1. Artifacts and Archaeology
Social Studies Skills Unit

2. What is an archaeologist and what do they do?
Answer the following:
What are artifacts?
What is Archaeology?
What is an archaeologist and what do they do?

3. What Are Artifacts?
Artifacts are defined as products of human skill. (Anything made by humans) An example might be a piece of pottery, a tool, or a coin.
An archaeologist is a person who studies artifacts in order to find out more about history and/or the people who lived years ago
Human bones are not artifacts.… still, we can use some of the same methods in order to understand more about them.

4. Artifact #1
Question 1: This is a 130 year-old harpoon head. Where might this have been found?

5. Artifact #2
Question 2: Look closely, what religious relic is wrapped inside the paper?

7. Artifact #3
Question #3: What culture created this pottery?

8. Question #4: What was this colonial American artifact used for?

9. Question #5: What was this used for?
Artifact #5
Question #5: What was this used for?

10. Question #6: What was this Medieval artifact used for?

11. Methods of Studying Artifacts
Where is the object located? - How far it is buried underground and where the artifact is located geographically may help find out important information
What is the object and how is it used? Understanding the object and its uses may help archaeologists figure out how people live
3. What is the object made out of? This can help you understand the materials that people used. We can also figure out if people traded with other cultures as well.

12. Methods of Studying Artifacts (cont.)
4. Carbon Dating When an item made of carbon ages, little pieces of carbon fall off in the process. We can tell how old the object is by how much carbon the item still has… this is one of the most popular methods scientists use today
5. Historical Reference & Common Sense Archaeologists and historians think about what else has been going on during the time period in which the artifact was made. Can you use the artifact to piece together history? YES! By looking at the artifact and known historical evidence, they can begin to piece together the puzzle.

13. Do the following: Imagine this room is instantly frozen in time.
1000 years from now, people from the future discover everything in this room intact; exactly as it is today…us included (they do not understand our language/writing!)
What could they determine about our society & people using the various artifacts/things found in this room?
Be clear and specific…you must name and describe what could be learned from 5 things located in this room!