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Silk Road Teacher Packet SECRETS OF THE SILK ROAD: STUDY GUIDE & BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR TEACHERS GRADE 6 AND UP TABLE OF CONTENTS BACKGROUND: INTRODUCTION TO THE SILK ROAD .................................... 3 What was the Silk Road?............................................................................................... 3 Where was the Silk Road?............................................................................................. 3 CALIFORNIA CONTENT STANDARDS: 6th Grade .................................................. 4 CALIFORNIA CONTENT STANDARDS: 7th Grade .................................................. 4 PRE-VISIT LESSON: GEOGRAPHY............................................................................ 6 PRE-VISIT ACTIVITY 1: GEOGRAPHY.................................................................. 6 PRE-VISIT LESSON: MUMMIES................................................................................. 7 PRE-VISIT ACTIVITY 2: MUMMIES....................................................................... 7 ACTIVITY 3: MYSTERY ITEM ................................................................................. 8 PRE-VISIT ACTIVITY 4: TOMBS............................................................................. 9 PRE-VISIT LESSON: FOOD AND SPICES ON THE SILK ROAD....................... 10 PRE-VISIT ACTIVITY 5: FOOD AND THE SILK ROAD................................... 10 PRE-VISIT LESSON: TRADE ..................................................................................... 11 PRE-VISIT ACTIVITY 6: TRADE ........................................................................... 11 BACKGROUND: TIMELINE ...................................................................................... 12 POST-VISIT ACTIVITIES............................................................................................ 18 POST-VISIT ACTIVITY 1: WALK IN THEIR SHOES......................................... 18 POST-VISIT ACTIVITY 2: EAST AND WEST -- THE EXCHANGE OF CULTURE AND IDEAS ALONG THE SILK ROAD ........................................... 18 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES (FOR TEACHERS) ................................................... 19 EXHIBITION OUTLINE (FOR TEACHERS) ......................................................... 20 BACKGROUND INFORMATION & VOCABULARY ............................................. 21 MAJOR THEMES .......................................................................................................... 26 Bowers Museum Education Department 2 March 2010 BACKGROUND: INTRODUCTION TO THE SILK ROAD Secrets Revealed….For the first time three well-preserved mummies from the Tarim Basin in western China are presented in the United States. Secrets of the Silk Road offers the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to come face to face with Yingpan Man, an actual Silk Road trader, who lived at the zenith of exchange between East and West - his lavish tomb goods and personal belongings included Roman glass, bow and arrows for protection, a satin perfumed sash and fine silk clothing. Encounter The Beauty of Xiaohe, a Bronze Age Caucasian mummy whose origin, culture and fate remains a mystery; but whose existence extends the history of the Silk Road back over 2000 years and redefines the ancient world. This historic exhibition of over 150 objects comes from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum and the Xinjiang Institute of Archaeology in Urumqi, China and includes beautiful clothing and textiles, wooden and bone implements, coins, documents and jewel encrusted objects that reflect the full extent of Silk Road trade from China to the Mediterranean. Step back in time and experience the convergence of ancient civilizations. What was the Silk Road? The Silk Road was a huge network of trade routes that connected the many different civilizations of Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Europe. Today, people can easily go from countries as far apart as China and Italy, but for the people of the Silk Road period, nearly 2000 years ago, it was the only international road that existed. The Silk Road connected travelers, merchants, soldiers, missionaries, pilgrims, and traders from places as far apart as Ancient China, Persia, India, Arabia and even Rome! The Silk Road was one of the only ways for the people of these ancient regions to trade ideas, technology, religion, and goods. Where was the Silk Road? The Silk Road wasn’t just one straight road. It was actually made up of many different routes that were connected. Most of the Silk Road was on land, and people travelled on it by caravan using horses and camels. A few of the routes were maritime (ocean) routes, and the only way to travel those parts was by boat! While the majority of the Silk Road was located in Asia, the Middle East, and India, some of it did extend to parts of Africa, and some even went as far as Europe! Bowers Museum Education Department 3 March 2010 CALIFORNIA CONTENT STANDARDS: 6th Grade . Visual Arts 1.0 Artistic Perception 3.0 Historical and Cultural Context 4.0 Aesthetic Valuing . History/ Social Science 6.6 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early civilizations of China. 7.0 Cite the significance of the trans-Eurasian "silk roads" in the period of the Han Dynasty and Roman Empire and their locations. English/ Language Arts Reading o 2.0 Reading Comprehension Writing o 1.0 Writing Strategies Listening and Speaking o 1.0 Listening and Speaking Strategies CALIFORNIA CONTENT STANDARDS: 7th Grade . Visual Arts 1.0 Artistic Perception 3.0 Historical and Cultural Context 4.0 Aesthetic Valuing . History/ Social Science 7.2.5 Describe the growth of cities and trade routes created among Asia, Africa and Europe, the products and inventions that traveled along these routes (e.g., spices, textiles, paper, steel, new crops), and the role of merchants in Arab society. 7.2.6 Understand the intellectual exchanges among Muslim scholars of Eurasia and Africa and the contributions of Muslim scholars made to later civilizations in the areas of science, geography, mathematics, philosophy, medicine, art, and literature. 7.3.4. Understand the importance of both overland trade and maritime expeditions between China and other civilizations in the Mongol Ascendency and the Ming Dynasty. 7.3.5. Trace the historical influence of such discoveries as tea, the manufacture of paper, wood block printing, the compass, and gunpoweder. English/ Language Arts Reading o 2.0 Reading Comprehension Writing o 1.0 Writing Strategies Listening and Speaking o 1.0 Listening and Speaking Strategies . Science Genetics o 2.d plant and animal cells contain many thousands of different genes, and typically have two copies of every gene. The two copies (or alleles) of the gene may of may not be identical, and one may be dominant in determining the phenotype while the other is recessive. Bowers Museum Education Department 4 March 2010 Evolution o 3.0 Biological evolution accounts for the diversity of species developed through gradual processes over many generations. As a basis for understanding this concepts, students know: o 3.a both genetic variation and environmental factors are causes of evolution and that natural selection is the mechanism of evolution. Bowers Museum Education Department 5 March 2010 PRE-VISIT LESSON: GEOGRAPHY ©Elizabeth Wayland Barber, The Mummies of Urümchi (W. W. Norton Company, New York, 1999) The items in the exhibition were found mostly in the area around the Tarim Basin, though the actual archaeological sites are as follows: o Astana Cemetery in Turfan o Xinyaun (Kunas) County o Ulughchat (Wuqia) County; o Bortala, Daltu Ancient City o Turfan, Gaochang Ancient City o Boma Cemetary, Il o Zaghunluq, Charchan o Mongghul Kura (Zhaosu) County o Alagou (Alqighul, Alghuy), Toksun o Yeshiliek Cemetery, Tekas County o South Mountain, Urumqi o Xiahe Cemetery, Charqilik County o Niya, Mingeng o Gutai Cemetery, Loulan City o Alar Cemetery, Rouqiang o Wupu (Qizilchoqa)Cemetery, Hami o Subeshi Cemetary, Pichan (Qumul) o Qourghas County, Ancient Alimalik o Qawighul (Gumugou) Cemetary, City Charqilik (Ruoqiang) County o Sampul, Lop o Jarintay, Nilqa County o Yoykan, Hetian, south bank of Kunas o Yingpan , Yuli (Lopnur) County; Niya River o Yurayak, Keriya (Yutian) County. PRE-VISIT ACTIVITY 1: GEOGRAPHY Ask your students to identify some of the burial sites on a map of China. Bowers Museum Education Department 6 March 2010 PRE-VISIT LESSON: MUMMIES The Mummies you will see in the exhibit are very different from the mummies you may have learned about before. Egyptian mummies were prepared by removing the organs, and embalming the bodies. The mummies were preserved because they dehydrated using chemicals, and were then wrapped in yards of linen soaked in various ointments and spices. The use of embalming chemicals gave the bodies of the mummies a dark hue. These Chinese mummies were preserved so well not necessarily by design, but rather because of the unforgiving environmental conditions of the Tarim Basin. During the winter, temperatures dropped well below zero, and during the summer, the heat was unbearable. These temperature extremes actual “freeze-dried” the mummies! PRE-VISIT ACTIVITY 2: MUMMIES Look at the mummies below (higher quality images for classroom viewing are included in the associated powerpoint). Do they seem like mummies you would expect to find in the middle of China? Why or why not? How are they different from mummies you’ve seen or studied before? Hint, think of the Egyptian mummies you
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