History / Year 8 / Historical Knowledge and Understanding

Curriculum content descriptions

Significant developments and/or cultural achievements that led to Viking expansion, including weapons and shipbuilding, and the extent of their trade (ACDSEH047)

Elaborations
  • describing Viking craft with particular emphasis on the production of weapons (for example, swords, battle axes and helmets)
  • outlining the key role of gods such as Odin, Thor, Frey and Freyja in Viking religion and the adoption of Christianity during the Viking period
  • investigating the construction of longboats and their role in exploration, including innovations in keel and sail design.
  • describing evidence of Viking trade between Russia (Kiev) and the east (through Constantinople)
General capabilities
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and creative thinking
  • Intercultural understanding Intercultural understanding
ScOT terms

Inventions,  International trade,  Scandinavian history,  Weapons,  Boatbuilding

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Work sample Year 8 History: Significant groups (the Vikings) in an expansion

This work sample demonstrates evidence of student learning in relation to aspects of the achievement standards for Year 8 History. The primary purpose for the work sample is to demonstrate the standard, so the focus is on what is evident in the sample not how it was created. The sample is an authentic representation of ...

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The first modern humans in south-east Asia

This is a multilayered resource about the theories and evidence of the origins of the first modern humans in south-east Asia. It has four sections: Theories; The sout-heast Asian fossil record; The appearance of sout-heast Asian features; and The first modern Indonesians. The Related sections, Related items and Related ...

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The Mongols in China

This is an illustrated four-part historical account of Mongol rule in China. It includes sections on: the Mongol influence on China; Khubilai Khan in China; life in China under Mongol rule; and the beginnings of the Mongol collapse. The life in China section describes the effects of Mongol rule on peasants, artisans, merchants, ...

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The Mongols' mark on global history

This resource, a component of the online resource The Mongols in world history, focuses on the contribution of the Mongol empire during the 13th and 14th centuries to world history. It examines the stereotype of the Mongol empire as being peopled by barbarians and juxtaposes it with the contributions of the Mongol empire. ...

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The Mongols in world history

This rich online resource is about the Mongol empire viewed in the context of the beginnings of world history. It provides a comprehensive set of materials about the Mongol culture and its history during the period from the birth of Temujin - later Chinggis (Genghis) Khan - in about 1162 to the end of the empire in 1368. ...

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Vindolanda

This resource is about the Roman garrison established at Vindolanda. It includes extracts from the Vindolanda tablets dating from the period AD 97-103, which documented details of everyday life for a Roman soldier on the north-west frontier of Roman Britain. The resource describes the discovery of the tablets and their ...

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Eric Bloodaxe

This resource is about Eric Bloodaxe, a Viking legend and the last Viking king of Northumbria. It includes text and some images. The resource is organised under six topic headings: What's in a name?; Exile to England; Invader or guest?; Conquest and reconquest; The end of the story; and Find out more. The images are interposed ...

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Naachtun: lost city of the Maya

This resource is about the Mayan city of Naachtun rediscovered by archaeologists in 1922. It provides background material on the archaeological visits to the Mayan site from 1922 through to 2002, and describes the remnants of the structures and artefacts of the city, including stone monuments carved with hieroglyphic inscriptions ...

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Social pecking order in the Roman world

This interactive resource is about the social structure of Ancient Rome. It includes detailed information about the stratification of Roman society and how this affected people's lives. The topics covered are: Legal status; Citizen and non-citizen - which includes information about the imperial hierarchy, the Senate and ...

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Medieval stonemasons

This resource is about the medieval stonemason. It includes text and some images. The resource is organised under four topic headings: A mason's craft; Soaring monuments; Heavenly Jerusalem; and Find out more. Interposed in the text are images of Ely Cathedral, Salisbury Cathedral and Wells Cathedral.

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The Mongols' pastoral-nomadic life

This resource, a component of the online resource The Mongols in world history, details the nomadic lifestyle of the Mongols and the rise of Temujin (Genghis Khan). It includes a list of the animals upon which the precarious pastoral-nomadic life of the Mongols depended. It describes the various uses of the animals by the ...

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Black Death

This resource is about the plague that broke out in England from 1348-49. It provides an overview of the plague in the British Isles beginning with the initial outbreak in Dorset, which then spread to England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The resource includes many contemporary descriptions of the plague, the death toll ...

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Mabo: the native title revolution

This a multi-layered website about the life and times of Eddie Mabo and the part he played in Indigenous land rights, produced by the National Sound and Film Archive. There are section headings on: The Mabo film; Mer; The man; The case; Native title; Land rights; and Terra Nullius. Each heading has multiple subheadings ...

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Victorian Heritage Database

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The Invisible War: A tale on two scales

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Australian Constitution online

Browse the complete text of the Australian Constitution with this easy-to use website. It includes a detailed overview by the Australian Government Solicitor and a 2:26 min video snapshot about the Constitution and its role in the governance of the Australian nation.

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Australian Constitution in focus

The Australian Constitution is the legal framework for how Australia is governed. This article explores in detail the history of the Constitution, its key features and the High Court’s role in interpreting it. The page describes processes for amending the Constitution including through referendum as well as two case studies ...

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Rome's pivotal emperors

This resource is about the Roman emperors who greatly influenced the empire's structure and direction. It introduces six of the most important emperors: Augustus, Vespasian, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Septimus Severus and Constantine. Images of the emperors link to descriptive text about their lives and pivotal aspects of ...

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Roman religion: gallery

This resource is about Roman religion. It consists of nine images that link to text about the different practices and beliefs that existed in ancient Rome. It includes information on the state-recognised worship of traditional gods and about some of the diverse religions that were tolerated in ancient Rome as long as they ...

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Mummification in Bronze Age Britain

This resource is about the discovery of two Bronze Age mummies in Britain. It describes the discovery by a team of archaeologists of the bodies of a male and a female under the floor of a prehistoric house on the Hebridean Island of South Uist. It presents the evidence for mummification following investigations using archaeological ...