Creating Outreach Site Kits

Outreach isn’t something out of the ordinary for CAP to do. We routinely participate in a wide variety of outreach events ranging from small groups to hundreds of people at large events like Sciencefest.

CAP was recently contacted by a group of Middle School teachers here in Michigan and asked if we would be interested in collaborating. This district had recently changed some of the social science curriculum to include more anthropology/archaeology and study of the ancient past. The teachers asked if we would be willing to come in and conduct an event that would allow their students to interact with archaeologists and to have the opportunity for hands on engagement.

So we were faced with a few new challenges – most hands on events we’ve done in the past are geared towards elementary school students and smaller groups. This event would need to cover 300 7^th graders. Thankfully we would be covering individual classes with no more than 30 students per class and a maximum of 3 classes running at once.

We decided to create a “site in a box” activity.  We selected sites that would provide a wide range of time periods, site types, and locations.  The students will be provided with a worksheet that asks them to identify the artifacts, consider who the people that used them were, what time frame these objects are from, and where in the world the site may be.  Each site box has 10-11 artifacts, and a series of additional clues like maps or site photos.

Site A – Alameda-Stone Cemetery

The Alameda-Stone cemetery is located in Tucson, Arizona.  It was used by local community members from the early 1860s through 1881.

This sites artifacts include:

1. Bone
2. Rosary
3. Part of a shoe
4. Coffin nails
5. Coffin hardware
6. Buckle
7. Earring
8. Coffin Wood
9. Buttons
10. Cloth

The box also includes a map of the entire cemetery, a close up of an individual burial, and an artifact image.

Site B – Historic Privy on MSU’s Campus

The west circle privy was excavated in 2015.  The artifacts in the structure date to the 1850s and 1860s.  This is the only privy that has been located on campus.

This sites artifacts include:

1. Raspberry seeds
2. Plate
3. Fish bones
4. Glass cup
5. Egg shell
6. Doll fragments
7. Plate
8. Violin flask bottle picture
9. Comb
10. Ceramic tea/coffee cup
11. Buttons

Site C – Aztalan

We wanted to include a prehistoric site in the Midwest to be able to provide a local connection for the students.  With Dr. Goldstein’s extensive experience at Aztalan it was an easy choice.  The site of Aztalan is located in present day southern Wisconsin and was occupied between 1050 and 1200 AD.

This sites artifacts include:

1. Shell beads
2. Arrowhead
3. Pot fragment
4. *artifact photo
5. Duck bones
6. Photograph of mounds
7. Photograph of stratigraphy
8. Daub
9. Stone tool flakes
10. Shells

Site D – Mayan Cave Burial 

The cave burial site of Actun Kabul was selected for site D. Actun Kabul (Actun is the word for cave in the Mayan language) is a cave deep within the jungles of Belize in Central America.

This sites artifacts include:

1. Human bone
2. Jade
3. Pot Fragment
4. Figurine Fragment
5. Shell
6. Corn
7. Pepper seeds
8. Human teeth
9. Stingray spine
10. Glyph carving
11. Obsidian

We also provide the students with a map of the cave.

Site E – Professor Gunson’s Trash Pit

For our final site we selected the site the 2015 CAP field school excavated – Professor Gunson’s trash deposit.

This sites artifacts include:

1. Laboratory equipment
2. Vaseline Glass
3. Window Glass
4. Ketchup Bottle
5. Ceramic plate
6. Nails
7. Decorated ceramic
8. Bottle
9. Flower pot frag
10. Brick

Since we needed to make 15 total kits, there was no way we could include actual artifacts.  The objects in the kits are a combination of online purchases, hunting at the University Surplus Store, donations from CAP fellows/faculty, and some creative saving (this week I boiled a chicken carcass for the bones, saved all of my egg shells, and picked out seeds from bell peppers). Each kit also contains an envelope with an answer key that identifies each of the artifacts, and provides a narrative of the site.  The envelope also contains more details maps and photos of the archaeological site.

Today we’re putting these kits to the test!  We’ll be posting throughout the day on social media, and stay tuned for a follow up post about the event later this month.

Author: Lisa Bright