Materials Checklist

• Printed coloring pages
• Crayons, colored pencils etc.

Archaeologists at Work

Archaeology is the study of past cultures through the artifacts, or objects, that remain.

Many people know that archaeologists do very careful excavation (digging) to help uncover artifacts from the past, but there is a lot of research and work that goes into an archaeology project before any digging happens. These coloring sheets depict archaeologists at work in three different ways:

Photographing the Site

A photographic record of the site before, during, and after excavation can help current and future researchers learn about people through time.

Surveying the Site

Surveying the site helps archaeologists understand the topography (the natural and human made physical features of the land like hills, roads, or ditches) and carefully map what they observe. A survey might reveal where a house or store once stood or where someone intentionally changed the landscape. This helps archaeologists know where they should focus their work.

Excavating the Site

Excavating a site involves removing thin layers of soil in a very, very careful way to find evidence of how people lived. The evidence might be as big as a house or as small as beads, needles, fish bones, or even microscopic evidence like pollen or DNA. Digging at a site is done only by people who have been carefully trained. If you think you’ve found an archaeological site you should notify the Department of Natural Resources at 317-232.1646.