LOOKING AT HISTORICAL INVESTIGATION
IN ANCIENT EGYPT PART 1
YEAR 7 HISTORY – INVESTIGATING THE ANCIENT PAST
AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM LEARNING OBJECTIVES
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ACDSEH0011: How historians and archaeologists investigate history, including excavation
and archival research
ACDSEH0302: The methods and sources used to investigate at least ONE historical
controversy or mystery that has challenged historians or archaeologists, such as in the
analysis of unidentified human remains
RESOURCES REQUIRED

Drilling under the Sphinx3 (4 mins) captioned YouTube clip plus suitable facilities to view clip,
including Internet access.
LESSON OUTCOME: Students learn about a specific project undertaken by historians in Egypt
and develop a basic understanding of the work of historians and archaeologists.
Lesson outline:
1.
2.
Introduce students to the notion of historical mysteries, explaining that history is something
which is continually investigated.
Facilitate brief class discussion where students can contribute ideas about their existing
understanding of the Sphinx.
3.
Depending on class understanding of the Sphinx, pre-teach accordingly, including key words
such as archaeologist, historian etc
4.
Students view Drilling under the Sphinx (4 mins)
5.
Students conduct a think-pair-share activity in which they bring together all of the information
which they have gained from the clip based on the following questions:
- Who is drilling beneath the Sphinx?
- Why are they drilling beneath the Sphinx?
- What have they found? What haven’t they found?
6.
Teacher replays the clips and students are instructed to look out for new information which
they did not understand upon the first viewing. This information is then shared within small
groups.
Using the information from the clip, students individually compose short news articles about
drilling under the Sphinx. Explain to students that they must include as much information
7.
1
http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Elements/353c945c-1cda-44a3-b27b-9e4600a316e4
http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Elements/3f368ff2-7954-4473-9ab3-9e4600a316e4
3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qGzfZHWbZE&feature=relmfu
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from the clip as possible and that they should look to make their articles interesting and
include quotes. The quotes can be easily found by using the captions displayed ion screen.
Remind them that they are to approach the task from a historical perspective, so they should
emphasise the historical importance of the project.
HOMEWORK/EXTENSION
Students type up their article in the format of a newspaper article, with the inclusion of images, a
large headline etc.
OPPORTUNITY FOR FURTHER ACTIVITY
Bear in mind that some of the language in these articles might be challenging for your students and
therefore will require pre-teaching - setting up of class groups to facilitate same
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Students can read this blog post4 about drilling under the Sphinx and develop their
understanding of the project.
This Smithsonian article5 includes information about Mark Lehner who features in the Drilling
under the Sphinx video, as well as a range of detailed information about the Sphinx.
4
http://heritage-key.com/blogs/keith-payne/drilling-under-sphinx-heritage-key-video-about-keeping-your-pawsdry
5 http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Uncovering-Secrets-of-the-Sphinx.html
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