Modules 1 and 13 Reassessment

Archaeologists are important in historiography because they study artifacts. These human-made objects help historians understand how people from the past lived and developed. Artifacts also explain how the people were affected by their environment.

Archaeologists often work together with scientists from other areas—such as linguistics, genetics, and physics—to better understand what they find. Scientists of different fields use different tools and have different perspectives. The scientists will also criticize other scientists’ discoveries and how each others’ ideas are interpreted.

What is in history books today might change tomorrow. Historians understand the past using the artifacts and information available. They also might have certain feelings, or biases, based on where they live, when they were alive, what they were taught in school, and their personal opinions toward the information. History is constantly being written and rewritten. When a new discovery is made, historians review and update their theories. Imagine archaeologists who find artifacts with strange writing on it. Over time historians and linguists learn more about the language and can understand what the writing means. This helps them understand the civilization that used the artifact. This was the case with understanding the Mayan civilization.

About 7000 BC, the people living in central Mexico started a quiet revolution—farming. It was the same kind of radical change that had happened in several spots in Asia and Africa. By 3400 BC, they had begun to grow several foods, including squashes, beans, chilies, and, most importantly, maize, or corn. Corn grew so well that a family of three could, in four months, grow enough corn to feed itself for two years. 

Over many centuries, farming spread throughout the Americas. In what is now the eastern United States and in the region of the Andes, people may have discovered the idea of farming on their own. In central Mexico, farmers became so skilled at growing corn that they could enjoy three harvests each year. Farming had the same results in the Americas that it did in Asia and Africa. Growing food gave people a larger and more reliable food supply. As more people could be fed, they were healthier and lived longer. As a result, the population grew. 

Because farmers produced so much food, some people could concentrate on other ways of making a living. They began to work in different arts and crafts and learned new skills. Some people became rich. They owned more than others and enjoyed a higher position in society. Some people became rulers. Others became their subjects.