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Activities

Here you will find links to activities from various archaeological based resources. These activities are taken directly from their source and their intended purpose is to be used in the classroom.

Organization: Adventure Learning Foundation

Description: A single lesson disproving a couple of myths about the culture of the native peoples of Guatemala.

Age group or class level: Grades 6-12

Sunrise...Sunset

Organization: Alaska Museum of Natural History

Description: Students use archaeological methods to identify and interpret artifacts from a contemporary setting.

Age group or class level: Grades 4-8

Smithsonian in Your Classroom: Decoding the Past: The Work of Archaeologists (Part 1) [PDF]

Organization: Alaska Museum of Natural History

Description: Students use archaeological methods to identify and interpret artifacts from a contemporary setting.

Age group or class level: Grades 4-8

Smithsonian in Your Classroom: Decoding the Past: The Work of Archaeologists (Part 2) [PDF]

Organization: Alaska Museum of Natural History

Description: Students use archaeological methods to identify and interpret artifacts from a contemporary setting.

Age group or class level: Grades 4-8

Smithsonian in Your Classroom: Decoding the Past: The Work of Archaeologists (Part 3) [PDF] 

Organization: Alexandria Archaeology Museum, Virginia

Description: This lesson uses real artifacts in a hands-on format to describe the 18th century Gadsby's Tavern in Alexandria. It emphasizes the sorting and analysis components of the laboratory step of the step-by-step process of archaeological research, as well as in the importance of referencing primary sources.

Age group or class level: Grades K-5

Archaeology Sets the Tavern Table [PDF]

Organization: Alexandria Archaeology Museum, Virginia

Description: This lesson uses artifacts excavated at the Coleman Site. Students examine maps, census and tax records to determine who used the artifacts from four different features at the site. These activities demonstrate the importance of the step-by-step process followed in archaeological research.

Age group or class level: Grades 6-12

Hayti: Uncovering an African American Neighborhood [PDF]

Organization: Alexandria Archaeology Museum, Virginia

Description: A hands-on experience with actual artifacts, this lesson reinforces the importance of background research and primary sources in archaeology and teaches students classification skills.

Age group or class level: Grades K-5

How Sweet it Was: The Sugar Trade in Alexandria [PDF]

Organization: Alexandria Archaeology Museum, Virginia

Description: Students are challenged to identify attributes of the pottery of historic Alexandria to make assertions about manufacture technology, design and individual potter's work.

Age group or class level: Grades K-5

The Potter’s Art: Alexandria Stoneware Pottery Design [PDF]

Organization: Ask Asia

Description: This lesson focuses on using museums, or more precisely, artwork or artifacts as resources to study history and geography. The example used in this lesson is a horse saddle from Mongolia, but any art object(s) or artifact(s) may be substituted.

Age group or class level: Grades 6-12

A Museum as Time Capsule

Organization: Bureau of Land Management

Description: A webpage of activities relating to such topics as the hypotheses of the dynamics about the peopling of the New World, global warming, and experimental archaeology.

Age group or class level: All ages.

For the Classroom