Posted: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 12:00 am
OSU's Adventures in Learning takes look at cultures
By MARY ANN ALBRIGHT
Gazette-Times reporter
As Layne Croney dug through the layers of dirt outside a maintenance facilities building at Oregon State University, the 11-year-old stumbled across a multicolored plastic disk.
"Artifact! Cool artifact!" he yelled. The other members of his excavation crew joined in the chant.
"Artifact! Artifact!"
Layne carefully handed the disk to Aaron Lee, another amateur archaeologist, to be brushed clean.
"I'm not sure what it is. Maybe some sort of kaleidoscope or necklace," mused 12-year-old Aaron, who'll be a seventh-grader at Cheldelin Middle School this fall.
After he removed all the dust, Aaron sent the mysterious item to Charlie Davidson, who recorded what the object looked like and where it was found.
"It looks like a piece of technology to me," said Charlie, a 12-year-old visiting from New York for the summer.
The 13 students participating in the simulated archaeological dig Tuesday morning were part of an "Adventures in Learning" class designed to stimulate and challenge kids who've recently completed grades five and six.
Adventures in Learning is one of several precollege programs offered by OSU each summer. It began last Monday and continues through Friday.
Carole Boaz and Dana Poling, both elementary school teachers in Halsey, led the budding archaeologists in their excavation.
Last week, the class divided into two sections. Each made up a culture, then created artifacts to represent that civilization's communication system, economy, food, clothing, recreational habits and other attributes.
Each group buried its artifacts, and on Tuesday they unearthed the clues to each other's secret cultures.
"Their civilization could be anything. It doesn't have to be real, it doesn't have to be on this planet. It's an imaginary culture," Boaz explained.
Both groups included a "Rosetta Stone" and other clues for cracking their language codes.
All the dirt at the dig sites had to be sifted, so tiny artifacts wouldn't be missed. Objects were buried in layers; the deeper the artifact, the older it is.
Ellie Weinstein, 12, tried to determine the significance of a long tube with a red yarn-covered handle.
"I think it's some sort of weapon, or maybe some kind of honor symbol," she said. The artifact, which she described as a cross between a sword and a lightsaber, reminded her of something royalty would use to knight a valiant warrior.
Ellie will be a seventh-grader at Ashbrook Independent School this fall.
Of all the tasks Layne experienced Tuesday - excavating, dusting, sifting and recording - the digging was by far his favorite.
He doubts he'll become an archaeologist, but it's fun to play one for a couple weeks.
"Excavating is fun. You get to dig in the dirt and find stuff," he said.
Mary Ann Albright covers higher education. She can be reached at maryann.albright@lee.net or 758-9518.