Session Descriptions and Materials
The documents linked below provide step-by-step instructions -- as well as scripts, handouts, and slide presentations currently used by Think Like an Archaeologist teachers -- to conduct the classroom sessions of Think Like an Archaeologist. These materials should be understood as works-in-progress and are frequently being changed and updated.
To open and view any of the materials embedded below, hover over the image of the document or slideshow, and click on the square icon that appears at the top right. It may be helpful to note that the slide presentations linked below are viewable as GoogleSlides presentations, and launch automatically in Slideshow mode. Each of these slideshows includes detailed scripts, notes, and background information -- all of which is hidden in Slideshow view. In order to view this additional information, launch the slide presentation, then move your mouse to hover over the bottom left corner. Click on the three dots that appear to the right of the slide number and select "Open speaker notes". This will launches Presenter View, as a separate window that displays the information we've provided for instructors presenting the slides.
The Think Like an Archaeologist partners are very pleased to share these with our fellow educators, in the hopes that those outside our immediate vicinity may be empowered to offer versions of the program in their own schools. We encourage the broad dissemination, use, and adaptation of all or any part of these materials.
We welcome suggestions or questions on the materials, the sessions, or any aspect of the program.
Session 1: Introduction to Archaeology and Ancient Cultures
Goals:
Introduce the study of material culture, archaeology, and ancient history.
Description:
This first session introduces students to the field of archaeology and students make connections between archaeological artifacts and the civilizations they have been studying in Social Studies. Students learn to analyze objects by examining pairs of ancient and contemporary objects, and speculating about what the objects might reveal about the societies that made and used them.
Session 2: Survey and Stratigraphy: Searching for Evidence to Reconstruct the Past
Goals:
Introduce the key concepts of stratigraphy, mapping, and dating that archaeologists use to reconstruct the past from its fragments.
Description:
Students learn about survey, excavation, stratigraphy as ways archaeologists find, map, and learn from material evidence. The hands-on activity introduces stratigraphy by asking students to excavate through layers of clothing to reveal embedded objects, then to infer objects’ relative ages based on where they were found.
Session 3: Simulated Archaeological Dig
Goals:
Give students an opportunity to role-play a fictitious archaeological project set in New England, introduce them to the methods of excavation with hands-on experience. Understand archaeological methods, site mapping, spatial relationships, and the importance of context.
Description:
In session three of the program, students participate in a simulated dig to help them understand archaeological methods, site mapping, and spatial relationships. The ultimate result is to reconstruct a New England Native American home site, thus allowing students to see how archaeologists piece together evidence gathered at sites to learn about ancient cultures. Students also discuss what the artifacts they found tell them about the people who lived there.
Session 4: Interpreting Material Evidence
Goals:
Learn to analyze and interpret material evidence after excavation. Learn about the roles of conservators and museums in sharing archaeological information with the public.
Description:
In session four, students learn what archaeologists do with material evidence in a lab after excavation by working in teams to reconstruct ceramic vessels from broken fragments. Each group analyzes its reconstructed vessel, based on a handout of guiding questions, and then presents its vessel and hypotheses on the objects’ uses and origins to the class. The entire class makes interpretations about all the reconstructed vessels as constituting archaeological assemblages within different hypothetical scenarios.
Session 5: Visit to a Museum
Goals:
Practice observation skills with objects on display and learn about museums as sites of information and interpretation.
Description:
In this concluding session, students visit the RISD Museum, the John Brown House Museum, or the Haffenreffer Museum to see real archaeological collections on display and consider how material evidence is interpreted in museum contexts.
At the RISD Museum, students examine artifacts from Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan and Roman civilizations by applying the skills of observation, analysis, and critical thinking they have developed in the classroom to form hypotheses about age, likely location, and function. In small groups, students take on the roles of archaeologists, conservators, and curators by addressing questions that concern each expert (including issues of care, ethics of taking objects out of their original context, and interpretation). Each expert group then discusses their insights and the groups pool their conclusions. Attention to decisions of display of objects in the museum setting allows students to think about the ways museums encourage us to interpret objects to construct an understanding of these civilizations.
At the John Brown House Museum, students continue applying the Think Like an Archaeologist skills they have been using throughout the program. During the introduction, students will learn about an archaeological excavation that occurred on the Museum’s grounds. They will understand the process that the archaeologists used to understand a special feature they were excavating, including finding a clue in the archives of the RIHS. Then, students will be broken up into groups to explore select rooms in the Museum. Using context clues, students will be led in guided discussions to “read” the rooms by discussing objects already familiar to them in order to make conclusions about unfamiliar objects (objects we no longer use in the 21st century). Then, they will discuss what stories all the objects together tell us about the spaces and the people living/using those spaces.
At the Haffenreffer Museum, students work in groups to analyze objects from different cultural groups. Students use their culminating critical thinking skills learned throughout this program to discuss how an object was utilized within the culture and time period it is from. They also learn how cultural objects are used in an anthropology museum to tell a story about a culture or cultures, and they see how archaeological information is interpreted for the benefit of public knowledge.
Session Videos
Members of the Think Like an Archaeologist team have recorded versions of the slide presentations for Session 1, Session 2, and Session 4. These videos can be used for training purposes, for instructors who might like to view an example of how they themselves might present each session in a classroom. Alternatively, the videos could be used in lieu of in-person slide presentations, thus enabling these sessions to be presented online for students learning remotely.
Session 1 (Bell and Bentley 2020).mp4Session 1
Session 2 (Bell and Bentley 2021).mp4Session 2
Session 4 (Bell and Bentley 2021).mp4Session 4
Additional Museum Visit Resources for Session 5:
In addition to the videos above, Think Like an Archaeologist team members at the RISD Museum and the Rhode Island Historical Society have recorded virtual visits to enable K-12 students, and others, to access their collections remotely:
It is also possible to request live virtual visits, facilitated by the museums' educational staff, to both of these museums: