Shang Shadows

Archaeologists are tasked with analyzing artifacts and making informed hypotheses about the past and people who lived long ago.

Future archaeologists will interpret the objects that we leave behind. Our nation, industries, and civilization will leave behind clues to our history and the people who lived at this time.

In the same way, today's archaeologists draw conclusions from artifacts left by ancient civilizations.

You are an archaeologist who has been assigned to visit and study China's first complex civilization: The Shang dynasty. To learn more about this mysterious civilization and ruling family, you will excavate artifacts from a Shang "tomb."

Don't forget the roles that chance, oversight, and error play in interpreting ancient history.

In what ways can you avoid misinterpretation as you analyze artifacts from the Shang tomb?

Excavate an artifact (found and photographed at the site of the Shang burial ground) by examining the image and corresponding questions from the document below.

Try to predict the correct answer to each placard question. Use the corresponding decoder (in Google Classroom) to check your answer choices.

• 1. Move the strips to the decoder so that the answers (A, B, C, D) hang off the bottom

  2. Click on the bottom of the strip

  3. Use the up/down arrows to move your response up or down

  4. Your answer should be hidden at the bottom

  5. If your answer choices are correct, the decoder will display a secret word.

If a secret word does not appear, revise your answers until a word is revealed.

In the chart (in Google Classroom), type the correct answers to the artifact questions.

Then, record both the secret word and the section number shown on the decoder.

Read the respective sections of History Alive! The Ancient World and complete the corresponding Reading Notes in your Chapter 20 ISN.

In the chart, put an "X" under all the characteristics of the Shang civilization that each artifact reveals.

Be prepared to justify your selections.