History assessment task 1-2025

What is History?

History is the study of people, places, events and perspectives from the past. It is the examination of remains left behind from the past and the investigation of what people have written about the past.

Why study History?

Studying history helps us understand how past events shape the present and future, allowing us to learn from mistakes and appreciate different perspectives. It also gives you valuable skills that you can use everyday.

Glossary

Primary Sources - Primary sources are sources that come from the time a historian is studying. They are the ā€˜raw materialsā€™ of history and help us create secondary sources.

Secondary Sources - Secondary sources are reconstructions of the past by historians living at a later time. A historian must use primary sources to locate information in order to create secondary sources.

[The exception to this rule about primary and secondary sources is that if someone personally experienced an event but wrote about it many years later, it is considered a primary source e.g. a memoir]

Archaeology - Archaeology is the scientific study of past cultures through the examination of physical remains such as buildings, monuments and artefacts.

Chronology - The order of events based on when they have occurred.

Archaeologist - A person who studies the remains of the past such as artefacts and human remains

Sources - Written and Non-Written items that provide information about the past

Empathy - Understanding another personā€™s attitudes and actions; putting yourself in another personā€™s position

Historian - A person who studies the past by examining evidence from sources

Artefact - An object made by people in the past that can now be used as a source

Preserve - To maintain or keep something in its original form to stop it from becoming damaged

Evidence - Information found within a source that helps to prove or disprove something

Written Sources - Written sources provide information through written text about the kind of culture that existed at a certain time.

e.g. newspapers, letters, diaries, birth certificate

Non-Written Sources - Any material from the past that does not contain written text. They are the physical remains of the past.

5 Wā€™s

Who - Author/Perspective (who made the source)

What - Nature of the source (written, non-written, archaeological) (what is the source)

When - Date (when was the source made)

Where - Provence or the source, context (where was the source made)

Why - Purpose of the source/motive for its creation (why was the source made)

Chronology, timelines and measuring time

Measuring time

Christian way of measuring time

BC - Before Christ

AD - Anno Domini (Latin for ā€œin the year of our lordā€)

Other version

BCE - Before Common Era

CE - the Common Era

  • BC/BCE dates are counted backwards. e.g. between 2, 500 and 2, 000 - 2,500 is the oldest date and 2,000 is the most recent.

  • AD dates are counted forward. e.g. between 1920 and 1950 - 1920 is the oldest and 1950 is the most recent.

Example of chronological placing of events

  • 2300BC

  • 450BC

  • 173BC

  • 55BC

  • AD 930

  • AD 1350

  • AD 1750

  • AD 1958

Creating & Making a timeline

Every timeline must require

  • A heading

  • Evenly spaced intervals e.g. by number of years, decades should be the same

  • Correct BC and AD (you need to count backwards)

  • A continuum line (e.g. arrows at the end to show time continues)

  • Neat: Use a ruler

  • A scale

When making a timelineā€¦

  • Draw a straight line horizontally

  • Add arrows to each end of your timeline

  • Add your heading (what is your timeline showing?)

  • Decide on the time intervals you need

  • Write the scale of the intervals

  • Plot these time intervals on the timeline

  • Plot these events on the timeline

    1. Researching the topic

    2. Creating a framework

    3. Filling in the timeline

Tips:

  • Work out how many years between first and last event to create your intervals and scale


Glossary

Decade - A period of 10 years

Century - A period of 100 years

Millennium - A period of 1000 years

Calculating Centuries

  • The FIRST YEAR of each century is year 1 of that century and the LAST YEAR is year 100 of that century e.g. the last year of the twentieth century was the year 2000 and the first year of the new century was the year 2001

More examples

  • 1-100 - 1st century

  • 101-200 - 2nd century

  • 201-300 - 3rd century

  • 301-400 - 4th century

  • 1601-1700 - 17th century

  • 1701-1800 - 19th century

  • 1801-1900 - 19th century

  • 1901-2000 - 20th century

  • 2001-2100 - 21st century

Calculating Years between Dates

Archaeological sites and excavation techniques

The process of archaeology means that a site is destroyed or damaged. It is critically important that every step is taken with great care and precision.

Every step is PRECISELY:

  • Noted

  • Documented

  • Artefacts are cleaned

  • Photographed

  • Drawn to scale

  • Labelled

  • All work is recorded in workbooks

Dating techniques - Stratigraphy

Stratigraphy is the classification of different layers or layering of sedimentary deposits, and in sedimentary or layered volcanic rocks. This field is important to understanding the geological history and forms the basis for classification of rocks into distinct units that can be easily mapped.

Human remains

  • Bodies that have been preserved through the passage of time provide us insights into past civilisations and societies.

  • There is great variation in what gets preserved due to instability in the environment.

  • Remains are more likely to be preserved in constant environment in terms of temperature

  • Dry, cold and waterlogged environments are the most common places for bodies to be preserved.

Stratigraphy is the study of Earth's layers to understand geological history and date artefacts found in them.

The idea behind the stratigraphical dating method is that the oldest objects are on the lower strata whilst the newer objects are on higher strata.

Relative & Absolute Dating Techniques

Relative Dating is a technique used to determine an approximate age of artefacts through the comparison of other artefacts.

Absolute Dating is a technique used to determine the exact age of artefacts using scientific methods such as radiocarbon dating.

  1. Dry Environments

    • Lack of moisture prevents bacteria from breaking down bodies.

    • Sand and dry caves naturally preserve bodies (e.g., Egyptian sand mummies).

  2. Cold Environments

    • Ice preserves bodies if conditions are right:

      • Death occurs on non-moving ice.

      • Initial freeze-drying before being fully covered in ice.

      • Body must remain intact without scavengers disturbing it.

  3. Waterlogged Environments

    • Found in lakes, swamps, marshes, fens, and peat bogs.

    • Waterlogged sites create oxygen-free conditions that prevent decay.

    • Preservation is only possible if waterlogging remains constant.

How sites are discovered

  • Existing Sites - sites that never disappeared, often large, easy to locate, well preserved, may have been damaged or robbed over time

  • Luck or Chance - discovered by accident, can be very well presereved, can also be damaged when discovered

  • Natural Processes - through processes such as rain, wind and soil erosion, sites can be damaged from these processes if not properly secured and protected

  • Human Activity - when humans dig roads, dams, railway tunnels etc sometimes sites are discovered, can be preserved quicklyĀ 

  • Ancient Writings - use of written records to help locate a site, writing may mention specific places, process can be very long, time consuming and expensive

  • Aerial Photography - plane flying over areas of land or suspected sites and taking photographs, doesnā€™t always reveal specific details

  • Satellite images/Photography - satellites can penetrate the land to discover sites, technology can be very expensive, helps find and examine sites that are hard to access

Otzi the Iceman - Discovery, hypothesis and evidence

Evidence

September 19 - 1991

Otziā€™s body was first found by a German tourist on the Italian-Austrian Border.

1994

It was decided by Spindler that the Iceman had been a Shepherd in a region of Northern Italy. The conclusion was made based on Otziā€™s age, health, clothing, equipment and place of death. This was because he was old enough to be a shepherd and looked relatively healthy while his clothing allowed him to survive within a considerable period of time.

1998

The icemanā€™s content in his intestines and found hop horn-bean pollen. The pollen had been consumed just before the iceman had died, and must therefore died in the Northern Hemisphere during spring as hop horn-bean only flowers between March and June.

June 2001

X-rays were completed and revealed a shadow in the shape of an arrow near his left shoulder. A small skin wound was also found on the left side of the Icemanā€™s back, which confirmed that he had been shot by an arrow. It was believed that he pulled it out himself after. The arrow mustā€™ve also severed a major blood vessel and wouldā€™ve resulted in heavy bleeding. He had enough strength to reach the top of the mountain before the loss of blood that resulted his death.

August 2003

It had been discovered that the Iceman had been in a fight with a number of people before he died. The evidence was found by taking blood samples from him, his knife, coat and axe. A DNA sequence analysis revealed five different sequences on all the objects and the Iceman. One belonged to Otzi, while all others were different. Defensive wounds were also found on his body.

June 2007

A CT Scanner was used on the wound that Otzi had on his left shoulder. The scan revealed the exact path of the arrow and damage that had been made. The arrow had torn a hole in an artery below his left collarbone that caused him to lose lots of blood.

January 2009

New findings revealed that Otzi was attacked at least twice during his final days of life. The wounds on his hands were old and a few days later he had recieved new wounds on his back, one of these being the arrow and the other being a bruise from a blunt object.

What do we know about the life and death of the Iceman?

  • Different DNA blood samples suggest involved in conflict before death

  • Eaten a large meal before his death - he was caught by surprise when being attacked

  • Subdural Hemmorage on his skull

  • Tattoos on his hand - maybe medicinal treatment

  • Had arthritis

  • Defensive wounds on his right hand

  • Wound from arrow on his left shoulder

  • Wound on his bank from blunt object

  • Heart Disease

  • Lyme Disease

  • He was in his mid 40ā€™s

  • Carried fire in a birch bag insulated with maple leaves

  • Likely died from the arrow wound on his back - position of arrow wound is likely fatal

  • Fibrin in his blood - his wounds did not heal

  • Carried a copper axe from the early copper period

  • Pressure marks/defensive wounds on wrist

  • Had 61 tattoos which was thought to be an early type of acupuncture as they were where it was most commonly injured places

  • Was spring time due to the pollen in his stomach (Hophornbeam)

  • Had brown/black wavy hair

  • 160 centimetres

  • Worn teeth probably from eating food with grains