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Archaeologists , Geologists, and Paleontologists are scientists who look at the early history of our planet from different perspectives.

Paleontologists study the fossil remains of various organisms and use the clues they find to describe the earliest plant and animal life found in an area. By comparing these early species to those found today, the paleontologist can draw some conclusions about the prehistoric climate of that era.

Archaeologists look at the life of early human beings. Starting approximately 12,000 years ago, early humans left behind objects, or artifacts, which tell about the daily life and environment of the people who inhabited this area of Kentucky. These ancient trash piles are called middens. The clues that archaeologists uncover tell us how these early people survived, what they ate, what their homes were like, and what games and jobs they enjoyed. Both archaeologists and paleontologists use similar techniques to uncover clues of the past.

[http://www.nps.gov/archive/maca/learnhome/cur_p_sho.htm]

Geologists study the earth. Geologists study the structure of the Earth, how it is made, the origin, the beginning of the Earth, and its history. Geologists study rocks, soil, fossils, mountains, and earthquakes. Time was traditionally measured by events of humans. Some branches of science have discovered more than others. Some of these events have been determined to have happened ‘before humans’. To compensate for years being ‘after humans’, Geologists came up with their own time scale using events in the history of the earth, the Geological Time Scale. Here, they record time in terms of eras and centuries. These eras and centuries have nothing to do with say, ‘The golden era of Hollywood’, or the ’20th century’. They are completely different.

Science is based on theories, built one-upon-the-other. For the sake of learning, we will reference what science shows now. Because science is about discovery, it is an evolution all to itself. For example: The Early Man presentation I was going to use from last year, even changed this year, based on new discoveries. Science is changing all the time.

[http://edhelper.com/ReadingComprehension_37_134.html]

Artifacts
artifacts (from Latin arte “by skill” factum “to do” by arm) a: something created by humans usually for a practical purpose ; especially an object remaining from a particular period For example: cave paintings and pieces of pottery.

Fossils
fossils (from Latin fossus, literally “having been dug up”) are the preserved remains or traces of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. For example: dinosaur bones and fossilized bugs.

Further Investigations:

Two sides of the argument over time and evolution:

For Evolution: Videos Teaching Students About Evolution
Against Evolution: A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism on Discovery.org
Here is an answer that neatly sums up what I believe.

We agree there are at least two sides to the argument over time and circumstances. We know scientists have uncovered some really cool fossils and artifacts and we are going to take a look at some of them.

We will also look at the measure of time in blocks (eras and centuries) using what is called Geological Time.

Whether we agree on actual time spans, we can agree that events occurred. You will get to play time detective and help us correlate all of the data that we will collect for our time capsule journals.

However, before you can further explore, you need to understand the reference to years when studying Archaeology.

BC and AD, and BCE

What does BCE mean in timelines?
in the ancient timelines * 6 months ago

Best Answer – Chosen by Voters
Time has been measured by the single greatest event in the history of mankind, the birth & life of Jesus Christ.

The original designation for the time before Christ was born is BC (Before Christ). The designation for time, beginning from the birth of Christ was AD (Anno Domini), or “year of our Lord”.

In recent years, a concerted effort of the secularists has been to remove all reference of Christ & Christianity. This has resulted in the attempt to have the terms BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common Era) replace both BC & AD, respectively. * 6 months ago

Week 1:

Now for the cool stuff:

Take a virtual tour of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Canada. note: requires java plugin.

Visit Mr. Donn’s site Archaeology page for kids. Be sure and click the link to Howard Carter, the British Archaeologist.

Once you have read it, watch this video about some of his discoveries:

Click Image To View Video

Movie compliments of: Dialogue for Kids

King Tut’s Tomb on Google Maps:

View Larger Map

Take a Virtual Tour of King Tut’s tomb

Think and Do:

1. Did you hear her say her favorite artifact was the dagger, because “of the detail work on the hilt of the dagger“? Lookup the term ‘hilt‘ in your dictionary and write down the definition on your vocabulary list.
2. Write a one page essay. Pretend you are an archaeologist from the future and you have uncovered an object. You don’t know what it is. Pick something from your bedroom and write an essay, based on clues, about what you think it might be and could have been used for. You will read your essay out-loud in next week’s class.
3. Add King Tut to your timeline. Rember to take notes about when he lived, died, who is father was, and how scientists believe he died.
4. Optional: Peruse some interesting facts about the Nile River here

Another good geological time scale that you can step through is found at: http://www.watersheds.org/earth/gtime.htm
It is the only site where I have found the mention of the Hadean Eon as an Eon under the era of PreCambrian.
Others call Hadean, Archaean, and Proterozoic – Eras. I don’t know which is correct yet.

View a video about Carbon Dating, as well as other interesting facts, on BrainPop.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 at 8:30 am and is filed under Science. You can follow responses to this entry through the Comments RSS Feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your site.