Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Civilizations
Prehistory-300 B.C.
Understanding our Past
Why do we study history?
Why do we study history?
Studying the Historical Past
About 5,000 years ago groups of people in
different parts of the world began keeping
written records
The invention and use of writing marks the
beginning of recorded history
However…people still had be around for
thousands upon thousands of years prior,
this time before writing is known as
prehistory.
The individuals who study and write about
the past are known as historians
They learn and study from artifacts
Ex. Clothing, artwork/pottery, written
Studying the Historical Past
Historians must evaluate all
evidence to determine what is
reliable and what is not
Is the source
primary/secondary?
Who is the “author”….are they
stating fact or opinions?
Is the information real or fake
interpretations
Often the goal of historians is
to explain cause and effect.
Historians often try to state facts
and avoid biases, but sometimes
their biases influence their
Investigating Prehistory
The study of people, their development
and their origins is known as
anthropology
Anthropologist study things like bones,
how we have physically changed, and
different cultures
Cultural Changes
The first cities were spread all
over and needed to trade with
nomadic tribes.
This often lead to cultural
diffusion, which in turn created
Civilizations and Change
Many things can cause
civilizations to change
Environmental Changes
Floods
Droughts
Volcanoes
Over use of natural resources