Dalton News

5th Grade Digs Deep Into the Bronze Age

Archaeotype is back! In conjunction with our partners in the New Lab, the Museum Program, and our resident historians and experts, 5th Graders are in the midst of a virtual dig, known as an “archaeotype,” to conclude their study of ancient Mesopotamia.
In the virtual dig, students uncover and study primary source artifacts from Bronze Age southern Mesopotamia, or Sumer. Archaeotype will allow students to not only analyze and make inferences based on primary source artifacts but will also give them insight into the organization of an ancient Sumerian city.

As students excavate a virtual site based on the real ancient Mesopotamian city, Mashkan-shapir, they uncover five different parts of the city, artifacts, and architectural ruins. Students record their observations of these discoveries and use them to make inferences about which part of the city they are excavating and what function it served to the people of ancient Mesopotamia. 

Before winter break, dig teams will share their findings with the class in Google presentations that ask them to provide written and photographic evidence and analysis to support their hypotheses.

Story submitted by 5th Grade Teachers Elif Espinola-Engin and Rachel Pellegrini and the 5th Grade Team
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