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For the unit on Early Humans, students read several texts outside of the book. "Hatchet in the Drift" discusses Boucher de Perthe, the man who discovered the first evidence of stone-age tools. "Discovering Our Past" discussed several paleontologists and the fossils of early humans they discovered. "Piltdown Man" describes a famous fossil that turned out to be a hoax. Throughout all of these readings, students discussed the theory of human evolution and the controversy it has caused and continues to cause. Finally, students did read Chapter 4 lesson 3 in the textbook, which discussed early human hunter-gatherers, particularly Homo heidelbergensis and Neanderthals.
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http://www.abotech.com/Articles/Kowalski01.htm
This site focuses on stone age shelters, including Terra Amata. It is mostly very interesting pictures with captions. |
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http://anthropology.si.edu/humanorigins/ha/a_tree.html
A sophisticated site with information on human ancestors that we did not study as well as ones we did. It has a very neat “phylogenetic”
tree that graphically shows the theory of relationships between human ancestors. Each species name is a link to a page with information and photos of fossils from that species. |
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/ neanderthal_prog_summary.shtml
This page explains the adaptations that allowed Neanderthals to thrive during the Ice Age and also offers theories as to why they became extinct. |
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http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/
This official Lascaux site from the French government includes a virtual tour and lots of great information, including theories about how they painted the ceilings and descriptions of artifacts found in the caves. |
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http://www.archaeologyexpert.co.uk/BoucherDePerthes.html
A short biography of the man who discovered a “Hatchet in the Drift.” |
Archeology
Chapter 3 |
Over the course of Chapter Three in A Message of Ancient Days, students learn about how historians and archaeologists do their job. Our focus is on the way that archaeology is a dynamic field and that interpretations of historical evidence and events are always changing. |
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Lesson 1
After learning about how historians question written sources, students were given a primary source to analyze. We are fortunate enough to have a copy of a real letter written on December 7, 1941 from Honolulu that gives remarkable insight into the immediate effect of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. Below are links that give more information about that important day in American history. |
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http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/pearl.htm
At this site, you can see an additional primary source from Honolulu. There are also links to viewpoints from both a Japanese and White House viewpoint. |
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Lesson 2
Lesson 2 focuses on how archaeologists unlock the archaeological record and how they determine the age of ancient objects. Students learned about the example of Tollund Man, a find that shows the importance of scientific dating techniques. The links below give more information about Tollund Man, bog mummies in general, and the science behind radiocarbon dating. |
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http://www.tollundman.dk/
Great site with tons of information about Tollund man, including how he was found and what historians have been able to learn from him. |
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http://library.thinkquest.org/J003409/bog.htm
information about Tollund Man and other bog mummies |
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http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/first/radiocarbon.html
This link to a Nova site explores many aspects of radiocarbon dating. |
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Lesson 3
Lesson 3 contrasts "classic" excavations with "new" archaeology. Students look closely at the examples of Howard Carter's discovery of King Tut's tomb and a Native American site in Koster Ohio. Students learned that modern archaeologists even look through people's kitchen midden, or trash. We then did an in-class project where students studied clean trash that had been gathered over a period of several weeks. They presented their inferences about the lifestlyes of the trash-owners both in writing and in oral presentations to their fellow "archaeologists." |
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http://www.iwebquest.com/egypt/ancientegypt.htm
This Ancient Egypt webquest includes six missions, which include
learning about King Tut as well as hieroglyphics and tomb raiders. |
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http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngkids/0508/
This online issue of National Geographic Kids explores the mystery of
King Tut’s death. |
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http://www.salariya.com/web_books/mummy/
This web-book takes a humorous but factual look at the process of
making a mummy. |
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http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/tut.htm
This primary source site has exerpts of Archaeologist Howard Carter’s
diary with his description of finding Tut’s tomb. |
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Lesson 4
Lesson 4 introduces students to the ways in which similar ideas and technology can be explained in ancient cultures. Students studied and contrasted the concepts of cultural diffusion and independent invention. Students learned about how historians explain the building of Stonehenge, which is an example of archaeologists changing their theories based on new technology. |
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http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Stories/History/Stonehengevillage
This online issue of National Geographic Kids describes the recent
unearthing of Stonehenge Village. There are good pictures of the
archaeological find. |
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http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/stonehengeinteractivemap/sites/
stonehenge/01.html
This site has wonderful information and pictures/photos about the
construction of Stonehenge. |
