Field Survey Activity

This exercise is intended to teach students archaeological excavation and recording methods using an empty field or yard space.

Materials

• String, chalk, spray paint, or pin flags for marking survey area

• Graph paper and pencils

• Yard sticks or measuring tapes

Directions

• Decide on a “datum point” in an area of your school yard. This is a fixed point that will not move in the future, such as the corner of a building or a flagpole.

• Establish a grid in this area, building off that datum point, and mark out several 10x10 foot (or 2x2 meters) survey squares using yard sticks or measuring tapes, depending on the size of the class(es).

• Assign groups of four to each survey square.

• Using measuring tape and graph paper, have students make a scaled map of their square.

o Draw the square in the center of the graph paper, and draw “features” (a non-portable artifact) in the square and in the surrounding space around the square, such as paved areas, walkways, planting beds, ditches, etc., and natural objects, such as rocks tree stumps, etc.

o Don’t forget the necessary components of a map: scale, North arrow, description, date created, name of archaeologist-in-training.

• Make copies of this initial drawing to be used in future weeks as the recording page.

• Every week for a month or throughout a semester, have the students survey their square for “artifacts” deposited there. Map them onto a new recording page each week and label what they are.

o Unsanitary items such as chewing gum, band aids, etc., should not be touched or recorded.

o Map any changes to the landscape, such as erosion gullies after a rainstorm, etc.

• At the end of the month or semester, have the students compare their week-to-week

• observations/maps and discuss.

o Option to “piece together” the drawings from each square to create a site-wide analysis.

Sample Discussion Questions

• Can you tell the gender, age, or social status of the individual(s) that left behind the “artifacts”?

• Are there items only used at certain times of the year? (e.g., popsicle sticks in the summer or mittens used in winter)

• Were there items related to a specific event or celebration? (e.g., water cups from a sporting event or chalked lines on a field)

• Did the quantity of “artifacts” deposited each week change? If so, why?

• Can you estimate how many people the items represent?

• How do the survey squares differ, or are similar?

• Can we distinguish between cultural site formation processes (things people do that change the site) and natural site formation processes (natural things that change the site, like heavy rain, or animal activity).

• If you had more than one group of students, were there any differences in what they recorded? (sampling bias or sampling error?)

Source: Adapted from: https://www.sfu.ca/archaeology/museum/exhibits/virtual-exhibits/doing archaeologyin-the-classroom--a-sandbox-dig.htm