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Getting Started in HistoryThere are a few key things that every history student must know before they can really start to study the topic. We will go through these now before we start to study history itself.

+A: Historians must know why we study history.

This is an excellent question every historian must be able to answer, however, those answers may differ from one person to another. For example, many people find the unusual aspects of history entertaining, and study it to see how our ancestors lived and behaved. Take this quiz to see if this appeals to you, and how much you already know about history.

1. Egyptian Pharaohs married only a certain group of women. Who were they?

2. In 897, Pope Formosus was put on trial. What was unusual about this court case?

4. The Mongols believed that it was wrong to spill the blood of royalty, so how did they execute enemy rulers who they captured?

5. Early Roman soldiers were not paid with money – what did they get instead?

+Other reasons to study History include… 1 – To understand why the world is the way it is today. What

aspects of world culture today can only be understood by studying history?

2 – To observe the success and failures of people in the past, and chose to repeat (or not repeat) them. What mistakes have people made in the past which we try to avoid today?

3 – To learn fundamental truths about human nature. What is one thing we know about humanity because of our study of history?

+B: Historians must know how we keep time.

What year is it?

+Keeping Time

It is actually only the year 2015 in the Western World. In the Jewish Calendar, the year is 5775 In China, the year is 4713 In the Middle East, the year is 1436 Why?

+Keeping Time

1 – Why is a year 365 days? What type of calendar is this? Why do we use the year as the basic measurement of time?

2 – Why is the Islamic calendar 354 days? What type of calendar is this? What problems might this have?

3 – Why did the year 1582 only have 355 days? What is the name for the Calendar we use today?

4 – What do BC, AD, BCE and CE stand for? Why do we use these?

5 – What is the difference between history and pre-history?

+Historians must know how we learn about the past 1 – There are three main sources of historical evidence.

Define and give examples for:

Artifacts Primary documents Secondary documents

 

+Important Terms What is archeology? Archaeology is the scientific study of past cultures and the way

people lived based on the things they left behind. To do this it is necessary to the excavate sites and analyse artifacts.

What is carbon 14 dating? Carbon 14 dating is a scientific method for measuring the age

of material that has a biological origin such as bones, cloth made from natural fibers, artifacts made of wood, and charcoal.

What is dendrochronology? Dendrochronology is the science or technique of dating events,

environmental change, and archaeological artifacts by using the characteristic patterns of annual growth rings in timber and tree trunks

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+ Archeologists and Historians must know how to get

help, and who to ask for help when researching the past. How could the following people today use their expertise to help us learn about our ancestors?

I) Doctor II) Plumber III) Lawyer IV) Architect

  What other occupations today could help us learn about

the past?

+ Historians must be careful to avoid certain problems when researching the past. There are two major things to be aware of:

1 – Unconscious bias. This is when, without realizing it, we apply the nature of our modern world to the ancient one.

The tool below is called a strigil, and looks like a curved, dull, knife. The Greeks and Romans used it every day, and if you or I found one on a dig, we might think it was a knife, a pick, or something similar, because it looks so much like our tools. We would be wrong. So, what was it actually used for?

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+ 2 – Conscious Bias. This is when we apply the

nature of our modern world to the ancient one, and we are aware of doing so.

A good example is some ancient Phoenician societies. If we were to dig up one of their settlements, we would find the charred bones of thousands of infants who had been burned alive as sacrifices to their gods. Today, infant sacrifice is seen as so wrong that we might assume that the Phoenicians were evil, horrible people. In reality, child sacrifice was common in that time and the Phoenicians were pretty normal people for the period. If it was not for them, you would not be reading this now, since they invented the alphabet. How does knowing about what they did influence you? Can you appreciate what they achieved, or is child sacrifice too much?

What other biases might we have?

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+Class work:

Read pages 1-4 Complete the Section 1 review (pg 4)

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Quiz Time!

+History Quiz 1 – History Basics 1 – What do each of the following

stand for? You must get all four to get a point. AD, BC, CE, BCE

2 – What element is found in all living things and decays at a steady rate, making it useful in archeology?

3 – What is the term for studying tree rings to learn about the past?

4 – Name one type of bias a historian might have.

5 – What are the two main types of calendars?

6 – What is the name of the calendar we use today?

7 – What is this used for?

What types of evidence are the following?

8 – A diary written by a solder who fought in the battle?

9 – An arrowhead found on the battle site?

10 – A modern textbook about the battle?

+Answers

1 - Anno Domini, Before Christ, Common Era, Before the Common Era

2 – carbon 3 – dendrochronology 4 – conscious and

unconscious 5 – solar and lunar

6 – the Gregorian calendar 7 – layers of soil 8 – primary document 9 – artifact 10 – secondary document