Teacher's Guide for DIG ^TM Tools

The questions below can be used as written, simply answered in complete sentences, or easily transformed into longer essay (ELA) style questions, or even research topics. In any case, have the students support their answers with details from the text or use critical thinking skills to create a thorough and interesting answer. Consider the level of your students when deciding how to use the questions. The questions for each lesson can be found under the article's title below, and the answers for the short response questions are on the last page of the guide.

1. What does it mean to have an 'opposable' thumb and what are the advantages?
2. Make a timeline showing the evolution of hominids and their tools.
3. What were the primary uses for the earliest tools?
4. Explain the revolutionary technique invented by Homosapiens sapiens 40,000 years ago.
5. Besides stone, what other material was used for making tools?
6. How were the Homosapiens sapiens able to adapt to new conditions by inventing new tools?

1. Explain how some batons were used to twist horsetail hair into rope.
2. Project: Work with a partner to develop a reasonable theory concerning the use of batons. Illustrate your theory.

Mark the statements True or False. If the answer is false, provide the word that would make the statement correct.

1. _____ Cotton is produced primarily from a sheep's coat.
   
   
2. _____ In the spring, the fleece is sheered off the sheep, then washed, cleaned and spun into wool.
   
   
3. _____ 7,000 years ago, a whorl and spindle were used to spin fleece into wool.
   
   
4. _____ Archaeologists have only found two preserved whorls.
   
   
5. _____ As the wet pot slowly dried, the pattern of the cloth was transferred onto the base of the pot.

Read the statements below and fill in the blank with the correct answer.

1. About __________________ years ago, people moved from gathering and hunting to producing their own food crops.
   
   
2. _____________________ was among the first areas in the world to see the emergence of agriculture and the appearance of small villages.
   
   
3. The tools found close to the Yangzi River prove that people there were farming and harvesting ______________ and millet as early as 7000 B.C.
   
   
4. Extensive ______________________ projects translated into the widespread popularity of rice farming.
   
   
5. During the Han Dynasty, ________________ farm tools became available in even remote northern areas of the country.
   
   
6. Plows were designed in a variety of shapes geared to increase __________________.
   
   
7. Han farmers worked with an _______________________ that injected the right quantity of seeds into the furrow.
   
   
8. Around A.D. 600, the first _____________________ on farm management was published.
   
   
9. Among the most important trade goods were _________________ products.
   
   
10. ____________________ traveled along the network of trade routes, as well as goods.

1. What are some of the factors that effect preservation?
2. Explain how heat can both destroy and preserve artifacts.
3. How does a cold environment affect preservation?
4. Explain the process by which both moisture and salt can destroy artifacts.
5. How does decomposing vegetation negatively affect preservation?
6. Why was the 'bog mummy' found in Denmark so well preserved?

1. What is Sacsawaman and why was it important to the Incas?
2. Why was Sacsawaman partly torn down?
3. Brainstorm some ideas with a partner surmising how the Incas moved these large stones into place.
4. What was so unique about the Incas masonry?
5. Explain the 'scribing' method.

Compare and contrast the two classic, but very different, examples of how ancient builders got big stones into small places. Include your opinion about both.

1. What makes SunWatch Indian Village/Archeological Park in Dayton, Ohio, so unique?
2. Who were the last prehistoric occupants of this region?
3. What happened to many Native American communities as European colonists established their settlements along the Atlantic Coast in the 1600s?
4. What types of relics did two amateur archaeologists find when they began excavating the site?
5. What plans did the city of Dayton have for this site? How did Smith and Allman alter this fate?
6. How were the houses of SunWatch reconstructed?
7. Project: Work with a partner to build a model of this type of house. (Use clay, toothpicks, the weaving technique, etc.)

Write a short essay about what you think the thieves did with the stolen artifacts. Do you think they will ever be recovered? Why or why not?

Answer Key:

"A 7,000 year-old Pattern"

1. False, wool
2. True
3. True
4. False, many
5. True

"Iron Makes the Difference"

1. 10,000
2. China
3. rice
4. irrigation
5. iron
6. efficiency
7. iron seed drill
8. encyclopedia
9. silk
10. techniques

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Updated: 5/23/13 09:33 am
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