How do we know where to look for ancient artifacts?
Class Discussion Questions:
“Why might Native Americans prefer for artifacts to be left untouched by archaeologists?
“Discuss any experiences you’ve had with viewing archaeological sites that are open to weather” “How long do you think these sites will continue to exist?” Ex: Bodi, Fort Churchill, Berlin-Icthyosaur.
“Can anyone make an argument to support the collection of artifacts to protect them from things like wind and water?
Many natural surfaces, like deserts, riverbeds, and ocean floors, consist of loose sediments, like sand, clay, and pebbles. When a fluid flows over these surfaces, sediment grains can be lifted up and moved by the flow. For example, rivers move grains of sand to the oceans, where currents can move them to the coast, where wind can blow them onto dry land.
Tiny grains can be suspended in the air or in the water. For example, sand grains can float in the water a bit before settling to the ocean floor. Dust can be suspended it the air for quite a long time. However, large grains and pebbles travel along a surface, like the ground or the riverbed. Sediments move similarly not only on Earth's different surfaces, but also on other Solar System bodies, such as Mars and Saturn’s moon Titan! Adapted from Palus, S. (2015), Modeling sand grains in water, Eos, 96, doi:10.1029/2015EO022177. Published on 15 January 2015.
In this set of activities, you will explore how sediments and other objects are moved and reorganized by wind and water. You will use this information to decide where you might look for artifacts. At the end of this section, you will propose a location.
Think about how much ENERGY it takes to move something. Heavier objects require more ENERGY to move. Which adds more energy? WATER or WIND?
Take a look at the images in the carousel to the right and talk about each one with a partner. With your table partner discuss why you believe the sediments would be moved by wind, by water, or by both.
Various types of plant matter (e.g., leaves, stems, various sizes, dry and fresh)
Sediment (e.g., sand, silt, clay, pebbles, gravels)
Artifact models (various shapes, brightly colored)
Plastic Containers for mixing
Jar
Water
Jewelers loupe
Field Journal
Let's think about how energy added to a system causes sediment to move around.
Go collecting! Search the school yard and collect any natural materials that you like: soil, leaves, sand, clay, pebbles...get creative.
Back in the classroom, dump all of your collected materials onto your tray and mix them all together with your hands.
You are about to shake things up! You will add the contents of your tray to the jar with some water to mix it all up. When you set it down, the sediment will start to settle. What do you think it will do? Will it settle all mixed up? Will it form layers? If so, what kind of layers? Talk with your partners and make a prediction. Record your ideas in your field notebook.
Now let's do it!
Fill your jar about 2/3 of the way full with water.
Pour the contents of your tray into your jar until the jar is almost full to the top.
Add a few of your brightly colored artifact models to the jar to see where they settle out.
Put the lid on a shake things up!
Set your jar down in a sunny spot and watch it start to settle.
After 1 minute, What do you see? Use the jewelers loupe to take a closer look. Record your observations in your field notebook.
Note your observations at 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and 15 minutes.
Use your field notebook to record your observation every 5 minutes and then answer a few questions:
What did the sediment do?
Where did your artifacts end up?
How did energy move your artifacts around? What added energy to your system?
What does this mean for your research proposal? What will you have to do or where will you have to look to find ancient people's artifacts?
Baby pool
Various sediments: sand, silt, clay, pebbles, gravels
Artifact models (various shapes, brightly colored)
Face masks
Safety Glasses
Hair dryer
Watering can
Now we know how water energy can cause sediment to reorder itself as it settles. What about how water AND wind energy can move sediment and artifacts around a landscape? That movement will be important to consider when deciding where to look for ancient artifacts.
This activity will help you understand how artifacts might be transported, so you can add to your research proposal.
Build a landscape! Set up the baby pool in your kit and fill it with a few inches of sand. Add various sediments (clay, silts, pebbles, or gravel) throughout your landscape to represent boulders, rock formations, and other features you might find in Lincoln County.
Now push it around to create a landscape with mountains and valleys, river and lake beds. Be creative. Look at pictures of Lincoln County landscapes online and create shapes like what you see.
Once you are satisfied with your landscape, it's time to add your artifacts. Think back to the last section. Where would you find human populations in your landscape? How does the environment you created impact where humans can live? Place your artifacts in you landscape where you might find humans.
When you are happy with your landscape, it's time to add wind and water. Add wind first.
Put on your protective equipment - safety glasses and face masks.
Use your hair dryer to create wind across your landscape. Which sediments move and which don't? Where do the sediments go and collect? Where do your artifacts go?
Use your watering can to "rain" all across your landscape. Which sediments move? Where do they go? Where do your artifacts go?
Take a look at other group's landscapes, where wind and water affected their landscape and artifacts, and where water collected.
Use you Field Notebook to answer a few questions:
What kind of sediments does water move around? Small, large, heavy, light?
What kind of sediments does wind move around? Small, large, heavy, light?
Knowing what you know about where populations of people live, where might we start to look for artifacts?
After observing how wind and water move sediments around your artifacts, what can you say about how or where to look for them?
Laminated Google Earth images and computer access
Colored pencils or dry erase markers to mark on physical maps
The map below shows what the Great Basin may have looked like from space about 16,000 years ago. The blue represents ancient lakes that may have still been present when people first arrived.
Take a look at the laminated image that matches this one. Use your colored pencils or dry erase markers to:
Trace the border of Nevada in RED.
Circle Lincoln County in BLUE.
Based on what you learned about where people would want to live, place a few GREEN TRIANGLES where you might expect to see evidence of human activity.
Use your Field Journal to answer a few questions about why you decided to place the triangle where you did:
What is different in this map from current day Nevada?
Where did people likely live in the ancient Nevada and why?
Where do people live in current day Nevada? Is it different from 13,000 years ago? Why or why not?
How might we know where to look today for ancient peoples that lived in Nevada 13,000 years ago?
Take a look at the side by side images below. The image on the left is current day Lincoln County, taken by satellite. The image on the right is the same image, with the location of ancient lakes shown in BLUE. We can still see the dry lake beds today.
First, find the photos that match these in your Green Box. Use a dry erase marker or a colored pencil to:
Circle any matching features your see in both pictures and label them with a RED #1, #2, #3, etc. For example, if you see the same mountain in both photos, label them both with a #1, if you see a dry lake bed that matches a lake, label it with a #2, and so on. See how many similar features you can identify.
Based on what you learned about where people would want to live, place a few GREEN TRIANGLES where you might expect to see people's artifacts in the Lincoln County of 13,000 years ago. Place a few GREEN TRIANGLES where you might expect to see people's artifacts in the Lincoln County of today.
Share out with the class the artifact locations you identified and why you chose those locations.
Click on the link to the left to access Google Earth online.
Use the SEARCH function. Type in Lincoln County, NV to fly to your region.
Using what you learned in then sections above, can you identify features in the landscape are evidence of the resources human beings need to survive? Zoom in and Zoom out. Identify 3 locations where people's artifacts might be found? Share these locations with your class. Which areas do you all agree upon?
Now, we are going to zoom in on one site, to focus your research efforts there. COAL VALLEY is a dry lake bed in Lincoln County. In the image above, you can see evidence for where water flow comes in to carry sediments down from high elevations, where the sediments fan out as they enter the valley, and where water collected to form a lake thousands of years ago.
Find the image in your Green Box that matches this one and:
Identify where the flow of water and sediment would enter the lake. Mark this path with BLUE dry erase marker or colored pencil.
Identify where sediments fan out as they enter the lake bed area. Mark this area with a RED dry erase marker or colored pencil.
Identify the edges of the former lake. Trace the ancient lake shore with GREEN dry erase marker or colored pencil.
Now, based on what you know about sediment movement and layering AND where you might find the most activity of people, where do you propose to search for people's artifacts in Coal Valley? Mark your proposed study sites on the map in BLACK dry erase marker or colored pencil. Use your Field Journal to record your ideas.