HOW MANY ARTIFACTS CAN YOU CORRECTLY DATE?
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As a member of the Adventures in Learning Discovery Team, you will visit archaeological dig sights around the world. As part of your job, you will be expected to interpret your findings---determine the age of the artifacts you locate and decide where they fit in the timeline of human history. In order to prepare you for this mission, the Discovery Team has gathered an assortment of artifacts for you to examine and classify. This task will test your evaluation skills and strengthen your ability to make decisions.
THE TIMELINE OF HUMAN HISTORY CHALLENGE
Assignments to hand in: A Calendar of Human History Timeline Questions
INTRODUCTION: Most archeologists believe that humans and their remote evolutionary cousins have been on this planet for millions of years. As you work through this challenge, you will learn about significant events in our history and our current place within it.
Step 1: Events in Human History - Download and print Tokens of Selected Events in Human History. These are your artifacts. Cut out the three pages of token events along the perforated lines.
Step 2: Hypothesizing Chronological Order - Place the tokens on a desk/table. Using an educated guess strategy, arrange them chronological order, from the earliest to the most recent dates.
Step 3: Human History Calendar - Download and print the handout: A Calendar of Human History. This calendar represents the amount of time modern humans have existed on the earth. The first day of the calendar - January 1 - represents the beginning of modern human history, approximately 100,000 years ago. The last day of the calendar - December 31 - represents recent human history, approximately the last 279 years. Each calendar day represents another 279 years back in time. Therefore, December 30 represents approximately 558 years ago. December 29 represents approximately 837 years ago, and so on. If you continued to count backward, you would find that each month equals approximately 8,500 years ago. November 1 represents approximately 17,000 years ago, and so on. If you counted back all the way to January 1, you would find that it represents approximately 1000,000 years ago.
Further Explanation: Use your best educated guesses and fill in the blank calendar with the letters of each event. Assume the entire year = 100,000 years. So, each day of the calendar = 279 years. Use a calculator if needed (Online Calculator Here). Example: The color television was created within the last 279 years (You didn't hear of George Washington watching the daily events of the American Revolution on the nightly news, did you?). So, therefore, "Event F" would go in the box for December 31st.
Step 5: Calendar Activity - Complete A Calendar of Human History - Fill in your calendar with the letters that appear on each token.
Step 6: Check Your Answers - Download and print the handout: A Timeline of Human History and Key Chronological Terms. Check your answers, correcting any mistakes. (These answers will be revealed when we complete Step 5.)
Step 7: Timeline Questions - Download and print the handout: Timeline Questions. Answer 1-8 using your corrected calendar. (These answers will be revealed when we complete Step 5.)
KEY TERMS
Decade - A decade is a time period of 10 years. A decade can also refer to a specific 10-year period such as 1960 to 1969, or "the sixties."
Century - A century is a time period of 100 years. A century can also refer to a specific 100-year period such as 1800 to 1899, also known as "the eighteen hundreds" or "the nineteenth century." If you count the number of centuries from year 0 to the year 1900, the total is 19 centuries. Therefore, any year between 1800 and 1900 is part of the nineteenth century.
Millennium - A millennium is a time period of 1,000 years. A millennium can also refer to a specific 1,000-year period such as 1000 to 2000, or "the second millennium." If you count the number of millennia from year 0 to the year 2000, the total is two millennia. Therefore, any year between 1000 and 2000 is part of the second millennium.
C.E. (A.D.) and B.C.E. (B.C.) - C.E. stands for the "common era" and B.C.E. for "before the common era." "Common era" refers to the years from year 0 to the present day. The years before year 0 are referred to as "before the common era." Year 0 is written 0 C.E. Five years before year 0 is written 5 B.C.E.
C.E. and B.C.E. are sometimes referred to as A.D. and B.C., respectively. A.D. stands for "anno Domini," which means "in the year of the Lord." "Lord" refers to Jesus Christ, the founder of the Christian religion. In the Christian tradition, the first year of Christ's life is usually counted as year 1 and all the years that follow are considered "in the year of the Lord." The time period before Christ's birth is referred to as B.C., which means "before Christ."
Century - A century is a time period of 100 years. A century can also refer to a specific 100-year period such as 1800 to 1899, also known as "the eighteen hundreds" or "the nineteenth century." If you count the number of centuries from year 0 to the year 1900, the total is 19 centuries. Therefore, any year between 1800 and 1900 is part of the nineteenth century.
Millennium - A millennium is a time period of 1,000 years. A millennium can also refer to a specific 1,000-year period such as 1000 to 2000, or "the second millennium." If you count the number of millennia from year 0 to the year 2000, the total is two millennia. Therefore, any year between 1000 and 2000 is part of the second millennium.
C.E. (A.D.) and B.C.E. (B.C.) - C.E. stands for the "common era" and B.C.E. for "before the common era." "Common era" refers to the years from year 0 to the present day. The years before year 0 are referred to as "before the common era." Year 0 is written 0 C.E. Five years before year 0 is written 5 B.C.E.
C.E. and B.C.E. are sometimes referred to as A.D. and B.C., respectively. A.D. stands for "anno Domini," which means "in the year of the Lord." "Lord" refers to Jesus Christ, the founder of the Christian religion. In the Christian tradition, the first year of Christ's life is usually counted as year 1 and all the years that follow are considered "in the year of the Lord." The time period before Christ's birth is referred to as B.C., which means "before Christ."