History Writing and Archaeology

We can use a pen or pencil to write.

Here is a boy writing.

Here is some writing— some words written down.

A letter is some writing a person sends to another person.

The lady is writing a letter to her sister. She is telling her about new things that have happened: news.

A journal is some writing about news, and thoughts, that a person saves for himself, to look at later.

This person is using a pen to write in her journal.

To record in writing is to write something down so it can be remembered later.

We can record our news like this.

History is the news of long ago.

Written records are letters, journals, and other ways we have of recording our news.

These letters, which are tied up in a bundle, are some written records.

Here is a king. He was King Henry V, of England. That means he could tell everybody in England what to do. Do this! Do that!

This is a giant fight between countries. It is called a war.

Long ago, England fought a war with France, called the Hundred Years’ War.

Victory means winning a war or a fight (called a battle) in a war.

Henry V won a great victory at a famous battle, called the Battle of Agincourt.

If a king wins a victory, that is news!

A monument is (usually) a large stone structure that says a person, or a victory, was really great.

The Arc de Triomphe is a monument. It meant: we had a victory in a war!

An engraving is writing in stone or other hard material.

Sometimes, people write engravings on monuments. Here is an engraving on the Arc de Triomphe.

To write history is to write down what happened long ago—to say what was the news in the past.

Here are some history books.

Historians are people who write history books.

The two great historians of ancient Greece were Herodotus and Thucydides. Say hair-ODD-uh-tuss and thu-SIH-did-eez

Historiography is a just a fancy word for history writing.

Historians learn about the past from written records (letters, journals, books) and monuments.

But we can learn about history in other ways, like by digging up old clay pots from the ground.

Clay pots are pots made of clay and then dried.

Here is an arrow. The tip is called an arrowhead.

We can find out about where people lived, and how they ate and fought, by digging up old arrowheads from the ground.

Artifacts are things that we dig up—like clay pots and arrowheads and things like that—to learn about history.

When civilization began, people started living in villages.

Some people used an ox, or two oxen, to help with farming.

Sometimes, people left their villages and moved somewhere else. A place is deserted if no one lives there anymore.

Here is a deserted village. No one lives here anymore. If nobody lives in a house, the roof and walls will fall down, eventually.

The remains of some people, and of a place where they lived, are what we can dig up.

Some people are digging up the remains of an ancient (very old) house. The walls and roof of the house fell down long ago.

When we dig up the remains of a place and a people, it’s called a dig.

Archaeology is the study of the past, by digging up the remains of old things—by going on digs.

An archaeologist is a person who digs up old stuff!

The End