Chapters 1-5
Investigating the Past
In this class you will study ancient history. That
means that we will study history from the earliest
humans to the first great civilizations.
• Five kinds of experts
that study the past
(social scientists):
 archeologists
 historians
 geographers
 anthropologists
 paleoanthropologists
Archeologists
Did you know??
Archeology is spelled two
different ways: archeology
and also archaeology. Both
spellings are considered
correct!
Archeologists study the past by
examining objects that
people of the past left
behind. These include
fossils, bones, and artifacts
like tools, weapons, coins,
clothing and anything else
made or used by people.
Examining artifacts give
archeologists CLUES about
what life was like for those
people.
Historians
Historians are most concerned
with the last 3,000 years of
the past. Why? Well, that’s
because historians mainly
study written records.
Anything written down can
give historians clues about
the people and events of
the past. Books, letters,
diaries, speeches, business
records, marks on ancient
tombs, old maps, songbooks,
and etc. are studied by
historians.
Artifact OR Fossil
Fossils are remains,
impressions, or traces of a
living thing of a former
geologic age, such as a
skeleton, footprint, a bug
trapped in a hardened glob
of amber, etc.
So, how do we distinguish
between an artifact and a
fossil?
BUT
Artifacts are objects made
by a human, especially a
tool, weapon, or ornament.
Now, you tell me the difference in your own word.
Identify the artifacts
Geographers
Geographers study natural features of
the Earth, as well as human-made
features. They study water, landforms,
plants, animals, towns, roads, bridges,
dams, and etc. They study and create
maps based on their findings and try to
answer questions about the people
based on their environment and
surroundings.
Anthropologists
Anthropology is the
scientific study of the
origin, the behavior, and
the physical, social, and
cultural development of
humans.
Anthropologists study
human development and
culture. They get
evidence from fossils,
artifacts, and even stories
from the oral tradition.
The prefix paleo- means
ancient
Paleoanthropologists study the human
development and culture of ancient people.
They especially study the earliest hominidsour earliest ancestors.
Did you know that anything
prehistoric
means before history AND history
means “during the time of writing?”
In order for a culture or society to be
considered a civilization, social
scientists have to discover a writing
system being used in the culture they
are studying. One problem: some
societies keep records through the
oral tradition only.
Elements of Civilization
Civilization
When social scientists record
information about a culture,
society, or civilization, they have
to use both written and nonwritten sources. They also have
to take into consideration who the
source was, the kind of source,
when and where the source was
produced, and why it was
produced.
Let’s talk about this…
Sources
Primary sources
• Primary sources are
the most valuable.
They are produced
during the same
time period as the
events they
describe. These
sources are usually
most accurate.
Secondary sources
• Secondary sources
are materials that
were created later by
people who studied
the original sources.
They are less
accurate since they
are more open to the
personal bias and
interpretation of the
producer.
Paleoanthropologists study ancient
humans and their culture.
Paleoanthropologists are
responsible for finding the
earliest human ancestorshominids- and tracking
their development into
modern humans.
They make hypotheses
about the culture and daily
lives of early humans
based on the artifacts and
fossils that they find.
They also track the movements and migrations
of humans from Africa to all over the world.
Hunter-Gatherers
Bands
• All hominids survived by
gathering food, and by either
scavenging or hunting meat.
Many were nomadic, moving
from place to place to live
according to food supply.
• They did this in small groups
so that everyone in a group
could be fed and taken care of
by each other.
• Larger groups cannot survive
this way, so they lived in
small groups called bands.
Did you know???
There are still
hunter-gatherer
societies in
today’s world.
Check out this band of Kung San
women of the Kalahari Desert
gathering edible grasses, nuts, and
berries which make up 85% of the
entire villages diet. Men usually do
the hunting (15% of their diet).
What makes modern man special?
Adaptation-humans learned to change as
our environment changed.
Technology-humans learned how to make
new, more efficient tools to help us survive.
Agricultural Revolution-humans learned
to domesticate (bringing under our control)
plants and animals.
Division of labor-since farming made
enough food for a large amount of people,
everyone did not need to farm. As a result
people had time to develop other jobs,
skills, and talents to help our societies.