ANCESTOR SCAVENGER HUNT

ANCESTOR SCAVENGER HUNT

OVERVIEW

World History is an incredibly broad subject and we will just scratch the surface of some key historical events, figures, religions, and ideas; however, each of us has ancestors from around the world and this assignment focuses on our relationship to them and our past.

This assignment is designed for you to practice research on the web and locate Primary and Secondary Sources. Additionally we are developing several course competencies including acquiring information, breaking multiple sources down into parts, use of library resources, recognizing secondary sources and locating primary sources.

Be sure you understand the difference between Primary Sources and Secondary Sources when researching history by visiting the resources page and visiting websites that describe the difference, such as this LibGuide from American University.

INSTRUCTIONS

Step I: Select the culture of one of your earliest known ancestors. (For example, are you German, African, Japanese, Chinese, Austrian, or Russian?) OR if you prefer, you may select one of the peoples from this module (Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Indian, Chinese).

Step II: Search the Module 1 Web Resources pages and the Internet for 10 different sources that relate to the culture term. DO NOT USE the library to search for sources. You must have a specific resource for each one, not an index and you should have 10 different types of sources from the following list that relate to the earliest recorded history of your ancestor’s homeland. What you find must predate 1500 CE.

• Map
• Video Clip
• Audio Clip
• Photograph of ruins, monument, person, or historical site
• Government document or records, tablet, rock art, hieroglyphs
• Letter written by someone from the region
• Diary written by someone from the region
• Newspaper Article
• History Journal Article
• Web Article
• Glossary or encyclopedia-type description of the region and culture of the past
• Picture of artifact
• Artwork related related to the culture of region
• Novel or short story about any topic related to your region and culture before 1500 CE
• Textbook Reference
• Museum Exhibit
• Memorial or monument dedicated to an event or person related to your culture or region prior to 1500 CE
• Picture (painting or other depiction of building, town, people) related to topic
• Modern movie made about the culture or region before 1500 CE

Step III: Create an assignment that includes:

1. A one-paragraph description of what you learned about your ancestor’s culture, everyday life, and region. (You should concentrate on historical aspects of the culture.)
2. A list of your sources with a brief description of each source and how it relates to your ancestor’s homeland and culture.
3. Identify whether you think each web source is a primary or secondary source based on the definition at the links above.

Step IV: Submit your paper as either a Microsoft Word file (.docx) or in Rich Text Format (rtf) to the assignment folder by the due date.

See the Course Schedule in the Syllabus module and the course rubrics (under Tools in the upper menu) for due dates and grading criteria for this assignment.

Step 1 Answer: The earliest known ancestors were the Chinese.