Analyzing pottery fragments can also tell us what pottery was being used for. Students will learn what characteristics are found in local varieties of pottery. They will also study pots by measuring and computing the circumference of a vessel and construct analogies about possible functions that vessel. Students study a site map of an Ancestral Puebloan village and compare it to a Hopi ethnography. The use of Ancestral Puebloan artifacts will be inferred based on the Hopi's use of similar items.
Students identify and study certain plants along a nature path using identification sheets.
Notes and observations are shared at the top of the hill. Ancient technologies and life ways are explored as students learn to make cordage and build a fire with original tools. Students then compute how long it would take to make a rabbit snare at their own pace of cord production. Discussion about the physics of starting a fire and additional calculations for cordage production are on an activity sheet that students take back to the classroom. Students will use ethical dilemmas to examine their own values and beliefs about archaeological site protection and evaluate possible actions they might take regarding site and artifact protection.