Social Education 71(5), pp 272–277 ©2007 National Council for the Social Studies Archaeology in the Classroom: Using a Dig Box to Understand the Past Amelia G. Chisholm, Mark P. Leone, and Brett T. Bentley Mock excavations, or “dig boxes,” to 12. Visiting children dig and find arti- concrete things that archaeologists dig offer students a hands-on opportunity to facts, discuss how our society uses these up that are sometimes our only remnants explore artifacts and their importance materials today, and then extrapolate on of a bygone culture. and to learn the principles of context and how the material, may have been used in Our normal reaction to something stratigraphic association. the past (see Box on page 274). that comes out of the ground is to name The dig box can be central to discuss- In 2006, high school science teacher it based on what is familiar to us: “Oh ing differences that existed between Brett Bentley instructed seven college yes, this is an arrow head,” or “This is a classes, races, ethnic groups, and the undergraduates on how to teach children bottle.” But these instant identifications sexes at different times in history. By about archaeology, highlighting the con- do not analyze the actual meaning of the setting up each excavation to represent cept of past cultures with a concrete set artifact. When an artifact is a million a site, the comparisons of status between of objects that the children could relate years old, or 10,000 years old, or even peoples become evident. For example, to. The visiting children were actively 400 years old, we truly do not know what one excavation site could represent a engaged in discussing their ideas on the it is. It may resemble an artifact that we plantation house in the South, which artifacts coming out of the layers of sand are familiar with, but our assumptions would have considerably more wealth or soil. The undergraduates said they, too, do not provide real or accurate informa- and more elaborate artifacts than another found the experience enriching because, tion. Archaeology involves understand- site created to represent the slave dwell- as they taught the material and presented ing the context in the soil and the ground ings on the same estate. The flexibility of it to a new audience, they were forced to in which the artifact is discovered, which, this approach allows teachers to create reformulate and internalize their own properly studied, helps us understand an activity that complements a specific understanding. the artifact. lesson, regardless of the topic, by increas- Layers in a dig box are created by ing student understanding of how various The Mock Excavation using sand, mulch, peat moss, or kitty peoples lived during a particular period The first principle teachers should litter. The layers are visually distinct of history. emphasize prior to leading a mock and have different textures. These dif- Each year in late April, the University excavation is that the artifacts that are ferences mimic layers that are found in of Maryland’s Anthropology Department recovered have little or no meaning the ground when an archaeologist works. organizes mock excavations that are without their soil context. Artifacts are Because the ground is made up of soil, open to the public on Maryland Day in items that have a meaning in the time and clay, rocks, and sand, students can move College Park.1 This day-long experience place in which they originate but have conceptually from artificial construc- is presented by anthropology majors and lost or have had that meaning altered as tions differentiated by color, texture, arranges excavations for children, ages 6 cultures have changed. These are the and width, to an understanding of how S OCIAL EDUCATION 272 Elementary school students search for artifacts on Maryland Day in 2006, during a mock dig organized by the Department of Anthropology at the University of Maryland-College Park. Sponsors include the City of Annapolis, the Anthropology Student Association, and Archaeology in Annapolis. (Courtesy of Archaeology in Annapolis) the ground anywhere actually looks and screens, set over a tarp or over an empty exist for common artifacts. Following must be approached. bin, in order to recover any remaining are some examples of how broken dishes Artifacts, and the context in which artifacts. Lastly, each child gathered up or discarded animal bones can be inter- they are found, are one major source of the artifacts and brought them to one preted. Broken dishes can include plates, our understanding of culture. By discuss- of the college student volunteers, who serving dishes, and bowls. Modern din- ing both what artifacts were found and then engaged the child with questions ing habits involve place settings, dishes where within the soil they were located about the artifacts (e.g., where the items of uniform size, and dishes that match students gain an understanding of the could have come from, and what they in terms of color and style. This is a way materials a culture used at a particular mean, especially when taken together, of eating that uses equipment which first time in history. This reveals much more as a whole). came into use in the early eighteenth cen- about the past than what types of things The purpose of this exercise is for the tury in the American colonies. Modern people were using. For example, if a num- undergraduates to help the younger learn- table settings were first used in cities, ber of artifacts were found together, the ers figure out on their own what they have and less in the countryside, but they do combination of items may reveal impor- discovered. A wide variety of compari- not reflect economic class because many tant information about what activities sons can be made in which students relate dishes were inexpensive. They reflect people were engaging in. If these arti- the pieces of artifacts to things that they the use of European manners, the use facts were found together in the remains know (for example, the pieces of bricks of courses to make up a meal, and the of a building, or in a trash pit, an even looked a lot like the buildings around use of separately prepared foods that broader understanding of the site and them; pieces of ceramic compared to their were served as portions. When we find time period can be created. parents’ dishes or knick-knacks). a large number of bowls, along with large During the Maryland Day excava- After students dealt with each artifact cooking kettles, it means that people tion, students worked through three basic separately, the artifacts could be grouped preferred preparing stews as opposed stations or physical locations. First, the to make a statement about how people to roasts, with vegetables prepared sepa- students started at the dig box and exca- lived in the past. By creating a story about rately. Thus, different kinds of dishes vated using a trowel or spoon to find large how one particular family lived in the reflect different eating habits and dif- artifacts. They also saved any soil that past, the information was much more ferent ways of making up a meal. They they dug up in a bucket, in case they had comprehensible and the children felt a do not necessarily reflect wealth, status, overlooked artifacts while digging. They greater connection to the activity. education, or ethnic groups.2 carried the collected soil to the second If a mock excavation uses animal bones station, where the students sifted their Interpreting Common Artifacts as a discovery technique, students will dirt through wood-framed, wire-mesh Many different levels of interpretation learn how bones from cows are differ- S E PT E MB E R 2007 273 ent from bones from pigs; or how bones out of the same household, archaeologists numbers at home. Studies and homework from pigs are different from sheep, or can conclude that people ate stews, soups, were carried out on such slates. chicken. Such bones are always found or porridges. This is a characteristic of Buttons are a modern form of fastening in historic excavations, usually the dis- medieval cooking when a stew was made clothing and represented an improve- carded remains of meals. Because bones of many vegetables simmered together, ment over pins. Buttons meant tighter can easily be distinguished by species, sometimes with a whole joint of meat fitting clothes. A dig with many buttons and wild species from domestic species, cooked slowly in the pot. may be a sign that people at that location students will note the proportion of beef, Matched plates of the same size had been taking in laundry and washing pork, lamb, and poultry eaten in the and decoration are a mark of modern clothes for their livelihood. Fancy but- area of the excavation. These can also middle-class etiquette, or table man- tons suggest a form of decoration. In an illustrate the amount of domestic versus ners that came into use around 1750 in African American historical context, but- wild food people had available. It is also the American colonies. Matched dishes tons and strait pins may represent special possible to tell whether a cut of meat was mean individual place settings. They also kinds of decoration and an invocation of prepared as a roast, or as chops (a much reveal a meal with multiple courses. family memories. more modern way of preparing food). A teacher can include broken slates in Whole glass bottles can show medi- a dig box. These can be acquired from cines, soft drinks, and liquor use. Because Constructing an Archaeological a roofing company.