Archaic Period: Jackdaws
Overview!
Students will hypothesize about life in the Archaic Period from the study of culturally related groups of artifacts and other remains which archaeologists call assemblages.
(Time: 1 hour and 10 minutes for a two-part lesson)
Content Objectives!
1) Students will understand the role of artifacts and artifact assemblages in understanding a cultural period.
2) Students will use artifacts from the Archaic Period to hypothesize about life in that time period.
Assessment Strategies!
1) Understanding the information potential of individual artifacts and other remains and groups of these representing a particular cultural period.
2) Hypothesizing
3) Collaborative group-work
Materials!
- Printed copies of PDF document: Jackdaws
Procedures!
Part 1: 30 minutes
1) Teacher explains to the students that everything an archaeologist finds has a story to tell the archaeologist. Groups of remains called assemblages, representing a particular cultural period, that are found by archaeologists tell a more complete story about the culture that each object was used in. Archaeologists try to discover the stories found in individual artifacts and groups of artifacts so that they can learn more about the people who made and used the remains.
(For the teacher's information: Jackdaws are collections of artifacts or facsimiles of artifacts related to a topic. Creating a jackdaw for a particular historical period authenticates the experience for students and helps them visualize and synthesize knowledge. Jackdaws can help students understand abstract historical concepts.)
2) Teacher asks each student to think of an object used in the student's daily life that can be a representative of the culture the student lives in (e.g. iPods, shoes, chopsticks, backpacks, etc.) Ask each student to think about the story the object tells about that student and that student's culture. Next ask the students to think about at least two more objects used in daily life and have them think about how the story changes if we are looking at more than one object. Students may share their stories with the class. Allot an appropriate amount of time.
3) Next, ask them to imagine what archaeologists 10,000 years from now might make of the remains of that object or group of objects. They may write about it or speak about it in front of the class.
4) Teacher initiates a discussion about the importance of groups of objects found by archaeologists in understanding history and the idea that common functional tools and objects become important sources of knowledge. Teacher tells the students that in the next activity they will be think like archaeologists studying the Archaic Period.
-----
Part 2: 40 minutes
1) Prior to the activity, the teacher will print out the jackdaw from the ‘Think Like an Archaeologist’ website. The following is a full list of pictures found in the jackdaw: spruce, pine or hemlock needles; oak, hickory or chestnut leaves; walnuts; acorns; berries; tubers; fish; deer; rabbits; squirrels; hearth; house posts; debitage; cooking ovens; chert; flint; jasper; axes; bone; soapstone; atlatl; bear; bird; rodent and netsinker.
2) Teacher will remind students of the previous activity where they imagined their objects of daily use as remains found in the distant future, and introduce them to the assemblage in the form of a jackdaw from the Archaic Period.
3) As before, divide the class into smaller groups of three to four students. Give each group a standard set of pictures to analyze. Alternately, different sets of pictures/objects may be used as a jackdaw for different groups.
4) Ask the groups to brainstorm the likely uses and roles of groups of artifacts and other remains which are found together and represent a particular cultural period. Remind them that they can use what they had summarized about the Archaic Period in the earlier class and encourage them to make well-justified hypotheses for unfamiliar objects.
5) Teacher will supervise and facilitate the groups. Allot an appropriate amount of time.
6) At the end of the time limit, each group will share their hypothesis with the class. Teacher will encourage the class to debate the validity of the hypothesis presented. Students will add the accepted hypotheses to the chart previously made.
7) Teacher and students together re-cap what they have learned so far about the Archaic Period.
