Approximately one hour. Ask the children what they think an archaeologist is. This information in interpreted based on the association of the various objects with each other and the entire site. Write a two column chart on the chalkboard. Ask the children to give examples of the kinds of materials that will fill this chart.
Excavation Have the children get into pairs.
Ask each pair to get an object from the classroom they think will be found in 5000 years and bring it back to their desks. Interpretation Tell them they are now archaeologists 5000 years in the future, and have just uncovered the object before them from this site. Remind them that they have never seen this object before, and have them fill out the first row on the Data Sheet. When they are done, have them rotate clockwise to the object found by another group and fill out the next row on the Data Sheet. Repeat this until all of the groups have recorded and interpreted each object.