How do historians know about the past? (1/3)?

Historians are like detectives who solve mysteries from long ago using clues left behind.

Clues can be things like old letters, broken pottery, or even footprints in the dirt! Just like you might find a note under your pillow to figure out what happened during a surprise party, historians use these clues to understand how people lived, what they ate, and even what games they played.

• Old letters are like messages that people wrote with ink on paper.
• Broken pottery can tell us about the kinds of food people cooked or drank.
• Footprints in the dirt might show how many people were walking by, and where they went.

Sometimes, historians use tools to dig up clues from under the ground, just like you dig for treasure in a sandbox. They look at everything carefully, piece it together, and then tell us stories about what life was like back then, no magic needed!