Purpose: The recovery and systematic study of artifacts provide clues to the past when no written history exists or when the written history needs confirmation or enhancement. By examining artifacts excavated from the Robert Long House and environs, visitors will get a "hands-on" experience in telling the history of the area. After examining and analyzing various artifacts, visitors will be able to:
Describe the process of archaeology
Identify the significance of artifacts in telling the past
Use the artifacts to assist in explaining how people lived in
the past
Relate their findings to life at the Long House and Fell's Point
Procedure: The docent should have the following materials available when implementing this learning experience:
An artifact for the docent to use as an example in the initial
part of the learning experience
A sufficient number of artifacts in containers for visitors to
use (three to five artifacts in a lunch bag or in a plastic tray
for every two people would be adequate)
Dry erase board and markers (or chalk board and chalk)
Sufficient copies of the Visitor Resource Sheet, "Artifact
Study: The Robert Long House"
Pencils
If possible, archaeologist's tools should be on display for illustration
by the docent (clipboard, trowel, paint brush, bucket, etc.)
1. Introduce the learning experience by asking:
How do we learn about the past? (Responses may include
reading books, letters, and
diaries; watching documentaries; etc. If the group has completed
the Eney Map activity, this will be somewhat repetitious but necessary
for the next question.)
The things you have mentioned are all written or visual records of the past. But how can we find out about the past when there are no written records? (Response: We have to locate and study the objects people have left behind and use these things as clues to interpreting the past.)
Objects from the past that were made by humans are called "artifacts" (write this vocabulary word on the board), and the people who study them are called "archaeologists" (write this vocabulary word on the board.). Today, you are going to experience part of the process that archaeologists use in interpreting the past. You will be examining and interpreting some of the artifacts that were excavated (write this vocabulary word on the board), or carefully dug up, right here at the Robert Long House. Through careful analysis, you will be able to get an idea of what life was like on this spot in Fell's Point in 1800.
At this point, the docent will hold up an artifact and ask some general questions about it. For example, hold up a shard of a dinner plate and ask:
What is this artifact that I am holding? (Make it clearly visible to visitors, and get a response "piece of a dinner plate.")
Look at it closely. Is there anything special or different about it? (perhaps a painted decoration)
What clues can the dinner plate give us about the people who used it and the way they lived? (Response: Were they were well-to-do or poor? Was the plate imported or made in America? If it was imported, from where?)
After visitors have had this practice, proceed to the learning experience.
2. Provide visitors with a copy of the Visitor Resource Sheet, "Artifact Study: The Robert Long House," and pencils if necessary. Review the requirements of the chart and any unfamiliar terms.
3. Distribute one container of artifacts to each group of
two or three visitors. Instruct the
visitors to examine the artifacts in their possession and write
notes in the appropriate places on the chart. When they have finished
with their artifacts, they should trade containers with another
group until they have completed all of the areas on their charts.
(Should some visitors complete their charts before others, encourage
them to continue trading artifacts and continue their notes on
the back of their Resource Sheet.)
4. After sufficient time has been allotted, ask:
Which was the easiest artifact to identify? Why? What, if anything, was special about it?
Was there any artifact that you could not identify? Hold it up for others to see. (Ask others in the group to suggest what it is or its use.)
Did the artifacts you examined give you any impression of the lifestyle of the people who lived here? Explain what it is. (Get several responses.)
Why do you think that archaeology has been an important research tool to help tell the story of Fell's Point and the Robert Long House
Summary: The back of the chart has this question on
it: "What do the artifacts tell you about how people lived
and worked on this historic site?" This question may be answered
here or left for the teacher to complete in the classroom as part
of the post-visit activities. If answered here, ask visitors for
statements for the docent to write on the board. Then direct visitors
to use the information on the board and any more they have that
was not mentioned to answer the question. Provide ample time for
this to be completed. Encourage visitors to use information from
all of the artifacts the small groups examined.