Curated OER
The Ancient Cliff Dwellers of Mesa Verde
Students research evidence discovered during Mesa Verde archaeological dig, view images of ancient artifacts, simultate real dig and reconstruct items buried on school grounds, and create newsletter or video tape skit.
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The Anasazi
Sixth graders investigate and determine the origins of the ancient Anasazi who inhabited present-day Utah and the Four-Corners-Region, after receiving direct instruction and carrying out activities in cooperative group settings. They...
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Poverty Point Earthworks: Louisiana's Ancient Inhabitants
Students research the prehistoric earthworks site at Poverty Point, Louisiana. They compare the Louisiana artifacts and structure to the remains and knowledge of other ancient cultures. They present their research to the class.
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Artifacts 2: Artifacts in Context
Students role play as archeologists to determine how artifacts tell about how people lived. In this artifacts lesson, students look at pictures of artifacts of the ancient city of Catalhoyuk and tell what life was like there. They look...
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Ancient Artifacts
Learners research the earliest Americans. In this ancient civilizations lesson, students investigate the Mayas, Aztecs, and Incas. Learners examine artifacts used in the cultures and then determine what the artifacts were used for and...
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Egyptian Fairy Tale
Students explore ancient Egyptian culture and government. In this social studies lesson plan, students compare the legal system from ancient Egypt to our current American legal system. Links are included for web searching Egypt and the...
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This Old Ship
Junior archaeologists will be able to describe shipwreck artifacts and the information they reveal. They work in small groups to reasearch wreckage features of different period ships, making this not only a science lesson, but a social...
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Living Art-i-facts: Technology Takes Us There!
Students create living artifacts dealing with different times and cultures. They explore Ancient Rome, the Middle Ages, Islam, Africa, and the United States.
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Ancient Americas
Seventh graders compare artifacts used by archaeologists to theorize the first inhabitants of the Americas migrated from Asia across the Bering Land Bridge.
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Reconstructing Artifacts
Students investigate artifacts and reconstruct them. In this artifact lesson, students research archaeologists and Native American groups. Students plan a design for a clay pot which represent the Native American artifact.
Channel Islands Film
Cache: Lesson Plan 2 - Grades 4-6
Class members will dig this activity that has them trying their hand at recovering artifacts. Groups are assigned a section of a sandbox, carefully uncover the artifacts in their section, and then develop theories about who might have...
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Seeing Ancient Worlds
Students view the images from the Nature Images Photo Gallery and identify various elements of nature. They then group the elements into categories and discuss what these images tell about the worlds of ancient Native Americans.
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Second Grade Time Capsules
Second graders leave clues from the past for students of the future by creating time capsules filled with artifacts from the year. These artifacts are buried along with others on school grounds somewhere. Students identify and analyze...
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Native American Cultures for Grades 4-5
Students investigate Native American culture by researching the Internet. In this U.S. History instructional activity, students read online field reports about exploration and the history of Native Americans in the United States....
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Pop Culture and Art
Learn about American pop culture, art, and the social voice that art can convey. The class discusses the life and art of Barton Benes, views his piece Reliquarium, then discusses what they see and feel when they view his work. Make sure...
American Museum of Natural History
Making a Field Journal
Trowels and brushes are certainly important tools for an archaeologist working on a dig. Perhaps more important, however, is the archaeologist's field journal. Christina Elson, an archaeologist working with the American Museum of Natural...
Curated OER
Primary Sources and Archaeology in the Study of Ancient Mediterranean Trade
Tenth graders begin the lesson by plotting trade routes, major empires and items traded. Using primary sources, they examine their own values regarding trading items for royality. They participate in a role-play exercise in which they...
Curated OER
The Anasazi
Pupils investigate and determine the origins of the ancient Anasazi who inhabited present-day Utah and the Four-Corners-Region.
Curated OER
Teaching About Trade in the Ancient Mediterranean
Sixth graders examine the trade routes in the Mediterranean of the Ancient world. In groups, they view slides of artifacts while answering questions on a worksheet. After watching a video, they discuss how each object was found and...
American Museum of Natural History
Up Close With a Zapotec Urn
If a Zapotec urn, buried for over a thousand years in a temple in the lost city of Xoxocotlan in the Valley of Oaxaca in the mountains of southern Mexico could talk image the stories it could tell. That's the set up in a clever resource...
Smithsonian Institution
Ceramica de los Ancestros
Scholars join a field expedition team to unearth a plethora of treasures from Central America. Artifacts listed in alphabetical order come with an informational blurb and a picture designed for participants to color. Activity pages...
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Legends as Oral History
Sixth graders read First Nations legends to find information about the First Nations. In this legends as oral history lesson plan, 6th graders interview and write oral histories from family members.
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Measuring Pots
Students use an activity sheet to construct analogies about possible function of ancient or historic ceramics and compute circumference from a section of a circle as they study measuring pots.
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ARTIFACT to ART to GLYPHS
Students study the development of early Latin American civilizations in unit one. The second part of the unit is based on early image-making attempts from the Cro-Magnon to the Peruvian Incas. Students create their own weavings using a...