How can understanding the past, help us to understand our world?

                       Many people question as to why people study the past, thinking "It’s old" or "What use is it to us?" Little do they know that the past is one of the many keys to the future, helping us to understand how the world has changed since our ancestors inhabited the earth? Some call the past a puzzle, others a mystery but social scientists think that the past is an important part in showing the change in appearance, knowledge and our sense of community, proving progress from then to now. This blog post is all about 'How can understanding the past help us to understand our world?'                        
                 
       You may wonder why certain items look the way they do. Well some things are based on ancient hominid tools. Referring to the book ‘History Alive! The Modern World’ the item 1.9 Cave Art Tools, the short, white, carved stone with the reddish brown tip looks similar to the modern day palette knife. A palette knife is used to mix and apply paint to a desired surface, a similar purpose to what we think the early hominids used this tool for.  This proves that understanding the past helps us to understand the world around us.        

The past is strongly related to the future. Yes that may sound strange but its true! Social scientists are able to study past civilizations and find out why they became extinct. They can make inferences and observations about a civilization and see if our own civilization is headed down the same route. They can use clues from the past to help support their thinking and knowledge.  Archaeologists unite with the past through the discovery of artifacts. These artifacts created by our ancestors help to inform us about the history of mankind. For instance, language, literature, art, war, farming, hunting , shelter and religious beliefs .  The more we know about our past, the more we are able to understand how we as humans are linked in some manner, not just now, but in the past and also how we will join with each other in time to come. Knowing and understanding what happened in the past can help to further our knowledge about our world and its’ sustainable future.