History Colorado

Field Museum

Overview

Evidence in the Unwritten 	

Learn about how scientists ask questions to examine artifacts to learn more about the past.   

Ask an Artifact	

Basketry formed an essential element of ancestral Pueblo culture in southwestern Colorado. Baskets continued to be used for a wide variety of purposes even after the introduction of pottery into the area. Baskets weigh much less and thus easier to transport than pottery vessels, and, unlike pottery, they didn’t break when dropped.  Watch these videos to learn about how Pueblo people today still make things from yucca using both traditional and modern methods.

Ways of Knowing From Ancestors, Yucca Example

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 has been passed down from generation to generation. Explore how similar forms, from different times and cultures, can function in the same way. Watch these video clips of potter Dolly Naranjo Neikrug to learn how natural materials are used for making pottery over time.

Ways of Knowing From Ancestors, Pottery Example  

In this activity, learn about five disciplinary lenses and how they can be applied to explore the question of how form relates to function in the objects you observe throughout this kit. 

Click on the Object Information and use the links below in Additional Resources research and find answers to these disciplinary questions! 

Applying Disciplinary Lenses to Objects 

People from all over the world study the Mesa Verde in the South West region because these archaeological sites hold rich data. The arid climate, large number of sites, and well-preserved wood in those sites have made it possible to develop a more complete chronology of this region than anywhere else in the world.  Trees produce growth rings of different sizes every year that reveal changes in precipitation.  Scientists use tree rings to pinpoint construction dates of buildings.

Tree Rings Can Tell Time

To understand what life was like in the past, we must look at various sources of information to discover clues and think critically about what they can tell us. To understand our oldest stories, such as ancient cultures, we rely on the incomplete records we find through archaeology to learn about populations of the past. 

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


Lesson Plan: The Dirt on Ancestral Puebloan Plaster and Paint

Lesson Plan: Pottery of the Ancestral Pueblo

Video:Rocky Mountain PBS Colorado Experience: Living West, Water

Colorado Encyclopedia Article on Mesa Verde National Park Colorado 

Encyclopedia Article Ancestral Puebloans of the Four Corners Region

Understanding the Past

Explore Field Museum's China Online Exhibition

Practice applying the disciplinary lens of an Economist on this object. 

Economists study the production, consumption and transfer of goods and services within and across social systems. 

What was the exchange value of this object?

What other objects are related to this object?

What role did this object have in exchange?

What role did rulers or leaders play in the production, consumption, or transfer of this object?

Ceramic pillows may look uncomfortable but the soft curve and height are said to comfortably support the head and neck. Headrests made of ceramic or wood have been used by different cultures in Africa, India, and the Pacific Islands. Though ceramic pillows weren't always popular, they were used in China for approximately 1,400 years, well into the 20th century.

pillow.jpg

Ceramic Pillow

Practice applying the disciplinary lenses of an Art Historian on this object. 

An art historian studies the past through art and artifacts from specific periods and geographical regions. 

Are there symbols? Representations? Graphics of any kind?

What is this object made from? How was it made? 

Did the creators need any particular skills to make this object?

Why was this created? How does its design fit into its function? 

What elements are meant for design? What for function?

What objects are similar in design/function? 

How does the design of this object relate to other objects of the time? 

A ceramic stinkpot, sometimes called a "thunder stone" was a useful weapon both on land and at sea. Filled with gunpowder, nails, metal balls, and materials that would stink when ignited, these weapons could cause great harm. 

tinkpot.jpg

Stinkpot

Practice applying the disciplinary lens of a Historian on this object.

A historian is someone who studies the past periods, geographical regions, or social phenomenons, usually using written records.

How does this compare to objects from other times?

What did people at the time write about this object?

What impact did this object have on society/daily lives?

What do earlier objects teach us about the development of this object?

What objects today are used for similar functions? How were those objects developed? 

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.

coins.jpg

Coins

Practice applying the disciplinary lens of an Anthropologist on this object.

Anthropologists study humankind, in particular, the comparative study of human societies and cultures and their development. 

How does it compare to objects from other cultures?

How did humans interact when using this artifact?

What human concern does this object answer? 

What cultural value does this object have? 

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."

Oracle_Bones.jpg

Oracle Bones

Practice applying the disciplinary lens of an Geographer on this object.

Geographers study the physical features of the earth and its atmosphere and of human activity as it affects and is affected by these. 

What natural resources were used to make this? 

What patterns exist with similar objects across places and spaces?

How did people use this object to interact with their natural environment?

Because painting and calligraphy were so central to a scholar's artistic life, the tools associated with these arts (brush, paper, ink, and inkstone) were known as the Four Treasures of the Study. A scholar selected these tools with great care, choosing the best materials available and motifs and imagery with personal significance. These objects had special meaning to the scholar who owned them and would have expressed his outlook and philosophies to friends and colleagues who visited his studio

Resource Kits

Object Library

Museums

Understanding the Past

Applying Disciplinary Lenses to Objects

Economist Lens