Student Exercises
In groups or individually, the students teach the class (or half the class, or any other portion) while the instructor plays the role of student. Not only do students lecture, discuss, and assign activities, but they may also come up with quiz questions that summarize the assigned work for the day.
Student Exercise 2: ADD TO THE TOPIC OF THE DAY
Students each find additional material about the subject of one chapter
of the texts (whether an archaeological technique or a specific site
or research question) from the library, Internet, or any source, and
report to the class when this topic is scheduled for discussion in the
syllabus (students can choose or be assigned a topic). Or, students
can write one thought-provoking question on the topic. Reporting can
be done orally in class, and also in written/electronic form posted
on the class website using whatever portal system is available. It can
also be on index cards handed in during class and used as an easy way
to take attendance.
Student Exercise 3: ARCHAEOLOGY WEBSITES EVALUATION
Students are assigned to evaluate information on two or more websites
on archaeological projects (NOT artifact sales or archaeological associations
or journals). They can pick any of the thousands on the Internet to
describe and compare in terms of what is being learned in class (a printout
of the website is not required unless desired). Written/oral reports
should include critique and comparison, stating the origins of the websites,
the intended audience, graphics and ease of navigation, research goals,
and theoretical perspectives. Students can include how to redo the website
to improve it (see syllabus description).
Student Exercise 4: ARTIFACT CAPTION EXERCISE
Ask students to organize themselves into groups of three or four and
pick an artifact from whatever is around them for which to write a museum
caption of 50 words. They must decide on who the targeted audience is
for the display of this artifact and what to include in the caption
to address that audience. After 10-20 minutes, they read and discuss
their results out loud with the rest of the class (see
video clip; requires QuickTime
Player).
Student Exercise 5: MUSEUM DISPLAY CRITIQUE
Group or individual project: Visit a museum and observe the displays
of archaeological materials. Pick three exhibits for which to do the
following:
1. Describe what is displayed and what is being portrayed about the human past; be sure to note the specific material items and the text accompanying them.
2. Identify what specific human cultural systems or aspects of life are being interpreted and which are not portrayed much or at all. What artifacts might be missing?
3. Determine the intended audience for the exhibit and another audience for whom this exhibit might say much less.
4. Decide what you would add, subtract, or change about the exhibit for different audiences. For a group project, each student can be a different kind of “stakeholder” understanding a different past (different ethnic groups, ages, genders, social classes).
5. Note what might be the values expressed in the exhibit and whether it is addressing any concerns that are pertinent to today’s world as well.
6. Does the exhibit say anything about the preservation ethic?
7. Are the text and placement of artifacts, landscape, and other items clearly communicating the message?
Student Exercise 6: CEMETERY VISIT FIELD TRIP
Find two nearby cemeteries and assign half the class to visit each and
do some social archaeology. Perhaps in pairs, students pick different
areas of the cemetery to visit and observe the material evidence of
graves, from monuments to landscaping. They then compare this with the
historic evidence written on gravestones, any documentation they can
find on the cemetery and its history, and any other written information.
They either hand in written reports, give oral presentations (5-10 minutes),
or both.
Student Exercise 7: YOUR SCHOOL ARTIFACT DISPLAY
Also a group project, this one requires students either to describe
or actually do a display representing all aspects of their college life.
They must pick a target audience (e.g., parents, prospective students,
the college president, prospective donors) and decide not only what
to include but how to display it. Probably there should be a caution
not to include just the obvious school logo or mascot gear, but also
what an archaeologist excavating later in time might find and use to
interpret everything from daily life to ceremony.
Student Exercise 8: GARBOLOGY
Group activity in which the group chooses two places on campus in which
to examine the garbage (one day’s will do!) and compare techno,
social, and ideological aspects of the inferred behavior at the two
different places. What might be missing from one or both that is part
of the activity at that specific place on campus? Are all the different
types of people and activities on campus represented in this specific
garbage area?
Student Exercise 9: ARCHAEOLOGY LECTURE CRITIQUE
Assign students to attend an archaeology lecture outside the classroom
and do a written and/or oral critique of the speaker’s presentation,
giving description of research goals, methods, theoretical orientation,
presentation style, and targeted audience and noting how many of the
Seven Principles were
included in the lecture. Students can do this individually or in groups
in which each takes a different viewpoint (e.g., as a college student,
as a descendant of the past people being investigated, as the owner
of the land on which the site is situated, as the funder of the research,
or as a descendant of people who hated the people being investigated).
Student Exercise 10: ETHNOGRAPHER AND ETHNOARCHAEOLOGIST
Group project. Students go somewhere in pairs to observe human behavior
(the cafeteria, student lounge, library; somewhere easy). One of each
pair is the ethnographer and one the ethnoarchaeologist. Each writes
a few paragraphs on the human behavior they observe for a designated
period of time (which can be 15 minutes or more), describing the cultural
behavior and surroundings. Of course, the ethnoarchaeologist is more
interested in focusing on the distribution of material culture. After
the observing is done, each student tries to recreate technological,
social, and ideological aspects of the people observed. What issues
of local politics, campus problems, and/or economics of the situation
can be reconstructed? What insights into university management and improvement
can be gained by looking at the material evidence?
Student Exercise 11: STORYTELLING IN PREHISTORY
Individual or small group project. Pick a particular prehistoric site
or time period/geographic location. Write a description of a scene from
the daily life of a person similar to you in age, gender, socioeconomic
status, etc. Remember to incorporate material culture, descriptions
of landscape, activities, etc. These fictional but archaeologically
accurate descriptions can be two-three pages long and take five minutes
to read in class. Then compare different views of life at the same site
by different actors/stakeholders. As an alternative, one group can write
a story of just everyday life while another writes about a particular
adventure or excitement that is not typical, but both are at the same
site and time period. Audiovisual aids can be used for oral presentations.
Class presentations can be evaluated using the form
for student evaluation of student class presentation.
Student Exercise 12: HERITAGE MANAGEMENT
Describe to the class a typical kind of significant archaeological site
being destroyed by unregulated development; make it a burial mound or
cemetery so that laws covering unmarked human graves apply. Assign different
groups of students the task of researching what the concerned citizen
can do and what laws apply for (1) different states, and (2) different
landowners (federal, state, county, local, private, etc.). Read results
and compare in class.
Student Exercise 13: LOCAL SOCIETIES OR AVOCATIONAL
GROUPS
Ask students to locate the nearest local archaeology societies or other
groups that might work with professionals, have meetings and/or programs,
or do other archaeological work. Find out what the group’s mission,
ethical standards, and activities are. This can be for the local region
or for another state. There are not only local and state chapters of
such societies, but also museum support groups, AIA chapters, and other
such groups. What states have programs to train amateur archaeologists
or certify them? How does the State Historic Preservation Office relate
to amateurs and collectors?
Student Exercise 14: MATERIAL CULTURE JOURNAL
Each student must keep a journal, whether hand-written (but ask for
neatness and legibility) or word-processed, electronic or on paper,
for the duration of the course or any portion thereof, in which material
culture in everyday life is noted. Students can comment on especially
the social, ideological, and very personal aspects of the material culture
around them, which they are of course noticing more because of the emphasis
in archaeology class. They can respond to specific questions, such as:
what different artifacts did you use or see today that you do not normally?
How did an artifact take on new meaning today? What symbolism is inherent
in some everyday artifacts in your life today that an archaeologist/outsider
would not know about? What items did you use in the course of the day,
and where were they deposited? What might be the most confusing for
future archaeologists if your house (room, classroom, neighborhood,
etc.) were buried in a volcanic eruption right this minute?
Student Exercise 15 : MEDIA ARCHAEOLOGISTS
Students pick (or are assigned) an archaeologist character from the
popular media. It can be a main character or a short walk-on part. Indiana
Jones and Lara Croft are the cinematically best-known, but other movie
examples exist, in everything from the The Mummy (1936, with
Boris Karloff) to modern remakes and other films such as Stargate.
They could also pick a character in fiction, such as archaeologists
in Agatha Christie’s Murder in Mesopotamia and other
novels; archaeologists who solve the mysteries in the novels of Aaron
Elkins, Sharyn McCrumb, Elizabeth Peters, and others; or even the briefly
appearing New York archaeologist in Rita Mae Brown’s Rubyfruit
Jungle. In a short paper or oral report, the student gives the
following:
1. Description of the character and her/his actions, both in doing archaeology and in the action of the story
2. Description of stereotypical behaviors portrayed and whether they could actually be true given the character’s place and time
3. Relationship of the character’s behavior to any/all of the Seven Principles. For example, what basic archaeological skills are shown? Is there any concern for preservation of sites and materials? For the relationship of past humans with moderns? Any ethical situations?
A good reference for this exercise or just to talk of media archaeology is Digging Holes in Popular Culture: Archaeology and Science Fiction (Russell 2002), with a preface by Douglas Adams and including a photo of 1950s handsome television personality Mortimer Wheeler looking like (and apparently ending up as the model for) Indiana Jones.
Student Exercise 16: FIELD TRIP
This is even possible with a large class if well organized. A field
trip to a site and/or museum can be accompanied by a set of questions
or things to look for relating to the Seven
Principles. Don’t forget to check on logistics, vehicles,
insurance, food and drink regulations/suggestions. Call site or museum
ahead of time to ask for class tour (often one can get discounts or
free entrance by calling in advance, not to mention lectures by curators,
rangers, and other specialists).