The following activity is part of our 14-day #eDLProjectShare series. The activity is extracted from our high school, Archaeology: Detectives of the Past course / Unit 8: Public Archaeology and Modern Society.

Directions:

1. Complete the following activity. Use the rubric located below the activity to assess how you are completing each of the required components.
2. (Optional): Feel free to share your project progress or the final project with a short video or picture on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #eDLProjectShare @eDynamicLearning. *If you are under 18, you must have your teacher or parent or guardian’s permission to post. 
3. (Optional): For teachers and parents looking to use as a graded activity, a rubric worth 15 points is located at the bottom of the activity.

Activity: Explore the Past

Ancient Wonders Captured in 3D

Please watch the following TED Talk video and answer the questions.

1. A large part of archaeology is protecting the past. What event spurred Kacyra and his wife to expand their foundation to include digital preservation?
   Within this unit, you have learned that an integral part of archaeology is restoration and reconstruction. How might Kacyra’s foundation and technology assist in restoration?
2. Kacyra states that we are losing our sites and our stories, and therefore losing a significant piece of our collective memory. Why do you believe that this matters?
3. After completing the second activity below (“Interactive Digs”), come back to this question to answer it: How might Kacyra’s technology help with some of the challenges that archaeologists faced in preserving the artifacts in the below activity you completed?

Interactive Digs

Visit this interactive archaeology site.

Choose one of the current or past projects on the site. Read through the various links and information for the project that you choose. Answer the questions below based on the project you chose.

1. Describe the project. Where is it located? What is the site that is being studied? What are the archaeologists hoping to find?
2. What are the site-specific challenges that archaeologists would face here in finding and preserving artifacts? For example, you might consider the climate, what happened at the site throughout history, or anything else that might make finding or preserving artifacts challenging.
3. Describe three discoveries made at the site. What did the archaeologists discover? What does this tell them about the site?