How Historians Study the Past

[Gregory Hewett]

Welcome Back!

Please respond to these questions with clear statements, multiple examples, and an explanation that connects the statement to the examples.

1. Give two examples of general questions historians ask themselves when they study the past. Also, explain why they would use these questions.

2. What resources do historians particularly reply on when a society does not have a written history?

3. What do historians do when they sort through evidence, such as that involving the "curse" of King Tut's tomb?

4. List two facts and two opinions about Stonehenge. What are some key words that are used that help you know that an opinion is not a fact.

5. Compare a historian's job with that of an archaeologist.

[aleena]

1. Give two examples of general questions historians ask themselves when they study the past. Also, explain why they would use these questions.

One example is: “How have leaders governed societies?” They would use this question to see how the leaders have affected the people’s lives. They could also use the information they found to see how they helped the civilizations.

Another question they ask is: “How are societies similar and different?” They can use that question to tell the differences between cultures and their beliefs. They can also use that question to figure out if they have different ways of living, hunting, and gathering, (depending on what time in history)


2. What resources do historians particularly rely on when a society does not have a written history?

They use Oral History to pass down stories and information about the a topic that some historians look for. Oral History is stories told verbally. They are usually pieced from songs, stories and customs.

3. What do historians do when they sort through evidence, such as that involving the "curse" of King Tut's tomb?

Historians do a couple things when sorting through evidence. Sometimes they look for patterns to try and figure out the history of a place. They also ask questions about the place like the ones in Question 1. Then they pick the most trustworthy and reliable piece of evidence and stick with it. For King Tut’s tomb they thought they had evidence about the curse when the English historian went into the tomb then died shortly after. This could have also been a coincidence.

4. List two facts and two opinions about Stonehenge. What are some key words that are used that help you know that an opinion is not a fact.

Two opinions are that some historians believed that Stonehenge was built by priests as place for worship. Other opinion is that they believe that Sun Worshipers were the ones who built it. So no one knows who actually built Stonehenge.

Two facts are that Stonehenge couldn’t be built by priests because priests were there after Stonehenge was built. Even though historians figured this out some still believe it was built by priests. Another fact is that Stonehenge was built in three phases. The first phase started in 3000 B.C.

5. Compare a historian's job with that of an archaeologist.
Historians record the events from previous years, and they also prove and disprove evidence that people have discovered; they also use their own types of tools. They use different kinds of sources to uncover mysteries of the past. Archaeologist’s jobs are to find artifacts or other things left behind from the past. Basically archaeologists find artifacts while historians study the history of what happened before the present.

- Aleena, Gower and Jun Young

[vikram]

________________________________________
Welcome Back!

Please respond to these questions with clear statements, multiple examples, and an explanation that connects the statement to the examples.

1. Give two examples of general questions historians ask themselves when they study the past. Also, explain why they would use these questions.

Two questions historians ask themselves are how have belief systems developed and changed? Archeologists question themselves to find out how much the belief systems effect the societies and what did they believe. Another question they ask is how are societies similar and different the past to now? They ask this to connect the past to the present and to see how they developed.

2. What resources do historians particularly rely on when a society does not have a written history?
Historians rely on stories, customs, songs passed by generation to generation. For example the West African story teller tells stories passed by generation to generation to learn about his village’s history.

3. What do historians do when they sort through evidence, such as that involving the "curse" of King Tut's tomb?

Historians use only the most important and trustworthy information they find. For example, the curse of King Tut’s tomb turned out to be false because all the archeologist who died after they entered the tomb were above 70 years old.


4. List two facts and two opinions about Stonehenge. What are some key words that are used that help you know that an opinion is not a fact.

Two facts are that the Stone Hedge was built around 3000 B.C. Also, the stones to build the Stone Hedge came from nearby quarries.
Two opinions are the builders were believed to be sun worshipers. Another opinion is, some experts say the Stone Hedge will never reveal it secrets
and others say it eventually will.

5. Compare a historian's job with that of an archaeologist.

[aran]

Welcome Back!

Please respond to these questions with clear statements, multiple examples, and an explanation that connects the statement to the examples.

1. Give two examples of general questions historians ask themselves when they study the past. Also, explain why they would use these questions.
1. How group and societies interacted. 2. How are societies similar and different? 3 How belief system developed and changed.


2. What resources do historians particularly rely on when a society does not have a written history?
They rely on oral histories when there is no written history.

3. What do historians do when they sort through evidence, such as that involving the "curse" of King Tut's tomb?
The first answer they get is not always correct. They use more of primary and secondary sources so they have more information and then they use the information that is the most important and trustworthy.

4. List two facts and two opinions about Stonehenge. What are some key words that are used that help you know that an opinion is not a fact.
Opinions about the Stonehenge are that people think it`s beautiful and mysterious and many people believe that Stonehenge was used to serve as a calendar to predict eclipses of the moon. The facts about the Stonehenge are that it`s made up of stone and it`s build in around 2500B.C. also some stones weight around 50 tons.

5. Compare a historian's job with that of an archaeologist.
Historians come up with what happened in the past and archeologist come up evidence for it like a bone of a hominid or tools used in the past. Historians are like detectives .