This week’s learning topic is archaeology. Today I sat with Dad and watched some various documentaries to start off the topic. We started by watching two about what archaeology is. Then we watched a really interesting documentary about Otzi the Ice Man. After that, we watched part one of a lecture about Archaeology on Dartmoor.
My favourite video was the one on Otzi the Ice Man. It pieced together the Stone Age murder mystery of the oldest mummy known to man that is still fully intact. As well as it telling you about some of the archaeological factors, it also explains the scientific processes used to identify small details like the eye colour of this cave man. Using the scientific processes as well as geographic factors around the discovery of his corpse, they were also able to piece together the way he and his group would have lived. It explored how Otzi (named after the area of the Alpine region he was discovered in) was likely a man of importance. They were able to tell this because of a bronze ax they found near his body along with a variety of other clothing and weapon items. This bronze ax was unusual and special because when they dated it back, it told archaeologists that the Bronze Age was beginning about 1,000 years BEFORE they had previously believed it to have begun.
Archaeology is the study of old objects, people, buildings, and foundations of buildings, some buried and some simply abandoned and forgotten. They are studied to unlock the past and to discover more about the unwritten past. Some famous archaeological sites are Pompeii in Italy, Machu Picchu in Peru, as well as places like the pyramids in Egypt, the Colosseum in Rome, and Greek ruins. The difference between places like Pompeii and Machu Picchu would have been that Pompeii was a city destroyed and buried by the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The entire city was buried in ash and volcanic matter. Whereas Manchu Picchu was abandoned (believed to be due to disease) centuries ago and be hidden by its surroundings rather than buried, later to be rediscovered by 20th century explorers.
We haven’t watched the three videos linked above yet, but we intend to watch them in the next few days.
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