Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping, and I am really looking forward to learning with you today all about the earliest civilizations, the Indus and the Shang.

So shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain some of the things archaeologists have found out about the Shang from the artefacts they have studied.

Before we start, I'd like to introduce you to some keywords.

We'll be using these keywords during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these words down.

The keywords we'll be using today are oracle bones, ancestor, taoti.

I'm gonna say those again and I'd like you to repeat them after me.

Oracle bones.

Ancestor Taoti.

Good job.

Now, let's think in more detail about what these keywords mean.

Here are each of the definitions for our keywords.

Oracle bones were pieces of ox bone or turtle shell that were used by the Shang Dynasty to try to predict the future.

An ancestor is a person who was in someone's family in past times.

The taoti is a mythical animal-like creature that is often used as decoration on items. Pause the video here to make a note of these keywords.

And when you are ready to continue, press play.

These are the learning cycles that we'll be working through together in today's lesson.

Who were the people of the Shang Dynasty? How do archaeologists know about the Shang? In the first learning cycle, we'll explore the people of the Shang Dynasty and who they were.

In 1600 BCE, the Shang Dynasty began in the Yellow River Valley in China.

Now, was this earlier or later than the other ancient civilizations? Can you think of any of them? Well, it was later.

Now you can see here a map of the Yellow River Valley.

You can see where the Shang Dynasty was and where it began.

The capital city of the Shang Dynasty for more than 200 years was where Anyang is in China today.

Take a look there.

You can see where Anyang is on the map.

Now, what have archaeologists found at Anyang that told them about the Shang Dynasty? Hmm.

Well, they found the tomb of Fu Hao? And they also found pits full of oracle bones.

So quite a fantastic find at Anyang.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Which statement of Izzy's is correct and which one is incorrect about the Shang Dynasty? So A, the Shang Dynasty started in China in 1600 BCE.

B, they lived in the Nile River Valley, and the capital city was Harappa.

Hmm.

Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner.

Which statement of Izzy's is correct and which one is incorrect about the Shang Dynasty? And press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? Shall we take a look? Well, it's correct that the Shang Dynasty started in China in 1600 BCE, but it is incorrect that they lived in the Nile River Valley and the capital city was Harappa.

Can you remember where they lived? That's right.

They lived in the Yellow River Valley and the capital city was Anyang.

Well done if you remembered that.

Now, what did the Shang believe in? Well, they believed that their ancestors could help them in life if they kept them happy.

And they did that.

The Shang people offered food and drink in bronze dings to the ancestors and to their gods to make them happy.

Take a look at that photo there of a bronze ding.

So they would put food and drink in there and give that to the ancestors and their gods to keep them happy.

Now, how did they make bronze? That's a good question.

Take a look at that illustration of how bronze was made.

Well, they melted copper and tin together.

Then they poured the liquid metal into a special mould.

And once it was cooled, they removed it from the mould and they had made a new bronze object.

So bronze wasn't found like other metals.

It was made by melting copper and tin together.

You can see in that illustration there how they are pouring that mixture of copper and tin together into a mould to create that bronze.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Which of these Shang Dynasty objects are made from bronze? The ding? The fish pendant? The oracle bone? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and then press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said the ding, that's absolutely right.

Well done.

And what else did they use to make beautiful items? So we know they used bronze.

Hmm.

But they also used jade, which is a really hard stone that they thought was the most precious and beautiful.

And it took lots of time and skill to shape jade because it was so hard and this made it very expensive.

And you see this photo of a small carved dragon statue.

I wonder how much that was.

If you look all the detail, how long it would've taken to have carved that statue.

Did they have writing? Hmm.

Another good question.

Well, the Shang people used pictures to represent different words.

Writing was very important.

And they wrote on things like silk, bamboo, and bone.

This is an oracle bone here in this photo.

So they used to write on these oracle bones using their language, which were pictures to represent different words.

Let's take a moment to pause here and take a look at this statement.

Historians know lots about the people of the Shang Dynasty.

Is that true or false? Hmm? What do you think? If you said that that is true, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

Now, looking at these two statements here, which one would help to justify your answer? They know things like where they lived and their beliefs.

They still don't know things like where they lived and their beliefs.

Hmm.

Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner.

Which of these two statements would help to justify your answer? And press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said they know things like where they lived and their beliefs, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

Now this brings us to our first learning task.

I'd like you to first decide if the sentences below are true or false, and then whichever ones are false, I'd like you to correct those sentences.

So let's take a look at the sentences, shall we? The Shang wanted to keep their ancestors happy.

The Shang used picture symbols for writing.

The Shang only wrote on silk.

Jade was a precious and very soft stone.

Bronze dings were used to offer food to friends.

So firstly, decide if the statements below are true or false, and then have a go at correcting the false statements.

So pause the video here.

Give yourself enough time to do that and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at those statements? Which are true or false? So the Shang wanted to keep their ancestors happy.

That's true.

The Shang used picture symbols for writing.

That's also true.

The Shang only wrote on silk.

That's false.

Jade was a precious and very soft stone.

That's false.

Bronze dings were used to offer food to friends.

That's also false.

So well done if you managed to decide those true or false correctly.

Now let's take a look at those three false sentences and how we could change them to make them correct.

So the Shang wrote on silk, bamboo, and bones.

Jade was a precious and very hard stone, not soft.

Bronze dings were used to offer food to ancestors and Gods, not friends.

Well done if you are able to correct those four sentences and well done for completing that learning task.

We're now ready to move on to the second part of our lesson.

How do archaeologists know about the Shang? Hmm.

Well, how do historians know all these things about the people of the Shang Dynasty? Well, historians know so much because they can understand their writing.

The Shang were also very good at making items which have lasted for over 3000 years.

Historians can work out lots of information from these items. Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Items from the Shang Dynasty have lasted for over 10,000 years, 5,000 years or 3000 years? Pause the video here and have a quick discussion with your partner and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said 3000 years, that's how long the Shang items lasted for, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

Now, what might this object tell us about the people of the Shang Dynasty? Have a think.

Photo of a bronze ding.

Hmm.

Well, it tells us they could make things from bronze, that they were very skilled, that they believed in offering food to ancestors and gods, and they decorated things with animal-like faces called taoties.

So we can learn lots of different things from this single object.

What about this object? What might this object tell us about the people of the Shang Dynasty? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner and press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? Well, I think we can learn that they had symbols for writing, that they asked questions to their ancestors.

The questions show the things they were worried about in life and that they thought the opinion of the ancestors was very important.

So we can learn lots of things from this oracle bone here.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Who has explained how archaeologists know that ancestors were important in the Shang Dynasty? So Andeep has said, "Archaeologists know that ancestors were important in the Shang Dynasty because they have found things." Sophia says, "Archaeologists know that ancestors were important in the Shang Dynasty because they have found lots of items which were used to contact the ancestors." Hmm.

So pause the video here, have a discussion with your partner.

Who has explained how archaeologists know that ancestors were important in the Shang Dynasty? Andeep or Sophia? And press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? Well, in this case, it's Sophia who's able to explain this well.

She says that they found lots of items which were used to contact the ancestors, whereas Andeep just talks about finding different things, not necessarily things that would be linked to the ancestors.

What about this object? What might this object tell us about the people of the Shang Dynasty? It's a photo of a jade and bronze dagger found in a tomb.

Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and then press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? Well, it tells us they were buried in tombs with items that were important to them.

It tells us that war and weapons were important for them.

It tells us they could make items made from jade and bronze and also that they wanted to take items to the afterlife with them.

That's why they were buried in a tomb with them.

And what might Fu Hao's tomb tell us about the people of the Shang Dynasty? Hmm.

Can you remember? Take a look at that photo of Fu Hao's tomb there.

Pause the video and have a quick discussion with your partner about what might Fu Hao's tomb tell us about the people of the Shang Dynasty.

And press play when you are ready to continue.

What do you think? What does the tomb tell us? Well, it tells us that women were powerful, that some people were extremely rich, that hundreds of weapons showed that women could also lead armies, and also that queens were buried with thousands of items. So we can really learn a lot from Fu Hao's tomb there about the people of the Shang Dynasty.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding here.

Can you add to Jacob's statement to explain how archaeologists know that war was important in the Shang Dynasty? "Archaeologists know that war was important in the Shang Dynasty because.

." So can you add to Jacob's statement to explain how archaeologists know that war was important in the Shang Dynasty? Pause the video here.

Give yourself enough time to do that and press play when you are ready to continue.

How did you get on? Shall we take a look at an example? You may have finished the statement by saying, "Archaeologists know that war was important in the Shang Dynasty because they have found lots of weapons buried in tombs like the hundreds found in the tomb of Fu Hao." Well done if you were able to add to Jacob's statement there.

This brings us to our final learning task.

I'd like you to write a paragraph to explain what archaeologists know about the Shang.

You could include these words.

Writing.

Bronze dings.

Offerings.

Weapons.

Oracle bones.

Tomb.

Ancestors.

Jade.

So pause the video here.

Make sure that you have a pen and some paper and give yourself enough time to write a paragraph to explain what archaeologists know about the Shang.

And press play when you are ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at an example? So your answer could have included, "Archaeologists know lots about the Shang because they have found writing and other items. They know that ancestors were very important to them because they wrote questions to them on oracle bones and gave them food offerings in bronze dings.

They also know that they were very skilled because they made beautiful objects from bronze and jade.

They know that jade was very expensive because lots of it has been found in the tombs of rich people.

Archaeologists know that war was very important to the Shang 'cause they were buried with lots of weapons and that women could lead armies because of Fu Hao's tomb.

Well done for completing that learning task.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about what archaeologists have found out about the Shang.

The Shang used materials like jade and bronze to create art, weapons and taoties showing great skill.

Fu Hao's tomb has shown archaeologists that women could lead armies and be as powerful as men.

Bronze dings and oracle bones show how important ancestors were to the Shang Dynasty.

Archaeologists know a lot about the Shang because of their writing and their items that have lasted over 3000 years.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson.

I hope you enjoyed learning about the earliest civilizations, the Indus and the Shang.

I certainly did.

I hope to see you for another unit of learning.

See you then.