Pendant
Found lodged in the floor of the sarcophagus

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

39. 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.

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

41. Dr. Carson’s assistant dressed as the High Celebrant

42. Dr. Carson and the Sacred Urn

43. 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?

44. Charcoal Drawings of Two Rhinoceroses?
Charcoal Drawings of Two Rhinoceroses

45. Panels of Three Lion Heads?
Panels of Three Lion Heads

48. ACTIVITY

50. Entrance to the Chauvet Cave

52. How can we figure out how old these paintings are????
How can we figure out how old these paintings are????

53. Artifacts in this layer
Artifacts in this layer are older than

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

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

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

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

59. ACTIVITY

62. 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.