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Year 10: Term 4: 'Lost' Civilisations

'Lost' Civilisations

Task

Guidelines: 
Archaeology is the study of human history using material remains. In this task you are being asked to discuss the validity of the statement ‘Archaeology and science have worked together to bring life to societies from the past by identifying key characteristics of a society'.
Archaeology could include discussions of  the society's 
  • Expeditions by archaeologists to the site(s) and then Excavation at the site
  • Features of the site(s). (These include non-portable remains, such as pyramids, tombs, settlements or even post-holes)
  • Artifacts (These include portable remains, or objects made by humans, such as tools, clothing, and decorations - see Museums and University collections)
  • Ecofacts (Examination of naturally organic or inorganic remains found in an archaeological site, suggesting they were deposited as a result of human activity eg seeds, charcoal, minerals, and unmodified shell or bone) 
  • Human remains (Examination of the age, sex, height, health, nutritional status of the individual, which may be able to provide important information on the culture)
Science
  • Radiocarbon dating (a scientific analysis of carbon-based materials, most frequently charcoal from an ancient fire hearth)
  • Relative dating (the systematic style changes in a people's tools to know how old a site or artifact is)
  • Genomic analysis of biological remains (DNA or paleopathology - the study of ancient diseases and injuries through the examination of fossils, mummified tissue, or skeletal remains)
  • Aerial photography
  • Remote sensing (Remote sensing techniques with infrared films, radar sensors and scanners)
  • GIS (Geographic Information Systems) increases the ability to map and record data when it is used directly at the excavation site
  • Stratigraphy (the study of layered materials (strata) that were deposited over time, and may include soils, sediments, and rocks, as well as man-made features such as pits and postholes)
Other sources of information
  • Written records/documents (including inscriptions) or Oral history handed down 
If the society had written or language records, they give historians resources to deal with that are more detailed in some ways than other records, such as archaeological or biological remains.

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'Lost' Civilisations

Ducksters: Aztec empire - Tenochtitlan

History Crunch: Tenochtitlan

Live Science: Tenochtitlan

Thought.co: The founding of Tenochtitlan and the origin of the Aztecs

Encyclopedia Britannica: Aztecs

World History Encyclopedia: Aztecs

History Today: Aztecs - a new perspective 

History Today: The fall of Tenochtitlan 

The rise and fall of the Aztec

War and Peace in the Ancient World: Peace, reconciliation & alliance in Aztec Mexico 

 Ebook: 20 Fun Fact

Ticket Machu Picchu: The Mystery Hiding the Skeletons Found in Machu Picchu

GW Today: Using Ancient DNA, Researchers Unravel the Mystery of Machu Picchu 

Phys.Org: Using ancient DNA, researchers unravel the mystery of Machu Picchu 

National Geographic:Discover 10 secrets of Machu Picchu 

Cover Art Mysteries of Machu Picchu (eBook)

Discusses the beautiful and mysterious city known as Machu Picchu. The city appears to have been carefully constructed--every stone is perfectly cut and placed. The Inca people built Machu Picchu at the height of their empire, but no one knows for sure how or why they created it.

Cover Art Who built Machu Picchu? (eBook)

Machu Picchu, a UNESCO world heritage site, is one of the most important archaeological finds in history. This sanctuary stands at the boundary between the Peruvian Andes and the Amazon Basin, making for spectacular views. The people who built this sanctuary, the Inca, are much more mysterious. This book gives readers insight about how these people lived, what their customs were, and how this awe-inspiring city was found after the Inca were conquered.

World History Encyclopedia: Ancient Celts
Britannica: Celt | History, Institutions, & Religion
National Geographic: Who were the Celts?
History.com: Celts
Exploring Celtic Civilizations
Museum Wales: Who were the Celts?

Primary sources

Celtic Digital Initiative

EuroDocs: Britain 1066-1485

Eurodocs: Britain 1486-1688

Selga: CODECS (Collaborative Online Database and e-Resources for Celtic Studies)

Victorian Government: Angkor and the mighty Khmer Empire 

Archaeology Magazine: Remapping the Khmer Empire 

University of Oregon: New research shows how many people lived in the Angkor Empire 

The Guardian: Revealed: Cambodia's vast medieval cities hidden beneath the jungle

Ancient Origins: Lost City of Khmer Empire Finally Found in Cambodia!

Ancient Origins: What happened to the Maya? 

Smithsonian Magazine: The lost city of Cambodia 

Primary Sources
National Library of Australia: The way of life in the Khmer Empire

Britannica: Maya (people)

Interesting Engineering: Mayans

Lost civilisations: Mayan history

World History Encyclopedia: Maya Religion - the light that came from beside the sea

BBC History: The fall of the Mayan civilisation

The Incomplete Mayas - printout from ebook by Dubey, A. K. (2011). World famous unsolved mysteries. 

History Today: Lost world of the Mayans 

Ancient pages: Daily life of the ancient Maya

Archeology.org: From head to toe in the Ancient Maya world

Primary  Sources

Primary sources of Maya History (Mex Connect)

Primary sources - Maya (History Skills)

Maya heritage: 150 years of preservtion (British Museum)

 

Cover ArtThe Maya (Ebook)

From series: 'Lost Worlds and Mysterious Civilisations'

 Incomplete Mayas (ebook article)  

Archaeology breakthrough: ‘Significant’ Genghis Khan discovery ends decades-old debate (Express)

Prehistoric Monglian archaeology in the Early 21st Century: Developments in the Steppe and Beyond 

Architects have mapped the ancient capital of the Mongolian Empire (The Art Newspaper)

Archaeologists Debunk Myth: Mongols Had Cities, but Not for Themselves (Haaretz Archaelogy)

Top Ten Archaeological Discoveries in Mongolia (Ayan Travel)

Mongolia’s best archeological discoveries of 2020 named (Montsame)

Archaeologists discover Genghis Khan’s winter home (Medievalists.net)

Primary Sources

Description of the Tatars (Mongols) (Fordham University Internet History Sourcebook)

World History Encyclopedia: Mycenean civilisation

Britannica: Myceneans

Early Antiquity: Ch 15 - The world of Crete and Mycenae 

The World of Crete and Mycenae 

The golden age of heroes: the glory of the Mycenean civilisation 

The Fall of a Civilization: The Mysterious Collapse of the Mycenaean Bronze Age

The Mycenean civilisation

History.com: Easter Island

BBC Science & Nature: The Mystery of Easter Island

World Mysteries: Easter Island

National Geographic: Easter Island Mystery Solved?

Cover Art Easter Island (eBook)

World Famous Unsolved Mysteries: Scythians

Chapter from ebook. By Dubey, Abhay Kumar. From 'World Famous Unsolved Mysteries'. 2011. V&S Publishers. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/bbc/detail.action?docID=1667264. 

Frozen Siberian Mummies Reveal a Lost Civilization - Discover Magazine 

British Museum Blog: Introducing the Scythians

The Scythians - Lost Civilizations

Scythia and the Scythians - Gale in Context: World History database

Saving the frozen Scythian tombs of the Altai Mountains 

Scythians 

The real Amazons (National Geographic)

Primary Sources
Introducing the Scythians (British Museum)

Scythia: The men, the mummies (Nicholson Museum)

 

Cover ArtThe Scythians 700-300 BC (Ebook)

Though the 'Scythian period' in the history of Eastern Europe lasted little more than 400 years, the impression these horsemen made upon the history of their times was such that a thousand years after they had ceased to exist as a sovereign people, their heartland and the territories which they dominated far beyond it continued to be known as 'greater Scythia'. From the very beginnings of their emergence on the world scene the Scythians took part in the greatest campaigns of their times, defeating such mighty contemporaries as Assyria, Urartu, Babylonia, Media and Persia.

Cover ArtThe Scythians : Nomad Warriors of the Steppe (Ebook)

The Scythians were warlike nomadic horsemen who roamed the steppe of Asia in the first millennium BC. Using archaeological finds from burials and texts written, mainly, by Greeks, this book reconstructs the lives of the Scythians, exploring their beliefs, their burial practices, their love of fighting and their flexible attitude to gender.

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