Apologia General Science, Module 5, The History of Life: Archaeology, Geology, and Paleontology

►Videos and Resources for this module

This module was so interesting!  I had never before heard of dendrochronology.  (hee hee!)
[den-droh-kruh-nol-uh-jee] Listen here.  
In short, dendrochronology is the study of tree rings, particularly in architecture, compared to other known "master tree rings" to figure out how old buildings or other structures are.  The tree rings can be overlapped and linked back as far as native Indian canoes!

Read this story to get an idea of how dendrochron-
ology can work.  Very amateurish, I know, but
remember, I'd never heard of dendrochronology
before!  (If not printable, let me know)


After we read the story, we used this worksheet, and the kids figured out which samples from the worksheet could corresponded with the items in the story,  according to their order.  Remember to start with the living tree sample as current, and date back from there.




So we looked at "tree cookies" - I had enough for each kid to have one if they wanted it - and of course my girls and their cousin named theirs.
(The skeleton from last year was Oscar, a crawdad we found was dubbed Sparky, they named their eggs (my favorite!), and they even named their spud people!)

So the tree cookies were christened:
Chip, Woody, and Chuck.  LOL!




The newer girls haven't gotten into naming items in their science experiments as much as my girls do, and they're a little more shy, not being used to our "group" so to speak.  (consists mostly of cousins who have known each other all their lives)
Although they did teach one girl how to rename all the scientists in Module 1 on their scientists worksheet.  Her mother wasn't sure what I'd think!    I told her it was totally fine.
Anaximander was just Amander; Anaximenes was x-meanie (hee hee!), and Leucippus became Lucy, lol.
They said it helped them remember their names better, and i'm sure it did!


We also learned how archaeologists use three tests to confirm accuracy of historical documents.
There was an entire section for each of these! Much more information than what I mention here.
►The internal test checks to see whether or not the document in question has any contradictions within itself.  We also discussed some Biblical accounts that are assumed to be contradictory, and how they aren't contradictions.
►The external test compares the document with outside sources - other historical facts - and compares to archaeological facts (like the existence of a city, etc.)  The Bible passes this test very well!
►The bibliographic test is the most important.  The document must contain direct eye-witness accounts, or second-hand accounts.  So these were usually recorded shortly after the actual event, and that is a good thing!
Since there are virtually no original documents from any truly ancient work of history (there are always copies of copies), the bibliographic test also asks how may different copies exist that were made by different people.  The more people who give the same account, the better.  This shows that it would be unlikely that the original was modified.

Of course, the Bible passes this test with ease!  =)
Isaiah 40:8; Matthew 24:35

sMiLeS,