Chapter 1
Uncovering the Past
By
Mr. Zindman
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Chapter 1: Uncovering the Past
Essential Question:
Why do scholars study the people,
events, and ideas of long ago?
The Big Idea:
How do historians and geographers study the past
in order to learn more about the present?
Section 1: Studying History
People of the ancient world did remarkable things. Among their great
feats was building huge temples, inventing writing, and discovering the
planets.
Every step that we take in our world is based on the ideas from long
ago. We are who we are because of the past!
Common Core Standard: Reading Informational Texts R.I.8.2, Key Ideas and Details. Determine a central idea of a text and
analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective
summary of the text.
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Main Ideas
History is the study of the past.
We can improve our understanding of peoples actions
and beliefs through the study of history.
Historians use clues from various sources to learn
about the past.
Common Core Standard: Reading Informational Texts R.I.8.2, Key Ideas and Details. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over
the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
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What is History?
History is the study of the past, people
who study history are called historians.
Historians are people that try to learn what life is like for
individuals long ago in places around the world.
To understand history, historians study clues and evidence.
Historians will study how the earliest people gathered or hunted for
food. They would study how they made stone tools, grow food, and
raise animals.
Common Core Standard: Reading Informational Texts R.I.8.2, Key Ideas and Details. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over
the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
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Historians would want to know the problems that early people faced. How
did they solve these problems? What were these solutions?
Historians would be interested in how early people led their lives?
Where did they work?
How did they fight?
How did they trade?
How did they farm?
What did they do in their free time?
In other words, historians study the past to understand people’s culture.
Culture is the knowledge, beliefs, customs, and values of a group of people.
Common Core Standard: Reading Informational Texts R.I.8.2, Key Ideas and Details. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over
the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
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What is Archaeology?
Archeology is the study of the past based on
what people have left behind.
Archaeologists, or people who practice
archeology, explore places where people once
lived, worked, or fought.
The things people left in these places may include jewelry, dishes, or
weapons. They range from stone tools to huge buildings.
Archeologists examine the objects they find to learn what they can tell
about the past. In many cases, the objects left behind are the only clues we
have to know how they lived.
Common Core Standard: Reading Informational Texts R.I.8.2, Key Ideas and Details. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over
the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
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Understanding through History-Knowing Yourself
Here is another reason why people study history. Understanding the
past helps us to understand the world today.
History can provide us with a guide to making better decisions in the future.
History teaches us about the experiences
we have been through as a people.
History shapes our identity and teaches us
the values that we share. Values are ideas
that people hold dear and try to live by.
Common Core Standard: Reading Informational Texts R.I.8.2, Key Ideas and Details. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over
the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
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Understanding through History-Knowing Others
History can teach you about yourself. Without your own personal
history you would have an identity.
History teaches us about the experiences we have been through as a
people.
History shapes our identity and
teaches us values that we share.
Common Core Standard: Reading Informational Texts R.I.8.2, Key Ideas and Details.
Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the
text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the
text.
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Knowing Others
History teaches us about other cultures
that are unlike your own. You learn
about other peoples, where they lived,
and what is important to them.
History teaches us how cultures are the same and different. It helps us
understand why people think the way they do and about the struggles they
have faced. You also learn how these struggles have affected the way people
view themselves and others. In other words, different cultures have
different stories to tell about their ancestor’s contributions.
Common Core Standard: Reading Informational Texts R.I.8.2, Key Ideas and Details. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over
the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
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Learning about the stories of others helps teach promote tolerance.
Tolerance is the respect and understanding the viewpoints of other peoples.
Common Core Standard: Reading Informational Texts R.I.8.2, Key Ideas and Details. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over
the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
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Knowing your World
History can provide you with a better understanding of where you live. History
lets you know you are part of a culture that interacts with the rest of the world.
History encourages you to ask important
questions or essential questions. It promotes
good decision making skills. Did you ever hear
the saying, if we do not learn the past, history
will repeat itself ?
Common Core Standard: Reading Informational Texts R.I.8.2, Key Ideas and Details. Determine a central idea of a
text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas;
provide an objective summary of the text.
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Using Clues
We must rely on a number of sources to learn
history. To learn about the first humans we
study fossil remains.
A fossil is a part or imprint of something that
was once alive.
Bones and footprints would be examples of fossils.
All humans learned to make things, in doing so they
accidentally created more sources of information for us.
Artifacts are objects created by early humans
Artifacts include coins, arrowheads, tools, toys, and pottery.
Common Core Standard: Reading Informational Texts R.I.8.2, Key Ideas and Details. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over
the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
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Sources of Information
Historical sources are two types.
A primary source is an account of an event
created by someone who took part in or
witnessed the event.
Treaties, letters, diaries, laws, court documents, and royal commands are
primary sources.
A secondary source is information gathered by someone who
did not take part in or witness the event.
Examples include history textbooks, journal articles, and
encyclopedias. The textbook we use in class is a secondary source.
Common Core Standard: Reading Informational Texts R.I.8.2, Key Ideas and Details. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over
the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
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Section 2: Studying Geography
Essential Question:
Why do scholars study the people,
events, and ideas of long ago?
The Big Idea:
Physical geography and human geography
contribute to the study of history.
Historians need to be able to explain the
question, “Where did it happen?” In order to
do this they must understand geography.
Geography is the study of earth’s physical
and cultural features.
These features include mountains, rivers,
people, cities, and countries.
Common Core Standard: Reading Informational Texts R.I.8.2, Key Ideas and Details. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over
the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
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Main Ideas
History is the study of places and people.
Studying location is important to both physical and
human geography.
Geography and history are closely related.
Common Core Standard: Reading Informational Texts R.I.8.2, Key Ideas and Details. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over
the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
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Physical Geography
Physical geography is the study of the
earth’s land and features. People that
work in this field are called geographers.
Geographers study landforms, the natural
features on a lands surface.
Mountains, valleys, plains, and other such places are landforms.
Common Core Standard: Reading Informational Texts R.I.8.2, Key Ideas and Details. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over
the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
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Physical geographers also study climate, the pattern of weather conditions
in a certain area over a long period of time.
Climate is not the same as weather. Weather is the conditions at a
specific time and place.
Climate affects the features of a region. For example, it affects plant
life. Plants can not grow on a desert region. Climate also affects
landforms, constant wind can wear down a mountain.
Landforms and climate are part of a places environment.
The environment includes all living and non living things that affect life in an
area.
Common Core Standard: Reading Informational Texts R.I.8.2, Key Ideas and Details. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the
course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
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Human Geography
Human geography is the study of people and the places where they live.
Human geography asks questions such as: What
kind of work do people do? How do they get their
food? What are their homes like?
Human geography also deals with how the
environment affects people. For example, how do
people who live near rivers protect themselves from
floods? How do people who live in deserts survive?
What diseases spread easily in some environments?
Common Core Standard: Reading Informational Texts R.I.8.2, Key Ideas and Details. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over
the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
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Studying Location
Location is the exact description where something is.
Geographers try to understand how differences in
places can lead to differences in how people live.
These differences may be evidenced in the homes
that people build or in the tools that they use.
To study various locations geographers study
maps. Some maps show physical features or
landscapes. Other maps might display physical
boundaries or borders.
Common Core Standard: Reading Informational Texts R.I.8.2, Key Ideas and Details. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over
the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
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Learning About Regions
To study geography, a geographer must study
regions.
A region is an area with one or more features
that make it different from surrounding areas.
These regions might be physical, such as forests and grasslands.
There might also be differences in climate. For example, a desert.
Physical barriers, such as mountains and rivers form a region’s boundaries.
Human features can also define regions. One area may contain farms
and another region might be desert.
Common Core Standard: Reading Informational Texts R.I.8.2, Key Ideas and Details. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the
course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
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Geography and History- Geography Affects Resources
By studying geography we can piece together a great deal of information about
ancient cultures.
In early civilizations people could only live where they could enough food and
water.
Early people settled in places rich in resources.
Resources are materials found in the earth that
people need and value.
All through history, people have used a variety of
resources to meet their basic needs.
Common Core Standard: Reading Informational Texts R.I.8.2, Key Ideas and Details. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the
course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
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In early times, essential resources included water, animals, fertile land,
and stones for tools.
Over time, people learned to use other resources, including metals such
as copper, gold, and iron.
Common Core Standard: Reading Informational Texts R.I.8.2, Key Ideas and Details. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over
the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
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Geography Shapes Cultures
Geography influenced the early development of cultures. For example, early
people developed vastly different cultures because of their environment. People
that lived near rivers learned to fish and make boats. People that lived near
forests learned to make their home out of wood.
Some people even developed religious beliefs based on
the place they lived in. For example, the ancient
Egyptians believed the god Hapi controlled the Nile
River.
Some graphic features could protect areas from an invasion. A region surrounded
by mountains or deserts, for example, was hard for attackers to reach.
Common Core Standard: Reading Informational Texts R.I.8.2, Key Ideas and Details. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over
the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
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Geography Influences History
People in areas with many natural resources could use their resources to get
rich. They could build glorious cities and powerful armies.
Features like rivers made trade easier. Many societies became rich by
trading with other peoples.
On the other hand, geography could also cause
problems. Floods, for example, have killed
millions of people. Lack of rainfall has brought
deadly food shortages. Bad storms have
wrecked ships, and with them, the hopes of
conquerors.
Common Core Standard: Reading Informational Texts R.I.8.2, Key Ideas and Details.
Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text,
including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
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The relationship between geography is not been one-sided. For centuries people
have influenced their environments in positive and negative ways. People have
planted millions of trees. They have also created lakes in deserts. But people
have also created wastelands where forests once grew.
Common Core Standard: Reading Informational Texts R.I.8.2, Key Ideas and Details. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over
the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
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Common Core Standard: Reading Informational Texts R.I.8.2, Key Ideas and Details. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over
the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
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