University of California
Migration of Early Humans: Evidence and Interpretations
While much of prehistory is cloaked in mystery, ancient ancestors left evidence in DNA, languages, and materials from their time. Using photographs of items such as cave paintings and ancient tools, as well as maps of linguistic patterns...
American Museum of Natural History
Piecing It All Together
Archaeology digs are much like giant jigsaw puzzles. The artifacts found are often in pieces and scientists must reconstruct them. A hands-on activity lets young archaeologists experience this facet of the job as they create, smash, and...
Curated OER
Virtual Day in Archeology
Students use the internet to examine a day in the life of an archeologist. In groups, they discover what types of tools they use in the field along with the process of an archeological excavation. They complete a worksheet in which...
Curated OER
You are the Archaeologist
Kids can practice their observation and evidence-based argument skills with a fun and engaging look at artifacts. With a given set of objects, each child will sketch and describe the object, then partners work together to determine...
Curated OER
What Artifacts Reveal About The Past
Middle schoolers take a closer look at artifacts to learn about the people who used them. In this colonial America lesson, students examine photographs of everyday items used in colonial times and determine what the uses of the...
Curated OER
Back From the Future
Young scholars pose as archaeologists, famous for their scholarly excavations, writing, and lectures about ancient cultures and are invited back to the 20thy century from the year 3000 to explore an archaeological sit, their classroom.
Curated OER
Fossils Lesson 4 - Who Are Some Famous Fossil Hunters and What Are Their Finds?
Learners research and develop a presentation about a famous fossil hunter/archaeologist. In this fossil hunter/archaeologist instructional activity, students listen to a reading of Don Brown's, Rare Treasure: Mary Anning and Her...
Curated OER
Unearthing the Past
Students analyze artifacts from an early society to determine information relating to daily life in that society. They consider which artifacts from our society would be most valuable to future archeologists.
Curated OER
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.
Curated OER
How Do We Learn About the Past?
Students examine archaeological discoveries. In this learning about the past activity, students view a "Magic School Bus" video, discuss the role of an archeologist, and complete a graphic organizer. Students discuss a variety of...
Channel Islands Film
Sa Hi Pa Ca (Once Upon a Time): Lesson Plan 2
What tools do archaeologists and anthropologist use to learned about what life was like in the past. After watching West of The West's documentary Once Upon a Time that details how scientists use artifacts to establish a...
American Museum of Natural History
What's This?: Early Humans
Early humans crafted shelters out of whatever materials they could find. A one-question quiz asks learners to identify the type of bones used to construct the hut pictured in a display.
Curated OER
Tools of the Archeologist
Students review the job of an archeologist as a class. While viewing a PowerPoint presentation, they guess the use of the tool before the next slide is shown. They also discuss when the archeologist would use each of the twelve tools...
Curated OER
Discovering the Past Using the Future: Remote Sensing and the Lost City of Ubar
Students use a video, maps, worksheets and Internet research to explore the role that sensing played in locating Ubar - the lost city of Arabia.
Educa Madrid
Prehistory
Images of the Atapuerca Caves, the cave paintings at Altamira, and a Neanderthal skull found at Forbes' Quarry on Gibraltar serve to introduce kids to prehistoric sites in Spain. Designed to support a study of prehistoric Spain, the...
Curated OER
Lewis & Clark: A Scientific Journey
Students act as archaeologists. In this Lewis and Clark expedition lesson, students develop a list of questions that archaeologists might use to find the physical remains of the expedition and then use print and Internet sources to...
Curated OER
Inference Makes the Difference
Students explore how archaeologists make inferences from artifacts to explore what life was like in the past. In this archaeology lesson, students work in groups and make inferences about an imaginary household based on modern day...
Curated OER
International Institute of Archaeology an Anthropology
Students research early humans and their cultures. They conduct Internet research, discuss their findings with their group, evaluate the information provided by artifacts, and create a report to present to a simulated archaeology institute.
Curated OER
Reading - Archeologist
In this online interactive archeologists activity, students respond to 8 fill in the blank and multiple choice questions regarding the information included in the provided paragraphs.
Curated OER
Dig It Up
Young scholars participate in an archaeological excavation to determine how archeologists make inferences about various cultures. They reconstruct the site using layers of drawings. They discuss the kinds of information they learned.
Curated OER
The Artifact Problem
Students work in small groups and make a map of a familiar room. In this artifact lesson plan, students decide on a suitable scale for their maps, the tools they will use and how they will make it and decide on strategies they would use...
Curated OER
Culture Everywhere
Young scholars study their culture while filling in a chart that shows how culture meets basic human needs. They examine the role of archaeologists in studying people from past cultures.
Curated OER
Introduction to Archaeology
Students view a PowerPoint presentation called, Archaeological Terms then discuss the job of an archaeologist and new vocabulary. They view the teacher made "artifact grid" and photograph the grid from different angles. They work in...
Curated OER
Mapping with a Compass: A Simulated Survey
Students use compasses and grids to map the locations of artifacts found in a simulated dig site. In groups, they role-play as future archeologists excavating a school site. Groups begin at their assigned datum and site the artifacts...