Discovering Archaeology Day!
The Mathers Museum of World Cultures has sponsored Discovering Archaeology Day for several years. Each year, members of the IU community come together to create educational activities to teach the public about archaeology. This year, CAPI members Mary Camozzi, Jenny Riley, Emma Bate, Alicia Ebbitt, and Dru McGill worked together to create a three-part station titled "Think like an archaeologist."
At our first station, visitors tested their interpretive skills in an artifact matching game. For this station, we created flash cards with an image of a modern object, such as a pipe, a drill, or a tupperware bowl. The goal of the game was to match the pictures of modern objects with their prehistoric counterparts. In the pictures below, Emma Bate helps children and adults alike make connections between artifacts of the prehistoric past and today.
Our second station helped members of the public to learn about context and association in an archaeological mapping activity. Below, Mary Camozzi and Jenny Riley help visiting students map a mock-archaeological site. The students were adept learners who really understood the value of context and the questions it can help archaeologists answer.
Our final station was a ceramic activity table that taught about typologies, reconstruction, and conservation. Below, children are drawing fragements of broken vessels before trying reconstruct the full form. These young archaeologists learned quickly that patience is a virtue when working with ceramics (even if they are only a few years old!). Dru McGill also explains the usefullness of analysis and typologies to archaeologists.
In addition to our own activities, several other Indiana University faculty and students participated in Discovering Archaeology Day. Here are some additional photos from the fun-filled day at the Mathers Museum.
