Investigating the Ancient Past

1. Investigating the Ancient Past How do we know? Week 2

2. How is history investigated? • A historical investigation is not just about facts and dates. It is not about writing down lots of information, memorising it. • Historical investigations are about what you think is significant about what you discover. It’s sometimes ok to disagree with your teacher, but your view must be supported by evidence.

3. Sources • Fragments from the past – a human bone, a piece of a tool or an old manuscript or ruin – are historical sources. They are primary sources, because they come from the time being investigated. • They can tell us about the past. • Modern paintings of ancient scenes, scientific reports on ancient artefacts and papers written by historians and other scholars are also historical sources. They may fill in some of the gaps in knowledge. These are known as secondary sources. • These sources are not evidence in themselves, but the questions we ask about the source lead us to the evidence. Saldais, M et al, Oxford Big Ideas – Australian Curriculum Year 7,Oxford University Press, 2011

4. Primary v. Secondary Sources • Just like in school,Primary sources come before secondary sources. • Primary sources are those that come from the period in history that you are looking at. • Secondary sources are those that are created after the time that you are looking at.

5. Contestability of history • Different people will have different views or perspectives about the same topic. • The perspective, or point of view, will depend on the person giving it and/or the sources and evidence they look at. • Different historians may come to different conclusions. This is what we call a contested view, when historians disagree. • Historians might disagree because they are looking at different sources, or the sources they are looking at have been distorted, damaged or changed.

6. Draw your own conclusion • Write a paragraph explaining what Ms Ilyine’s life at Surf Coast Secondary College was like. You must use your table to create your explanation. • (Remember, we are pretending that it is 2014 and we are one of the primary school students looking back at what school was like this year, try to just use the sources you have found, rather than other information that you know.)

7. Comparing views • Let’s share some of our conclusions. • Are they the same or different?

8. Contestability of history • Different people will have different views or perspectives about the same topic. • The perspective, or point of view, will depend on the person giving it and/or the sources and evidence they look at. • Different historians may come to different conclusions. This is what we call a contested view, when historians disagree.

9. Find your own example • Find an example of an event in Australia’s history that has multiple perspectives/contested views. • What is something in our past that different people/groups disagree on?