Archaeology Learning Kit


Area fourth-graders enjoy an on-site visit to the
Hovey Lake archaeological site.

The Archaeology Learning Kit was initially created for the fourth grade students of Posey County as part of the celebration of Indiana Archaeology Week in September of 1997.  Although the kits were designed for fourth grade, they have been adapted successfully in teaching grades three through nine.  This project was sponsored by Indiana University and supported by the Indiana Humanities Council and the Indiana Division of Historic Preservation & Archaeology.  Thanks to additional support from the Indiana Humanities Council, Indiana University and University of Southern Indiana have now teamed together to make it possible to share this kit with many more students.

The kit contains a video tour of the Hovey Lake site as well as maps, artifacts, and record forms from a fictional site.

Working with the Learning Kit provides teachers and students an opportunity to think about artifacts and archaeological sites scientifically.   More than just objects, these material records are some of the clues that help tell the story of the people who lived in Indiana hundreds or even thousands of years ago.

Please join us in thinking and working like an archaeologist!

Archaeology Learning Kit Contents
The following is a list of the artifacts (with their catalog numbers) that are included in the Archaeology Learning Kit. Each kit includes four bags of artifacts, a learning kit guide, and a site records notebook.


 Bag contents include:
Nail (#1), Scraper (#9), Chert (#12), Fire-Cracked Rock (#13), Chert (#15), Ax (#20), Arrow Point (#22), Concrete (#25), Brick Fragment (#26), Chert Flakes (#28), and Fire-Cracked Rock (#29)
 
Bag contents include:
Grinding Slab (#11) and Nutting Stone (#19)
 
Bag contents include:
Whiteware Fragment (#2), Mussel Shell (#3), Daub (#4 & #5), Bone Awl (#6), Shell-Tempered Pottery Sherd (#7 & #8), Burned Corn (#10) 
 
Bag contents include:
Charcoal (#14), Spearpoint (#16), Turtle Shell (#17), Bone (#18), Shell-Tempered Pottery Sherd (#21 & #24), Mussel Shell (#23), Deer Bone (#27), and Wood Charcoal (#30)
 
Blue Book: Learning Kit Guide
This notebook includes directions, explanations, definitions, and the preservation pages. 

Red Book: Site Records
Site records include notes and maps that archaeologists make to store information about a site, such as the location of artifacts and soil types.

For more information about obtaining an Archaeology Learning Kit,
please contact the USI Learning Network at 800-813-4238.