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Transcript

There are 2 essential things you need to understand about archaeology.

1.) Archaeology- is the recovery of material evidence or artifacts remaining from the past.

2.) Archaeological discoveries

of early Native American settlements have been made in southeastern Virginia.

There are two questions that I really want you to focus on as we go over archaeology...

1.) Why is Archaeology important?

2.) Where is one of the oldest archaeological sites

in the USA found?

Let's start with the first question by answering this question... WHAT DO ARCHAEOLOGIST DO exactly?

Archaeologist - study human behaviors and cultures of the past through the recovery and analysis of artifacts.

An artifact is an object made by a human being, typically an item of cultural or historical interest.

Let's try an artifact/archaeological experiment

We are going to call this project "The Oshgoshs"

We are going to determine who the "Oshgoshs" are using archaeology.

The brief insight of the Oshgoshs:

The Oshgoshs were the people that lived in my house before I did. I don't know much about them, except for the items that I found in and around my house after I had moved in. Can you help me figure out who the Oshgoshs were?

There are 20 artifacts.

Use the Google Sheet that I provided for you on Schoology and identify what each object is, what it would have been used for, and who would have used it.

This is a silent activity, so there should be NO DISCUSSING of the artifacts until we come back together to do so as a class.

SPOILER ALERT... Let's look at the artifacts and discuss each one.

SO WHO WERE THE OSHGOSH PEOPLE?

Why is Archaeology

important?

So could we use archaeology

to date back many, many years

ago? How about to the time of

when people first arrived HERE,

in the Western Hemisphere AKA

the "New World"?

How did the first people get here? Here as in the Western Hemisphere.

There are several arguments about how people originally got here to the Western Hemisphere.

Before we move on, what does the word

Native mean?

One argument is that Native Americans / American Indians crossed over the Bering Strait up in Alaska thousands of years ago. This would suggest that Natives are not native... but ancestors from Eurasia.

Something to think about:

If Native Americans are from Eurasia then they are not Native Americans.

If natives are not natives then they must be Indians,

but they can't be Indians because their land is not in India; which is where Christopher Columbus thought he was in 1492...

If they can't be Natives or Indians then what should they be called? History tells us that "THEY" never had a name for themselves...

Still to this day, the arguments continue over who is right and who is wrong.

What you need to know is, Scientists are not in agreement about how the first people arrived in the Western Hemisphere.

Let's see what you can come up with as a

class. I am going to give you 3 readings

look them over and come up with a conclusion

about how the first people got here.

One thing Archaeologist and Anthropologist do know is that, here, in Virginia, there is evidence of one of the oldest archaeological sites in North America.

Archaeologist have found evidence, that 18,000 years ago, there were humans here in Virginia, at a place called Cactus Hill.

Let's look at this video about Cactus Hill

What many people value about

archaeology is a sense of connection

with time and place. Archeology can

and does provide “common ground”

among the many elements of diverse

communities. Educators reinforce the

value of archeology in teaching respect

for other people and other times.

Preparing both children and adults

with an appreciation for a diverse

world is an important contribution

that archeological knowledge can

make

(Barbara J . Little, “Public Benefits

of Archeology”, CRM No. 1-1996: 35)

?

In our own words, what does

THAT MEAN?

Another argument, which is more popular amongst Native Americans, REINFORCING the name NATIVE, is that they were always here. Dating back more than 30,000 years. It is said that religious reasons grant Native Americans this sense.

http://iceage.pwnet.org/

Natives/Indians date back approximately 20,000 years ago (according to science), 30,000+ (according to Native Americans). So the term NEW WORLD is a relevant term.

Homo sapiens are thought to have been walking on their own two feet nearly 200,000 years ago.

To give you an idea of where our American Indians / Native Americans fall on a timeline of human existence.

Cactus hill is located on the Nottoway River, which is located in southeastern Virginia.

SO

what's

an

artifact?

Archaeology

Standard USI.3a

The Students will demonstrate knowledge of how early cultures developed in North America by:

a.) describing how archaeologists have recovered material evidence of the ancient settlements, including Cactus Hill in Virginia.

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