Field Museum

History Colorado

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

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?

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

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

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

Ways of Knowing Part 1 - Tree Rings

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

Resource Kit Overview

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

Many Faiths of China

Students in China

Ritual, Power and Unification

China Online Exhibition 

Warring States

Use the "Students in China" link in the Additional Materials section below to search for more information about the context in which this handkerchief was created. 

To prevent the use of books or other aids, scholars taking the civil service exam were frisked from head to toe, twice. Yet some test takers found ways to smuggle in help. This piece of silk above is a cheat sheet that could have been sewn into the lining of a robe or disguised as a handkerchief. The miniature text covering both sides includes more than 20 sample essays and prompts for typical exam questions.

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Cheat's Handkerchief

Use the "Ritual, Power and Unification" link in Additional Resources below to learn about these Oracle bones and their use. 

Most of the earliest writing in China hasn't survived. There is no way to tell exactly when or how writing emerged in China, but we do have evidence of a fully functioning writing system by the second half of the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BC). These fragments of shell and bone only show a few characters, once part of longer inscriptions. These pieces were used in rituals to try to foretell the future, so they are known as "oracle bones."

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Oracle Bones

Use the "Students in China" Link below to read more about this basket and what it might have been used for. 

This basket could be used to carry supplies to a civil service exam. It's marked with the character fu  for "good fortune", perhaps a blessing from someone with high hopes for a test-taker's success. 

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Basket

Use the "Warring States" link below to discover more information about the historical context in which these interesting coins were created. 

These coins were all made in China during the Warring States period (475-221 BC), before the country had unified under one ruler. At that time the states were fighting for land, influence, resources, and power, so territories changed hands many times. Some of these states shared common histories, while others had different cultural traditions, many even had their own coinage.

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Coins

Use the "Many Faiths of China" link in the Additional Materials section below to explore more information about the significance of this prayer book. 

Search through the China Exhibition using the link below to see if you can find out more about the significance about this Gazeteer. 

This gazetteer, titled Comprehensive Gazetteer of the Ming Dynasty, surveys all the regions of China controlled by the Ming government, and includes maps and descriptions of local resources. Work on this gazetteer began in AD 1418 and was published in the reign of Emperor Zhengtong (ruled AD 1436-1449 and 1457-1464). This is only one volume of many. The Field Museum's version is one of very few remaining copies of this gazetteer and may not be complete.

Resource Kits

Object Library

Museums

Exploring Ways of Knowing

Changing Language in China

Background Knowledge

Cheat's Handkercheif