NOTES TO THE TEACHER

You will work in a small group and will carefully research the monuments built by the ancient cultures of Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China. You will plan a presentation together with others in your group to the Ancient World Architectural Review Board (AWARB) about your own conclusions. This board will ask you to present information and give your opinions on the following:

1. What do these structures look like? What are their dimensions?

2. What materials were used for their construction?

3. How do you think they were they built? What would have been difficult about their construction?

4. Compare and contrast these structures. Do any of them seem to use the same materials? Were they constructed in the same way?

5. Did you find any evidence of contact between any of these cultures?

6. In your opinion, were these structures built by these ancient people in isolation, or did they have help from other cultures or perhaps from more advanced beings from outer space?

(If you wish to study more cultures, you can add the structures of the Maya or the Inca in the Americas. Some scholars hypothesize that ancient people from Africa or Asia may have sailed to the Americas long before Columbus.)

Follow these steps carefully:

A. Your group should begin by dividing up the research tasks. Each student or pair of students within the group should gather information on one of the four cultures and share what is found with the rest of the group.

B. As you do your research, look for information which will help you answer the first three questions for the AWARB. (Keep track of where you got your information, take good notes, download some images, and draw some rough drafts of the structures from the culture you have been assigned.)

C. After you have gathered the information, share your diagrams, images, and information with your group. As a group, discuss the fourth, fifthand sixth questions you will have to answer for the AWARB. Someone in your group should record your ideas.

D. Finally, plan your group presentation to the AWARB. Can you construct some models, posters, or drawings which will illustrate the similarities and the differences between the various monuments you have studied? Is there a way you can present the information which will be well-organized? (Remember that you must give your group's opinion about how these structures were built. Did they have help from space aliens, another culture, or did they do this on their own? There are many possible answers. Even the experts cannot agree!)

There are many resources on the SCORE links which should help you to find the information for your presentation. Someone from your group should visit the sites which are listed for each culture and then information can be compared.

Ancient Egypt

Mark Millmore's Ancient Egyptian Page
http://www.eyelid.co.uk/

DIA Galleries: The Ancient Art of Egypt
http://www.dia.org/galleries/ancient/egypt/egypt.html

Color Tour of Egypt
http://www.memphis.edu/egypt/egypt.html

Guardian's Meidum Homepage
http://www.guardians.net/egypt/meidum/meidum.htm

The Great Temple of Abu Simbel
http://www.wonderclub.com/WorldWonders/AbuSimbelHistory.html

EGYPT has it all!
http://touregypt.net/

Ancient Mesopotamia

Archimedia - Architecture in Egypt and Mesopotamia
http://lib.haifa.ac.il/www/art/archimedia.html

DIA Galleries: Ancient Art - Mesopotamia
http://www.dia.org/galleries/ancient/mesopotamia/mesopotamia.html

Mesopotamia: The City of Ur
http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/consortium/vammesopotamia8.html

Ancient India

Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro
http://www.harappa.com/har/har1.html

Architecture of India
http://www.indianest.com/architecture/index.htm

Ancient China

Chinese Art
http://www.wku.edu/~yuanh/China/art.html

History Time Line for China
http://www-chaos.umd.edu/history/time_line.html

Welcome to Xi'an
http://www.chinats.com/xian/index.htm

Discovering the Great Wall
http://hua.umf.maine.edu/%7emshea/China/great.html

Xi'an and the Silk Road
http://hua.umf.maine.edu/%7emshea/China/xian.html

Ancient Hebrews

Canaan and Ancient Israel
http://www.museum.upenn.edu/Canaan/index.html

Solomon's Temple
http://www.templemount.org/solomon.html

King Solomon's Temple:
Biblical Account and Commentary*
http://phoenicia.org/temple.html#anchor1055893
*The material on this site was researched, compiled, and designed by
Salim George Khalaf and has a non centrist point of view.

To explore the idea of ancient astronauts, you might want to visit Nova Online Hot Science:

Alien Evidence??
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/alienactivity/

Your social studies textbook should contain very useful information for this activity. There are also CD-ROM or traditional encyclopedias which will help you learn the facts about these ancient structures. Finally, there are also a number of very good books and educational videos on these structures. Look in your school library for books like Pyramid by David Macauley or the Eyewitness Books series on Ancient Egypt or Bible Lands.

You will find that the information from the different web sites will need additional research from other materials.

You will also find it very important to work cooperatively with others in your group because one person cannot find all the necessary information in the time which your teacher has given you to do this work!

Make sure that you use your time wisely in and out of class!

You will develop a rubric together with your teacher and the rest of the class to evaluate your group research and presentation. It will include how well you answered the questions listed under "The Task," elements of the organization of information, the presentation itself, and especially your ability to give evidence supporting your opinion.

After you have finished this activity, do the following:

1. Explain why you think monuments and public buildings like the ones you just studied are so important to both ancient and modern cultures.

2. Complete the Web Treasure Hunt on the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (if you have not already done so.) This is listed under General Resources on the Sixth Grade SCORE Page and will extend your knowledge of these ancient structures to the Greeks and Romans. At the end of the quest, you can nominate your choice for the "wonders" of the modern world.

1. What did you learn during this activity that surprised you the most?
2. How well did your group work together? Why is group research important in an activity like this?

3. How did the SCORE sites on the Internet help you complete this activity? Would you use the Internet again to find information?

4. The next time you do an activity such as this, what might you do differently?

5. Did you find some web sites which were not on the SCORE page that you would like to recommend for future students? Submit your recommendation in an email message to SCORE.