Topics

This subject has one compulsory topic and five additional topics.

Compulsory topic

• Topic 1: Understanding ancient history.

Additional topics

• Topic 2: Art, architecture, and technology
• Topic 3: Warfare and conquest 
• Topic 4: Social structures, slavery, and everyday life 
• Topic 5: Beliefs, rituals, and mythology 
• Topic 6: Creative representations.

More details of the six topics follow.

Topic 1: Understanding ancient history

This topic has three aspects discussed below. Students study one or more aspects in the context of one or more ancient societies or cultures, in order to develop their knowledge and understanding of the nature of historical and/or archaeological evidence.

Historical authentication and reliability

Students explore how historical and/or archaeological evidence from the ancient world has been variously lost, destroyed, and rediscovered. They consider issues in establishing authenticity, including the identification and origin of artefacts, human remains, and documents, as well as investigating methods of authentication, such as scientific and comparative dating techniques. Students examine sources that have been deemed to be forgeries, and the difficulties of authentication associated with these. They consider the reliability and bias of ancient writers and recorders, and of later historians and archaeologists.

Preservation, conservation, and/or reconstruction of ancient sites and artefacts

Students interpret and analyse the nature of ancient sites, including the condition and extent of the remains and issues of conservation and preservation, such as environmental hazards, war, terrorism, tourism, pillaging, and poverty, which threaten the survival of ancient sites. Studies could include investigating the effectiveness and appropriateness of methods used to preserve, conserve, and/or reconstruct sites, including relevant national or international charters or conventions, such as those of UNESCO, to protect ancient sites of World Heritage significance. Studies could include examining reconstructions, including paintings, historical fiction, film, documentaries, museum displays, and virtual models, for their appropriateness.

Cultural heritage, ownership, and/or the role of museums

Students consider the contribution of museums to our understanding of ancient life and questions of whose past is represented in public exhibitions. A key ethical question concerns the role of museums in acquiring, preserving, and storing artefacts, human remains, and cultural materials. Studies could include exploring how museums help us to understand ancient life and times, the social status of individuals, the beliefs and practices of the society, the health of ancient populations, and the nature of the environment. Students examine ethical issues such as arguments for and against the return of human remains and/or cultural property to their original homes, the nature and impact of looting, and the illegal trade of antiquities.