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Ancient (before 500 CE)

Boats and people on a Ghanian river
Review

Exploring Africa

Its goal is to provide high quality resources about Africa and its nations for K-12 educators. Teachers and students can learn about themes relating to African history and information about specific countries in a well-researched, easily digestible format.
Black consonant letters from the Ge'ez script against a white background. There are 26 letters in three rows.
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Ge'ez Script

Ge’ez script is a script used in modern-day Eritrea and Ethiopia that dates back to the 1st century CE.

The top of a healing scroll; the paper is brown and there is a drawing of a saint riding a horse and using a spear to destroy a demon. There is a hole with a rope through the top of the scroll.
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Ethiopian Healing Scrolls

Ethiopian healing scrolls are believed to eliminate sickness by ridding spirits and demons from an ill person. Originating sometime between the 1st and 8th century CE in the Axum empire, the scrolls are still used to this day, and still written in the Ge’ez script of the Axum empire.

A large, earthen mound covered in grass set against a blue sky. The mound has stairs with people using them.
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Poverty Point in Louisiana, United States

Poverty Point is a prehistoric earthenwork site featuring mounds, ridges, and a ceremonial plaza located in northeastern Louisiana, United States.

A light-colored limestone altar. The altar is round and has glyph blocks in the center that are word and faded. Two cracks are on the altar but have had repairs lessening the lines.
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Altar from the Classic Maya Period

This limestone altar was created by the Maya culture sometime between 300 and 900 CE and found in Belize in Central America. The altar is round and was carved with twenty glyph blocks on top, which are now faded and display cracks but also attempts at repairs.

A map featured on the website. Displayed are regions in the United State with mound sites, and featured in purple are the mound sites in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Missouri, and Illinois. Featured in yellow are mound sites in Wisconsin and Iowa.
Review

The Moundbuilders' Art: A Confluence of 'Ingenuity, Industry, and Elegance'

The amount of information and resources included in the exhibit are targeted and would likely not overwhelm a high school student. Alternatively, the site is full of resources that could be used separately, especially for younger students.
A blue, circular icon with an image of a document in the center. Underneath are the words "view document"
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Polynesian Oral Traditions

This collection compiled by Rawiri Taonui, a professor of Indigenous Studies, includes creation myths and stories about gods, the origin of humanity, and cultural heroes for several Polynesian cultures, such as Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti, and numerous others.

A woven textile with A closeup of a woven textile featuring a figure that may be a human-animal hybrid. He wears red and blue clothing, dark colored sandals, and has a golden-colored headpiece.
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Coca Bag

This coca bag is from the Moche culture that existed in Peru between the period of 100 to 700 AD. The Moche are known for their ceramics, textiles, and metalworking practices, and this bag demonstrates the skill of Moche weavers.

A sandstone featuring Meroitic hieroglyphs in three columns.
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Meroitic Script

The Meroitic Script was used in the Kingdom of Kush beginning in the 3rd Century BCE, or the Meroitic Period, and had two forms, Meroitic Cursive and Meroitic hieroglyphs.

A green background with counters on a counting board and pen and paper math.
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Division with an Early Modern Counting Board

Before the rise of literacy rates, counting boards such as the one featured in the video were the most common way to perform arithmetic. After pen-and-paper arithmetic replaced counting boards, Arabic numerals also became dominant throughout Europe.