TOPIC FOUR: “WHERE DID IT HAPPEN?”
This topic aims to teach students how a site’s location can influence what people did there
in the past. It also shows how important it is to look at an archaeological discovery in
relation to all the other known sites and natural features around it (in context).
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
RESOURCES
To introduce children to the
Slides
basic concepts of archaeology,
Photographs
as a foundation for studies in
Maps
KS2 and onward
Activity Sheets
CURRICULUM
KS1: History; Science (working
scientifically, everyday
materials); Art and Design
KS2: History (Iron Age Studies
and subjects); Science (working
scientifically, everyday
materials); Art and Design
(planning and drawing)
LEARNING QUESTIONS:
1. What do archaeologists do?
2. How do archaeologists use OS maps?
3. How do archaeologists use aerial photographs?
4. Does the landscape influence human behavior?
5. Can human behavior change the landscape?
ACTIVITIES
 Exploring Part 1: Maps
 Exploring Part 2: Aerial photographs
 Exploring Part 3: Make your own maps
 Imagine a Prehistoric House
 End of Topic Review: Do “Archaeology Detective” and/or “Who’s Who in Prehistory”
activities.
LEARNING QUESTIONS:
LEARNING QUESTION 1: WHAT DO ARCHAEOLOGISTS DO?
In brief: Archaeologists study the material remains of past human activity, to learn what
human life was like in the past. These remains include the fossils of ancient humans, plus
more recent burials that are too young to have become fossils, as well as the objects, tools,
artworks, buildings and monuments that people made.
This teaching pack will show how archaeologists look at the evidence to tell stories about
the past. An important part in any story is where things happened. This lesson explains how
archaeologists find out where things happened by using maps and aerial photographs to
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identify archaeological sites and areas where there is a good chance of finding
archaeological sites. It also outlines how a landscape can influence the people who live
there, and in turn how people change the landscape to suit their needs.
LEARNING QUESTION 2: HOW DO ARCHAEOLOGISTS USE MAPS?
OS maps show where natural landscape features are – mountains, rivers, forests and so on,
and the elevation of these features (how high they are above sea level). They also show
human landscape features like roads, towns and different sorts of land use (farming,
quarrying etc). They also show some archaeological or historic sites.
There are also specialist maps which show the geology of a place (what the underlying rocks
are made of), every known archaeological site in an area (instead of the very large/famous
ones you see on OS maps), information about land ownership, or how much rain falls in
certain areas… There seems to be a map for everything!
Archaeologists are interested in natural landscape features because they influence how
people can use the land. For example, people tend to farm in river valleys because the
ground is level and crops grow well because of floods depositing rich soil. People tend to
graze their animals on high ground like hilltops in the summer, but not in the winter because
there is too much snow. People tend to build on the sheltered sides of hills to get some
protection from wind and rain. By thinking of what people in the past might have done,
archaeologists can then start to think where they might have done it, and start looking in
those places.
Archaeologists are interested in human landscape features because they show how people
have used the land, in the past and today. Sometimes modern land use can destroy
archaeological sites. For example, forestry destroys archaeological sites because the tree
roots disturb anything buried under ground. On the other hand, land used for rough pasture
can contain many archaeological sites because grazing doesn’t really disturb archaeological
sites. Also, people tend to live in the same places and use the same roads, so today’s towns
and roads have sometimes been in the same place for a very long time and there can be
archaeology buried under peoples’ houses and in their backyards. Comparing old maps and
seeing how they’ve changed over time helps us discover how a landscape has changed over
generations. By thinking of how the land is used today, archaeologists can decide where
they have a good chance of finding some archaeology.
Archaeologists also use maps to show what they’ve found! When they write their final
report, archaeologists always include maps of their results.
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LEARNING QUESTION 3: HOW DO ARCHAEOLOGISTS USE AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS?
Aerial photographs also help archaeologists to find archaeological sites. Aerial photographs
are very useful for archaeologists. They provide a bird’s eye view of a site, show how
different features are related to each other, and can reveal sites which cannot be seen by
people from ground-level. Crop marks appear when features beneath the ground makes the
crops grow better or worse above the features. Crops grow well over buried ditches,
because ditches can be filled with organic material and also contain more moisture. Crops
grow poorly over buried walls, because the soil is shallower and the plants’ roots cannot get
as much nourishment or moisture.
Other marks visible on aerial photographs include: Soil marks, which occur in ploughed
fields, where ploughing has disturbed features; Parch marks, which appear when crops dry
out more quickly because the soil is shallow above buried features; Melting marks, where
snow and frost also melt differently above buried features. Shadows cast by low sunlight
emphasise earthworks which may otherwise be obscured by soil, vegetation or snow.
There are two types of aerial photography commonly used. Vertical aerial photographs are
taken from directly above. Oblique aerial photographs are taken at an angle. Oblique
photographs are very good for picking up slight shadows. Often comparing vertical and
oblique photographs, or photographs from the same vantage point but taken at different
times of the day or year, will let you see features that are only visible under certain
conditions. Other sorts of remote imaging used to identify archaeological sites include
Satellite Imagery, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) and thermal imaging. All of these
images can be layered on top of each other, like overlaying images on sheets of transparent
plastic, in a computer program called a GIS (Geographic Information System) to help
archaeologists understand as much as they can about the landscape before they start
digging.
By combining what they learn from maps with what they learn from aerial photographs and
other methods, archaeologists can build up a good picture of the landscape. This helps them
to decide where to look at more closely – by a survey (walking over the landscape with
copies of the maps and aerial photographs, and going to look at anything they’ve found) and
then by an excavation.
LEARNING QUESTION 4: DOES THE LANDSCAPE INFLUENCE HUMAN BEHAVIOUR?
Landscape features do influence how people use the land. People still make their own
choices about where to live, what to do, and where to do it, but the natural landscape
makes some things easier or harder. Particular crops grow better in certain areas: people
can keep growing a crop in an area which doesn’t suit it, but they’ll have to work a lot
harder to survive!
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It seems that people often followed the path of least resistance, unless there was something
stopping them from doing so (another tribe living on the better land, or cultural rules
against farming certain animals or crops, for example).
Also, the resources available in an area determine what happens there. People grow crops
on rich soil, graze animals on rich grassland, go fishing by the river, hunt deer in the forest,
quarry stone from an outcrop, and so on. Again, there might be external factors preventing
them from doing so, but in general people are good at finding out what works best for their
situation.
Just like today, people in the past did things due to their own beliefs rather than following
environmental rules like robots following their programming. Some special ceremonial sites
like stone circles and burial monuments like long cairns and round barrows might not seem
to be related to the resources in an area. However, sometimes if you look closer you find
out that landscape features also influence the location of these religious or spiritual places.
For example, archaeologists think that burial monuments were sometimes used to mark the
territory belonging to one community: this is because the monuments are often put on very
prominent landmarks where they can be seen from a long way away.
LEARNING QUESTION 5: CAN HUMAN BEHAVIOUR CHANGE THE LANDSCAPE?
People have been changing the landscape for thousands of years. A very important change
people made to Britain’s landscape in the Bronze Age was cutting down many of the ancient
forests which once covered the island. This had a big influence on the environment,
including changing erosion patterns and reducing the habitat of some animals. People have
been maintaining Northumberland’s landscape for farming (growing crops and grazing
livestock) for thousands of years: Northumberland National Park’s distinctive open
landscape is a result of this.
In more recent history, people have made some more drastic changes to the landscape of
Northumberland. In 1876 the Walltown Quarry opened and completely changed the shape
of the Whin Sill. Quarrymen removed a huge amount of topsoil and stone. The quarry closed
in 1976 and reclamation work started in 1981 – the reclamation work filled in part of the
quarry pit with boulder clay from digging the A69 Greenhead bypass, the lake was created,
and topsoil was brought in to encourage plants to grow. In the area around Walltown,
several commercial forestry plantations were established in the 1960s and these are
harvested and replanted every 20 years or so.
Although a place can seem like it has always been the way it is today, looking at maps and
aerial photographs can show us that it has changed a huge amount over decades or
centuries. Humans are influenced by their landscape but we also try to change the
landscape to suit ourselves.
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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.
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.
Northumberland National Park Authority 1999. The Walltown Education Pack [.pdf] URL: <
http://www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/147625/wall
towneducationpack1.pdf > Accessed 1st January 2014.
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
Smith, Ken and Nanny Smith 2008. The Great Northern Miners. Tyne Bridge Publishing.
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
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WEBSITES
British Museum 2014. The Portable Antiquities Scheme [website] URL: <www.finds.org.uk >
Accessed 20th June 2014

This is the website of the Portable Antiquities Scheme. People who find
archaeological artefacts by accident or through metal-detecting are encouraged to
report their discoveries to this Scheme so that others can use the information.
Searching this website by region and historic period allows you to see what
archaeological finds have been reported in your area.
Cope, Julian 2014. The Modern Antiquarian [website] URL: <
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/home/> Accessed 11th January 2014
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
English Heritage 2014. PastScape [website] URL: <http://www.pastscape.org.uk/ >Accessed
10th February 2014

This website allows you to search by location and historic period to find ancient
monuments in your area, and provides links to further information.
The Megalithic Portal 2014. The Megalithic Portal [website]
URL:<http://www.megalithic.co.uk/ > Accessed 10th January 2014
Northumberland County Council 2014. Keys to the Past [website] URL:
<http://www.keystothepast.info/> Accessed 12th January 2014
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.
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
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.
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