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.

Let's think about how energy added to a system causes sediment to move around. 

1. Go collecting! Search the school yard and collect any natural materials that you like: soil, leaves, sand, clay, pebbles...get creative.

2. Back in the classroom, dump all of your collected materials onto your tray and mix them all together with your hands. 

3. 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!

1. Fill your jar about 2/3 of the way full with water. 

2. Pour the contents of your tray into your jar until the jar is almost full to the top. 

3. Add a few of your brightly colored artifact models to the jar to see where they settle out. 

4. Put the lid on a shake things up! 

5. Set your jar down in a sunny spot and watch it start to settle. 

6. After 1 minute, What do you see? Use the jewelers loupe to take a closer look. Record your observations in your field notebook. 

7. Note your observations at 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and 15 minutes. 

8. 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? 

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. 

1. 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.

2. 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. 

3. 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. 

4. When you are happy with your landscape, it's time to add wind and water. Add wind first. 

5. Put on your protective equipment - safety glasses and face masks.

6. 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? 

7. Use your watering can to "rain" all across your landscape. Which sediments move? Where do they go? Where do your artifacts go? 

8. Take a look at other group's landscapes, where wind and water affected their landscape and artifacts, and where water collected. 

9. Use you Field Notebook to answer a few questions:

   1. What kind of sediments does water move around? Small, large, heavy, light? 

   2. What kind of sediments does wind move around? Small, large, heavy, light? 

   3. Knowing what you know about where populations of people live, where might we start to look for artifacts?

   4. After observing how wind and water move sediments around your artifacts, what can you say about how or where to look for them?

Where do we look for Lincoln County archeological evidence?

Coal Valley

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:

1. Identify where the flow of water and sediment would enter the lake. Mark this path with BLUE dry erase marker or colored pencil. 

2. Identify where sediments fan out as they enter the lake bed area. Mark this area with a RED dry erase marker or colored pencil. 

3. Identify the edges of the former lake. Trace the ancient lake shore with GREEN dry erase marker or colored pencil. 

4. 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.