TELLING STORIES ABOUT THE PAST – WHAT DO ARCHAEOLOGISTS DO?
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
To give students a quick
background on the methods
and skills archaeologists use
to discover the past.
RESOURCES
Powerpoint Slides
Photographs
Maps
Activity Sheets
Artefact Collection
CURRICULUM
KS 2 History: Changes from the
Stone Age to the Iron Age
KS 2 Science, Maths, Art and
Design, English, Geology
(See Activity Sheets for detailed
links)
LEARNING QUESTIONS:
LEARNING QUESTION 1: WHAT DO ARCHAEOLOGISTS DO?
Archaeologists look at the evidence left behind by people who lived in the past. We tell
stories about the past by looking at the evidence.
The following topics – When did it happen? What happened? Where did it happen? – help
students try out the skills archaeologists use to create their stories about the past.
WHAT DON’T ARCHAEOLOGISTS DO?
It’s important to clear up some things that we don’t do in archaeology!




NO DINOSAURS! – that’s Palaeontologists. Archaeologists do look at some fossils
though – fossils of ancient humans and ancient animals that these humans hunted,
farmed and kept as pets. These archaeologists are called zooarchaeologists (the
“zoo” comes from zoology).
NO ALIENS! – that’s Conspiracy Theorists, Xenobiologists or Pseudoarchaeologists.
Human beings around the world, all throughout history, have been clever and skilled
enough to make wonderful monuments like the Egyptian Pyramids and Stonehenge
by themselves: they never needed any help from aliens.
NO BIGFOOTS, YETIS, YOWIES, SASQUATCHES, BUNYIPS, BOGLES OR OTHER
BEASTIES! – that’s cryptobiologists. People in the past had great legends about
mythological monsters, so sometimes archaeologists study ancient drawings or
statues of these made-up monsters, but that’s as far as we go.
NO TREASURE-HUNTING! Sometimes archaeologists do find amazing treasures from
the past, but we don’t do archaeology in the hope of finding a huge pile of gold and
becoming wealthy. Any treasures archaeologists find are given to museums so
everyone can enjoy them.
1
I hope your students aren’t too disappointed!
LEARNING QUESTION 2: LOOKING AT THE EVIDENCE
This evidence includes their buildings, settlements, farming systems, possessions, artwork,
clothing, tools and weapons. All of these things are called “material culture”, which simply
means the things that people made and used in the past.
All of the things you own and use are part of our “material culture”. Future archaeologists
will look at our everyday objects and call them “artefacts”.
Archaeologists also study human and animal remains – their fossils, bones, other preserved
body parts (like hair, teeth or skin), their poo (a fossilized poo is called a coprolite), and
traces they leave behind like footprints and fingerprints.
Archaeologists also look at environmental evidence –this evidence includes pollen, plant
seeds, and the remains of trees and grasses (wooden objects, stems, leaves, nuts and
berries). These can tell us the time of year (flowers and pollen for spring, seeds and berries
for autumn) and the type of climate (some plants grow better in hot weather, others in cold,
others in wet environments, or in dry environments). It can tell us whether the people in the
past were farmers (if they had domesticated plants like wheat and rice) or hunter-gatherers
(if there are only the remains of wild plants).
LEARNING QUESTION 3: TELLING STORIES ABOUT THE PAST
To tell a story you need to know:
When did it happen? – what is the order of events? What happened first?
What happened? – what events occurred?
Where did it happen?
Once you have found out these things, you can try to think about a very important question:
why did it happen? Sometimes it can be hard to answer this, but it is interesting to try!
LEARNING QUESTION 4: LOOKING AT THE BIG PICTURE
To tell a convincing story about the past, you need to look at the BIG PICTURE – When does
the part of the past you are looking at fit in with the history of your area? Where is it in the
bigger landscape? How does it fit in with other archaeological sites? How does it fit in with
any interesting landmarks, like mountains or rivers, or the cardinal directions?
LEARNING QUESTION 5: LOOKING AT THE SMALL PICTURE
2
A good story about the past also needs fine detail so archaeologists also look at the SMALL
PICTURE. The tiny details of individual buildings and artefacts can tell us how something was
made, how it was used, and maybe even who made it, and why. We can start to tell stories
about what the artefact might have meant to the ancient person who made and used it.
LEARNING QUESTION 6: THE STEPS IN AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION
Steps in an archaeological investigation:
1. Preliminary survey = walking over the landscape and mapping out the location of
hillforts, artefacts found on the surface of the ground (that have been disturbed by
ploughing) or under the surface (through geophysical survey and responsible metaldetecting), or using satellites and planes to capture pictures of the whole area that
you can then examine closely for crop marks and other signs.
2. Detailed survey = using information gathered during the preliminary survey,
archaeologists choose an area to look at in more detail. They draw detailed plans of
the site, take extra aerial photographs or satellite images, and collect any artefacts
they find on the surface.
3. Excavation = using information gathered in the detailed survey, archaeologists then
decide where to dig. This might be a site that people already know about, or
predicting where a site might be based on a place’s similarity to other archaeological
sites. Archaeologists have to choose wisely when they excavate, because excavating
something means no one else can dig it up again. After getting permission to dig,
archaeologists make sure to carefully record all of their finds, because otherwise all
the information will be lost. They record discoveries with photographs, drawings
(plans and sections), stratigraphic records, and a database of all the artefacts,
remains of structures, and where they were found.
4. After excavation = all of the finds are cleaned and conserved, and stored or given to
museums.
5. Publication = a report is written so everyone can find out the results of the project. It
is very important to share your discoveries so other people can learn from and enjoy
them.
FURTHER READING AND RESOURCES LIST:
BOOKS, ARTICLES AND DOCUMENTARIES
Introductions to Archaeology
Adams, Simon 2008. Archaeology Detectives. Oxford University Press: Oxford
Grant, Jim, Sam Gorin and Neil Fleming 2008. The Archaeology Coursebook: an Introduction
to Themes, Sites, Methods and Skills. Routledge.
3
Hibbert, Claire 2014. The History Detective Investigates: Stone Age to Iron Age. Wayland:
Hachette Children’s Books.
White, John 2005. Hands-On Archaeology: Real-Life Activities for Kids. Prufrock Press.
Archaeology in Northumberland and the North Pennines
Frodsham, Paul 2004. Archaeology in the Northumberland National Park. Council for British
Archaeology: York.
Frodsham, Paul 2006. In the Valley of the Sacred Mountain: an introduction to prehistoric
Upper Coquetdale 100 years after David Dippie Dixon. Northern Heritage: Newcastle Upon
Tyne.
Petts, David and Christopher Gerrard eds, North-East Regional Research Framework [.pdf].
URL: <http://content.durham.gov.uk/PDFRepository/NERFFBook2.pdf > Accessed 1st
January 2014
Waddington, Clive & David Passmore 2004. Ancient Northumberland. Country Store:
Wooler.
Young, Robert, Paul Frodsham, Iain Hedley and Steven Speak 2004. An Archaeological
Research Framework for Northumberland National Park: Resource Assessment, Research
Agenda and Research Strategy – Section 4, Prehistory [.pdf] URL:
<http://www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk/understanding/historyarchaeology/archa
eologicalresearchframework > Accessed 1st January 2014
WEBSITES
Council for British Archaeology 2013. The Young Archaeologists’ Club: Leaders’ Area –
Activity Ideas. URL: < http://www.yac-uk.org/leaders/ideas > Accessed 12th January 2014

Very useful list of archaeology-related activities for 8 to 16 year olds.
Durbin, Gail, Susan Morris and Sue Wilkinson 1992. Learning from Objects: A Teacher’s
Guide. English Heritage: London. Now made freely available as a .pdf as part of an ongoing
digitization project to make previously published information about English Heritage
properties accessible to teachers. URL: <http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Learningfrom-Objects-a-teacher-s-guide-6059739/ > Accessed 15th July 2014
Northumberland County Council 2014. Keys to the Past [website] URL:
<http://www.keystothepast.info/> Accessed 12th January 2014
4
Northumberland National Park 2014. The Northumberland National Park site [website] URL:
<www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk > Accessed 20th June 2014

Visiting the Northumberland National Park website and searching for “Neolithic”,
“archaeology” and “The Ancients” plus the names of specific sites mentioned in this
education pack will bring up more information.
Tyne and Wear Museums 2014a, The Great North Museum Hancock [website] URL: <
http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/great-north-museum.html > Accessed 10th March 2014.

Many of the artefacts photographed for the slides accompanying this education pack
are on display at the Great North Museum Hancock. Additional educational materials
are available to download from their website. Contact the museum for information
on activity materials that can be borrowed to use on a visit to the museum.
Tyne and Wear Museums 2014b, Boxes of Delight Artefact Loan Programme [website] URL:
< http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/schools/boxes-of-delight/find-boxes.html > Accessed
10th August 2014

The Tyne and Wear Museums offers free loan of handling collections of artefacts,
including a Celts and Romans collection. Please contact the museum through the
above website for more information.
5