ACTIVITIES

1. Have students read the subject overview over the span of three days, taking a day for each civilization presented. Have the students review key concepts\vocabulary as homework the night before each class. In class, review the segments of the article with the students, showing the slides and discussion topics included in the packet. Once the entire subject overview is reviewed, administer the recommended quiz. If you wish to devote more time to this important topic, initiate one of the following activities.

2. Archaeology Activity. 'Xerox the following text and distribute it to your students. After they have carefully read this text, have the students separate into groups. Each group will be given a box with a series of items. The students must imagine that they are archaeologists from the future. The box contains items from an ancient civilization which existed 1000 years ago. Nothing remains of that civilization except what is contained in the box. Archaeologists have excavated these items and now the items must be analyzed in order to acquire information about this ancient civilization. Based solely on the items in the box, students should list ideas regarding the nature of the ancient society which produced these items. The instructor can place a variety of items in the boxes such as a can with glue marks where a label had once been, a bottle, a hairpin, old jewelry, plastic grocery bag, expired credit card, plastic microwaveable dish, old music. cassette, plastic laminated drivers license, disposable razor, metal lock, toy gun, teddy bear, pencil sharpener, computer diskette, screwdriver, staples, airplane model, pair of old jeans, etc. Students can only base their analysis on the items in the box and cannot assume knowledge which is not present.

Ideas which the students should consider could be the following:

1) What is the technological level of the civilization? What things did they produce? What materials did they use?

2) What type of economy did they have? Did they trade?

3) Did they have a calendrical system, a writing system?

4) What type of government did they have? How was society arranged (social hierarchy)?

5) What was the relationship of men and women? The role of the family?

6) What was the nature of their religious beliefs? Did they have many gods? What ceremonies might they have had? How did they relate to the natural world?

Each group should be prepared to present their findings the following day in class. This activity could also be a class-wide project. The teacher could create only one box and lead a discussion regarding the significance of the content of that box. Students could pretend that they are archaeologists who are attending a special conference just to discuss this civilization. What conclusions do they draw as a class? Do different groups disagree? Why?