SOTW Introduction: How do we know what happened?

Of the several projects suggested in the activity guide (AG) for the introduction, we chose to have our own "archaeological dig."  After reading and learning about historians and archaeologists and what they do, Connor was thrilled to get a little hands-on experience.

He dug carefully and (somewhat) systematically, using a toothbrush to dust off finds and finishing digging in one section of his grid before moving on to another one (although a couple of times I had to remind him that he'd missed a spot that I just *knew* would be worth investigating!).

He recorded every find and then we bagged them to take back to the "lab," where he cleaned them and we wrote up a lab journal describing each item (color, size, whether or not it had writing on it, etc.).

After a few minutes of writing, interest was definitely waning, so I took over and wrote as he dictated.  Other than the blustery wind and tears from an envious little brother (we let him have a turn later, poor little guy), it was a great way to start our history studies!