Back From the Future

Language Arts Activity

Archaeologists of the far future discover a well-preserved structure believed to date back to the twentieth-century United States. What might they find and how might they interpret the strange artifacts they uncover?

In this creative writing assignment, your students assume the role of future archaeologists excavating the remains of an ancient twentieth-century classroom (or other site of your choice). Have students theorize about the past uses of the room and the objects they find in it.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

• Everyday classroom objects
• Post-it notes, masking tape, or some other means of tagging your selected artifacts
• Numbered slips of paper
• Empty container

WHAT TO DO

1. Select the objects in the classroom to be "found" and studied by the archaeological team. You might tag each "artifact" with a number and allow students to pick numbers from a container. You may also wish to have one or more students report on the room itself (its shape; its possible use -- for example, throne room, home, or tomb).

2. Assign each archaeologist to report (orally or in essay form) on a particular artifact. Students should:
   • Describe the selected artifact in detail
   • Draw a diagram of it
   • Use their imaginations to guess what function(s) the item may have had for the citizens of the ancient United States.
     For example: A pencil might be interpreted as a wooden rod of authority (officials of different ranks having shorter or longer pencils) or possibly some form of dart-like weapon. Encourage students to explain what their artifacts might tell them about the people of the ancient United States.

OTHER IDEAS

• Student essays could take the form of stories or journal entries that could be combined into a "record" of the dig. Classrooms could also share their journals and theories about what twentieth-century United States might have been like.

• David Macaulay's well-illustrated Motel of Mysteries, about a twentieth-century motel mistaken for a burial chamber by forty-first century archaeologists, provides a humorous example of archaeological misinterpretation and would be an excellent primer for this assignment.