1Y: Investigating the Past

Question 1

What is History?

Answer 1

History is the story of our past.

Question 2

What is a Source?

Answer 2

Anything that provides evidence is known a source.

Question 3

What is a Primary Source?

Answer 3

Primary Sources are written or made at the time an event took place. They are written or made by those who witnessed the events as they happened.

Question 4

What are examples of Primary Sources?

Answer 4

Buildings, Photographs, Films, Newspapers, Letters and Books,

Question 5

What is a Secondary Source?

Answer 5

Secondary Sources provide second hand evidence. It is written by someone who did not witness the events happening.

Question 6

What is a biased source?

Answer 6

Sources can often be biased and may not always be reliable. For example, an autoboigraphy may only concentrate on the good points.

In other cases, the information may be used to promote the ideas of a particular organisation and this is called Propaganda.

Question 7

What’s an example of Propaganda?

Answer 7

In Germany during the 1930’s, Adolf Hitler used propaganda to spread his views regarding the hatred of jews.

Question 8

Is it OK for Historians be biased?

Answer 8

No - Historians should present their information in an objective way. They should look at the story from different points of view and not favour one side of the argument.

Question 9

What do Archaeologists do?

Answer 9

Archaeologists study artefacts to find out about the past.

Question 10

How do you find a suitable Archaelogical site?

Answer 10

Old buildings or burial chambers are often very good archaeological sites.

Once a site is located, acrcaeologist carry out a ‘dig’ to excavate and examine the artefacts that have become burried over time.

Question 11

How does an Archaeologist plan a ‘dig’?

Answer 11

• Makes a detailed plan of the site.
• Site is then devided into squares or grids and identified by numbers or letters and marked on the plan.
• Each grid is then dug out very carefully. Trowels, brushes and buckets are used to dig up the earth.
• Each artefact is dated. This means an attempt is made to calculate it’s age.

Question 12

Name 3 ways you can date Artefacts?

Answer 12

1. Stratigraphy: Artefacts discovered deeper beneath the surface are older than artefacts found above them in shallow ground.
2. Carbon Dating: When a plant or animal dies, carbon begins to leak out slowly from its body. By measuring how much carbon is left in the dead plant or animal, scientists can work out approximately when the animal or plant died.
3. Pollen Analysis: Can be used to find out what plants grew long ago in an area. Pollen grains can sometimes survive for thousands of years.