Introduction & Resources - British Museum booklet1.pdf4 | Introduction & Resources ... Classical...

æIntroduction & Resources

æCamden Young Archaeologists | 1

IntroductionCamden Young Archaeologists is a three-year programme providing new and exciting out-of-school learning activities for children and teenagers, as well as their families and the wider community. Camden Council’s project coordinator, Rebecca Stalker, is working with a range of cultural organisations in the borough and across London to co-ordinate the project, supported by over £205,000 funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The education resource pack is one strand of Camden Young Archaeologists’ programme and has been written to provide curriculum support for teachers in the form of teaching and learning activities and tools, hoping to motivate and inspire people to explore the past through an appreciation of archaeology and heritage around them.

The tools provided are cross curricular and use the underpinning skills associated with archaeology; focusing specifically on thinking, research, and investigation skills, showing how our ability to interpret objects aids our understanding of the world.

How to use the packThe pack is divided into 4 themes – Change, Place Names, Death/Burial and Trade. Each theme is colour coded for ease of use. A general resource booklet and glossary of terms is also included.

All of the sections have national curriculum and cross-curricular links for teachers. Although these topics seem to lend themselves most easily to History and History & ICT, (or in the case of Trade, Citizenship), we are keen to show the cross-curricular and enrichment potential of archaeology for Key Stages 2 and 3.

There is also a section for each theme connecting where you can surf, visit and what you can read or watch to supplement this resource pack.

AcknowledgementsI would like to thank Cei Paynton, Carol Westlake and Lorraine Dolan for their involvement in writing the themes, and all the good advice that went hand in hand with their participation. I would also like to thank Sav Kyriacou (Savvy Graphics) for his patience and guidance for the design of the resource pack. A big thanks should go to the Portable Antiquities Scheme for their generosity in allowing us to use pictures from their database.

Rebecca Stalker

2 | Introduction & Resources

Captionsfor images of artifacts

1 and 2. Trader’s token.

3. Amber bead of uncertain date found 1m below surface of bog, side view.

4. Post-Medieval quarter-ounce trade weight.

5. Roman finger ring.

6. Roman bone comb.

7. Nearly whole Roman storage jar.

8. Really lovely partial Samian Ware bowl (made in Gaul).

9. Silver denarius of the Emperor Trajan.

10 and 11. Roman pewter plate found in Essex.

12. Piece of Roman pottery.

13. Roman annular brooch.

14. Edward I penny, v clear London legend, Essex.

15. Romano-British cosmetic pestle

16. Obverse and reverse of a Brass sestertius of Hadrian

17. civi/tas/lon/don long cross penny obv and rev. Found in Kent, nice example of London minted coin.

18. Medieval shield-shaped lead trade weight.

19. Roman glass unguent (perfume or solid perfumed oil) bottle.

All images reproduced courtesy of the Portable Antiquities Scheme

Camden Young Archaeologists | 3Artifact 1

4 | Introduction & Resources Artifact 2


CAPTIONSfor the illustrations

1. Old Shop Signs

i. Tailor/Seamstress

ii. Locksmiths

iii. Draper – a dealer in cloth or clothing

iv. Fishmonger

2. Trade Goods – different cultures value different materials. All these objects have been used as currency and exchange.

i. Tea brick from Tibet

ii. Shell money from Guinea

iii. Shell beads and fish vertebrae mounted on cloth from New Caledonia/A packet of salt from Zaire

iv. A copper ingot from the Upper Congo

v. Two West African manilas or bracelets

3. Food Items

i. Garlic glove

ii. Fish

iii. Asparagus spear

iv. Apple

4. Banquet scroll – a menu

Camden Young Archaeologists | 23

Old Shop Signs


Old Shop Signs


Trade Goods


Banquet Scroll - old fashioned menu


Foods from the New World

Looking for a shortcut to the spice rich lands of Asia to help cut out the expensive middle-man of the overland trade route, Christopher Columbus set off with the financing of Isabella of Spain.

Of course, we know now that if you sail west from Europe, you’ll hit the Americas, not Asia. Columbus landed in the “Indies” on his first voyage and Haiti on his second where he discovered the other type of pepper we know today.

Many new foods came to Europe from the newly discovered lands in the west: maize, potatoes, chocolate, peanuts, vanilla, tomatoes, pineapples, lima beans, sweet and chili peppers, tapioca and the turkey.

The turkey arrived in Europe in 1523 or 1524 and in England shortly after that. The potato reached England at some point in the late 1500s. Most likely, Sir Francis Drake brought them from Cartegena when he picked up supplies there.

English sailors found vast supplies of cod off the coast of what we now call Newfoundland in the late 1490s and began catching and bringing them back to England.


Investigating Objects

• Is it heavy or light, rough or smooth?

• What is it made of?

wood | stone | glass | ceramic (clay) | metal | bone

• Describe the shape?

• Is it whole or is something missing?

• Has it been mended in any way?

• What do you think it was used for?

• What colour(s) is it?

• Is it plain or decorated? How is it decorated?

• Do you think it belonged to a rich or a poor person? How did you decide?

• What would you like to know about this object?

• What does it tell you about the way people lived?


Object Sheet

Object Number?

DescriptionWhat colour is your object?

What material is it made of? (e.g. ceramic, glass, wood, stone, metal)

How is it decorated?

Draw your object on a separate page

Is the object whole or incomplete? (Which bits do you think are missing?)

UseWhat do you think it is?

Who do you think used it?

What do you think it was used for?

Now find the label for your object

Is there a date for this object?

Is there a place where this object was found or made?


Glossary

Aerial photography A method of studying a site through photographs taken from the air

Amulet A type of ornament worn as a charm against evil spirits

Anglo-Saxon Belonging to a period of English History from the end of the Roman empire (AD476) to the Norman invasion (1066)

Archaeology is a way of learning about people who lived in the past, where they lived, what they ate, what they believed and the effects they had on the environment

Archaeologists look at the physical remains left behind by people in the past. The evidence can include such things as pottery, tools or jewellery as well as standing buildings or the remains of buildings that have later been buried underground.

Archive is a place where documents, books, papers, maps and artefacts are stored

Artefact is an object made by humans

Aqueduct A bridge-like structure built to channel water from place to place

Bone Pathology is the disease or damage on a bone

Bronze Age The second stage in a three-stage classification of prehistoric time, when people started to use bronze in the making of weapons and tools

Burial mound A mound of earth or stones containing the bodies of the dead



Ceramic is the name given to objects like plates, bowls and pots that are made of clay and fired in an oven to make them hard

Chiton is the name for early Greek clothes worn by both men and women

Civilization A highly advanced culture or society

Classical Archaeology looks at how people from ancient Rome and/or ancient Greece lived

Commerce Buying and selling

Conservation is protecting objects from dangers by taking special steps

Currency Something used as a medium of exchange when buying and selling – usually, though not always, money

Deterioration is when objects ‘break down’ or get spoiled over time

Economy means when workers and natural resources are used to produce goods

Excavation the process of digging up a site to find archaeological evidence

Fauna is another word for animals

Flint a hard stone used for making early prehistoric tools and weapons

Flora is another word for plants

Fragment A small part detached from a larger object


Hunter-gatherer a member of a small nomadic community

Inscription writing or decoration on an object that has been carved or stamped

In-context see In-situ

In-situ is when something is found as and where it was left, before it was covered in dirt

Linen is a fabric woven with fibres from the flax plant

Level see Spirit Level

Lithic is a stone tool

Mammal is a warm-blooded animal that gives birth to live offspring and suckles its young

Microscope is an instrument used to look at very small objects

Metropolis is a very large city

Nomad is a member of a community moving from place to place without settling permanently

Papyrus a type of reed plentiful on the River Nile. It was used by the Egyptians to make paper

Peplos Later Greek clothes worn only by women

Pit is a square or rectangular hole in which an archaeologist works on a site

Plumb-bob is a small weight on a string used by archaeologists to measure or draw in straight lines


Prehistoric is the time before written records existed. This period varies around the world because writing was developed at different times by different cultures

Reconstruction is putting something back together

Replica is a copy of something

Residue is a substance left on or in an artefact

Restoration is to mend something

Ritual words and actions used in a religious ceremony

Scraper is a small tool that was used to scrape animal skins (hides)

Scribe is someone who writes and keeps records. In Ancient Egypt, scribes collected taxes and were very important people

Seal is an ancient stamp used to mark objects

Settlement is a place where a group of people live together for a lengthy period of time. Farms, villages, towns, cities and palaces are all settlements

Sherd is a piece of broken pot

Site is a place where archaeologists excavate

Spirit-level a tool used by Archaeologists to draw or measure in a straight line

Strata is a layer of earth

Stratigraphy is the different layers of earth in an archaeological site


Stone Age is the first (and earliest) of the three classifications of prehistory, when stone was for tools and weapons. It is a long period of time dating back to the earliest origins of humankind. In Europe it ended around 3000BC, when the Bronze Age began

Tomb is a building where dead people are buried

Trench is a long, narrow ditch. Archaeologists often dig trenches as part of their excavation of a site. Trenches were also a feature of battlefields in the First World War, where they served as a place of shelter for soldiers and a location for the fighting itself

Trowel is a tool used by an archaeologist to scrape or dig at a site

Vessel is a container

Zooarchaeology is the study of animals from the past using animal remains (bones, skin, horn, antler) found at a site

Introduction & Resources - British Museum booklet1.pdf4 | Introduction & Resources ... Classical...

Documents

Transcript of Introduction & Resources - British Museum booklet1.pdf4 | Introduction & Resources ... Classical...