SECONDARY EDUCATION 1º ESO
SOCIAL SCIENCES
UNIT 3
WHY IS THE PAST IMPORTANT?
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
Introduction
Initial assessment
Contents
Activities
Self assessment
Other resources: bibliography & internet resources
Reinforcement
Further study: Investigation project
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A/ INTRODUCTION
In this unit we start the study of another social sciences discipline: History.
To study our past, from the origin of human beings to our times, historians have
divided our history into five periods:
HISTORY
PREHISTORY
ANCIENT AGE
MIDDLE AGES
MODERN AGE
CONTEMPORARY AGE
Look at the time line on pages 128 & 129 of your book and share your comments
with your classmates. Try to remember the dates and most important
events which identify the beginning and the end of each period.
@ Recommended links:
“Prehistory”
“Tras las huellas de nuestros orígenes”
On both websites there are all sorts of texts and illustrations which will help you
understand what happened from Prehistory to the Metal Age. There are also
activities for you to check your knowledge.
The archaeological site of Atapuera (Burgos) has an amazing site with interactive
activities for you. Go explore it!
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B/ INITIAL ASSESSMENT
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. G.
Santayana
History is the best medicine for a sick mind; for in history you have a record of the
infinite variety of human experience…examples and warnings; fine things to take
as models, rotten things to avoid - Livy
"History is the witness that testifies to the passing of time; it illuminates reality,
vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life, and brings us tidings of antiquity."
Cicero
"The function off the historian is neither to love the past nor to emancipate himself
from the past, but to master and understand it as the key to the understanding of
the present." E. H. Carr
Work system: Small groups
Read the quotes above and answer this two questions:
 What do they suggest you?
 Why do you think learning from our past is important?
Sometimes we do not see the use of history in our day to day life.
 Please try to justify why a soccer team like, Real Madrid or F.C. Barcelona,
is so famous.
Have you mentioned the leagues it has won?
How many times it has played the European Championship?
Have you mentioned all the trophies it has won?
Don’t you think you have use the history of that soccer club to justify your answer?
History is in our normal life every day.
Did you know that the first president of the F.C. Barcelona was from Switzerland or
that the first president of the Real Madrid was born in Mataró (Barcelona).
History helps us understand who we are today, by knowing where we come from.
History gives us insights to how the ancient cultures worked and functioned, so we
may apply this information to ourselves
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C/ CONCEPTS
A. Introduction: History, the study of the past.
B. Origins of Hominisation.
1. Paleolithic:
a. Lifestyles
b. Artistic manifestations.
:
2. Neolithic:
a. Lifestyles
b. Artistic manifestations
3. Metal Age:
a. Lifestyles
b. Artistic manifestations
C. Europe’s Physical Geography.
a. Relief features
b. Rivers
c. Climate
REMEMBER:
Dinosaurs died out about 65 million years ago. The first human like hominids did
not appear until around 3 million years ago. Thus, no matter what you may have
seen in the movies, early man did not live during the same period in history as
dinosaurs!
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D/ ACTIVITIES
Resources: student’s book, atlas, classroom library, encyclopaedia, internet.
Work system: individual.
A. INTRODUTION: HISTORY, THE STUDY OF THE PAST
1. Complete the table below:
PERIOD
DURATION: from……to….
Prehistory
Ancient Age
Middle Ages
Modern Age
Contemporary
Age
@ On the website of Santillana there are timelines to help you place the
historical events over the time. Go there and have a look!
LEARN:
The time period before writing was invented is known as Prehistory. Before the year
3400 BC there are not written sources available and for this reason historians need to
use artifacts and fossils as source of information. Those remains are archeological
sources.
Artifacts are remains of things that were made, not remains of living things.
Fossils are remains of living things (plants, animals, people), not things that were
made.
Archaeology is the study of the past through identification and interpretation of the
material remains of human cultures.
When archaeologists find a prehistoric campsite, they divide the area into squares
and slowly dig downward through layer after layer of soil. Great care is required not
to damage any object or trace of an object. Small hoes, spades, trowels,
penknives, brushes and fingers are used. Archaeologists record the spatial
relationships artifacts have to one another and to the layers in which they are
found. Notes and drawings are made, each item is numbered, and photographs
are taken.
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2. Fill in the diagram with the stages of prehistory:
@ In this archaeological workshop “Desenterrando el pasado” there is game
and information to learn how to dig a site. Go there and find out more!
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3. How can archaeologists date their findings?
4. Why do we give approximate instead of accurate dates when we talk about
prehistory?
5. Why do you think archaeologists know very little about prehistoric people’s
thoughts and feelings?
B. ORIGINS OF HOMINISATION
6. What is hominisation? Can you summarize the human being’s evolutionary
process from Australopitecus to the present human being?
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Did you know?
In 1974 a skeleton was found in Africa. It belonged to a female, she was called
“Lucy”, and she has been considered the oldest human being in the evolutive
scale. She was a meter height, walked upright, had a brain size of about 400 cc., a
little bit bigger than a chimpanzee’s brain and ate fruits and seeds
Neanderthals (are a group of primitive human beings different from the one Lucy
belonged to and it appeared at a alter time) had an anatomy adapted to their life
style: Large, strong skeletal frame, strong jaw bone, short and strong upper and lower
limbs, big feet and hands. They only stayed in a place for few days and they moved
looking for food. They hunted a great variety of animals: bears, deers, horses… They
made stone artifacts.
Seagrief, R. Descripción de los neandertales.
7. Was ‘Lucy’ a human being? Archaeologists don’t agree. What do you think?
8. Why do we know that Neanderthals were human beings?
1. PALEOLITHIC
Paleolithic means Old Stone Age
9. With all the information you have on the Old Stone Age man please answer to
the following questions:
a) What did they look like?
b) What did they eat?
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c) Where did they live?
d) How were they dressed?
e) What kind of tools did they make?
f) What were these tools made of?
g) How was their social organization?
h) Were they nomads? Why?
10. What advances did people make during the Old Stone Age?
@ Find out how prehistoric men lived. Go to the website of Tautavel Cave.
The website of the Lascaux Cave allows you to take a visual tour.
11. Paleolithic paintings. Draw a bison in the box below similar the ones in the
Altamira Cave (there are pictures in your book) and complete the following chart:
Were they polycromed painted?
What colours did they use to paint the bison?
What did they use to make the colors?
Is it a realistic representation?
Did they paint humans?
Did this painting look three-dimensional?
Where the scenes isolated?
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2. NEOLITHIC
Neolithic means New Stone Age
9. With all the information you have on the New Stone Age man please answer to
the following questions:
b) What did they look like?
g) What did they eat?
h) When did they start farming?
i) What animals did they domesticate?
j) Where did they live?
k) Why did they become sedentary?
l) What technical innovation helped changing their way of dressing?
m) Why did they invent pottery?
g) How was their social organization?
10. Why was the Neolithic agricultural revolution a turning point in history?
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Read the article below and coment it in small groups.
“De las más de 40 figuras neolíticas de Cogul sólo pueden apreciarse con nitidez
media docena. La cueva se encuentra prácticamente a la intemperie y únicamente
una verja protege las paredes pintadas, sometidas a la erosión del sol y el aire. Un
proyecto de cierre del recinto no ha sido realizado "por falta de presupuesto".”
ANTONIA MALLO – Lérida - 01/06/1984 EL PAIS
11. Neolithic. Draw some dancers in the box below similar the ones in the Cogul
Cave (there are pictures in your book) and complete the following chart:
Were they monochromed painted?
What colours did they use to paint the dancers?
What did they use to make the colors?
Are this figures schematic?
Did they paint more animals than humans?
Did this painting look three-dimensional?
Where the scenes isolated?
2. METAL AGE
Neolithic means New Stone Age
12. With all the information you have on the New Stone Age man please answer to
the following questions:
a) Where did they live?
b) What technical innovations happened during this period?
c) What metals did they use?
d) What were the advantages of using metals instead of stone?
e) How was their social organization?
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13. Draw the types of Megalithic monuments
Type of monument:
What was it?
What was its function?
Type of monument:
What was it?
What was its function?
Type of monument:
What was it?
What was its function?
Web Activity 1. Learn how to build a Neolithic house
Resources: student’s book, internet, computer.
Work system: pairs
Go to http://www.dearqueologia.com/aldea_neolitica.htm and build a Neolithic
house with your partner. Keep a record on how to build a Neolithic house and draw
a Neolithic village.
Web Activity 2 : Europe’s physical geography.
Resources: student’s book, atlas, classroom library, encyclopaedia, internet,
computer.
Work system: pairs
Make a Publisher leaflet about Europe including maps and graphs with the
information requested below in a), b) and c) and other relevant facts.
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





AREA:10,531,000 sq km (including European Russia)
HIGHEST POINT: Mount Elbrus (Russia) 5,633 metres
LOWEST POINT: By Caspian Sea, minus 38 metres
LONGEST RIVER: Volga (Russia) 3,690 metres
LARGEST LAKE: Caspian Sea, 360,700 sq km
BIGGEST COUNTRY: Russia 17,075,000 sq km (total area- Europe and
Asia)
 SMALLEST COUNTRY: Vatican City (Rome), less than half a square
kilometre!
 MOST CROWDED COUNTRY: Malta
 LEAST CROWDED COUNTRY: Iceland
a) A map with the following relief forms. (Map 1)
Mountains and Massifs: Pyrenees, Scandinavian Mountains, Appennines,
Alps, Carpathians, Caucasus, Urals, Balkans, Massif Central, Vosges, Betic
Ranges, Dinaric Alps and Black Forest.
Peninsulas: Balkan, Scandinavian, Iberian, Italian, Jutland, Kola and
Crimean
River basins: Volga, Danube, Ural, Dnieper, Don, Rhine, Elbe, Vistula,
Loire, Tagus, Ebrus, Duero, Rhone, Seine.
Islands: Balearic, Canary, Cyprus, Corsica, Crete, Great Britain, Ireland,
Iceland, Malta, Sicily, Hebrides, Orkney, Shetland
Straits: Calais, Gibraltar, Dardanelles, Bosphorus, English Channel
c) Make a triangular graph with the following peaks and locate them on MAP 1
(Use black)
MOUNTAIN RANGE
PEAK
HEIGHT (m)
Carpathians
Altos Tatras
2,633
Balkans
Olympus
2,917
Pyrenees
Aneto
3,404
Betic
Mulhacen
3,478
Alps
Mont Blanc
4,810
Caucasus
Elbrus
5,633
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c) Make a table, like the following, of the different climates of Europe with the
vegetation and fauna characteristic of each type.
CLIMATE
CHARACTERISTICS
VEGETATION
FAUNA
d) When you go to the beach there is a flag showing the quality of the beach. The
blue flag is a sign given by the European Union to all the beaches and ports not
contaminated.
If you were our governemets president what measures would you implement to
reduce the contamination of the seas?
Hands on activity 1:
Resources: student’s book, classroom library, atlas, internet.
Work system: group
Draw a prehistoric tool and discuss with your group what is it for and how was it
made.
Hands on activity 2:
Resources: student’s book, classroom library, atlas, internet.
Work system: group
Prepare on a cardboard a timeline from Prehistory to our days. Identify the five
periods in which history is divided with their beginning and end. Iinclude the most
relevant events.
Hands on activity 3:
Resources: student’s book, classroom library, atlas, internet.
Work system: group
Prepare an A-3 cardboard with the map of the expansion of the human population.
Include a ranking of the continents which were populated from the first to the last.
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E/ SELF-ASSESSMENT
Name:_________________________
Mark:
Circle the right answer:
1. Cave paintings had:
a. a magic-religious purpose
b. they were done to spend their free time
c. decorative purposes
2. Farming was discovered in the:
a. Paleolithic
b. Neolithic
c. Metal Age
3. In Spain Paleolithic cave paintings can be found in:
a. Extremadura
b. Cantabrian area c. Andalusia and Levante
4. Neanderthal man lived between the years
a. 100,000 and 40,000 BC
b. 250,000 and 100,000 BC
c. 40,000 and 8,000 BC
5. The origin of men took place:
a. More than 2 million years ago
b. 100,000 years ago
c. 10,000 years ago
6. Lucy is considered to be the first human being and she belongs to the species:
a. Neanderthal
b. Cro-Magnon
c. Australopithecus
7. How can archaeologist get absolute dates? (Only one is right)
a. Comparing items
b. Carbon-14 method
c. Recording the layers in which the items are found
8. Which ‘homo’ used fire for the first time?
a. Homo erectus
b. Homo habilis
c. Homo sapiens
9. Define Prehistory:
10. Write the names of the different 'homos' in order:
Australopithecus, Homo ............................, Homo .............................., Homo sapiens
or .................................... man and Homo .........................
.......................... or
Cro-Magnon man.
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12. Compare the characteristics of the Neolithic lifestyle the Paleolithic lifestyle.
13. Write down the differences between Paleolithic paintings and Neolithic ones.
14. What are the most important megalithic monuments? Name them.
15. What is the natural boundary between Europe and Asia?
16. What is the name of the strait that separates Asian Turkey from European
Turkey?
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GLOSSARY OF KEY WORDS
Look up the meaning of the following words in a dictionary.

Archaeology

Absolute Dating

Dendochronology

Radiocarbon Dating

Anthropology

Paleography

Hominids

Prehistory

Paleolithic

Neolithic

Cave painting

Pottery

Farming

Weaving

Megalithic monument
F/ OTHER RESOURCES: BIBLIOGRAPHY & WEB LINKS
Sources of information:



Student’s Atlas
Cambridge Encyclopaedia
Course book Geography and History 1.
Books:

Carlos Villanes Cairo. El bisonte mágico.
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Films:

Quest for fire (En busca del fuego). Jean Jacques Annaud
Internet Resources:
Tras las huellas de nuestros orígenes:
http://w3.cnice.mec.es/eos/MaterialesEducativos/mem2001/huellas/origenes/main.
html
Prehistory:
http://www.historiasiglo20.org/prehistory/index.htm
Atapuerca’s Archaelogical Site:
www.fundacionatapuerca.es
Santillana Publishers website:
http://www.indexnet.santillana.es/secundaria/n3/GeografiaEhistoria/10lineaTiempo.ht
ml
Archaelogical workshop: Vestigia
http://w3.cnice.mec.es/eos/MaterialesEducativos/mem2003/vestigia/vestigia/esvs1.ht
m
Tautavel Cave
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/tautavel/en/index.html
Altamira Cave:
http://museodealtamira.mcu.es/cueva_altamira.html
Cogul Cave:
http://www.kalipedia.com/historia-universal/tema/prehistoria/revolucionneolitica.html?x=20070717klphisuni_9.Kes
Archaeological news and media clips:
www.archaeologychannel.org
National Geographic:
www.nationalgeographic.com/research/index...
Interactive resource including detailed information on the various hominids and an
extensive glossary: www.archaeologyinfo.com
A website on history:
www.historychannel.com
A member supported organization committed to research related to human origins:
www.leakeyfoundation.org
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G/ REINFORCEMENT
1. What is Prehistory?
2. What are the most important characteristics of the Paleolithic period?
3. What are the main causes of the Neolithic revolution?
4. What other important discoveries were made during the Neolithic Age?
5. What is ‘cave painting’? What is its main purpose? What kind of information can
we get about life at that time? Write some examples.
6. When and why did the first cities appear?
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7. Complete the following chart:
NEANDERTHAL
CRO-MAGNON
Brain
Physical appearance
Period of time
Lifestyle
Utensils
Art
10. What are the most important megalithic monuments? What were they built for?
H/ FURHTER STUDY: INVESTIGATION PROJECT
Choose one of the following topics:
1. Look for information about the archaeological site in Atapuerca, and make a
short report on the most important discoveries that have been made there.
2. More than 4,000 years ago, the people of the Neolithic period decided to build a
massive stone monument: Stonehenge. Look for information about this megalithic
monument, including in your report the way it was built, the distribution of the
stones and the different theories about its purpose.
3. Meave Leakey announced the discovery of a new genus of fossil hominid, the
Kenyanthropus platyops, that was discovered by her team in Kenya in August
1999. The morphological features of Kenyantropus place it into a separate genus
than contemporaneous species like A. afarensis. The recent discovery of Toumai
(Sahelanthropus tchadensis) has suggested that our ancestors diverged from apes
to more than 6-7 million years ago. Why are these discoveries so important? Write
a report about them and draw your own conclusions.
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