Ancestory

Discussion questions 

• Why does the author call the cave art “time capsules”?

• The second-to-last page of the story is an illustration of modern day. How many different types of creativity can you identify in the image? What does this picture show us about how we are continuing our ‘ancestory’?

• What are the different ways we document history and stories? How has that changed over time?

• What symbols would you draw or etch into stone that represents something important about the world today?

• Why do you think people took the time to document and create if it was so time consuming and dangerous to do?

• Why do you think the author chose to change the word ancestry to a made up word ‘ancestory’ for the title or the book? 

• People have vandalized rock art around the world. Why do you think it’s so important to protect and respect this art?

Vocabulary 

Note: The back matter includes a “Words to Know” section. Below are additional words NOT found in that list.

• Ancestry: one's family or ethnic descent or the origin or background of something.

• Ancestor: a person, typically one more remote than a grandparent, from whom one is descended.

• Soundscape: the sounds heard in a particular location, considered as a whole.

Video content

• Cave Art 101 from National Geographic (YouTube, 3:18m)

• 3D Tour of Lascaux Caves (3:12m)

• TED Talk: Why are these 32 symbols found in caves all over Europe- Genevieve von Petzinger (YouTube, 12:05m)
  Best for older students- very dense with information and vocabulary is higher level. It becomes more complex throughout the overview.

• What Can Cave Paintings Tell Us About Our Ancestors? | Ancient Earth | BBC Earth Science (YouTube, 5:37m)
  At the 3:24 mark, there’s a great description of the planning and process of making cave art and its connection to storytelling.

Publisher content 

• Book Trailer from Hannah Salyer’s website- a unique use of illustrations from the book. Her website also has a video of how she created the illustrations for her other picture book Packs: Strength in Numbers.

• Educator's Guide

Activities

• Prehistoric Art Tutorial Inspired by Lascaux Cave - Art With Trista (YouTube, 4:44m)
  This is long and more than what’s necessary to show to students, but it demonstrates how to create your own cave art with students. 

• Turn tables on their sides and drape large paper over them to create a cave wall for students to draw on–or tape the paper underneath the table and drape a cloth over to create a cave you can light with battery-powered tea lights. Students could reference the book for drawings to recreate or could consider what symbols they would use to document life today. Students could also trace around their hands with charcoal/pastels/chalk. 

• Test different natural materials you find around your school/library to use for making marks on different surfaces. Try writing/drawing on paper, on rock, or on leaves. What tools work the best? What sorts of art can you make? What is most permanent?

• Explore rock art sites around the world (link below from book’s back matter): 

  • Bradshaw Foundation 

  • Global Rock Art

  • Trust for African Rock Art (TARA)

  • Aboriginal Rock Art

• Share this information about Vermont and New England Petroglyphs with your learners:

  • Vermont Digger Article 

  • New England Petroglyphs- Boston Magazine

  • Vermont Public Article 

Companion books