Ancient Treasure in the Back Yard:
A Story about Archaeology

Ancient Treasure in the Back Yard Imagine that school has just ended and it is your first day of summer vacation! Your friend calls you and invites you to come over to play a great new game on his computer. Your mom says she'd rather that you help her in the yard. She's digging up an area for a new vegetable garden. Since digging in the yard is the last thing you want to do, you start to complain. Then she says, "Oh, come on, it will be fun! You can pretend you're an archaeologist looking for artifacts!" You can't believe how dumb this is, but you keep your mouth shut and head out with your gloves and shovel. Ever since your mom rented all those Indiana Jones videos she has had this weird thing about archaeology. Later that morning, as she is digging in the yard, your mom finds some broken pieces of ceramic pottery that look pretty old. She gets all excited about those silly little pieces of pottery. You think they're probably just pieces of an old flower pot. Later on you come across some stones that actually look like arrowheads. Hmmm.... these are pretty cool, actually. Your mom says she thinks these could be prehistoric artifacts. Yeah, sure, you think. Aren't artifacts things from the time of the dinosaurs or something? "What should we do with these?" your mom wonders. "How can we find out how old these things are, and if they are valuable?" You have no idea, but seeing an opportunity to get out of the yard, dirt, and hot sun, you volunteer to find out. "I know!" you say, "I'll get on the Internet to see what I can find out." "Oh, no you don't, " your mom replies. "You're not getting out of this gardening so easily!" You beg your mom to let you get on the Internet. When she says no again, you counter with the one thing you know she will listen to. "But mom," you say, "It will be an educational experience! I don't even know what archaeology really is. I bet I can find out who we should call about this stuff we found." She finally says OK, but only if you are willing to look up some stuff for her, too. She hands you a list of web sites she got from the Smithsonian about archaeology and says, " I've always wondered what you have to do to become an archaeologist. And I've heard there are places you can go in the summer to help out on a dig, too, but I haven't had time to check it out. See if you can find out if there is a museum around where we could go to learn more about archaeology. See what you can find out on the web. If you can find all of this information in 45 minutes, I'll let you go play at your friend's house when you're through." "Yes!" you think-surfing the web sure beats digging up the garden. You race inside to start your search. This is just the beginning of a very special story that you will learn when you complete this Maryland Exploration. This Maryland Exploration is a different kind of lesson -- in this lesson, you will read a story, and then you will complete some learning activities. To continue with this Exploration, choose "Ahead" in the block below. If you wish to review a page while you are working on this Maryland Exploration, click on "Back." If you wish to return to the Maryland with PRIDE Home Page, click on "Home."

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