#archaeology4children Heritage education activities Touching the past, touching people
Archaeology is the study of our human past – but it’s so much more than history! And it isn’t just digging and finding things underground either. Archaeology uses a huge range of evidence to help us tell stories about our ancestors and find out about their everyday lives.
Miguel González (BA, MA, PhD) Breochloch. Laboratory of Creative Heritage 136 Finaghy Road North. Belfast, BT10 0JD
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Wow!
The most magical words you can hear from a child.
How do we get this wow factor? In my experience,archaeology is full of wow. It was Sir Mortimer Wheeler in 1954 who wrote that archaeologists should spend less time digging up things and instead dig up people. What he meant by this was that although archaeology is concerned with studying the physical remains of the past, the real end of archaeology is to shake hands with past people. When I walk into a medieval church, although I have no personal religious convictions, I insist on placing my hand on the wall of the church. Why? Because there is for me an emotional and spiritual connection that I make through that physical fabric. I touch the same wall that someone else touched in the thirteenth century. Learning for me is an intensely personal experience, and when I work with others, I want them to have their own personal engagement with the past. Archaeology can do this. History may provide us with named people and events, life stories we can engage with. But this will not be enough for all children. History too easily becomes a dry litany of dates and events. I would repeatedly astonish teachers by enthusing pupils who were uninterested and switched off by classroom education. How? By simply giving the children a direct contact with the past; one that they could hold in their hands. The open mouthed, wide-eyed astonishment of a nine year-old holding a real leather Roman shoe is an image I treasure. The astonishment on the face of the teacher who saw the class troublemaker engaged and focussed with learning is also very precious to me. Archaeology is of course more than just an emotional trigger. We have to grapple with how to interpret our evidence. Any child who has argued about whether Father Christmas is real understands the importance of evidence. The idea that we all have different ideas about what something is, or what someone said, is so innate that we all understand problems of interpreting evidence. An engagement with archaeology can give a focus that ties these understandings to the past. Archaeology is wonderful for use in primary teaching because we have to use many other subjects to make sense of the past. We use maths for measuring and counting stone tools. We use geometry when we lay out our site grid on an excavation to plot where things are found. We use Pythagoras to lay out a square excavation trench using right angles. We use geography when we look at maps and aerial photos. Our dating methods rely on hard science like radio-active decay. We use English to write our reports and display panels, and computing for our bar charts of different pottery types found in the excavation etc. We are the ideal help-mate for historians in breaking down the subject boundaries and engaging with other subjects without losing sight of the past. A more cross-curricular approach to teaching is nothing to fear for an archaeologist. The past is not only interesting, it also fun and exciting. When we’ve got a child saying ‘wow!’, we’ve got them wanting to learn more. What else could a teacher ask for?
It's all about evidence Archaeology is all about questions. Where did people live in the past? What did they wear? What did they eat? How did they die? What were their beliefs? What tools did they use, and how? And many, many more. The evidence that archaeologists use to answer these questions is often found during excavations, or digs. The evidence can include objects like pottery, jewellery, building materials, coins, weapons and tools. Soil samples from archaeological sites can reveal information about past environments, like what kinds of plants were growing. Features like ditches, pits, post holes and the remains of walls can help archaeologists piece together what buildings looked like and what they were made of. The ways that people were buried tells us about past beliefs, and the skeletons themselves reveal information about people’s health in the past and the types of diseases and injuries that killed them. Scientific experiments on teeth can even show where people came from! So archaeology is about answering questions; but it is important to remember that the answers are not always obvious, and in many cases there can be several different answers (or interpretations) using the same evidence. Archaeologists are a bit like detectives. They use the evidence to try to work out the most likely answers and then try to explain why they think their answers are right! The word archaeology does not appear in the Curriculum of Northern Ireland. However; ● It is a tremendous aid to understanding many areas of the curriculum. ● It involves kinaesthetic learning and so reaches those children who find verbal learning difficult. ● It accesses many of the higher thinking and working skills. ● It is easy to use many of the co-operative learning structures that help children to learn. Archaeology involves several intellectual processes: ● Analysing what we know already ● Using this knowledge to make hypotheses ● Asking questions that we hope our investigations will answer ● Discovering the evidence ● Revisiting our original hypotheses ● Testing them against what we have discovered ● Working forward to a new set of questions/hypotheses
Heritage education activities We use a variety of different teaching methods and can supply a wide range of resources. These include: ●
‘Resource boxes’ and ‘Activities’ for teachers.
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‘Teaching sessions’ led by an archaeologist.
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Guided walks around some of the county’s monuments.
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Other services including group discussion and test pit excavations
The following examples of activities and sessions are regularly delivered by Breochloch-LCH to groups of up to 20 children/adults. If you would like these activities to be delivered to your group by an archaeologist, we can tailor make a session to suit your requirements. In the past we have run sessions that have lasted from 1 hour up to several days. Our educational activities are divided in three modules: 1) A day like as an archaeologist 2) A day living like our ancestors 3) Belfast: educating city
Module 1
Working as an archaeologist
A day like as an archaeologist Excavation in a box Learn about the past by discovery. To show the pupils how an archaeologist discovers information about the past by excavation.
Investigate an object Archaeologists make a record of all the objects that they find. Objects are either ‘small finds’, which are individually recorded, or ‘bulk finds’, which are recorded as a whole group for example a large collection of animal bones. Each ‘small find’ (although the object is not necessarily small!) is recorded using a special form. Finds are then transferred to museums where they are studied, conserved and sometimes displayed.
Dustbin detectives Objects can tell us a lot about the people who used them and their lifestyle. The best way to find out about how someone lives is to look through their rubbish. Often, archaeologists find that the best evidence comes from things people have thrown away in the past. Even with a lot of information, archaeologists can never be sure they have the whole picture.
Archaeologist detectives: investigation record Archaeologists study the things that people from in past have left behind. They work like a detective, gathering different types of evidence then analysing that evidence to tell the story of people from the past. Archaeologists look at many different bits of evidence such as maps, photos, artefacts, placenames and written sources in their detective work. Discover how they do it.
Archaeology layer cake Stratigraphy is the name for the layers in an excavation. As each layer is destroyed when it is excavated, it is very important to record everything that is found. This activity helps learners to visualise stratigraphy through the creation of an edible excavation! Excavating an archaeological site could be compared to cutting into a cake that contains successive layers of history. Finding artefacts in the ground follows the general principle that the ones found nearer the surface are probably related to a more recent human occupation, while pieces found deeper down would have been deposited further back in time. This can easily be shown through using a cake to create an “archaeological site”.
Surveying your classroom In this activity you will make a scale plan of your classroom as though it was an archaeological site. It is vital to create accurate plans of where discoveries are made on an archaeological site because excavation actually destroys physical evidence of the past. A plan can help people in future understand what was found and where.
Section or elevation This activity introduces children to the techniques of drawing an accurate plan. Archaeologists need to make detailed drawn plans of their discoveries because once they have dug up a site, the archaeology is destroyed. They need to make a record so that archaeologists in future can look at what they discovered and make their own interpretation. A “section drawing” is a plan made of the different layers of soil that you can see in the vertical side of an excavated trench as you dig down. An “elevation drawing” is a detailed plan of a wall or other vertical part of a building. Both of these drawings are done in the same way. This activity fits in well with the ‘Surveying a Classroom’ activity in which children draw a horizontal, bird’s eye plan of their classroom.
Magnetometry Archaeologists often have to find hidden features underground before they start digging. Can you discover the hidden object?
Historic poo In this activity you will find out how archaeologists discover what people in the past ate. Children will ‘excavate’ a human poo that an archaeologist has found in a cesspit. First reactions are usually ‘eugh!’ but then the children love it. The activity can be extended in many ways, for example to look at differing diets of the rich and poor, parasitic diseases or diets related to different geographical areas.
Dead interesting Roman Tombstones are formulaic so you can easily read them or make your own up. However, sometimes words are only represented by the first letter to save space on the tombstone. Often there may be an image with the tools that a person used in life — so an Ornatrix (or hairdresser) might have an image of a comb and a pair of scissors.
Crop-marks with diagrams Aerial photographs are photos taken from the air, usually from a plane, that show up marks in either the crops or the soil indicating where buried archaeological sites are. They are particularly good at showing where ditches, walls and landscape features were in the past. In this activity you will find out how archaeologists discover archaeological sites from the air, and try making your own “site” in a tray of cress.
Recording old buildings Appreciate and record an old building. Understanding buildings by visual observation and recording.
Looking at old photos Using old photographs to experience the past. To show the value of old photographs in understanding how life was lived in the past.
Archaeological field-trip Active learning in the fields. To give the pupils first-hand experience of Ireland’s rich archaeological heritage.
Archaeology of the trees Discovering woodland heritage. For the last 12,000 years, trees have been an essential resource for people in Ireland. Archaeologists spend a lot of me looking at evidence for the use and management of trees in the past.
Industry and woodlands ‘Industry & Woodlands’ explores where and how the product of woodland, principally wood, has been utilised in the past in historic industry. The sessions reflect the clear distinction between the two different types of wood utilised by historic industry.
Module 2
Living like Our ancestors
Archaeological workshops which stimulate the imagination, creativity and interest in learning about the past. An educational program that relies on live demonstrations, archaeological reproductions and active involvement of children, undeniable protagonists. Make a Mesolithic fish trap Mesolithic fish traps have been found in Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and Russia. They are still quite rare because they were made from organic materials like willow or birch which only survive in water-logged places.
Making prehistoric tools Know the techniques to elaborate tools in stone, bone and wood. Activity: Make a harpoon and one spear using prehistoric tools and natural glues.
Stone age hunters-The hunger games Explanation of hunting techniques used in the Prehistory and for indigenous societies. Activity: Experimentation with prehistoric hunting tools.
The power of fire Explanation of different techniques about the light ď€ re and ď€ re-camps in the Irish prehistory. Activity: Experimentation of the friction technique
Prehistoric sounds Explanation of the evolution of music from the Mesolithic to Bronze Age. experimentation of Mesolithic music instruments.
Activity: Make and
The word of symbols. Prehistoric art Know the techniques and motifs in the prehistoric art. Activity: Experimentation of cave art techniques.1. Elaboration of paints and brushes. 2. Drawing a prehistoric mural.
The light in prehistory Explanation about the lighting in the daily life in the Irish Prehistory. Activity: Making a Paleolithic lamp, wicks and experimentation.
Prehistoric fashion Explanation about the clothes and fashion: Make-up, corporal adornment and others in the Prehistory and current tribal societies. Activity: Making a prehistoric ornament using the same materials and tools.
The first potteries Explanation of the pottery technology from the Neolithic to Iron Age in Ireland. Activity: Making a Neolithic pot and ď€ ring pottery.
Dyeing to meet you:making Dyes People in the past produced all their own materials either from animal or plant products. They would also have had to dye all of the materials using natural ingredients, examples of which have been found in the archaeological record. This activity introduces the children to some basic dye stuffs and encourages them to think about how dying would have been done on a larger scale.
Make a Roman sandal This activity gives children the opportunity to make a Roman sandal. The production of shoes and footwear has been an important industry over time. It fits into a wider context of the design and manufacture of footwear, including changes in styles and fashions, as well as the tanning and leather making industries.
Making Roman ink The Romans used many different materials to write with and write on. In this activity you can have a go at making Roman ink and learn some simple words in Latin.
Roman central heating Did you know the Romans invented central heating? It was called Hypocaust. It was an underfloor heating system that also warmed the walls. In this activity you will create a model of a Roman building with a hypocaust heating system. The Romans did this by raising the floor surface on pillars of bricks. There was a fire outside the building, and the hot air from the fire was passed under the floor and up through the walls
Roman text message Today, if we want to send a message over a distance quickly we can use a mobile phone or email. In Roman times you would have to do some kind of signalling. The Roman army used several systems including torches. Signalling points would be placed on high ground and then a message relayed to each station using a code until the message reached its destination; a message that would take a couple of hours if sent with a messenger would be sent in minutes! The Roman Polybius suggested that words should be abbreviated to speed up the sending of messages. Is this the earliest record of texting? This activity gives you an opportunity to send a ‘Roman text message’ using flags.
Making a Roman bulla A Bulla was a small woollen bag that the Romans used to keep charms in for good luck.
How to make a Viking weaving Bone discs with slits in have been found on Viking sites and experimental archaeologists have tried different techniques to see what kinds of braid can be made. The oldest evidence for the use of fibre to make clothes comes from the Upper Don region of Russia where a 20,000-year-old stone figurine was found with a carved twined-fibre skirt
Viking runes ancient writing Before runes were used for writing, they symbolised things from life like animals or gods. Many people believed them to be magical and thought that they could be interpreted or ‘read’ to tell the future or offer advice.
The secret code: ogham language This activity is looking to explain the first words written in Ireland. Activity: Experimentation of the first writing techniques.
Ancient board games Teaching the origins and rules of the rst board games from the Bronze Age to Medieval Age in Ireland. Activity: Making and playing board games.
Maths in the monastery Archaeologists draw plans of buildings that they are surveying or excavating. In this activity you will draw and measures a plan of the church in an abbey or monastery and then use this to estimate how many floor tiles might have covered the floor.
Salt of the Earth Salt has been an important substance for thousands of years. People used it for cooking and preserving food – important in the days before fridges and freezers! They got salt from different sources: the sea was the main one, but it could also be mined, or extracted from urine. In this activity you will find out how people in the past did this!
Human loom games In this activity we investigate how fabric was made in the ancient world up until very recently. You may want to link this activity to the others in this pack on spinning and dyeing.
Module 3
Belfast: educating city
The cultural heritage determines much of present day societyâ€&#x;s character, appearance and individuality. It is very important to preserve it, as it belongs to each member of each particular community. However, preserving our heritage is of no value unless something is done with it. In recent times it has been seen that you can create an excellent opportunity to secure the future of heritage by managing it so that it has a meaningful place in modern society. The best way to do this is by making links, building on the relationships between different kinds of heritage, between artefacts and stories, people and artefacts, stories and people. The best way to demonstrate to people, including those who make decisions about our lives, that heritage is essential to us, is to ask them to imagine a village, city or region which has no heritage. It would be a world without identity and meaning. Belfast is a landscape that was formed by different social and cognitive processes, it is a place significantly constituted by references to hybrid and multiple realities from the past. Awareness for the value of „ordinaryâ€&#x; heritage in the neighbourhood should be raised among the students by this activities. Heritage without the status of a monument or a tourist attraction can still be worth studying and looking at, especially in a neighbourhood which students use daily. For most of them, it is their home ground, though they do not know much about it. They are quite familiar with its houses, streets, shops and general atmosphere.
What is home? -discover how ‘home’ is different for everyone, learn what makes a house a home (e.g. comfort & belonging),gain a sense of belonging to the community, develop verbal and written communication skills.
Living space at home -learn how and why interiors change over time, discover the purpose of interiors (shelter, comfort, relaxation, sleep), develop a sense of home as a source of history, gain the ability to gather information from sources other than books.
Looking at the home This activity looks at the function and architecture of different types of housing. By choosing a building in the student’s environment and then analysing it, the class will soon look upon the things around them in a much fuller, more creative way. ● generate awareness of one’s surroundings & build observation skill ● challenge students to distinguish one type of building from another ● learn the basic physical components of buildings ● gain an understanding of how the environment affects buildings ● develop information gathering skills
Construction material and methods This activity allows students to discover what materials and methods are used in the construction of different buildings and structures. Learning about different types of building materials and construction methods provides students with a unique way to study their community and how it developed (e.g. people, natural resources, economics). ● learn what different buildings are made of ● discover various construction methods ● gain a sense of how the community developed ● develop a basic understanding of how building materials and types reflect change in the community.
Neighbourhood walk Community neighbourhoods are the most accessible and revealing resource available. Residential architecture illustrates the lifestyle, values, culture and economic status of a particular family, neighbourhood or community. Commercial and public buildings also offer information about building materials, technology, construction methods, ethnic origins, economy, industry, and commerce. This activity uses tours of local neighbourhoods to discover what kinds of structures make up a community. “Neighbourhood Walk” is designed to be flexible so it may adapt to any type of neighbourhood (though it is suggested to concentrate on neighbourhoods with historic or heritage value). The worksheets provided in this section are here as guides and may be used as is or adapted to fit the classroom needs. ● explore the differences/similarities between old & new buildings ● gain an appreciation of architecture and it’s role in the community ● discover that not all neighbourhoods are the same ● learn that neighbourhoods and communities change
Snooping for change This activity provides a chance for students to investigate what change is and how towns change over time. “Snooping for Change” would work well as an independent project or with a unit that emphasizes change in the community. ● develop an awareness of the community ● discover what makes a town change ● understand why change happens ● gain stronger observation skills
Model town This activity allows students to creatively explore architecture by constructing models of buildings and structures in the community. ● gain basic observation, mapping, and information gathering skills ● develop an appreciation for the aesthetics of architecture ● increase awareness of the community and learn how it functions ● discover how architecture relates to the community and it’s value ● explore visual communication and image design
“Desk façades” This activity investigates the importance and function of building exteriors. “Desk Facades” may be done in conjunction with other activities in this kit such as, “Neighbourhood Walk”, used as an alternate activity in “Model Town” or as an independent lesson. It would also fit well with an existing unit dealing with local history. ● explore the built environment ● gain an appreciation of architectural aesthetics ● discover connections between architecture and the community ● develop visual communication and image design skills
Creative writing The following two activities are designed to encourage students to think about architecture in a new and creative way. Instead of looking at buildings passively, students bring architecture to life by putting themselves inside the building and pretending it’s a living being. ● look at buildings from a new perspective ● discover the problems older buildings face ● gain an appreciation for older buildings and architecture ● develop knowledge of historic and cultural preservation
Cemetery hunt “Cemetery Hunt” allows students to learn about their community’s past from a new perspective. Cemeteries are a unique and exciting way to learn about history, especially when the activities are done near Halloween. These lessons would work well with a unit concentrating on local history. ● gather information from sources other than books ● gain a connection to the past; sense of community history ● learn about different people, cultures, traditions and beliefs ● discover the pioneers who developed the community
Family treasures This activity seeks to interest children in museums by demonstrating the link between family treasures and museum collections. The project fosters communication skills and enhances a number of study areas including history, literature and social studies.
Design a walking tour Designing a walking tour of your town’s historic neighbourhoods is a great way to learn more about architecture and the importance of heritage buildings. It also provides students a chance to do some original research as well as learn about their community’s development! ● learn why heritage and history are important ● stimulate an awareness of the community ● explore how buildings relate to the community ● develop communication (written and verbal) skills ● learn how to gather information from a variety of sources & present it in different ways
Progression of concepts, skill & attitudes Learning objectives Pupils should ● be able to relate their own home, city, school to a broader environment ● learn to recognise traces from the past and provide them with a personal meaning ● be able to show by examples that a situation which they can recognize and which has been affected by history was once different and is subject to change through time ● understand that cultural heritage is part of daily life ● be able to put into chronological sequence, or specify the period of particular important events or experiences in their own lives. ● learn to think about relative terms such as ‘beautiful’ and ‘ugly’, ‘useful’ and ‘useless’ ● acquire new skills to look at all kinds of forms of heritage and ask questions about it ● be able to compare aspects of daily life of people in a different time or in a different place with their own lives ● learn to observe their own living environment ● learn to interact respectfully with different groups in our multi-cultural society ● understand the concepts monument or masterpiece ● understand the importance of a long and respectful interaction with cultural heritage ● learn more about cultural expressions such as music, drama, literature, dance, paintings and architecture, design, interiors, fashion and clothing, utensils and so on ● be able to describe their family tree for at least two previous generations ● be introduced to the institutions engaged in the preservation and validation of cultural heritage ● begin to recognise the different ways in which the past is represented in everyday life
Cross-curricular skills Information skills ● to recognise, research and compare information from their immediate environment ● to structure and present information from their immediate environment Investigative skills ● to use floor plans, maps, calendars ● to use different sources appropriate to their level ● to record observations by means of the written word, drawing, camera, video camera... ● to make effective searches on the Internet ● to develop a critical sense in the handling of information Speech and written skills ● to convey interpretations made by touching and feeling (tactile sensation), looking and seeing (visual sensation), ● to express themselves in a written or verbal presentation Social skills ● to be able to work together ● to learn by playing with others, to represent experiences, feelings, ideas and fantasies ● to rely on their power of creative expression and to use this creatively ● to shape a social identity for themselves which is capable of being open and tolerant
Attitudes to be developed ● ● ● ●
A respect for evidence A commitment to caring for the fragile evidence of the past The beginnings of a feeling of empathy with the people who lived in the past, especially children. Honesty in reacting to the sources
Other Services/Activities Available The range of activities and resources described here is by no means exhaustive. Young people have also been involved in the following range of activities: ●
Test pit excavations in school and village gardens.
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Field walking and looking for artefacts.
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Finds processing on site.
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Debates on the reburial of human skeletal remains.
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Making clay round houses and medieval tiles.
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Visiting early landscapes.
We also attend a range of open public events throughout the north of Ireland that include 'hands on' activities for all the family including Felie an Pobail, Festival of Archaeology or Culturlann. Guided walks are provided free of charge, but for all for all other activities there is a charge. As sessions are tailor made the cost depends on the activity. Prices can range from £150 - £250 per half day or £350 - £500 for a full day. This depends on the number of staff involved and the activities being undertaken e.g. test pit excavations will involve several archaeological staff and post-excavation time. Breochloch-LCH staff have a wealth of experience in supporting schools and other organisations in applying for grant aid and developing partnership projects. We are very keen to provide new opportunities for school children and community groups.