Historical description

To describe a historical artifact, we usually include details such as:

Name of the artifact (what we'll label as the 'subject' of the description).
When and where it was made or used.
A physical description including size and materials.
Why it's historically interesting or significant ('So what?').

In a general historical description, these details can be described in any order.

Rosetta Stone-and-reconstruction-1000x854

Rosetta Stone and reconstruction (Source)

For example, what details are included in this description of the Rosetta Stone and how are they organised?

The Rosetta Stone is an ancient Egyptian stone bearing inscriptions in several languages and scripts; their decipherment led to the understanding of hieroglyphic writing.

An irregularly shaped stone of black granite 3 feet 9 inches (114 cm) long and 2 feet 4.5 inches (72 cm) wide, and broken in antiquity, it was found near the town of Rosetta (Rashīd), about 35 miles (56 km) northeast of Alexandria.

It was discovered by a Frenchman named Bouchard or Boussard in August 1799.

After the French surrender of Egypt in 1801, it passed into British hands and is now in the British Museum in London.

Rosetta Stone

The first sentence names the artifact, and says what it is and why it's important. (By describing it as 'ancient Egyptian' it also tells us something about time and place.)
The rest of the snippet focuses on physical description and location.
(There's not much meaning-making, but that might be because this is only the introduction to a longer report.)

Ishango Bone (Source)

Compare the description of the Rosetta Stone to this description of the Ishango bone. Notice how much more effort is spent explaining its significance?

Ishango Bone

In 1960, Belgian geologist and explorer Jean de Heinzelin de Braucourt (1920–1998) discovered a baboon bone with markings in what is today the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Ishango bone, with its sequence of notches, was first thought to be a simple tally stick used by a Stone Age African. However, according to some scientists, the marks suggest a mathematical prowess that goes beyond counting of objects.

The bone was found in Ishango, near the headwaters of the Nile River, the home of a large population of upper Paleolithic people prior to a volcanic eruption that buried the area. One column of marks on the bone begins with three notches that double to six notches. Four notches double to eight. Ten notches halve to five. This may suggest a simple understanding of doubling or halving. Even more striking is the fact that numbers in other columns are all odd (9, 11, 13, 17, 19, and 21). One column contains the prime numbers between 10 and 20, and the numbers in each column sum to 60 or 48, both multiples of 12.

Even if the Ishango was a simple bookkeeping device, these tallies seem to set us apart from the animals and represent the first steps to symbolic mathematics. The full mystery of the Ishango bone can’t be solved until other similar bones are discovered.

The Math Book: From Pythagoras to the 57th Dimension, 250 Milestones in the History of Mathematics(2009)

The first sentence is a little story about the discovery of the bone.
The second sentence names the artifact and then goes into explaining its meaning.
We don't get a detailed description of the artifact until the second paragraph!
Each description of a physical detail or location is followed by an explanation of meaning or significance.

An important language detail that we will come back to:

Historical descriptions rarely use dramatic verbs

Most statements are about the existence of a piece of evidence, so the most common verb is 'is' in all its forms (was, are, were, etc).

The exception is when *evaluating meaning*

Historians might use more dramatic verbs when trying to show why something is interesting or significant.
It's the same with adjectives: you'll notice classifiers such as Egyptian or copper are used more than describers such as dramatic or special, except when explaining 'so what'.

Historical descriptions may also use a lot of modal verbs to do with certainty

You'll also notice verb phrases such as 'may suggest', 'seems to be', 'could have been', and so on.
When dealing with the past, nothing is certain. So, even though these reports are full of facts, the certainty of those facts may be modulated.

Imagine it's the year 2500 and you are a historian describing this 21st-century car. What are the important details?

Ancient 21st-century car

When describing a historical artifact, you want to answer:

What is it called?
What is it made from?
When and where did it exist?
What is significant about it in historical terms?

But you don't have to answer them in that order.

To help you out, here are some phrases from the snippets above:

The Rosetta Stone is...
Their decipherment led to...
An irregularly shaped block of...
The bone was found near...
Discovered in...
It was first thought to be...
This may suggest...
Even more striking is the fact that...
Even if the Ishango was a simple...

Using the snippets above for inspiration, write 4-5 sentences describing this 21st-century car including what, when, where, and so what.

The Blacktown Corolla is an example of an early 21st-century Toyota personal transportation vehicle, constructed in 2042. It was discovered by Dr Kato Vance III in 2278, buried in an underground car park where it had been shielded from radiation storms for over 200 years.

Made primarily from steel, aluminium, rubber, and plastic, the vehicle has survived with relatively minimal rust damage. It was found to contain perfectly preserved fast food containers, beach towels, and dog toys, offering a unique glimpse into the daily lives of car drivers in the pre-Wasteland era.