worksheet: What happened c. 1150 BCE?

In history according to the Chinese, the Shang dynasty began when T'ang, a man of great virtue and wisdom, overthrew the decadent emperor Chieh, the last of the Hsia dynasty. Like the previous dynasty, the Shang eventually declined and ended with the ignominious rule of the last Shang king, Chou; he was overthrown by King Wen and his son Wu who began the third dynasty of China, the Chou.

Shang Zhou, the last Shang king, committed suicide after his army was defeated by the Zhou people. Legends say that his army betrayed him by joining the Zhou rebels in a decisive battle that took place.
The classical novel Fengshen Yanyi is about the war between the Yin and Zhou, in which each was favored and supported by one group of gods.
After Yin's collapse, the surviving Yin ruling family collectively changed their surname from their royal Zi (子) (pinyin: zi; Wade-Giles: tzu) to the name of their fallen dynasty, Yin (殷). The family remained aristocratic and often provided needed administrative services to the succeeding Zhou Dynasty. The King Cheng of Zhou, through the Regent, his uncle the Duke Dan of Zhou, enfeoffed the former Shang King Zhou's brother Ziqi (子啟) as the ruler of Wei (微), in the former Shang capital at Shang (商), with the territory becoming the state of Song later in history. The State of Song and the royal Shang descendants maintained rites to the dead Shang kings which lasted until 286 BC. (Source: Records of the Grand Historian.)
Both Korean and Chinese legends state that a disgruntled Yin prince named Jizi (箕子), who had refused to cede power to the Zhou, left China with his garrison and founded Gija Joseon, and it would become one of the early Korean states (Go-, Gija-, and Wiman-Joseon).
Many Shang clans migrated northeast and were integrated into Yan culture during the Western Zhou period. These clans maintained an elite status, continuing their sacrificial and burial traditions.

sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shang_Dynasty#Fall_of_Shang

worksheet: Religion

The Shang worshipped a figure they called "Shang Ti," or "Lord on High." This supreme god ruled over lesser gods of the sun, the moon, the wind, the rain, and other natural forces and places. Shang-Ti also regulated human affairs as well as ruling over the material universe. This dual function would, in the Chou dynasty, be attributed to a more abstract figure, "t'ien," or "Heaven." The Shang also believed that their ancestors dwelled in heaven after their death and continued to show an interest in their family and descendants. The obligations within the family included, therefore, the ancestors. Failing in one's duties to the ancestors could bring all sorts of disaster on a family. All of these divine and semi-divine figures, from Shang-Ti to a family's ancestors, were sacrificed to. However, we know little of the nature or the frequency of these sacrifices. We do know, however, that in the Chou dynasty only the king could sacrifice to Shang-Ti; it is highly likely that Shang-Ti was the "local god" of the Shang kings who was subsequently elevated in order to elevate the Shang themselves. The one disturbing fact of Shang sacrifice is that it certainly involved humans; slaves and prisoners of war were often sacrificed by the hundreds when a king died. Lesser numbers were sacrificed at the founding of a palace or temple. Priest help to do these rituals.

source: http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ANCCHINA/SHANG.HTM

What happened c. 1500 BCE??

It was proably the marauding Aryan horsemen responsible for the collapse of the Indus Valley civilization or maybe the drought and a fall-off in trade slowly kill the Harappan culture. Historians are also still not sure of the reason behind the fall of the collaspe of te Indus Valley civilisation. Historicans have discovered that the aryan might have attacked the Indus Valley Civilisation and their defence fell cause the death of many people leading to the fall. It might also be the people of the civilisation stopped trading a certain reason thus killing the Indus VAlley Culture.

Writtings

There is evidence of artefacts found which indicate that the people of the Indus Valley Civilisation had a system of communication. The archaeologist had found writings, they are short inscriptions on small stone seals (for stamping impressions) and amulets. The ancient Indus Civilisation script has not been understood by historians. Seals or ceramic pots has writtings that are no more than 4 or 5 characters in length; the longest is only 26 characters. But historians comparisons studies have shown that Indus writing evolved into the much later Brahmi script.The writtings are so short, some scholars wonder whether the Indus script fell short of a true writing system. . Morever, there is one, a piece of evidence suggesting that the script embodies that it is a well-known, widespread, and complex communication system. Evidence has been found that appears to be the remains of a large sign that was mounted above the gate to the city. It was probably designed to inform travelers of the city's name, just like the welcome signs seen today along highways leading to major cities.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Triseal.jpg, http://www.harappa.com/script/index.html

3 posssible occupations..

1. WATER TRANSPORTATIONS

This is the picture of the water transportation

in the Indus Valley Civilisation. The people in the past

living there travel to and fro trading food and other items.

2.POT MAKERS

This is the picture of some cooking pots

that the people in the past use to cook food.

The people living in the village proably needed

these pots to cook

3.BRICKS MAKER AND CONSTRUCTION WORKERS

They needed bricks to build the Mohenjo Daro.

They also needed people to stack the bricks up one by one.

sources: http://www.harappa.com/har/har0.html.

This picture shows proably a hall of asembly
that was made for people to sit in neat rows.

This picture shows the bath's

drain. It is used to drain off water

from the bath.

This picture shows the great bath

and the granary. It was first identified drain.

as a hot air bath but after that they

found out it was actually a state granary.

source: http://www.harappa.com/har/har0.html.

History Chapter 2( Recap Questions)

Q1. What are the primary and secondary sources?

Ans: The primary sources are: written evidence, pictorial evidence, oral evidence, artefacts. The secondary sources are: history textbook, documentries, and other alternatives.


Q2. How do the historians make sure that their sources are reliable?

Ans: The historians make sure that the sources are reliable by 3cs test : credibility, consistency and corroboration test. They have to make sure that ask if the source is trustworthy and they also take two statements, comparing them if they have similar meanings. Lastly, is the corroboration test. They have to provide infomation like evidence from an artefacct to support it.


Q3. Why and when it is necessary for historians to revise their interpretions of past events?

Ans: The historians have to revise their interpretion of the past events when many new pieces of evidence is constantly being discovered. Such evidence can provide new ways of looking at the past.