Comprehension, gathering grid & visualizing

Comprehension, gathering grid & visualizing



Mallam (2019) describes an early global world of interconnected and prosperous civilizations that flourished in Afro-Eurasia in the second millennium BC, maybe in some ways like the globalism of our own time -- but which mysteriously collapsed in just one lifetime around about the 12th century.

Mallam, Sally. “The Bronze Age Collapse.” The Human Journey, 2019, https://www.humanjourney.us/ideas-that-shaped-our-modern-world-section/the-bronze-age-collapse/ .

Form small groups (~3).  Read the article and after carefully reading the instructions below, complete the prompts in sections A, B, and C.  Have each section checked by the teacher before going on to the next.

A. Comprehension

a) What was the most likely direction of travel of the sunken vessel discovered in 1982 by a diver off the shore of Uluburun, Turkey?

b) Who is the author of 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed?

c) About what year did Nefertiti come to power in Egypt?

d) According to the map in the article, in 1300 BC, what peoples lived in the country that is today Iraq?

e) Name five tentative explanations, from the article, historians have given for the widespread collapse of civilization that occurred in the century between 1225 BC and 1130 BCE.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

f) Who coined the term “Sea Peoples"?

g) From where did the Philistines originate?

h) Where were the Hittites importing grain from?

B. Gathering grid

Create a gathering grid; basically critical note-taking.  See example below.  Imagine eight questions you could ask related to issues raised in Mallam (2019).  Locate sources that might help you answer your questions.  And if possible, give answers.  At least half of your questions should be inferential (opened) questions, not literal (closed); i.e. ask "how" or "why", not "does", "where", who", etc.



C. Visualizing

What is your theory of the Bronze Age collapse?  Create a graphic organizer (for example Venn diagram, flow chart, taxonomic tree, etc) to sort and display information supplied in Mallam (2019), or from your gathering grid, supporting your view.

Compile all parts into a single attractively formatted document and upload.  Your submission will be assessed on both content, and aesthetic merit.  Be sure to include the names of all group members on the document, with a note estimating the percent of the workload each member contributed.