Blog Post # 5

Huge Gladiator School Found in Austria 

Article By Traci Watson for National Geographic News 

I recently read an interesting article about a new archaeological find: A giant roman gladiator school found in Austria near the river Danube. The new gladiator school found in Austria, had many features that was not found in roman gladiator schools. One of these new features that was found was the remains of a wooden training dummy. Archaeologists also found a gladiator cemetery outside of the school's gates. Archaeologists think that the school was erected around 150 A.D. The whole structure is a total of 200,000 square feet. Archaeologists stated that the complex is gigantic, it is about the size of two super centers.The central buildings of the school seem to resemble the remains of the schools uncovered in Rome and Pompeii "The school is a powerful reminder of how the cultures of the empire's urban centers are linked together" Something I found interesting about all this is how massive this school is for something so old and ancient I think it is amazing.

Blog Post 4

How Do Historians Learn About the Past?  

Historians take several procedures and/or steps to learn about information from the past. The most commonly used method is called the historical method. The very first step in the historical method is to gather several sources and evidence. They need to make sure that they gather primary and secondary sources to get the most variety of information. After they do that the must categorize and determine their sources that they gathered.For example they need to determine if a source that they got is a written or if it is a non-written source. The next step is to evaluate their sources and make sure it is reliable, accurate, and genuine. Historians determine this by using the 5 w's questions: Who was the writer and/or creator? What kind of source is it? When was the source produced? Where was the source produced? Why was the source produced? By utilizing these questions, historians can determine if their sources are accurate, reliable, and genuine. The next step is to interpret their information. It basically means how the historians think the evidence fits together. The very last step is to share their findings or theories. They could do this by putting it in a magazine, online, or in a book.

Human Settlements In The Past

In the past where did humans tend to settle and why? 

There were many different places where people used to settle in the past most of which depended on the topography and climate. Topography refers to physical features of an area. Some examples are valleys, mountains, lakes, and rivers are all physical features. Climate is the pattern of weather in an area over time. In the past people usually used to settle in places that are good for farming or building cities. During this time period they needed to live in an area in which you can farm crops for food. Most areas that are good for farming must have the good topography and climate. It could have perfect climate; lots of rain and a warm or medium temperature, but it could have horrible topography, maybe the land was too rocky to plant any crops. You also need a good topography and climate to have plenty of animals to hunt. The main reason to settle in theses areas was for food. 

To have a perfect farming area you must have a good topography, flat land, near a source of water, and a medium or lower altitude (not too low or it might flood easily). You also needed a good climate, sunny (but not a desert), and have a good amount of precipitation.Good places to farm are places that are flat and is near a river, because a river usually means that the soil around it is moist and perfect for crop growth.  

There were some other minor details you had to take in consideration when our ancestors were building their farms. They needed to have their farm in a place where there were not pests such as packs of dogs and insects like locusts and beetles. One last thing they needed to take into consideration was if the land was prone to natural disasters like floods and earthquakes.

                           

What Is History and Why Do We Study It?

I think history is recorded events, people, ideas, culture, global society, and more. Our ancestors recorded these over long periods of time by writing it on paper, engraving it on walls, and more recently, uploading it on the internet. Many people over time have found these writings or have found artifacts that help us learn about the past. I think we need to study history to help us move forward. In other words we can use patterns we found in history to help us predict the future. Here is an example: If a scientist was looking at weather patterns for the last year he could use this information to predict future weather. Another example is if you study about history and learn about other cultures you can be more open to people from other cultures. Here is a quote about history:
                                     

"If you do not like the past, change it." William L. Burton 

I think this means that we can always change history since it is always occuring, if we try. In other words it means you can be the one who changes history. 

"Only a good-for-nothing is not interested in his past." Sigmund Freud 

I think this quote means that history is really important and it is a waste if you don't use it.