How to.

use Archaeology to teach Social Studies at Primary school

What is Archaeology?
Archaeology is the study of people and societies in the past through the examination of
their material remains. Material remains can literally be anything left behind by people in
the past. These can include standing remains of buildings from any period, objects either
common or unusual, textiles, art, plant remains, animal bones or human remains. By
studying this evidence, archaeologists can begin to reconstruct past societies and
environments. Archaeology is a discipline that crosses boundaries between the arts, social
sciences and science subjects. It makes use of a number of different techniques including
excavation (digging for remains), using aerial photography to identify evidence for sites
which might not be visible on the ground, surveying remains on the ground to record sites,
field-walking to identify any small artefacts on the ground which might point to the
existence of a site below ground, experimental archaeology to try and recreate how people
lived in the past and laboratory analysis of bones and plant remains. Archaeology can give
insights into the study of any period and is the principle means of studying the prehistoric
era. Archaeology can, however, be any material remains older than about fifty years.
How can Archaeology be used to deliver Social Studies?
Archaeology is the perfect tool to deliver multi-disciplinary learning. It encompasses a huge
range of skills and uses expertise from a wide range of areas, including biological sciences,
chemistry, physics, history and geography. Archaeology sits in the past, but also in the
present as part of our
landscape and as a reminder
that, quite often, the
landscape is not natural, but
was shaped by our ancestors.
Through studying the past
and the influence of humans
on the land, both History and
Geography can be covered
through the lens of
archaeology.
The remains of the past
across the landscape also
gives rise to the issue of how those remains are cared for and the value that we place on
them and the share of the land we give to them when our ever growing population is
demanding more and more space for living.

Much of the excavations which are currently taking place across the UK are in advance of
development work, either for transport infrastructure or building developments. In
addition, there are the known remains of the historic environment, some of which is cared
for by Historic Scotland and the National Trust for Scotland and which are important in
telling the story of Scotland as well as being a key component in Scotlands tourist industry
and therefore contributing to our modern day economy.
It is in this area of the historic environment landscape, the standing remains of the past and
how this affects both our present and our future, that the subjects of History, Geography
and Modern Studies can most coherently be brought together through archaeology.
Below are some ideas for projects which can achieve this.
1. Introduction to Archaeology How do we find out about the past?
This project introduces students to the idea that objects and sites are also evidence for the past and
serves as an introduction to archaeology and what it can tell us about the past. Use the series of
activities from Archaeology Scotland to explore how we can find out about the past through
archaeology. Dustbin Detectives helps to work out how we can find out information about the
people in the past through what they have thrown out. Rot or Not explores materials and how
they survive in different conditions depending on the conditions on each site will depend on which
materials survive. In addition, there are activities which help learners to understand what objects
can tell us about the past Who would live in a grave like this and the Storytelling Investigation
Kit. The link to all of these resources is below.
2. Local study My Street/the High Street
This project uses the local area to help
pupils to find out more about the past.
You may want to use the framework in
Archaeology Detectives or the activities
in the Industrial Archaeology Artefact
Investigation kit to help in this study. You
can find historical maps online and use
local census records as a written resource.
These can either be applied to the local
high street, or to pupils own street. Can
they find out who has lived in their house?
You could then use the information gathered to create a map of the whole town or area at one
particular point in the past, for example, 150 years ago.

3. Local study - Who lived here and why?

People in the past had a much closer
relationship with the landscape than we do
today. When choosing where to live,
natural features played an important part,
for example Mesolithic people would
always camp near water and on high
ground; Neolithic people preferred to clear
trees to build their house; Iron Age people
would use either stone or wood to build
their houses, depending on what was most
plentiful; Romans would often establish
forts near river crossings and Medieval
castles would be built on areas commanding a clear view and easily defensible. Later, various
industries were established depending on the availability of natural resources. Following on from
that, transport links were built to facilitate the movement of goods. You can explore the natural
features of your area to help you understand how it developed.
Begin by looking at the landscape, maybe using something like the satellite map on Google. What
would the landscape look like without the town there? If you were deciding where to build the
town, where would you choose and why? If you are studying a particular period, you could build up
a picture of what the area was like and then see how the natural features were used. For example, if
your area was a small village in Medieval times, but then grew to a large town in the nineteenth
century, what helped it to grow? Once again, you might find it useful to use Archaeological
Detectives to help you pull together all the evidence about your area, or the Houses and
Settlements activity contained in the Iron Age Artefact Investigation Kit.

Sources of information
Archaeology Scotland resources - www.archaeologyscotland.org.uk/?q=node/3
Maps Digital Historical maps are available from the National Library of Scotland:
http://maps.nls.uk
Photographs SCRAN has the best collection of photographs on almost any time period or subject:
http://scran.ac.uk
In addition there is an online collection of aerial photographs called Britain from Above. These can
be accessed at: www.britainfromabove.org.uk
Historic Environment Record The Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments
(RCAHMS) holds the national record of the historic environment, which includes location

information, site details and images of more than 300,000 archaeological, architectural,
maritime and industrial sites throughout Scotland. www.rcahms.gov.uk/canmore
Some local councils, such as East and Mid Lothian (www.eastlothian.gov.uk/archaeology)
and Highland (her.highland.gov.uk/) also have their own Historic Environment records
available online with similar information.