1. 6th Grade Social Studies
Uncovering the Past
6th Grade Social Studies

2. Today we will be covering two learning targets:
LT 1-I can describe the roles of historians, archaeologists, and geographers.
LT 2-I can explain the difference between primary and secondary sources.

3. What is History? History is the study of the past.
Historians study history by using clues from the past.
We can improve our understanding of people’s actions and beliefs through the study of history.
Studying history helps us:
Know ourselves
Know others
Know the world

4. What is the difference between social scientists?
Archeologists-examine objects (artifacts) and remains that people have left behind.
Historians-record the past by studying artifacts and documents.
Geographers-study the land and human-made structures to discover why people lived where they did, and how they used their environment.
Put together, all of these types of social scientists help us uncover the past.

5. Archaeologists DO NOT:
Study dinosaurs. (that’s a paleontologist)
Just look for pretty or valuable objects.
Just pick up artifacts.
Spend all their time just digging.
Buy, sell, or put a price on artifacts.
Many people have the wrong idea about what archeologists do. But before we learn what they do, lets learn what they don’t do. Archeologists do not study dinosaurs, that is paleontology.
We do not just look for pretty or valuable objects. Every day, boring items can tell a lot about a person or group.
We don’t just pick up the artifacts we find. Archaeologists must take notes, take photographs, and make maps so that we can recreate how objects are associated or in relation to one another. The placement of items can tell us what an item may have been used for, not just what the item is.
We do not spend all our time digging, that’s actually a minor part of the process—we spend most of our time analyzing artifacts. Analyzing is looking at something to figure our what it is or what it was used for.
We do not buy, sell or put a price on artifacts. If you ask an archaeologist they will tell you what something is if they can, but they will not tell you what it’s worth.

6. So what is archaeology?
The systematic, scientific recovery and analysis of artifacts in order to answer questions about past human culture and behavior.
Archeology is the systematic, scientific recovery and analysis of artifacts in order to answer questions about past human culture and behavior. But what do these words mean?

7. Artifact: Any item resulting from human activity
Artifact: Any item resulting from human activity. A fossil is not an artifact!
An artifact is any item resulting from human activity. Fossils are not artifacts, they were not made by humans.
Artifacts are anything human hands have used. Whether they just picked something up to use or if they made it. Even buildings are considered artifacts. Artifacts are also things left behind. Think about what we leave behind—things we no longer want or need. That’s our garbage! So often archaeologists are studying garbage.

8. Fossil: fossil is a part or imprint of something that was once alive.
For information on the very first humans, we have fossil remains.
Archeologists do study HUMAN fossils/remains.

9. Question-based: Archaeologists study artifacts and remains in order to answer questions about how humans lived.
Did they have religion?
Did they have disease or sickness?
What tools did they use?
What did they eat?
When did they live?
Did they hunt or farm?
Did they have laws?
Archeology is a question-based science. Archeologists always develop a question they want answered before they do anything else. These are some of the questions they may ask and try to find the answer to.
Where did they live?
Who took care of the children?
Did they have writing?
Did they have art?
How large was the group?

10. Past: Archaeologists study human cultures that are no longer living.
The past can be 50 years ago or 4.5 million years ago.

11. So what is Archaeology? People Garbage
More simply it is the study of artifacts left behind to learn about people from the past. OR
People
and their
Garbage
So if archaeology is the study of artifacts left behind to learn about people from the past, think about what we leave behind—things we no longer want or need. That’s our garbage! So, often archaeologists are studying garbage. There are even archaeologists today who study landfills out in California to find out about what people throw out today.

12. How does a historian uncover the past?
A historian uses both PRIMARY and SECONDARY sources to answer the question: What happened in the past?
They help to RECORD history by writing it down.
You may be wondering, what are primary and secondary sources?

13. Target 2:
I can explain the difference between primary and secondary sources.

14. Treaties, letters, diaries, laws, court documents, pictures, clothing
Written Clues: People invented writing 5,000 years ago. Historians look at different types of sources to uncover the past:
Primary Sources -
a first hand account left behind by someone who took part in or witnessed the event. They were there!!
Treaties, letters, diaries, laws, court documents, pictures, clothing
Secondary Sources –
information gathered secondhand by someone who did not take part in or witness an event. They were not there!
Examples include history textbooks, journal articles, and encyclopedias.

15. LT 3: How do historians use various sources to investigate the past?
Use a combination of secondary and primary sources to try to piece together the whole story.
They must compare and contrast different sources.
Using just one source or one type of source could only give one side of the story-or that one source could be inaccurate..

16. LT 3: How do historians use various sources to investigate the past?
They look at multiple sources
They look at different kinds of sources, both primary and secondary.
They ask questions about the sources and try to answer them.
They compare and contrast the sources to find out what really happened.
What is similar about the sources? What information is in all or most of sources?
WHY? Just looking at one source wouldn’t give the whole story! Remember: There are two sides (or more) to every story!

17. History isn’t “set in stone,” it can, and does change!
Remember, historians RECORD history. But sometimes their record changes! This is because:
Secondary source authors sometimes disagree about information
New evidence emerges
New ideas come about
Let’s learn more about how historian use various sources:

18. What is Geography? Geography is the study of places and people
Studying location is important to both physical and human geography.
Geography and history are closely connected

19. How do geographers help uncover the past?
Geographers look at physical land features (mountains, hills, lakes) and human-made features (bridges, roads, towns) to answer the questions:
Where did people live?
Why did they live there?
How did they use their environment to survive?

20. Historian vs. Archaeologist vs. Geographers
Archeologists “dig up” the past, historians record the past, and geographers “map” the past.

21. Exit Questions
Fill out your exit slip. Please try your best so I know what you understand!
Think about: did you hit your targets?
LT 1-I can describe the roles of historians, archaeologists, and geographers.
LT 2-I can explain the difference between primary and secondary sources.