1.1.a. Understanding Prehistory and History

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What is prehistory?

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Prehistory refers to events that occurred before the existence of written records in a given culture or society.

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What marks the beginning of history?

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History begins with the invention of written records in a given culture or society.

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When were the oldest written records discovered in Egypt?

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The oldest written records in Egypt date back to around 3200 BCE.

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How long have anatomically modern humans existed?

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Anatomically modern humans have been around for between 200,000 and 300,000 years.

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What is the main tool historians use to study the past?

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Historians primarily use written records to study the past.

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What is carbon dating?

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Carbon dating is a method used to measure the amount of radioactive carbon in fossils to determine their age.

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What is stratigraphic dating?

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Stratigraphic dating is determining the age of artifacts by identifying the age of the layer of rock they are buried in.

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What can linguists do to understand human migrations?

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Linguists can piece together possible human migrations based on similarities in modern, living languages.

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What do geneticists study to understand human history?

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Geneticists study genetic similarities and differences in populations to understand how humanity may have spread and intermingled.

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Why should historians be careful with written records?

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Historians should be careful because the writing may be in a dead language or may present a biased perspective.