Prehistory Vocabulary + Skills

a person who studies and writes about the past

• archaeologist

• historian

• artifact

• evidence

Objects made by early humans (ex: pottery, spear, tools, jewelry), man-made objects that were left behind by early people.

• inference

• decay

• artifacts

• inorganic materials

Remains of living things (plants, animals, people)...not man-made.

• organic materials

• inorganic materials

• artifacts
• inventions

An original document or artifact created during the time period being studied.

• archaeologist

• secondary source
• primary source
• prehistory

a document or recording that was created after something happened, like a book or a website

• primary source

• secondary source

• artifact

• organic material

Information or material used to support or prove a fact or claim.

• archaeologist

• historian

• evidence

• artifact

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

• anthropologist
• geologist
• historian
• archaeologist

When organic material breaks down and eventually becomes dirt

• evidence

• secondary source

• decay

• primary source

Something that was never living. It survives the longest, because it does not decay

• organic material

• evidence

• inorganic material

• artifact

A guess that you make based on the things you observe

• observation

• inference

• primary source

• evidence