Field Museum

Resource Kit Overview

Ways of Knowing Part 1 - Tree Rings

A tapestry created by Emperor Qianlong to express his concern for people suffering famine and homelessness from floods in China.

How do we know about the past?

As you observe the pottery items in this slideshow, explore the evolving role of pottery in Chinese culture and global trade networks throughout the history of China. Use disciplinary lenses and refer to object information and sources in the Additional Materials to conduct research about the significance of each of these pottery items. 

Pottery in China

Explore the types of pottery in the slideshow below. What can the shape and certain features tell us about how they were used or why they were created? 

Ancestral Puebloan Pottery

In this activity, learn about five disciplinary lenses and how they can be applied to explore objects from the past. 

A tool: Using Disciplinary Lenses

Use this annotation activity to collect answer to questions from one of the five disciplinary lenses introduced in the last activity. You will choose just one object from the pottery slideshows to apply disciplinary lenses, and compare your findings with classmates who have selected an alternative lens. 

Applying Disciplinary Lenses

Dozens of languages emerged throughout Chinese history. Evaluate the use of language on objects from across Chinese history and examine the role writing can play across time and context.

Changing Language in China

Pueblo people have been making pottery in the Southwest United States for hundreds of years. We can learn a lot from the traditions and knowledge that have been passed down from generation to generation.

Ways of Knowing Part 2 - Ancestors

History Colorado

Explore some of the ways we can know about the past. Practice and compare the many disciplinary lenses we can use to learn about the past while exploring the form, function, continuity and change of objects from across history.


Additional Resource for Using Disciplinary Lenses: 

Additional Information about Colorado's Pueblo People:

Rocky Mountain PBS Colorado Experience: Living West, Water

Colorado Encyclopedia Article on Mesa Verde National Park 

 Ancestral Puebloans of the Four Corners Region

Exploring Ways of Knowing

World History

Social Studies

warped bowl.jpg

This warped bowl is not an anomaly. More than half of the ceramics recovered from the Java Sea Shipwreck were simple dishes made for daily use and some were warped or poorly made. Huge kilns were capable of firing thousands of pieces. Often, villages where ceramics were made produced pieces ranging in form, function, and quality. Imperfections like grit in the clay or warping, unacceptable in more expensive pieces, were overlooked in a bowl like this. Both were loaded onto ships for export.

Warped Bowl - Java Sea Shipwreck

Description

Object Information

Appears In

Exploring Ways of Knowing