"All They Have to Eat is Rat Meat":
The Straight Scoop on Archaeology
Assistant state archaeologist (and author of this article) Ron Rood, with ????, looks at an artifact that has been screened from dirt.
What do fourth graders know about archaeology?
Some know quite a bit. But a letter from one fourth grader reveals more than a few misconceptions:
"Archaeologists go on trips all over the world and mostly to Egypt and search for stuff like dinosaur bones and gold."
"Sometimes they find stuff but most of the time they don't.
"If they don't find gold or bones, they are put into jail and they might be killed.... All they have to eat is rat meat.
"Archaeologists get paid a lot of money for the stuff they find."
One of my most rewarding jobs as the Utah assistant state archaeologist is to talk to fourth grade classes about archaeology. I explain that archaeology is a science—it's not treasure hunting, Indiana Jones-type adventuring, or paleontology.
The following letters reveal better understanding-–and go straight to the heart of two main issues, dinosaurs and money:
"Thanks for telling us about archeology. Our teach [sic] does not know anything about archaeology. He thought [archaeologists] hunted dinosaurs. I hope he was listening to you."
"Thanks for talking to our class about archyology [sic] on career day. Archyology is cool and better than the man who talked about working at the grocery store but he makes more money."
These kids were able to work with archaeologists in excavating an Archaic campground located near the Utah State Prison.
Tiny artifacts
About two years ago I brought into a classroom a small collection of small seeds and animal bones from an archaeological site in central Utah. I explained that these tiny artifacts teach us about the day-to-day details of ancient life and were part of a meal 2,000 years ago. Small items are now an important part of my presentation, partly because of these two letters:
Putting dirt in the water and getting out the seeds is a good idea. That way you'll find all the little pices [sic] of bone. That would be a fun job to do and I play in the mud all the time. Thanks for coming to our school.
Thanks for showing us the tiny bones from the fish. Those people must have been starving to eat such little fish. It was really cool to see the tiny bones and the corn seeds from the dig site. I would like to go on a dig sometime and find little bones.
Vandalism and looting: Bad
I talk to students about vandalism and looting as I show slides of vandalized rock art and archaeological sites. We discuss the immorality and illegality of artifact collecting and the responsibility we all have to protect archaeological sites. Such a discussion no doubt prompted this letter:
Thank you for talking to our class about archaeology. I like the picture of the pottery pieces. My Uncle has pottery that he digs up. I know it is wrong but he says it is not. He lives in Cortez. I liked looking at the skulls and learning about plant eaters and meat eaters. You could call my uncle and tell him not to dig.
Many students have told me that they have collected artifacts with their relatives. Some have told me about large artifact collections their parents have. I always tell them the same thing: "If you find an artifact, you can pick it up, study it, and ask yourself questions about it—'How old is it?' and ‘Who made it?' You can photograph it or sketch it—but do not collect it."
Taking care of the "book"
This concept becomes easier for them to understand when we discuss the fact that every artifact, no matter how small or large, is part of a puzzle of the past. One student suggested that taking artifacts is like tearing pages from a book in their school library. I could not have said it better myself. I love getting letters like this:
Thank you for showing us the slides of the archaeology dig. At Lake Powell my dad found a bunch of pottery sherds and we took them home. I wish we would have left them there and when we go back next year I would like to put the pottery back where we found it. I was sad to see the picture of the rock art with the bullet holes. Archaeology is very cool and interesting.
Something tells me this girl's dad won't be collecting more pottery sherds any time soon.
—Ron Rood, assistant state archaeologist