Artifacts

What is an artifact?

• a true fact about an ancient civilization

• an item in the gift shop at a history museum

• an object from the past that was made by a human

True or False: Historians study artifacts to learn about what daily life was like for people that lived many years ago.

• True

• False

True or False: Artifacts can help us to know exactly what ancient people did on specific days.

• True, artifacts always give us very specific information about people in the past

• False, artifacts give us some info about what people did but they don't tell us everything

What does ancient mean?

• historic events from earlier this year

• historic events from the past few years

• historic events from the past few decades

• events from the very distant past and most likely no longer in existence

Figuring out what life was like in the past by studying ancient artifacts is easy.

• True, the artifacts give us a lot of information

• False, the artifacts give us some information and historians must make some inferences to understand the purpose of artifacts and how they were used

True or False: Archaeologists throw away artifacts that are broken.

• True, a broken artifact gives us very little or no information

• False, a broken artifact can still give us some information so archaeologists still study that artifact

What is the correct definition of an archaeologist?

• a person who studies human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysis of artifacts and other physical remains

• a person who organizes the displays of ancient artifacts at a museum

• a Social Studies teacher that teaches about artifacts and historic events from the past

• a person who writes books or articles that give us information about historic events

True or False: Many museums have displays of artifacts to help people to learn about life in the past.

• True

• False

True or False: All artifacts are ancient.

• True, an artifact must be from thousands of years ago to be considered a real artifact

• False, an artifact can be from any period in history, even from just a few years ago

Which of the following is NOT considered an artifact?

• A clay pot from an ancient civilization

• A coin from the Roman Empire

• A dinosaur bone

• A stone tool made by early humans