8.SUMER, BABYLON AND PERSIA
8.SUMER, BABYLON AND PERSIA
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In this four-part exploration of the Fertile Crescent, pupils uncover the birth of cities and empires in Sumer, Babylon and Persia through archaeology, learning how evidence from landscapes, temples, tablets, seals, urban planning and monumental architecture allows archaeologists to reconstruct the development of early writing, law, trade networks and systems of governance, from the first city-states of Mesopotamia to the vast multicultural infrastructure of the Persian Empire through interactive lessons and evidence-based activities.
In this four-part exploration of the Fertile Crescent, pupils uncover the birth of cities and empires in Sumer, Babylon and Persia through archaeology, learning how evidence from landscapes, temples, tablets, seals, urban planning and monumental architecture allows archaeologists to reconstruct the development of early writing, law, trade networks and systems of governance, from the first city-states of Mesopotamia to the vast multicultural infrastructure of the Persian Empire through interactive lessons and evidence-based activities.
KEY
Session 1.1 Carefully designed sessions led by academics experienced in bringing the latest research into the classroom. Available in person or online.
Workshop 1.1 Hands-on workshops that engage pupils in experimental archaeology, designed to help them test hypotheses, explore processes, and evaluate evidence. Available only in person.
8.1 - The Fertile Crescent: Landscapes That Made Cities
8.1 - The Fertile Crescent: Landscapes That Made Cities
Pupils investigate why the river plains of the Tigris and Euphrates became one of the world’s earliest centres of urban life by examining archaeological evidence for irrigation, field systems, storage and changing settlement patterns revealed through survey, satellite imagery and excavation. Using artefacts and site plans, they learn how material remains allow archaeologists to reconstruct how climate, water management and food surplus shaped the first dense communities, and how recent research is refining what we thought we knew about “where civilisation began”
Duration: 1 hour
Price: £50
Level: KS2
Delivery: This session can be delivered either in school or online.
8.2 - Sumer: Life Inside the First City-States
8.2 - Sumer: Life Inside the First City-States
Pupils explore Sumerian city-states such as Ur and Uruk through the material culture of urbanism: temples and ziggurats, craft quarters, seals, pottery, and clay tablets that record goods, labour and institutions. Working with objects and images as archaeologists do, they learn how recent scholarship on households, production and administration uses these everyday traces to reconstruct social organisation beyond kings and monuments, bringing the newest academic interpretations of early cities into classroom discussion.
Duration: 1 hour
Price: £50
Level: KS2
Delivery: This session can be delivered either in school or online.
8.3 - Babylon: Power, Law and the Built City
8.3 - Babylon: Power, Law and the Built City
Pupils examine Babylon through its archaeological footprint—monumental architecture, defensive walls, temples, and the objects that made authority visible, from stamped bricks to inscriptions and administrative artefacts. They also consider how written law fits into material culture by exploring how scholars use the Code of Hammurabi alongside excavated evidence for housing, work and inequality, showing how current research connects legal ideas to lived experience in ancient urban environments.
Duration: 1 hour
Price: £50
Level: KS2
Delivery: This session can be delivered either in school or online.
8.4 - Persia: Empire, Diversity and the Material Language of Rule
8.4 - Persia: Empire, Diversity and the Material Language of Rule
Pupils explore the Persian Empire through the archaeology of administration and imperial identity, examining material evidence from sites such as Persepolis—palace reliefs, inscriptions, standardised measures, sealings and luxury goods that travelled across vast distances. They learn how current research is rethinking empire not simply as conquest but as infrastructure and governance, using objects to trace mobility, multicultural communities and the practical systems that held a superpower together
Duration: 1 hour
Price: £50
Level: KS2
Delivery: This session can be delivered either in school or online.
Prices
Prices
Prices include all equipment, teaching and workshop materials and FREE preparatory and follow up activities for your classroom.
Discounts are applied when three or more sessions/workshops are booked together.
Travel costs may apply for schools located more than 20 miles from Newcastle upon Tyne (UK).
Number of pupils: Each in person session is designed for one classroom, typically around 30 pupils. Online sessions can be extended to larger groups.
Info and Booking
Info and Booking
To contact us for more info and for booking please check our Contact Us page or write us at archaeotrek@gmail.com
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