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1 Name Class Date Started

2 Dear Friends Welcome to the second book in this series! We hope that you have enjoyed the first book. This booklet is designed to help you ENJOY history and to learn many interesting things about OUR STORY. History is fun and that is the most important thing in our lessons. We want you to enjoy them. We would also like you to TAKE PART by sharing your knowledge with your friends and your teachers. Do not be afraid to discuss and share your opinions about the information in this booklet in class and at home. Throughout the booklet, you will also be asked to perform some tasks and jobs. We would like you to put in your best effort and also to do that little something extra which will enrich your knowledge. Enjoy OUR STORY and make sure that you ask your teacher for help if you cannot perform any of the tasks or if you cannot understand any parts. To the parents: This booklet aims at helping your children acquire some important skills in the study of history and to think critically about the material presented. Only A VERY SMALL fraction of the material has to be memorised (this will be pointed out by the class teachers). DO NOT make the children memorise any passages or answers to given questions. Our main aim at this stage is to build the foundations which later on will help the children to acquire a love for the subject and to develop a critical mind set. Your children may need some help in some tasks presented in this booklet, however do not let them become too dependent on your input in some cases adequate supervision/ monitoring may be enough. Make sure that you take all the safety precautions if your children are surfing the net to help them with any of the tasks. Should you have any queries or feedback, please do not hesitate to contact the class teacher. Please note that while the bulk of the book is in English, Maltese has been used in parts where a translation would have had a negative effect on the quality of the material. Note that in tests/ exams the boys can answer either in English or in Maltese. On completion of this booklet, the children should have achieved these targets: 1. Know the main divisions of time in history Prehistory and History Before Christ and Anno Domini (The Year of Our Lord) 2. Start appreciating the rich and diverse cultures outside Europe 3. Understand the meaning of the terms B.C and A.D 4. Know the basic difference between an Archaeologist and a Historian 5. Understand the significance of the invention of fire, tool making and agriculture for civilization 6. Start becoming familiar with the concept of cause and effect in history 7. Become familiar with the significance of Għar Dalam in Maltese Pre-history 8. Become familiar with the basic pattern of life and needs in pre-historic times 9. Know and understand the meaning of Prehistory Neolithic Hunter - Gatherers OUR STORY Mario Ellul, De La Salle College Junior Section 2013

3 Look around you and you will see many gadgets which we use every day. Here are some every day objects for you. Pick one and find some information about it. You can use the questions at the bottom of this page to guide you. The object I chose is Who invented this object? From which country did it come first? In which year was it first invented? How did this invention change our life for the better?

4 Hmmm.these inventions are really cool and they make our life so easy. But wait a minute, when you are thinking about inventions, you do not have to think only about high-tec gadgets like computers, mobile phones and televisions. Have you ever thought what a great discovery it must have been when the first men started using fire, grew the first crops in fields and started writing for the very first time? A great invention which we take for granted is the CALENDAR! People across the world, in different periods in time have used many different calendars. Nowadays most countries in the world use the same calendar, but there are still some different calendars in use. The Chinese, for example use a very special calendar in which each year is named after a particular animal. For example the year 2013 for the Chinese is the year of the Snake, while the year 2014 will be the year of the Horse. You can read more about the Chinese calendar at: n.org/zodiac.html The Chinese have a very rich culture and they invented so many things. Maybe you could look up some other Chinese inventions for a mini project.

5 Look at the pictures and the clues and fill in the crossword with the names of these Chinese inventions. 2. Protects you from the sun and the rain: u 7. You use it to clean your teeth t 8. You need it to write on: p 1. A hot drink: t 3. You need them to buy things: b 4. A gun which fires arrows: c 5. Light up the sky during a celebration: f 6. A game which you play on a table: d

6 Our own calendar has a very interesting history. It was invented by the ancient Romans. In fact we still use most of the names which the Romans gave to their months. Some of the months were named after some of the gods and goddesses which the Romans had. Can you match the name of the god with the month it was given to? MARS The Roman god of war. He was shown dressed in the armour of a soldier. JULIUS CAESAR A very famous Roman general who became ruler of Rome. He reorganised the Roman calendar JANUS The Roman god of doors. This god was shown as a person with two faces looking in opposite directions. AUGUSTUS CAESAR Julius Caesar s nephew. He became the first Emperor of Rome. MAIA The Roman goddess of spring.

7 Have you ever thought where we started counting to get to the year 2013? What was year zero? Has man been around for 2,013 years only? Of course not! Around 1,500 years ago, a monk called Dionysius made a very important invention. Dionysius was trying to draw up a calendar to show the dates for the celebration of Easter. For Christians this is very important as it is the most important feast in the year. Dionysius calculated the date of birth of Jesus and called it YEAR ZERO. The letters B.C were written after all the dates which fell before the birth of Jesus. The letters A.D were written after all the dates which fell after the birth of Jesus. B.C stands for BEFORE CHRIST A.D stands for ANNO DOMINI The words Anno Domini are in the language of the ancient Romans and the Church. They mean THE YEAR OF OUR LORD. We still use this system, however some years ago, a new system was invented for those people who are not Christians and may find it a bit of a problem to use the word Christ. In the new system, everything was left exactly as it was but instead of using the letters B.C (Before Christ), they started using B.C.E (Before the Common Era). Instead of using A.D (Anno Domini), they started using C.E (Common Era).

8 Let us look at a timeline calendar of some important buildings to see when they were built B.C The Great Pyramid of Giza was built in Egypt 200 B.C The Great Wall of China YEAR 0 Jesus is born in Palestine 80 A.D The Colosseum is built in Rome 1889 A.D The Eiffel Tower in Paris

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10 Writing is another one of man s greatest inventions. Historians tell us that it was invented around the year 4,000 B.C that is around 6,000 years ago!!! This is what the first writing looked like. It is called CUNEIFORM. It was invented in ancient Mesopotamia. This is Mesopotamia. This name is not used any more now. Can you find the modern name of my country? Shade in every second letter in this grid. Use the remaining unshaded letters to find the modern name of Mesopotamia. I T R B A F Q N : We write in wet clay which then hardens. Writing is important for us to keep a record of business, stores and government business. Writing is very precious for historians. They use writing left by people in the past to tell us about people, their life and times. However, man has been around for far longer than writing. To tell us about the time before writing was invented, we need an archaeologist.

11 Let us go to the time BEFORE THE INVENTION OF WRITING We use the word PRE-HISTORY when we talk about this period of time. So, PRE-HISTORY = the time BEFORE THE INVENTION OF WRITING. We cannot be 100% sure of what happened in the past if nothing has been written down, so archaeologists have to try to guess things from the remains which they can find (eg. temples, pottery, painting, etc.) Archaeologists have to dig in the ground to find information about the past. They have to be very careful when they are digging. Some of the objects have been lying deep in the ground for thousands of years so they need extra care as they can be really fragile. Here are some tools. Can you guess which ones would an archaeologist use?

12 These objects were found by archaeologists in prehistoric sites. Unfortunately the labels have been all mixed up. Can you sort them out by drawing a line from each label to the correct object? FLINT ARROWS For fighting and hunting. Around 6,000 years old CLAY STATUE Found in a prehistoric cemetery. Around 5,000 years old. SHELL NECKLACE Found in a prehistoric temple. Around 4,000 years old. CLAY POT Found in a prehistoric village. Around 3,000 years old.

13 Now let us programme our time machine to take us back to pre-history SICILY 10, 000 BC Insert place Key in the date Check your data Take all the necessary precautions Let us meet some people from this period. Read carefully what they have to tell you and observe what they are wearing or using. You will learn a lot about life at that time from these people. My family and I live together with a group of other families we call this group of people a tribe. In a tribe, everybody has his own job. I am a hunter. Animals are very important for us. We hunt in groups and use weapons to attack wild animals. Hunting is a dangerous job. The tribe does not stay in one place. We move around the countryside and follow the wild animals around. When we find a good spot, we set up our tents or build small huts. If we are lucky to find a good cave, we set up our home in it. We have just killed this wild pig. We do not waste anything. Some of the meat is eaten raw right away and some is cooked. The meat which is not eaten is stored. We leave it to smoke over a fire or dry it in the sun to stop it from going bad. Then we can eat it on days when we don t catch anything or in the cold winter months. We also use the bones and teeth to make tools or ornaments.

14 The furs and the skins of the animals which our men kill are very important for us. We scrape away all the meat and then we leave the skins to dry. These skins and furs are used to make clothes, containers, tents and even blankets. Sometimes these people were not so lucky during a hunt: they did not always catch something and went back to the village empty handed. In these cases the tribe would go around collecting food sometimes they even had to make do with the remains of dead animals! Women and children would help with the collection too. These people are sometimes known as HUNTERS and GATHERERS. Which of these things would have been gathered as food by prehistoric people?

15 Imagine that you are going to have a meal based on what you can find around you (NO SHOPPING AT SHOPS OR SUPERMARKETS ALLOWED). What would be available for you? What would you choose? You can draw any of the objects in the space on the right. Let us meet another important person in the tribe. Keeping the fire alive is a very important job. To keep the fire burning we collect dead branches and pile it on the flames. We use fires to cook the meat of the animals we catch. Fires are also important for us to heat our homes and to scare away the wild animals. The smoke from the fire is also used to stop meat from going bad. Now that is a great invention for you FIRE!!!! Have you ever wondered at how fire started being used by man? Let us search the internet to find out some information about this.

16 File Edit View Favourites Tools Help Spaces GOOGLE IMAGE FIRE Most probably Man first got fire from forest fires which had started in a natural way during a thunderstorm or a heatwave. Archaeologists tell us that man started using fires for cooking and heating probably around 1,000,000 years ago. With a fire, people could cook their food. Cooked food is easier to eat and digest than raw food and you get more energy out of it. This extra energy made man smarter than other animals, and he could invent other things. In time, people found a way how to make fires by rubbing sticks together instead of just capturing it from forest fires. Here are these two people from pre-history making a fire. It takes very long to start a fire, but it s worth the effort! The stick is rubbed fast by turning it between the palms of the hand. Blowing on the flame helps the fire to burn better. The point of the stick makes a lot of heat against another piece of wood. Very dry leaves and twigs are placed near the point where the pointed stick touches the wood. The heat made by the rubbing lights the dry leaves and a little fire is started. The fire is made bigger by adding more twigs and branches. Fires were very important for tribes and not just for cooking! People could sit around the fire for warmth. While they were huddled there, they would talk, and sing and do things together so fires helped men to co-operate better and organize themselves.

17 Another important step which happened in Prehistory was the use of tools. Out of all the materials which were used for making tools, they had a special type of stone which today we call FLINT. Flint was very important for prehistoric people. In time people started using sharpened flints just like the way we use knives or other cutting tools today. Flint makes a great material for tools. By chipping away carefully at it, I can give it a very sharp edge and it lasts much longer than ordinary stone. We also use animal bones and branches from trees to make our tools and weapons. Look at this well armed prehistoric hunter. Draw arrows to label his weapons. Spear Which of the weapons could be used to hit the target from far away? Dagger Arrows Which of the weapons could be used to hit the target close by? Bow

18 Look at these tools used by prehistoric people. Make a list of what you can do with each tool. Keep in mind that each tool might have had more than one use. A B C Which of these weapons WOULD NOT be used by pre-historic man?

19 Around the year 7000BC, people started finding it really difficult to find all the food they needed from just hunting and gathering things. Most probably, the number of people was increasing, so there was not enough food to go around. And here comes another great invention for you!!! Instead of just eating seeds which we collect from the wild, we sow the seeds and take care of the plants which grow out of them. These plants make even more seeds and fruit. We eat some of this food and we put the rest away to plant again. We also tame wild animals now it is easier for us to kill a pig which we have grown ourselves than to hunt around for it in the forest. It is less dangerous too! Farming was born! The most important crop which would have been grown in these little farms was wheat. The wheat was collected from the fields and the seeds crushed to make flour. Most probably this was used to make a flat type of bread which might have looked a lot like modern pitta. To keep well a proper farm people needed to build fences and barns and pens for the animals this made it difficult for people to roam around to follow the herds, so they found a good patch of ground with good soil and water from some little river or spring and set up a little group of houses. Villages were born!

20 All the animals which we keep in farms today were tamed a long time ago during prehistory. Before that, they lived in the wild. Look at the names of animals on the left. The names are all jumbled up. Unscramble the names to find the name of the animals which could be found on a prehistoric farm. OGD PESHE IGP OATG WOC CNEICKH ONKDEY ROESH But for how long have these animals been used by man? To answer this question, you must use the names of the animals above. Start with the one you think has been tamed first and go down to the most recent. 17,000 years ago 13,000 years ago 11,000 years ago 11,000 years ago 10,000 years ago 9,000 years ago 8,000 years ago 7,000 years ago Write your guess here Write the correct answer here How many of your guesses were correct?

21 Not all the seeds grown on the farms were used at once. Some of them needed to be stored. This brought about another invention POTTERY!!! We get the clay from the ground. It looks like soil, but then we mix it with water to make a paste. We shape our pots or containers and then while it is still soft, we scratch in the soft material to decorate it. The pots are then left to dry in the sun or near a fire. People used clay to make pots and jars for storing food. The first pots were really plain, but later on, they started adding decorations. Since we do not have any writing from this period, pottery becomes very important for archaeologists. The patterns on the pots and pottery pieces tell us a lot of things about the people who made them. The remains of broken pots are the next best thing which we have to writing. All these inventions started a NEW WAY OF LIFE. So many new things happened during this time in the history of Man that in history, this period is known as the NEOLITHIC AGE. Now that s an interesting word for you. It is made up of two words from Greek NEO and LITHOS. NEO is Greek for NEW LITHOS is Greek for STONE So Neolithic simply means NEW STONE AGE!

22 Look at the picture below and describe what is happening in this little prehistoric village.

23 Copy the outline of one of these pots and create your own design for it. Keep in mind that prehistoric people would have used geometric designs or basic animal shapes to decorate their pottery.

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25 It was around this time that some people from Sicily decided to set out on a voyage. They sailed south towards our island. Most probably these people had seen our island from some high point on a clear day and decided to explore. They travelled here on canoes dug out from trees or rafts made out of logs which had been tied together. Most probably they were searching for new materials to make tools and ornaments. In time, some of them decided to return to our island and to stay here for good together with their families. Building a canoe is a tough job. First we burn out part of a tree trunk to make the wood soft and then we carve out the space inside with our tools.

26 Imagine that these prehistoric people have asked you for help. Draw up a list of things which they would need to help them start a new life in Malta in prehistoric times. You can also draw some of these items in the box. Now imagine that YOU are going to start on a voyage to a new land to start a new life. What would you take with you? (You are not allowed more than 10 items).

27 The first people in our island lived in caves. It was very handy to set up a home in a cave you did not have to build walls or a roof and it was well protected against the rain, the wind and the heat. Archaeologists found remains of the first humans in Malta at Għar Dalam in Birżebbuġa and Tal-Mixta Cave in Gozo. Għar Dalam - That s a great place worth a visit! It can be found half way down the hill on the way to the village of Birżebbuġa. If you cannot visit the place itself, go to the link below to see a panoramic view of the cave cities.net/image/cave-ghar-dalam-malta#241.17,0.57,80.0 File Edit View Favourites Tools Help Spaces GOOGLE IMAGE GHAR DALAM Archaeologists started studying Għar Dalam in They dug up the floor of the cave layer by layer and found many interesting remains. Archaeologists found these things in the different layers: In this layer, archaeologists found remains of farm animals like cows, sheep and goats. They also found prehistoric pottery, flint and ornaments The deer layer remains of deer, wolves, bears, foxes, swans were found here In this layer, they found large pebbles or river rocks this shows that once a very fast river flowed in this area. The bones of hippopotami and dwarf elephants were found here

28 In Għar Dalam, archaeologists found clear proof that long before man arrived on our island, Malta had been connected with Sicily. All the remains of the animals found in the cave have come from animals which lived in Europe at the time. They must have crossed over to Malta when it was still connected with Sicily. In time, the sea level rose. The rising waters covered the land bridge between Malta and Sicily and the animals were stranded here without any means of escape. If you visit Għar Dalam, you can find many remains of animal skeletons and bones which were found in the cave. Surely the most curious remains are those of dwarf elephants. Modern adult elephant Dwarf elephant Adult human Remains of these prehistoric dwarf elephants have been found in many islands all over the Mediterranean. Scientists believe that these elephants developed from their larger cousins. When the islands became separated from the continent, food became scarcer and scarcer, so with time, the bodies of the elephants became smaller and smaller to cope with the smaller amount of food. These dwarf elephants became extinct before man arrived in Malta. When an animal becomes extinct, it means that it has died out COMPLETELY. Extinction did not just happen in pre-historic times. It still goes on in the world. One of the most curious creatures to ever get extinct is the Dodo. This was a small bird which lived in islands in the Indian Ocean. It was hunted out of existence. The last Dodo was seen around the year To go the way of the Dodo is an expression which has entered the English language and it means to die out and become extinct!

29 In Għar Dalam, archaeologists have found remains of tools, slings, pottery and even drawings on the walls. All these are clear signs that the first man in Malta lived here. Cave art All through prehistory, inside the deepest, darkest caves, people painted pictures of the animals they hunted. They may have thought that the pictures were magical and would help them with their hunting. In Għar Dalam, archaeologists found pictures of animals and human hand prints however with the passing of time, most of these have now disappeared. Describe what is happening in the piece of cave art above

30 Pre-historic Puzzle Across 1. Archaeologists found the remains of elephants in Malta. 3. Prehistoric people would use to heat their homes, cook their food and scare away animals. 4. The first Maltese came from the island of. 6. The most important crop grown in fields was w. 7. The first people in our island lived in G (the name of a cave). Down 2. The invention of f helped prehistoric man to have more food to go around. 3. F was a very important material to make tools. 5. C was important for prehistoric man to make pots and containers. 8. The first people who came to Malta travelled on r.

31 Help this prehistoric man to find his tools in the maze START HERE Create your own piece of cave art in the box below. In this drawing, show something which you do every day in the present but use the style which prehistoric man would have used for a piece of cave art.

32 Use your notes to answer these questions. 1. What is Pre-History? 2. From where did the first people to live in Malta come? 3. What happens when an animal becomes extinct? 4. Make a list of all the animals whose skeletons were found at Għar Dalam. 5. Why are pre-historic people sometimes also known as hunters-gatherers? 6. Why did the first people feel the need to plant seeds? 7. What is the meaning of the word NEOLITHIC? 8. How can archaeologists prove that Malta was once joined to Sicily?

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