Memory Aid: The 5 WUWWM Questions

Part of History Around Us · Section 14 of 15

Memory AidUnit: Component Group 2 — History Around UsGCSE

When you approach any historical site, ask these five questions in order:

W — What survives? Original fabric vs. later addition vs. restoration
U — Why here? Location and landscape — why this spot?
W — What was it for? Function and how that function changed over time
W — Who built it and why? Power, wealth, patron's message
M — What is Missing? Absent evidence and what it implies

For dating methods: DCAP

  • Dendrochronology — tree rings, timber only, very precise
  • Carbon-14 — radioactive decay, organic matter, less precise
  • Archaeological stratigraphy — layers of soil, relative sequence
  • Photogrammetry — 3D photographic modelling of standing fabric

For source types: MECCA

  • Maps (OS historical)
  • Estate records (account rolls, surveys)
  • Contemporary written accounts (chronicles, letters)
  • Census records
  • Archaeological reports

This memory aid covers Memory Aid: The 5 WUWWM Questions within History Around Us for GCSE History. Revise History Around Us in Component Group 2 — History Around Us for GCSE History with 10 exam-style questions and 12 flashcards. Use this page as part of a wider topic revision path rather than treating it as an isolated fact. It is section 14 of 15 in this topic. Use it for quick recall, then test yourself straight afterwards so the memory aid becomes usable in an answer.

Practice questions for History Around Us

Describe two features you could identify when visiting a Norman castle site.

4 marksfoundation

Describe two types of physical evidence a historian might find when studying a historical site.

4 marksfoundation

Quick recall flashcards

What is dendrochronology and what can it date?
Tree-ring dating. Every year a tree grows a ring; wide rings indicate good growing years, narrow ones poor years. The unique pattern of rings for any given period is matched against a reference database. Can date timber beams to within 1–2 years of when the tree was felled. Only works on timber.
What is a historical palimpsest?
A site or document layered with evidence from different periods, where one layer of use has been partially erased and written over by another. Most historical sites are palimpsests — they show traces of many different phases of occupation, alteration, and use.

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