Historical Detectives - Grafham Grange School

Historical Detectives

Explain reasons for different interpretations

Compare the evidence from different sources and compare different interpretations

Describe different interpretations

Learning Objectives:

Do now activity:Can you explain why a historian is like a detective?

Mrs Buxton

Three expectations:

1. Silent and actively listen when I’m talking.2. Silent and actively listening when your

classmates are talking.3. Approach your work positively with a “I

can make it happen” attitude.

Historical Detectives

Select and combine evidence from several sources to support answers

Compare the evidence from different sources

Use sources to answer questions about the past

Learning Objectives:

1) A body has just been found!

What do we need to do to try to find out who it is and how they died?

Explain reasons for different interpretations

Compare the evidence from different sources and compare different interpretations

Describe different interpretations

Historical Detectives

This body was found in a peat bog on Tollund Fen in Denmark in May 1950. Two men were digging peat for burning. As they worked they suddenly saw in the peat layer a face so fresh they thought they had come across a recent murder. They called the police. The men carefully removed the peat from the body till more of him could be seen. The man lay on his right side as if he was asleep. He wore no clothes, except for a pointed skin cap and a smooth hide belt. His hair was cut short. Round the neck was a rope noose and an iron neck ring. It was drawn tight around his neck and throat.

Click the picture for video link

Historical Detectives

2. Who found the body?3. Where was the body found?4. What did they find on the body?5. What do you think killed the

Tolland man? This is an OPINION not a FACT- you do not know what killed the man. This is your INTERPRETATION.

The Tollund Mans rope reconstructed

Source A

Historical Detectives

6. Look at Source C, the SCIENTIFIC REPORT, and explain why it suggeststhat the man did not die of old age or disease?

The Tollund Man's stomach contained traces of grain and seeds such as these.

X-ray of the

Tollund Man

Source C

Historical Detectives

7. How long ago do you think the body was buried and what is your evidence?

At the dating laboratory of the National Museum of Denmark, carbon-14 dating was carried out. A small sample the size of a thumbnail was taken from the Tollund Man's body and used as the basis for the readings. The datings reveal that he must have died 4-300 years B.C. In other words immediately after the end of the Bronze Age in Denmark.

The Tollund Man's last meal. © Niels Bach.

Historical Detectives

“I think that the Tolland man was hanged because he was a criminal. The ancient tribes used to hang traitors and renegades in trees. For those that are cowards, combat evaders, (afraid to go to war) and unnaturally immoral people, they lower them into filthy swamps and cover them with branches"

We have no written records from the time period when the Tollund Man was alive in Denmark, but around the same time in the Roman Empire in Italy there were people who could read and write. One of them was Cornelius Tacitus who wrote down the accounts he heard from people who went to Northern Europe to trade goods. The traders told him about the wild tribes - which is how the Romans regarded them - who lived up north.

What is his interpretation?

The Tollund Man is hanged. © Niels Bach

Historical Detectives

"a Germanic tribe, the Semnonans (from the northern part of Germany), sacrificed human beings. I think that this happened to the Tolland man to please the gods. I think this because he was carried to the bog and carefully placed in the sleeping position in which he was found, it is very likely that they closed his eyes and mouth after death. "

A coroner is someone’s whose job it is to examine the dead to discover how and why they died.

What is his interpretation?

The Tollund Man is placed in the bog. © NielsBach.

Where do you stand?(and can you justify your position…?)

“The Tolland man was sacrificed to please the gods.”

“The Tolland man was executed

because he was a criminal!”

Historical Detectives

Explain reasons for different interpretations

Compare the evidence from different sources and compare different interpretations

Describe different interpretations

Learning Objectives:

Assessment:Now write a report about what YOU think happened to the Tollund Man. Remember to use evidence to back up your suggestions.

You might like to use the following sentences:

• “I think … happened because of what it says in Source…”• “In my opinion, I feel he was murdered - I think this because…”• “Whilst we can’t be certain, Source … makes me think he was …”

Historical Detectives

Explain reasons for different interpretations

Compare the evidence from different sources and compare different interpretations

Describe different interpretations

Learning Objectives:

Key Words:Can you define the key words from today’s lesson?

Interpretation:

Coroner:

Sacrifice:

Execution:

Traitor:

Historical Detectives

Explain reasons for different interpretations

Compare the evidence from different sources and compare different interpretations

Describe different interpretations

Learning Objectives:

Key Words:Can you define the key words from today’s lesson?

Interpretation: Your own explanation for something

Coroner: Someone who investigates deaths

Sacrifice: The offering of something to a god

Execution: The act of killing someone lawfully

Historical Detectives

Learning Objectives:

Did you meet your learning objectives?The star of the lesson is…

How do you feel about your learning today?

Explain reasons for different interpretations

Compare the evidence from different sources and compare different interpretations

Describe different interpretations

Historical Detectives

Click the picture for video link

Seamus Heaney reads his poem - The Tollund Man