Projects about Prehistory (Mónica)

The archeological sites that I have chosen are " El Castillo Cave and "Pla de Petrarcos Cave". I've also made a google map about the colonization of the Iberian Peninsula. Finally, as everybody, I've made a presentation about the most recent discoveries about Prehistory in Spain.

This is the presentation about El Castillo Cave, I wrote a short location, a description and some features and I put some photos and explanation. With this project I have learned a lot about this interestic cave, which I don´t know before I done the project.

This is the presentation of Pla de Petrarcos, in which I wrote similar things like in the other one. For me is very interesting the last photo, which is about the women figure and the figure of the deer.

This is the presentation of the most recent discoveries abour Prehistory.  This is the most interesting project for me, because is related with actual news.

And for the end, this is my google map, about the colonization of the Iberian Peninsula.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zN-3HMHog2Lk.kOvfwgEjkaQc

PROJECTS ABOUT PREHISTORY (ROXANA)

The archeological sites that I have chosen are Cova de l'Aranya and Bòbila Madurell. I have made a presentation about the biographies of Habis, Gargoris, Arganthonios and Hamilcar Barca too and, eventually, I've made a presentation about the most recent discoveries about Prehistory in Spain.

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 Cova de l'Aranya is a prehistoric site famous for its Levantine cave art. It holds the "Man of Bicorp", a painting depicting a figure that it is gathering honey.

   

 Bòbila Madurel is a Neolithic site famous because it hosts a necropolis, part of the pit grave culture, with many grave goods. Moreover, recently six Sardinian obsidian have been found at Neolithic sites in the Iberian Peninsula.

   

 This presentation includes the biographies of four important figures of the Iberian Peninsula in the Ancient Era: Habis, Gargoris, Arganthonios and Hamilcar Barca.

   

Recently, new discoveries have been found in Atapuerca, where more fossils have been discovered, Gorham's Cave, where there is an engrave made by Neanderthals, and Toledo, where a Neolithic vessel have appeared. 

 The projects I have most enjoyed are those about the Prehistoric caves, because I like searching about how people in Ancient Era lived, about their lifestyle and their customs. On the other hand, I like doing the project about the most recent descoveries about Prehistory in the Iberian Peninsula too, because I love hearing about all the new findings are discovered every day and the information they provide to human knowledge.

PROJECTS ABOUT PREHISTORY (GEMA)

The archeological sites that I have chosen are Cova Negra and Bats Cave. 

I've also made a presentation about the biographies of Habis, Gargoris, Arganthonios and Hamilcar Barca, that for me, it was the most interesting progect.

And finally, I've done a presentation about the most recent discoveries about Prehistory in Spain.

Cova Negra is the most important archaeological site in the Middle Paleolithic in  the Valencian Community.
In this area of ​​Mandúver, the archaeological sites are important and will help us study human evolution in Europe 300,000 years ago.

Archaeologically known in Europe, is one of the most important Neolithic sites in Andalusia and the first Upper Paleolithic art found in this community.

In this presentation, I have explained the most interesting things about Habis, Gargoris, Arganthonios and Hamilcar Barca.

In this presentation, I have explained a little of the most recently discoveries of prehistory era in our peninsula, like discovey of a vessel in Toledo, summer 2014 in Atapuerca and discoveries about Neanderthals in Gorham's Cave.

The most interesting project for me, have been the one about the tartessos's biographies, because I think that they culture was so misterious, and we know only a bit of them. Probably if the archaeologists continue to investigate in it, in a near future we will know more about them. 

So, I hope you enjoy with my projects!Have a nice weekend and I see you on Monday :)

Bye Bye!!  :)  :)  :) 

PROJECTS ABOUT PREHISTORY

The archeological sites that I have chosen are Bones Pit and Cova de la Sarsa. I've also made a presentation about Habis, Gargoris, Arganthonios and Hamilcar Barca. Finally, as everybody, I've made a presentation about the most recent discoveries about Prehistory in Spain.

Bones Pit is placed in Atapuerca. It's an archeological site where we have found the most ancient hominids in the Iberian Peninsula. It's one of the most important archeological sites all over the world.

Archeological site which belongs to Early Neolithic. It is not far from Valencia. It should be noted that paleoanthropologists found some corpses there, one of them with a trepanation in the skull.

In this presentation, I have explained the most interesting things about Habis, Gargoris, Arganthonios and Hamilcar Barca, four important figures of Prehistory in the Iberian Peninsula. 

In 2014, paleoanthropologists have made new discoveries in Atapuerca, Gorham's Cave and in Toledo. In Atapuerca they have found more fossils, in Gorham's Cave a design made by Neanderthals and they have also discovered a Neolithic vessel near Toledo.

The most interesting parts for me are the developed trade of Tartessos because it's incredible how people with very few resources could cross the Mediterranean Sea to exchange materials, Bones Pit, especially "Miguelón", because it contains the most important accumulation of hominids' fossils in the world, and finally the new discovery in Gorham's Cave because it tells us that Neanthertals weren't as stupid as we thought.

Bye!

Projects Unit 1

Hello everyone!
Here are my projects about unit 1 "Historical Roots of Contemporary Spain"

This is a project about a Paleolithic Site, I have chosen Elephant Pit, you can find it in the Trinchera del Ferrocarril, located in La Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain.

This one is also about a site, but It is about a Neolithic Site, I have chosen Nerja Cave, located in Málaga, Spain.

In this task I summarize the last discoveries from Prehistory that were found in the Iberian Peninsula.

This last project is about a short biography of some important kings and people from the Metal Ages Kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula, they are Gargoris, Habis, Arganthonios and Hamilcar Barca.

The most interestig pojects for me have been the one about a Paleolithic site (the first one), and the one that tells about the last discoveries from Prehistory in the Iberian Peninsula (the third one).

I enjoyed the first one because while I was looking for  information about it, I discovered that paleontologists have sometimes a very hard work, because they have to rebuild each part they find piece by piece, and sometimes it takes a long period of time (over 20 years).

I enjoyed also the third one because I have discovered that nowadays there are still undiscovered objects from ancient periods in the Iberian Peninsula, and I have  also learnt that it is very important to invest money in archaeological investigations.

You will enjoy them! And sorry for my grammar mistakes!

See you in class on Monday! ;)

Some interesting documentaries about prehistoric sites in Spain

Here you will find the link to some short documentaries from a TVE series called El túnel del tiempo, broadcasted on La 2 program La Aventura del Saber. They are very didactic and if you're interested, you can learn more about some of the most important archeological sites from different periods of the Pehistory of the Iberian Peninsula. I can't embed the videos, beacuse the website doesn't allow me to do it. 

http://www.rtve.es/television/la-aventura-del-saber/documentales/el-tunel-del-tiempo/

- LA DRAGA: Neolithic site in Extremadura. 

- LOS MILLARES: Chalcolithic site in Almería

Ruins of Los Millares

Source: http://www.uned.es/geo-1-historia-antigua-universal/NOTICIAS/Recreacion_de_los_Millares.htm

- CASTRO DE LAS COGOTAS: Metal Ages site in Ávila

- MINAS DE GAVÀ: the oldest mines in Europe. Archeological site of the Metal Ages

- LAS ERAS DEL ALCÁZAR: Metal Ages site in Úbeda

- L' ILLETA DELS BANYETS: Broze Age site located on a small penisula in El Campello (Alicante)

L´Illeta dels Banyets

Source: http://www.marqalicante.com/Paginas/es/Illeta-dels-banyets-P21-M2.html

- HUMANEJOS: Neolithic site in Parla (Madrid)

- LA SARGA: Epipaleolithic site in Jijona, Alicante.

Recent news about Prehistory

To end with Prehistory, here you have some recent news:

- Some recent studies about cave paintings found in Sulawesi, Indonesia, have confirmed that they are older than the ones found in Europe. Up to this moment, the Upper Paleolithic French-Cantabrian cave paintings were considered to be the oldest, with an antiquity of around 30,000. The oldest painting in Europe is a rhino found in Chauvet Cave, dated to 32,400 years. 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolly_rhinoceros

The cave paintings in Sulawesi include a babirusa (pig-deer) dated to 35,400 years and another animal, similar to a pig, dated to 35,700 years: 

Babirusa painting

Source: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2014/10/08/ancient-indonesian-cave-paintings-force-rethink-of-arts-origin/

But there are still older paintings in Sulawesi, representing  stencils of hands, dating to 39,900 years. The oldest stencils of hands in Europe have been found in El Castillo Cave, in Cantabria, and they date to 37,300 years. 

Stencils of hands in El Castillo Cave

Source: http://trabajamosjuntosunete.blogspot.com.es/2012/06/las-pinturas-de-altamira-las-mas.html

The only record Europe still holds is a red disc painted on the ceiling of El Castillo Cave, dating to 40,800 years.

Here you have a short video from Nature magazine about Sulawesi paintings:

 

And this is an article from Scientific American magazine: 

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2014/10/08/ancient-indonesian-cave-paintings-force-rethink-of-arts-origin/

- A film called El Maestro de Altamira is being shot in Altamira Cave. It's a documentary that will tell the story of the discovery of the paintings and explain the main theories about their meaning. It will be directed by  José Luis  López Linares and his crowd has been allowed to film inside the cave for six alternative days. The filming is something extraordinary, because Altamira has been closed since 2002 to preserve the cave from pollution. Last year the cave was reopened to the visits, but they are limited to 5 persons per week. Experts are studying the impact of these visits and the resukts of their research will be used to decide to reopen the cave to the public or keep it closed. 

Here you have a documentary bout Altamira showed on the program Crónicas on La 2 some weeks ago: 

Altamira, la importancia del original

Radio interview from Atapuerca

Source: http://www.efefuturo.com/entrevista/601/

Here you have a very interesting interview to José María Bermúdez de Castro, one of the three directors of the excavations in Atapuerca and expert paleonthologist dedicated to the study of teeth. It was broadcasted last Thursday on RNE. Bermúdez de Castro explains the history of the site, how they work, the importance of this extraordinary site and the most recent discoveries they have made. You can use it for the last project about Prehistory.

Entrevista: Jose María Bermúdez de Castro - 02/10/14

A species odyssey

This is an extraordinary French film made as a result of the cooperation of the best anthropologists in the world. The Spanish collaboration came from the Atapuerca team, expert publicists of their discoveries in Spain. This documentary rated the highest levels of attendance when it was broadcasted in Spain, in June 2003, which shows that when scientists care of making their discoveries accessible, people prefer science to reality shows or full of clichés TV series. 

Here you have the first part in English:

And this is the full documentary in Spanish: 

If you want to learn more about the hominization process, you can visit this website: 

http://roble.pntic.mec.es/fpef0013/prehistoriaparaprincipiantes/

Some help and advice for your Prehistory projects

Source: http://www.abc.es/familia-ocio/20130102/abci-expo-201301021600.html

These are some basic instructions for your first projects:

PRESENTATIONS

These are the parts a presentation has to include:

- A cover with the title, one or several images related to the content and your name and group

- Several slides combining text and images related to what you explain

- Last slide with the sources you've used: Internet sources and bibliography

The way to cite books in English is the following:

Author, (Year of publication in brackets). Name of the book (in Italic font and all the words in capital letters), Place where it was published, Publisher.

Example:

Carley, M. J. (1999). 1939: The Alliance That Never Was and the Coming of World War II. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee Publisher

And this is the way to cite websites in English:

Name of the website. Editor(s) of the website. Date of electronic publication. Associated institution. Date of access <URL>.

Example:

BBC on the Internet. 2005. British Broadcasting Company. 12 Apr. 2005 <http://www.bbc.com>.

Some useful advice: 

- First, read the notes and solve all your doubts before starting to work

- Prepare a previous scheme and be sure that you don´t forget any part. 

- Look for all the information you will need. You have to make sure that you understand all the information before starting to write your final text. 

- Copy the links of the websites you visit to include them at the end of your explanation and save them on a Word document. This way, you won't lose time looking for the links you've used when you finish your project. 

- Create a folder for the images you find and save it on your computer.

- Don´t copy and paste nor use the computer translator ( I will discover it)

- Write simple and understandable sentences

- Don't include too much information.on every slide. It´s better that you include another slide, rather than overloading a slide with too much text.

REPORTS OR ESSAYS

As in every research project, you have to start preparing a work plan or scheme. After this, you should compile all the information you will need and when you have all the data or opinions you need, you will be able to organize your ideas and start writing.

On this link you have a chart that includes the differences between a report and an essay and a detailed explanation of how to write good reports and essays:

http://www.canberra.edu.au/studyskills/writing/reports

And this is another very good guide to write a good report:

http://library.bcu.ac.uk/learner/writingguides/1.02%20Reports.htm

And finally, these are some useful links to extract information for your prehistory projects. They are a starter, but don't forget to make a deeper research on the sites you choose:

http://algargosarte.lacoctelera.net/post/2011/10/03/los-grandes-yacimientos-rupestres-del-paleol-tico-superior-la

http://horarioscentros.uned.es/archivos_publicos/qdocente_planes/472148/13neoliticopiberica.pdf

http://algargosarte.lacoctelera.net/categoria/01-2-neolitico-y-edad-metales

http://e-ducativa.catedu.es/44700165/aula/archivos/repositorio//3750/3884/html/21_el_neoltico_llega_a_la_pennsula_ibrica.html

http://www.xn--espaaescultura-tnb.es/es/estilos/prehistoria/ccaa.html

http://www.cuevasturisticas.com/enl_Cuevas.asp

http://www.museoevolucionhumana.com/~museoevo/es

http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/averroes/html/adjuntos/2007/09/12/0064/paginas/periodos/neolitico-anda-cardial.htm

http://www.megalitos.es/

http://www.aranzadi-zientziak.org/fileadmin/docs/Munibe/2010001711.pdf

http://enmenorca.wordpress.com/patrimonio/arqueologia-talayotica/

http://www.nationalgeographic.com.es/articulo/historia/grandes_reportajes/7063/tartessos_busca_del_reino_perdido.html

http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/averroes/centros-tic/29000694/helvia/sitio/upload/La_Leyenda_de_Gargoris_y_Habidis.pdf

http://www.andalucia.cc/adn/0299per.htm

http://institucional.us.es/revistas/andaluces/7/art_8.pdf

http://hla.edu.ee/Hispaania%2520legend%25202006-2007.ppt

http://www.celtiberia.net/articulo.asp?id=699

http://www.traditori.es/index.php/ultimas-noticuias/469-las-dificultades-en-la-traduccion-de-la-escritura-iberica

http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/antiq_0770-2817_1987_num_56_1_2211

And these are the links your photocopy includes: 

- Example of presentation: 

http://www.slideshare.net/papefons/un-yacimiento-neoltico-la-cova-de-l-or

- Collaborative map: 

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/u/0/edit?mid=zigQtRO8VP1w.kBlZ4MSq81TY

- Latest discoveries in the Iberian Peninsula: 

http://www.abc.es/toledo/ciudad/20140914/abci-hallan-vasija-edad-bronce-201409142037.html 

http://elpais.com/elpais/2014/08/20/eps/1408535436_570793.html 

http://sociedad.elpais.com/sociedad/2014/06/19/actualidad/1403197173_091117.html 

http://nationalgeographic.es/noticias/ciencia/mundos-prehistoricos/pinturas-mas-antiguas 

http://www.elmundo.es/ciencia/2014/09/01/5404ad8de2704e490f8b458e.html

Source: http://web.educastur.princast.es/proyectos/jimena/pj_isabelan/doc/neolit.htm

Should we intervene in evolution?

Today's lesson has been very interesting and I've thought that maybe some of you (or all. Surprise me!) would like to think a little more about some of the challenges science poses to the evolution of our species. The main difference with respect to Prehistory is that we can intervene now and strenghten some specific features or eliminate what we consider useless or harmful for our species.  The hominids in Atapuerca show that, in their world determined by the fight for survival, they were able to care for the weakest members of their group (old people or disabled children). Nowadays, the advances in medicine and our knowlegde about genetics allow us to change what nature provides, but this possibility creates a lot of ethic dilemmas. Should we intervene in the improvement of the species? What are the limits of eugenics? Can abortion be considered as an intervention in evolution? Are disabled people a burden for society? What could be considered a life worth being lived? Do you think disabled/ handicaped/ special/seriously ill people contribute to our improvement as species? In what sense? 

This is the reconstruction of a 45 year old H. heidelbergensis who lived in Atapuerca 430,000 years ago. He was seriously handicaped, he could barely walk and couldn't hunt. He was an old person for that period and couldn't contribute to the survival of his fellows, but he wasn't left behind and died naturally. The same happened with a young girl who was born with craniosynostosis, a very rare illness, and survived for 12 years, with the help of his tribe. What can these two cases teach us about our species?

 

Source: http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/840238/0/fosiles/atapuerca/cuidados/

The same happened with a young girl (called Benjamina by the Atapuerca team), who was born with craniosynostosis, a very rare illness, and survived for 12 years, with the help of her tribe. 

Source: http://josepgmaynou.blogspot.es/1238526900/

What can these two cases teach us about our species?

If you want to answer to these questions, you can do it here or write a short essay on paper with your thoughts. Maybe Prehistory seems to be too far from us, but I think we can extract interesting conclusions from it. What do you think?

If you want to read more about these two cases in Atapuerca, here you have some more links: 

http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/840238/0/fosiles/atapuerca/cuidados/

http://www.publico.es/214486/hace-500-000-anos-ya-se-cuidaba-a-los-discapacitados

http://gara.naiz.eus/paperezkoa/20101012/225857/es/Los-hominidos-Atapuerca-cuidaban-discapacitados

http://www.pnas.org/content/107/43/18386.abstract?sid=5ded3c20-df28-4e10-a043-e0b1b556352c

http://www.pnas.org/content/106/16/6573.abstract?sid=82d46e3b-5104-4f7d-96c7-065bbd9773b4

Presentation about Prehistory in the Iberian Peninsula

Here you have the presentation we´re using to study Prehistory in the Iberian Peninsula. It includes some schemes you can use to organize your ideas and study these contents.