SOCIAL SCIENCE.

UNIT 9: ANCIENT HISTORY

Learn about Ancient History through this presentation

Today we will start with the last topic called Ancient History.

- This period began when people started to write.

- Ancient History ended with the fall of the Roman Empire, and then we have the Medieval Age or Middle Age.

The previous period was called PREHISTORY.

Here you can see a timeline of the basic period of our History.

What is a civilization? 

Historians examine archaeological remains, such as buildings, pottery or ancient writing. These sources help them to learn about civilizations.

A civilization is a society that has developed its own culture and institutions. 

Here there are some videos about these civilisations.

Introduction to Ancient History.

Phoenicians, Greek and Carthaginians

The History of Civilizations

Ancient History: Phoenicians and Carthaginians

Ancient History: The Greeks

Ancient History: The Romans

The Roman Empire

Romans in Spain

The Visigoths

VISIGOTHS in SPAIN

UNIT 8: PREHISTORY

Iberians and Celts in the Iberian Peninsula

SONG: 

In this unit, we are going to learn about Prehistory. Watch the video below.

How do we know what happened in this period? 

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Archaeologists study historical events finding historical evidence.  Archaeologists work in the archaeological site digging in the ground to find out historical objects such as tools, bones, pottery...

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Here you can see an archaeologist site. It is located in Atapuerca, Burgos (Spain). There are many archaeologists digging in the place where some human beings lived thousands of years ago. 

Atapuerca contains a rich fossil record of the earliest human beings in Europe, from nearly one million years ago and extending into the Common Era. 

The Sierra de Atapuerca sites provide unique testimony of the origin and evolution both of the existing human civilization and other cultures that have disappeared. The evolutionary line or lines from the African ancestors of modern humankind are documented in these sites. The earliest and most abundant evidence of humankind in Europe is found in the Sierra de Atapuerca. The sites constitute an exceptional example of continuous human occupation, due to their special ecosystems and their geographical location. The fossil remains in the Sierra de Atapuerca are an invaluable reserve of information about the physical nature and the way of life of the earliest human communities in Europe.

PALAEOLITHIC PERIOD

TIME: From 2500000-10000 BC

- They live in small groups called tribes.  They were nomads (travelled from one place to another to find food), so they didn´t have a fixed house.

- FOOD: They were hunters and gatherers (they also collect plants and wild fruits).

-HOUSE: They live in caves.... or in huts (like camping tents made with branches and animal skins).

-TRAVELLING: On foot. They carried their belongings/tools on their backs.

 

- REMAINS and TOOLS: They decorate cave walls with paintings. They used very simple tools made with stones, wood and animal bones and skins.

Tools were very simple (human-shaped knives, and arrowheads, made by hitting two rocks together).

They made spears and harpoons.

Examples of tools. 

Hand mill

Stone scrapers

Swords

NEOLITHIC PERIOD

- TIME: From 5500-2500 BC

- People became sedentary  (People live in a permanent place)

- FOOD:  Little by little they learn to grow or cultivate plants and they start to domesticate some animals.

- HOUSE: Little by little some primitive people started to build small primitive permanent villages with very simple houses.

- TRAVELLING: People started to domesticate horses which helped people to transport things.

When later primitive people invented the wheel, it was easier to transport things in the first carts. They also invented sailing boats.

- REMAINS and TOOLS: The later primitive people used more developed tools, they start using rocks and clay (apart from stones, wood, and animal skins,...).

Some remains are clay pots, weapons, ... some stone houses.

People learnt to make pottery. They made pots to keep food in and to cook with.

People developed better farming tools. 

Sickle(Hoz): Allow people to cut cereals. 


Plough (Arado): Made possible to grow crops.

People invented the loom for weaving cloth. 

METAL AGES

HOW DID PEOPLE PROTECT TOWNS?

The towns were surrounded by walls for protection. The inhabitants organised themselves into defence groups under a chief.

New jobs were created. Some people became soldiers to defend the town.

Others became traders to buy and sell metal objects, clothes and pottery.

WHAT DID PEOPLE INVENT IN THE METAL AGES?

Sometimes metals or other products were not available locally.

Trading goods became a basic need. Trading helped villages and towns to grow.

People made inventions that helped trade.

The invention of the wheel made it possible to build carts and transport goods.

HOW DID PEOPLE FIND METALS?

People found copper, tin and iron in mines. There are several prehistoric mines in the Iberian Peninsula.

At first, people used copper to make tools. Copper was found in almost pure form in nature, but it was too soft.

Soon people learnt to mix copper and tin to make bronze. Bronze is harder than copper, but extracting tin from the rock was difficult.

Then, people learnt to work with iron. It is a hard metal and is easy to extract from rock.

People also used precious metals like gold and silver to make jewellery.

Metal is very important today. Metal is all around us.

Here you can see a video of the current mines in Tharsis (Huelva), mines that have a prehistoric origin.

WHEN DID PEOPLE LEARN TO USE METALS?

People learnt to use metals about 7,000 years ago. This was the beginning of the Metal Ages.

They worked with metals such as copper, tin, bronze and iron.

They melted the metal in hot furnaces. Then, they shaped the hot metal into different objects.

People began to trade metals and other goods with other villages.

WHAT IS A MEGALITH?

 During the Metal Ages, people-built monuments using large stones called megaliths. 

There are three main types of megalithic monuments. 

-   - Menhirs are large, upright, standing stones. They were used for religious purposes. 

 

-     -  Dolmens have many upright stones that support a large, flat, horizontal stone. They were burial monuments.

 - Cromlechs consist of circles of large standing stones. Prehistoric people used them as sanctuaries.

 

ANCIENT HISTORY.

 CELTS AND IBERIANS.

The economy of Spain.

Along this unit, we will talk about the three economic sectors:

primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors.

GAME: WORD WALL

 

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