Artifact Investigation
OER PROJECT: BIG HISTORY/ LESSON 5.3ACTIVITYARTIFACT INVESTIGATION1Unless otherwise noted, this work is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Credit: “Artifact Investigation,” OER Project, https://www.oerproject.com/PurposeArchaeologists and historians often have to piece together information to understand how people lived. By evaluating artifacts from ancient societies, you’ll investigate what these people left behind and how theylived. Process1.Read the driving question and inquiry challenge.•Driving question: What can ancient artifacts tell us about how people lived?•Inquiry challenge: You’re an artifact investigator. Your job is to figure out what artifacts people in ancient societies created, what might have been important to them, and how they might have lived.2.Before you go any further, make a prediction by considering the following questions: What can ancient artifacts reveal about the people who used them? What factors mattered most(for example: entertainment, religion, trade, defense)?Write your prediction in one or two sentences.3.Examine each of the artifacts on the next pageand complete the table.
OER PROJECT: BIG HISTORY/ LESSON 5.3ACTIVITYARTIFACT INVESTIGATION2ArtifactHow do you think people used this artifact?Why do you think people took the time to create this artifact?What can this artifact tell you about the people who created/used it?
OER PROJECT: BIG HISTORY/ LESSON 5.3ACTIVITYARTIFACT INVESTIGATION3ArtifactHow do you think people used this artifact?Why do you think people took the time to create this artifact?What can this artifact tell you about the people who created/used it?
OER PROJECT: BIG HISTORY/ LESSON 5.3ACTIVITYARTIFACT INVESTIGATION4ArtifactHow do you think people used this artifact?Why do you think people took the time to create this artifact?What can this artifact tell you about the people who created/used it?4.Now compare all the artifacts and answer the questions below.a.How are these artifacts similar?b.What is the biggest difference between these artifacts?c.What purpose do you think most of the objects have (entertainment, religion, trade, or defense)? Why?
OER PROJECT: BIG HISTORY/ LESSON 5.3ACTIVITYARTIFACT INVESTIGATION55.What else would you like to know about these objects? Write three questionsthat you would like to ask a historian or an archaeologist.1.2.3.6.Solve the mystery! Write a four-or five-sentence response tothe drivingquestion: What can ancient artifacts tell us about how people lived?Image credits: Image 1: Banquet Plaque from Tutub, c. 2650 to 2550 BCE. University of Chicago, public domain. Image 2: Cosmetic Box of the Royal Butler Kemeni, c. 1805 BCE, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain.Image 3: Ernest J.H. Mackay, Chuanhu-Daro Excavations, New Haven: CT, 1943, p. 162. Ox-or water buffalo-drawn cart with driver from Harappa, public domain. Image 4: Whistle with the Maize God, Maya artist, c. 600–900 CE, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, public domain. Image 5: Greenstone striking weapon, unknown artist, c. 1500–1800 CE, Taonga Maori Collection, Te Papa Museum, New Zealand, All Rights Reserved, Gift of Roger Chorlton, 1968.