6 th Grade Social Studies The World Chap 1 Digging Up The Past

6 th Grade Social Studies The World Chap 1 Digging Up The Past

Lesson 1: Early Gatherers and Hunters 1. How is it possible that an artifact might have arrived where it is found? Define the following words: Studying Prehistory (Page 11) Prehistory Archaeology Archaeologist Artifacts 2. Why is the long period of time before the development of written language called prehistory? 3. If two archaeologists saw the same ancient site and the same artifacts from it, they might sketch two different illustrations of life at that site. How is this possible? 4. If your home were buried under sand tomorrow what artifacts would there be to show an archaeologist in the twenty-fifth century how your family lived? 2

Early Peoples (Page 12) 5. How many years ago do archaeologists believe that people lived in parts of East Africa? Define: Migrated 6. How did the first humans get to Europe and Asia? Early Americans (Page 12) 7. Why are some arrowheads called Clovis points? 8. In your own words what was the Ice Age? 9. What effect did the glaciers have on the surrounding land? The Ice Age (Page 12) 10. After the Ice Age, what two materials did people use to make their weapons? 3

Prehistoric Cave Art (Page 13) 11. Why do you think cave paintings often show grazing animals or people hunting? 12. Why do you think this Tassili cave paintings shows women and children? Define: Beringia A Migration Path (Pages 14-15) 13. Why is Beringia not visible today? 14. How do archaeologists believe people from Asia came into Alaska? 15. How do archaeologists think people came to New Mexico from Alaska? Use the map on page 15 to answer questions 16 & 17. 16. What are the two main routes that the people followed to get from Asia to the area that is the present day United States? 17. Based on the information in the map, would you expect the topper site to be older or younger than the Cave of the Hands site? Explain. 4

Different Paths (Page 16) 18. How did artifacts from a site near Monte Verde, Chile, change the theory of when humans first entered North America? Lesson 1 Summary 1. Place the following events in the order they occurred. Place the number 1 by the sentence that describes the first thing that happened, then number 2 by the second thing that happened and continue the process. Clovis points are found in New Mexico. Ice Age begins. Pre-Clovis points are found near Monte Verde, Chile. People migrate from Asia to North America. 2. What is an Archaeologist? 3. How do we know about the people who lived in Clovis years ago? 4. How do we use artifacts to learn about early people and cultures? 5. Do we know for certain whom the first Americans were? Explain your answer. 5

Stone Age Healers (Page 17) 1. What were some of the procedures Stone Age healers performed to fulfill the responsibility of caring for their patients health? 2. What evidence do we have that Stone Age Healers performed these duties? 3. In what ways did Stone Age healers use the science and technology of their age to help others? LESSON 2 Stone Age (Page 19) 19. What building materials were used by people during the Stone Age? Why did humans use these building materials at this time? Explain. 20. During what time did the Old Stone Age happen? Define: Technology 21. The New Stone Age began how many years ago? This period lasted until how many years ago? Define: Domesticate 6

22. What change in technology ended the Stone Age? Early Farming (Page 20) 23. Why is it difficult to harvest wild plants? 24. How did domestication change the plants? 25. What do humans use plants for? 26. Why did farmers domesticate the mint plant? Domestic Animals (Page 21) 27. Use the map on page 21 to help answer the question. What plant was domesticated in North America? 28. How do wild animals differ from domesticated animals? Define: Nomads More Useful Creatures (Page 22) 29. Why would domesticated animals be especially helpful to nomads? 7

Village Life (Page 22) 30. How did the villagers of Skara Brae obtain food? Define: Social Divisions 31. What led to the development of social divisions? Define: Climates The Iceman (Page 23) 32. What metal was common during the New Stone Age? Define: Carbon Dating Lesson 2 Summary 1. Place the following events in the order they occurred. Place the number 1 by the sentence that describes the first thing that happened, then number 2 by the second thing that happened and continue the process. Crops are domesticated. Social divisions are formed in communities. People are able to produce surplus crops. Animals are domesticated. Technology sees major improvements. 2. How can we know what animals Stone Age people domesticated? 8

Chart and Graph Skills (Pages 24-25) 1. What does the first time line on page 25 show? What does the second time line on the page show? 2. How many years ago did early Agriculture exist? 3. Which of the time lines shows the longest period of time? 4. How many years before written history began was the end of the Old Stone Age? Lesson 3 Define: Culture Contacting Cultures (Page 27) Define: Anthropology Define: Landform Define: Geography Define: Diverse 9

33. If you found a sharp pointed spear in a prehistoric excavation, what kind of culture might you have found? 34. How might artifacts from a prehistoric culture in the desert differ from artifacts found near a lake or ocean? 35. What evidence suggests that cultures from the islands in the Pacific had contact with prehistoric settlements in the Americas? 36. Why did Thor Heyerdahl sail on a raft from South America to islands in the Pacific? Culture Develop (Page 28) 37. What were the major crops grown throughout Europe? 38. In Europe what developed after farming was established? Prehistoric Art (Pages 28-29) 38. What animals did prehistoric people in northern Spain and southern France live with? 39. How did prehistoric people make their paintings? 10

40. Why do archaeologists find prehistoric cave art informative? Lesson 3: Summary 1. What is culture? What encouraged the development of culture in the Americas? 3. What artifacts tell us the most about prehistoric culture? 4. How do landforms and climate influence cultures? Use the word geography in your answer. 11

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