Archaic Period: Hypothesizing
Overview!
Students will understand the way of life of the Archaic People by gleaning salient points from the text.
(Time: 50 minutes)
Content Objectives!
1) Students will reflect on life in the Archaic Period by hypothesizing about it in terms of different aspects of contemporary culture.
2) Students will analyze the text thoroughly for building these hypotheses.
3) Students will reflect on the accuracy of hypotheses they have created so far.
Assessment Strategies!
1) Reading comprehension
2) Analyzing facts for hypotheses
3) Collaboration
4) Valid refutation
Materials!
- Printed copies of PDF document: Archaic
Procedures!
1) Teacher introduces the students to the text about Archaic Period in Pennsylvania and tells them that they’ll be reading it.
2) Divide the class into groups as before or have students do this activity individually.
3) Ask the students to read silently and take notes of any facts they consider important. Allot an appropriate amount of time.
4) Next pose the following list of challenges to the students, one at a time. Students may have the text in front of them and refer to it while they are responding to these challenges in the form of hypotheses. When the hypotheses in response to each challenge are ready, ask the groups or individual volunteer-students to state them for the class. The class will then add to or refute the hypotheses.
a) “Imagine the kinds of jobs the Archaic people had” (Possible reponses: hunter, gatherer, fisherman, trapper, bowl-maker, stone and jewelry maker, food processor, cook, skin-preparer, clothes-maker, bone tool or jewelry manufacturer, trader, parent, teacher, builder, doctor, etc. Consider the possibility that most individuals had more than one job).
b) “Imagine the ways in which Archaic people prepared their food”. (Possible responses: roasted rabbits, steamed clams, baked fish and water fowl, dried meat for jerky, fresh fruits, sweetened with maple sugar or berries, ground up and roasted nuts and boiled them for a hot beverage, baked seed cakes in hot wood ash, mashed and boiled tubers, etc.)
c) “Imagine the kinds of things that the Archaic children learned”. (Possible responses: sciences of botany and zoology, environmental science, astronomy, family and community history, language arts, good manners, skills such as hunting and fishing, crafts such as skin working and tool making, building, geography, etc.)
d) “Imagine the ways in which the Archaic people enjoyed their time off. Also what, according to them, was a good time?” (Possible answers: availability of food all year round, mild winters, successful hunting and gathering seasons, story telling, joking, playing and being with their friends and families, getting together with other families during certain times of the year, special holidays, being allowed to do grown up things, etc.)
e) “What are the modern day equivalents of Archaic hearths, storage pits, cooking ovens and refuse pits?” (Possible answers: fireplaces, electric heating systems, electric lights, cooking range, cook top, microwave oven, garbage bins, refrigerators, land fills, etc.)
5) Prior to or simultaneously with the questions, explain to the students that although the Archaic people didn’t have weekly paychecks or cookbooks, school systems or the luxury of a plasma screen T.V., they did have the concept of occupations, a culinary culture, learning and recreation.
6) Teacher will supervise the process and ensure proper justifications for the hypotheses. Student discussions should naturally gravitate toward a comparison between this prehistoric and our contemporary culture.
