Archaeology is glamorized by the likes of Indiana Jones movies, but has so much more to offer students and educators alike, especially when it comes to hands-on activities!
Advantages and Outcomes of Teaching Archaeology to Students
With archaeology lessons, students learn more about the scientific method. They also take measurements using scientific/laboratory tools and techniques. Students are likewise encouraged to think critically, while hypothesizing about activities at a site. During an archaeology lesson, students could also be asked to practice recordkeeping. Lastly, educators could ask students to write science reports and research papers based on the archaeology lessons.
Ideas of How to Teach Archaeology
Although this Archaeology Lesson Plan mentions some excellent websites and ideas for the classroom, others include: creating mock excavation and soil stratigraphies of a site (see "More Detailed Archaeology" section below). Students could do library and online research on famous archaeologists, sites, and techniques, presenting to the class. Another option is that the teacher could create crossword puzzles and search-a-words with archaeology terms, famous sites, names of archaeologists, etc. for the students to complete.
Videos and guest speakes (particularly at the university level) are also great ways for students to learn more about famous archaelogy sites. Lastly, if funding permits, day trips to a site or archaeology lab, or better yet, into the field itself could teach students about archaeology in practice.
More Detailed Archaeology Lesson Plans That Work
Create a Mock Site
- Materials could use (depending on age group): shells, beads, arrowheads or other "stone tools," driftwood, carbon, seeds, animals exoskeletons, pieces of pottery – be creative!
- Get play sand and mix in the cultural materials listed above into separate plastic containers with lids, making sure some materials are not localized in one area of the box
- Label each box as a different excavation unit
- Have students use trowels, rulers, and log books as they "unearth" the materials at the site
- Interact with the students asking about what they are finding and what type of site they think they have. What types of materials might have been at the site in the past, and what purposes would they have?
- Create charts of the finds from each box and show how these records change over time
Make a Mock Stratigraphy
One concept in an archaeology study is learning about the stratigraphy, or layers of soil types at a site. This geologically-based idea is that a site's landscape changes over time. The top layers are the most contemporary, the lowest layers are the most ancient. This is the law of superposition.
To teach students about record keeping and scientific method practices as they relate to stratigraphy, one could use the following idea as an in-class project:
- Materials: play sand, potting soil, dirt, clays, small stone, a clear (see-through) plastic box with a lid or an aquarium, paint color chips (like those used in hardware stores when selecting room paint colors), rulers
- Recommend filling the layers of soil in the classroom so students do not have to move the heavy box or aquarium when it is full!
- Fill the box with different layers of soil and make sure that not systematic; feel free to have a thin layer of one type, a dense layer of the next.
- Tilt the box as it is filled so that the layers are not flat across as it is not that way in nature.
- Close the lid, and lay out the paint chips and rulers for students.
- On paper, have them draw and label the depths, types and colors of soil they see using the paint chips like Munsell charts are used by archaeologists!
Why Teach Archaeology Lessons
Archaeological work spans history, geography, liberal arts, social sciences, natural sciences, and humanities disciplines. Due to this, it makes for an excellent way to incorporate interdisciplinary study into any students' education, no matter the age of the student!
