Wednesday, August 13, 2014 Bell Assignment Complete Map Essential Elements of Civilization Examples of Essential Elements in Auburn Essential Elements of River Civilizations

Bell Assignment Pretend that it is 2,000 years from now and that you are an archaeologist. Choose four items in this room that might be found and explain what they would tell future archaeologist about education in the 21st century.

Map Label the following: Atlantic Ocean Indus River Pacific Ocean Nile River Indian Ocean Huang He River (Yellow River) Europe Tigris and Euphrates Asia Africa Australia Use pages RA 4-5, Nile, Tigris, Euphrates page 99, Huang He page 279

Reconstructing the Past PART I of today’s lesson

Why is History Important? History explains why things are the way they are. Learning about the past helps us understand the present. Studying history helps us understand how we fit into the human story.

Understanding the Past Understanding the past is very difficult. One of the main reasons is that there isn’t enough evidence (artifacts and written evidence). Artifacts and written evidence provides us with the information necessary to understand the past. Therefore, understanding the past requires a lot of different talents and abilities.

Disciplines (Areas of Study) There are many areas of study that help us understand the past. Four major: Archaeologist – Study artifacts to reconstruct the past (They do the “dirty work”.) Paleontologist – Study fossils to learn about the past Anthropologist – Study the origin of human life and development of people and their societies. Historians – study written accounts and artifacts.

Disciplines (Areas of Study) But it doesn’t stop there! Sometimes historians, archaeologist, and anthropologist need additional help to uncover the past. The receive help from: Chemist, zoologist, GEOGRAPHERS, botanist, geologist, etc.

Historians Reconstruct the Past Historians are like detectives and must evaluate evidence to determine its reliability. Primary Sources Secondary Sources Sometimes the written information that historians study is not reliable because of the personal experiences, cultural background, or political opinion of the writer. Bias - Having a certain opinion about something based on your experiences

Essential Elements of Civilizations Part ii of today’s lesson

Geography and Early Civilizations Early civilizations, developed during the time period known as the Neolithic Age (New Stone Age). During this time period, different cultures across the globe begin to settle along rivers that provided fertile farmland, which allowed them to build successful farming communities. As the population of the farming communities grew, the farming settlements united together, thus creating some of the worlds earliest civilization.

Success of Early Civilizations Many civilizations developed during the New Stone Age; however, some civilizations were not as successful as others. Why did some civilizations survive and others did not? Many civilizations did not survive because they were lacking key elements that allow civilizations to be highly organized and able to provide for the security and welfare of its citizens.

Essential Elements of Civilizations What are key elements to have a successful civilization? According to scholars, there are ten essential elements for a successful civilization. Cities and organized government, religions, social classes (job specialization), art (architecture) and writing, and public works, geography, and legacy

Partner Work With your partner, read about the essential elements in Ch. 3 Lesson 2 (pg. 68 – 69). Then, write a sentence stating the importance of each essential element and provide an example of how that element was used in an ancient society.

Examples to get you started. . . Cities were important to early civilizations because they provided a central location for government and trading. Example: In early Mayan civilization, cities were a center of government and religion. In addition, people created trading markets near the city. Religions were important because they provided a code of ethics and they unified people because of their similar beliefs. Example: Egyptians were unified through their belief that the pharaoh was considered a king and their living god.

Thinking about early civilization and fairness. . . Answer the following questions with your neighbor: As early civilizations began to increase in population, do you think fairness became an issue for many people? What type of problems do you think occurred in early civilizations? Which key elements do you think helped promote fairness in early society?