Week 8: Time Capsule

For our last afternoon of extended day, we imagined what future archaeologists might think about us! The kids each brought in an object that represented life in 2013, and we took photos of the artifacts our "virtual time capsule." Check it out:

Kendall's artifact: A Lego scorpion!
He thought that future archaeologists would like
to know how to make one. I know I would!

Evan's artifact: A nickel. You can learn a lot about a culture from their money!
Evan pointed out the date, the image of Thomas Jefferson and the motto, "In God we trust."

Hunter's artifact: a soccer ball. He wonders what kind of
sports people will play in the future. Me, too!

Will's artifact: a book of Greek Myths. He pointed out that future archaeologists
would be able to find out that we had books, spoke English and liked stories of the past.
And, he wonders if there will be flying boats in the future.

Callie brought some of her Pokemon card collection.
She thought future archaeologists would be interested that some things thought of as
"boy" activities were enjoyed by girls. Good thinking, Callie!

Campbell brought her autograph book from Disney World.
It shows future archaeologists how people today record their memories,
with writing and photographs.

Mia brought in two special toys for the time capsule.
The kids were surprised to hear that in some past cultures kids didn't have toys!

Noah poses with his artifact: a soccer ball. 

Olivia's artifacts: we thought archaeologists might learn
something about animals of our time from this toy pony and dolphin.

Porter shows his artifact: a Star Wars Lego figure.
Two examples of 2013 culture in one artifact! Good job, Porter!

George shows his "Happy Birthday" pencil, providing clues to future
archaeologists about writing tools as well as the fact we celebrate birthdays. Nicely done!

Elena brought photos of her pet cats to share with future archaeologists.
She wonders what kinds of pets people will have in the future. Good question!

I hope everyone enjoyed our travels back in time! I'll leave you with a quote from an archaeologist: "It's not what you find, it's what you find out." - David Hurst Thoma

Keep digging, everyone!

Week 7: Vikings (700 AD)

We talked about the Vikings and their amazing ability to sail far distances. This allowed them to travel all the way to the New World ... almost 500 years before Christopher Columbus!  Did you know that the longship had a completely open deck? There were no separate sleeping areas or any place to go when it rained or snowed. Vikings were tough! 

Archaeologists have been able to partner with shipbuilders to recreate Viking longships, which worked by sailing as well as rowing. Check out this link!

We played a game to learn lots of cool things about the Vikings -- everyone had a chance to guess the answer to a question or to use their creativity to act like a Viking. Here are some things we learned:

• The Vikings named the days of the week after their gods, including Thor's Day (after the god of thunder). We still use this name today: It's Thursday!
• Vikings had unusual table settings -- a flat wooden board instead of a plate, an animal horn for a cup, and a knife!
• Our term "going berserk," which means acting crazy, comes from a special type of Viking warrior who would dress in animal skins and run screaming into battle.
• Vikings were very fond of nicknames. They based nicknames on physical traits (Eric the Red), accomplishments (Ingvar the Far-Traveled), or personality (Thorfinn the Brave).
• Eric the Red was sent to live on a cold, treeless island. He named it "Greenland" to try to trick others into settling there. (And, it worked! There was a Viking settlement in southern Greenland until the 15th century.) 
• Vikings did not write down stories or history. Instead, special storytellers called "skalds" remembered and retold these tales. They also wrote poems about history called "sagas."
• The word "Vikings" means "pirates" in the Old Norse language.
• Despite their reputation, most Vikings were ordinary farmers!

We ended our class with a game where we decoded a message written in Viking runes. The answer led us to a hidden (chocolate) treasure.

Week 6: Mayan Empire (400 AD)

Originally, we were going to talk about Chichen Itza, in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. But, once we found out that one of our class friends was born in Guatemala, we decided to study a Mayan city there: Tikal! Campbell has even traveled to Tikal to visit the ruins!

The Mayan empire was large and powerful -- it stretched from Southern Mexico through Central America, including Guatemala, Belize, and parts of Honduras and El Salvador. Among their amazing contributions were math, astronomy, architecture and farming.

Speaking of farming, guess what important crop they cultivated? Cocoa! To the Maya, cocoa pods were sacred, symbolizing life. Cocoa was considered food of the gods and royalty -- and cocoa beans were even used as money! We sampled the type of chocolate the Mayans ate (it had no sugar or milk mixed in!). Here's what the kids thought:

Sad eyes from Noah!

Campbell says, "Yuck!"

Porter tries to wave away the taste!

We also sampled some Hershey's chocolate as a comparison. Everyone liked that much more!

After our snack, we talked about another Mayan invention -- the ballgame. Archaeologists have found ball courts at every major Mayan settlement (Tikal has five!). Although they haven't figured out all of the rules, they do know this: each team had to keep the ball in play (off the ground) without using their hands OR feet, while trying to get the ball through a hoop. The other thing we know is that the losing team was often beheaded as a sacrifice to the gods!

We went outside to try out Mayan ball (called Pok ta Pok or Pitz). I'm glad to report that everyone did so well, there were no sacrifices necessary.

Playing Pok ta Pok. It was really hard not to use our hands or feet!

L to R: Olivia, Hammond and Evan peer through the goal hoop.
Enthusiastic Kendall is in front!

If you'd like to check out modern-day Mayans play Pok ta Pok, check out this link
Next week we will head to Northern Europe to study the fearless Vikings!

Week 5: Pompeii (79 AD)

This week we went for a visit back in time to Pompeii, the Ancient Roman city that was buried under 10 feet of ash from Mount Vesuvius! We started our class by hearing an eyewitness account from Pliny the Younger, who wrote these powerful words:

"At last the cloud thinned out and dwindled to no more than smoke or fog. 

Soon there was real daylight. The sight that met our still terrified eyes 

was a changed world, buried in ash like snow."

We talked about how Pompeii gives archaeologists the amazing opportunity to see what everyday life was like in Ancient Rome. The thick layers of ash preserved buildings, coins, food and even the impressions made by people's bodies!

Even though most people think of enormous lava flows when they hear about a volcanic eruption, Mount Vesuvius did not produce a lot of lava. We learned about the type of volcano that Mount Vesuvius is (a stratovolcano) and used a model to reproduce an ash cloud and rock slide, just like the type that buried Pompeii.

See you next week in Mexico as we study the Mayan Empire!

Week 4: Qin Dynasty of China (around 210 BC)

This week we headed to the Qin Dynasty in China -- when all kingdoms were united into one and the Great Wall was built! We learned how Emperor Qin Shi Huang designed his own tomb ... complete with 8,000 life-sized clay soldiers. This amazing discovery happened by accident when farmers were digging for a well!

Each soldier has a unique face, and some archaeologists believe they were modeled after actual people. Here are few of the faces:

After we talked about the clay army, we designed our own warriors -- based on ourselves. We traced our bodies and added features. 

George at work on his warrior.

Noah (L) and Hammond (R) create their warriors.

  
Off to Pompeii next week! See you then.

Week 3: Ancient Egypt 1,300 BC

This week we traveled to one of my favorite ancient cultures: Ancient Egypt! We talked about the amazing discovery of King Tut's tomb and how it helped modern people to learn about the Egyptians. 

We heard the words of Howard Carter, the archaeologist who discovered Tut's tomb:
At first I could see nothing, the hot air escaping from the chamber causing the candle flame to flicker, but presently, as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues, and gold—everywhere the glint of gold.

Then the kids divided into teams to explore Tut's tomb. Each team received an image and description of an artifact ... and then our junior archaeologists got to work figuring out what each artifact was and why it was important. 

Here are the artifacts. What are your guesses?

After this activity, we all designed and made our own amulet (good luck charm) based on Egyptian symbols or our own designs. Here is mine:

 

Next, we will head east to China to learn about the Qin Dynasty and the emperor's terracotta army.

Week 2: Ancient Sumer 2,000 BC

For our second week, we traveled back in time to 2,000 BC ... to Sumer in Mesopotamia, the land between the rivers. We learned that this was the first place where people settled and built permanent cities. And, our smart junior archaeologists figured out why ... these were the first people to learn how to farm! We even got to taste one of the first foods that these people cultivated - the pomegranate. 

 We explored one of the most famous archaeological sites: the city-state of Ur, and got to see some of the treasures found in the royal tombs including the very cool (and fancy) headdress of Queen Puabi. It included 24 feet of gold ribbon!

Queen Puabi's gold headdress, found in Ur.

The Sumerians were the first to do a lot of important things. They invented the wheel, the sailboat, and written language (called cuneiform). But, they didn't invent paper so they kept all their records on clay tablets. Since only scribes knew how to write, regular people had personal cylinder seals so they could "sign" their name. The kids made their own cylinder seals and got to take home air-dry clay to make tablets just like the Sumerians. Who knows, in 5,000 years someone may find them and be curious about us!

Next week we are heading to Ancient Egypt to explore the mysteries of King Tut's tomb.

Week 1: We Dig Archaeology!

It's great to kick off another session of extended day! After we got settled and introduced ourselves, we talked about the amazing science of archaeology. Thanks to archaeologists, we are able to know about people and cultures that no longer exist.

Then, we all got out our field journals and headed outside for a simulated excavation. We noticed three levels at our archaeological site. The first level was the most recent -- and we uncovered a golden frog, a wooden musical instrument, a seashell and a paper fragment. Everyone had interesting ideas about what these artifacts meant! The next layer had a part of a bow and arrow, as well as a piece of burnt wood. We hypothesized that there had been an attack or a battle.

Mia examines an artifact -- burnt wood.
What could it mean?

Finally, we excavated the last level (which was the first civilization). We didn't have time to examine all of the artifacts from that level, so we will take another look next week and finish our field journal notes before moving on to Ancient Mesopotamia!


See you then.

Get ready to time travel!

Do you ever wish you could travel back in time? During this Extended Day session, we’ll discover the amazing civilizations of the ancient world. Learn how archaeologists put together clues like detectives to understand times long ago – and explore ancient cultures through fun, hands-on activities. Come with us to Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Mayan Empire, the Viking Empire, and more!