☰ Contents · History

Introduction to ancient history. Sources of history

Lessons 1–2 · 2 lessons · A. Sagdullayev, V. Kostetskiy. Tarix. Qadimgi dunyo (History: The Ancient World), Grade 6. Yangiyo‘l Poligraf Servis, Tashkent, 2017 (revised and expanded 5th edition)
2

Ancient history: the beginning of development

Textbook: pp. 8–12
GoalTell material from written sources and the specialists who study them; list the main sources for Central Asian history.
New words
material source · moddiy manbawritten source · yozma manbaanthropologist · antropologethnographer · etnograf
Explanation

Archaeologists excavate ancient settlements, anthropologists study human bones to restore how ancient people looked, and ethnographers study the customs and traditions of peoples. Tools, clay pots and jewellery are material sources. Written sources make restoring history much easier. For Central Asia the oldest written source is the Avesta, the holy book of the Zoroastrians. On the Behistun rock near Kermanshah in Iran, an inscription ordered by the Persian king Darius I names Khorezm, Sogdiana and Bactria. The Greek historian Herodotus (5th century BCE) wrote the Histories; Strabo wrote the Geography; the Roman historian Quintus Curtius Rufus and the Greek historian Arrian wrote about the campaigns of Alexander the Great. The earliest period is called the primitive communal system; its first stage is the Stone Age, divided into the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic and Eneolithic.

Worked examples
Material source: a bronze bracelet found in an excavation. Written source: Herodotus’s book Histories.
The Behistun inscription → Darius I → the names Khorezm, Sogdiana, Bactria. The Avesta → the culture of Bactria, Sogdiana and Khorezm.
Class activity

“Who studies what?”: cards show archaeologist, anthropologist, ethnographer and their tasks; children match them.

Practice
1
What does an archaeologist, an anthropologist and an ethnographer study?
2
What is the oldest written source on Central Asian history?
3
On whose orders was the Behistun inscription made and where is it?
4
Why are material sources alone not enough? What do written sources add?