Some years back I taught in a summer camp program for gifted and talented teens. We did archaeology and got very thirsty.http://www.tamug.edu/seacamp/newweb/TAG.html This day I had my little boy with me and we were covering over a deep hole I had dug to put special artifacts in the ground for the students to find. The island where we taught had been made from mud in the middle of the bay and was only about 50 years old. There was nothing ancient to dig, but we were training students on methods and training teachers on how to present this subject to their classes.
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Thank you Karenina.
He he- I was very young then, about 20 years ago. My son was just a little boy and not really any help to me doing the work, but it was nice to bring him along so he could play in the dirt.
Since I was training teachers from gifted talented programs and at the same time teaching the children about archaeology, we had to cheat (be creative) a little, due to the location of the camp. The island where the University campus was located was made from mud that was dredged up in the mid 1940's. There was no chance of an archaeological site since the island was new.
Our solution was to have a tractor with an excavator (back hoe) come to the field where we held the camp and dig a large hole for us to start with. The hole was about 2m wide and 2.5m long. It was about 1.75m deep. We just put some dirt in the bottom of the hole and then some early stone artifacts. I also built a fire and then let it burn down to charcoal. Next was some dirt with no artifacts or tools.
After the sterile dirt layer another "living surface" was created with artifacts that were representative of later (more recent) cultures. We continued with layers of dirt and then artifacts with occasional fire hearths for charcoal and certain seeds and other food items that were charred. Things that are charred become black carbon (charcoal) and keep the shape of the original item but do not decay because they are carbon.
Anyway it was a great time going there every summer to teach and watch the young people dig and bring things into the lab to identify. I also set up surveying equipment and they made a map of the area along with their "archaeological site". The idea for this came from Dr. Bryant who was the chairman of the Anthropology Department at Texas A&M University. he had been asked to come up with something for the college of Education and their Gifted Talented summer program. I was lucky to be his graduate student and get this opportunity to run this little program. Teaching can be a lot of fun.
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He he- I was very young then, about 20 years ago. My son was just a little boy and not really any help to me doing the work, but it was nice to bring him along so he could play in the dirt.
Since I was training teachers from gifted talented programs and at the same time teaching the children about archaeology, we had to cheat (be creative) a little, due to the location of the camp. The island where the University campus was located was made from mud that was dredged up in the mid 1940's. There was no chance of an archaeological site since the island was new.
Our solution was to have a tractor with an excavator (back hoe) come to the field where we held the camp and dig a large hole for us to start with. The hole was about 2m wide and 2.5m long. It was about 1.75m deep. We just put some dirt in the bottom of the hole and then some early stone artifacts. I also built a fire and then let it burn down to charcoal. Next was some dirt with no artifacts or tools.
After the sterile dirt layer another "living surface" was created with artifacts that were representative of later (more recent) cultures. We continued with layers of dirt and then artifacts with occasional fire hearths for charcoal and certain seeds and other food items that were charred. Things that are charred become black carbon (charcoal) and keep the shape of the original item but do not decay because they are carbon.
Anyway it was a great time going there every summer to teach and watch the young people dig and bring things into the lab to identify. I also set up surveying equipment and they made a map of the area along with their "archaeological site". The idea for this came from Dr. Bryant who was the chairman of the Anthropology Department at Texas A&M University. he had been asked to come up with something for the college of Education and their Gifted Talented summer program. I was lucky to be his graduate student and get this opportunity to run this little program. Teaching can be a lot of fun.
THankyou for sharing you experience.
NADIRA