Archaeology

Use verbs in the past tense that relate to archaeology. Discuss correct verb forms. Examples: I dug up a bone. I digged up a bone. The person fell into the mud. The person falled into the mud. Which are correct?

Using a real archaeological discovery, write a description as if you were the person who came upon it. How did you find it, what did you do next, what did it look like, etc. Consider a mummy tomb, an ancient civilization dig, or an historic site as your discovery.

Read Bodies from the Bog by James M. Deem and determine the new terms and vocabulary you encounter during your reading. Create a glossary of your own for the book.

Archeologists must make precise measurements of their work site in order to keep track of where everything is. They create a grid to make mapping a site easier. Make a grid of a certain section of your classroom by using masking tape or string to lay out a set of  squares in a 3 x 4 pattern. What is the perimeter of each square? What is the perimeter of the whole grid? 

Research the various ages of time in history — Stone Age, Iron Age, Renaissance, etc. — and create a timeline for them. Include how many years each lasted. Place them in chronological order.

Many groups of ancient people created images on the ground that, when seen from the air, demonstrate amazing accuracy, geometic knowledge and artistry. One example is the Nasca lines found in southern Peru — photos and information can be found at Museum of Unnatural Mystery. How did they do this? Create instructions to make a simple shape on the ground using angle measures, length of the sides, distances, etc. and give your instructions to a partner to follow. Have your partner lay string down or stomp the shape out in the snow or dirt as they recreate your shape using your instructions. Is it as easy or hard as you thought?

All animals need food in order to live and grow. All living things need water.

Things that people do to live comfortably can affect the world around them.

Living things need water, air, and resources from the land, and they live in places that have the things they need.

Some events happen very quickly; others occur very slowly, over a time period much longer than one can observe.

Being part of a group helps animals obtain food, defend themselves, and cope with changes. Groups may serve different functions and vary dramatically in size.

Local, regional, and global patterns of rock formations reveal changes over time due to earth or other forces.

Fossils provide evidence about the types of organisms that lived long ago and also about the nature of their environments.

Examples of evidence could include needs and characteristics of the organisms and habitats involved.

Populations live in a variety of habitats, and change in those habitats affects the organisms living there. When the environment changes in ways that affect a place's physical characteristics, temperature, or availability of resources, some organisms survive and reproduce, others move to new locations, yet others move into the transformed environment, and some die.

Organisms are related in food webs in which some animals eat plants for food and other animals eat the animals that eat plants. Matter cycles between the air and soil and among plants, animals, and microbes as these organisms live and die. Decomposition eventually restores (recycles) some materials back to the soil. Organisms can survive only in environments in which their particular needs are met.

Organisms, and populations of organisms, are dependent on their environmental interactions both with other living things and with nonliving factors. In any ecosystem, organisms and populations with similar requirements for food, water, oxygen, or other resources may compete with each other for limited resources, access to which consequently constrains their growth and reproduction. Growth of organisms and population increases are limited by access to resources.

Predatory interactions may reduce the number of organisms or eliminate whole populations of organisms. Although the species involved in competitive, predatory, and mutually beneficial interactions vary across ecosystems, the patterns of interactions of organisms with their environments are shared.

Ecosystems are dynamic in nature; their characteristics can vary over time. Disruptions to any physical or biological component of an ecosystem can lead to shifts in all its populations.

The collection of fossils and their placement in chronological order is known as the fossil record and documents the change of many life forms throughout the history of the Earth.

The geologic time scale interpreted from rock strata provides a way to organize Earth's history. Examples of Earth's major events could range from being very recent (such as the last Ice Age or the earliest fossils of homo sapiens) to very old.