Reading:
Raising Comprehension Scores
Workshop 2
[Morehead area]
Grades 5-8
e-version
Bridges Literacy Project
Archaeologists—History’s Detectives
[1] Have you ever seen a statue or a picture of a statue that was supposed to be thousands of years old? Did you wonder how people knew it was that old? Did you wonder how they found it?
There are people who spend much of their lives answering these kinds of questions. They are called archaeologists. These scientists study objects and structures to learn about the past. Archaeologists are like detectives. They search for clues to life thousands of years ago. They tell us how people lived in the past.
Archaeologists search for objects in the ground, in riverbeds, in ice, on mountains, and under the ocean. They look for artifacts, ecofacts, and features that help them tell a story. They find pieces of stone, bone, tools, pottery, food, and buildings. After finding these clues, they put them together like a giant puzzle. They use this puzzle to solve the mysteries of ancient worlds.
How Archaeologists Work
All good scientists find answers to questions. Archaeologists do the same thing. Much as you do in your classes, they start with a problem or idea. Then they make a hypothesis—an idea or answer—that they assume is true. Then they set out to prove whether the hypothesis is right or wrong. They make a plan, collect data (facts and figures), analyze the data, come to conclusions, and then tell others about it. The results of their work tell us much about life on the earth thousands of years ago.
[5] Archaeologists work hard. They spend weeks in caves, deserts, and ice fields. Some work in swamps, in jungles, and under the sea. Others work in huge old buildings, underneath busy cities, and in many other places.
Archaeologists spend hours digging with tiny shovels and using toothbrushes to brush away dust and dirt. They sift through tons of dirt and pick out tiny objects. Each object is a clue. Each object must be recorded (or written about), studied, and tested. Some archaeologists spend all their time in the laboratory. Most days nothing is found, but when they do find something—whether in the field, in a sifter, or in the laboratory, they are really excited.
Making a Plan
The work might start in a professor’s office or a library. Sometimes it begins in a field somewhere.
This was the case of Dr. Donald Johanson, an anthropologist, and a group of archaeologists. In 1971, they had found stone tools and fossils in Africa—in a place called Hadar, Ethiopia. Someone had made these tools a very long time ago.
[9] Could the earliest people on Earth have come from this place? To test this hypothesis, the group decided to plan another trip. First, they made a research plan. The plan told how they would go about confirming their hypothesis. The needed to find money to pay for the trip and people to help them. Once they had money and people, they were ready to start.
Searching the Data
The objects that archaeologists seek are found in all kinds of places, even buildings. Some ancient buildings, such as the pyramids in Egypt and those on the Acropolis in Greece, are still standing. Archaeologists study them to try to learn how people lived and why they built those structures. Paintings on some walls may tell part of the story. Objects found inside the buildings tell even more of the story.
Many times archaeologists excavate, or dig, in order to find the objects they seek; however, they just can’t dig a hole anywhere. A site must be found. Archaeologists find these sites in several ways. They can walk across a field or desert and look at the ground. When they turn up a lot of broken objects, they think they’re onto something. They might walk around and search hills for caves. They study old maps. Sometimes a small hill or mound seems like a place where something might be. Archaeologists can also do surveys from above. From the air they can see where old walls and houses might have been. When they think they have a site, they take samples. Holes are dug in several places to see if any objects are found. If not, archaeologists choose another site.
In 1973, a team of archaeologists led by Johanson returned to Hadar. They went back to the dry riverbed where the tools had been found. A volcano had left ashes in the riverbed. The archaeologists decided this would be a good place to search for bones. What a thrill it was when Johanson found two humanlike bones.
Excavation
Once a site is located, a map needs to be drawn. Everything that’s found must be placed on the map. Before the excavation or dig can begin, a grid, or series of squares marked with string, must be made. A datum point, a point from which the lines in a grid are drawn, is set. Everything is marked from that point. To make the grid, rope or strong is placed on the ground to form squares. Each square has a number. The numbers are plotted on a grid that looks like a piece of graph paper. Everything that is located is numbered on the grid according to where it was found. No dig is any good unless archaeologists know exactly where every object was found.
As the archaeological team lays out the grid, they decide what type of information to record. They make a form on which to take notes. When the grid is in place, the dig begins.
[15] One type of dig is called a vertical dig. A vertical dig goes in a narrow chute, or tunnel, down into the earth. Then archaeologists examine each layer of earth, or stratum. As the hole is dug, they look at the color and texture of the dirt and what is in it. They look for clues in each layer. If one object is below another object, then the lower object should be older. Sometimes objects have been moved from their original layer. This can be due to floods, a volcano, a house being built, or other reasons. When archaeologists see this, they search for other clues.
At Hadar, the researchers used another type of excavation. They dug in a horizontal direction. The excavation took place completely on one level and over a larger area. In a horizontal dig, archaeologists look for houses, fireplaces, walls of buildings, remains of animals, bones, food, and large buildings. By figuring out how big the area was, these detectives can guess how many people might have lived there. Once they have excavated one area, they go down another layer. Then they do another horizontal dig.
Secrets from the Past
Digs don’t begin with bulldozers, but with shovels. As soon as objects are found, shovels are replaced with trowels and brushes. Archaeologists’ tools are brushes, dental probes, tape measures, and tiny toothbrushes. Every piece of dirt is saved and sifted. All the dirt from one small part of the grid is put in a bag. The bag is tagged and numbered. The detectives want to know exactly where things were found. To tell the story, the need to know where in time and space an object was discovered.
When a bag is filled, it is put into a sifter, and water is run over it. Anything that is found is labeled as to where it was found. Someone takes pictures, someone draws, and another person writes. Teamwork is essential.
Johanson’s team carefully brushed and sifted dirt away from the old riverbed in Hadar. In 1974, more pieces of bone were found. In all, 40 percent of almost half of a humanlike creature was found. Each piece was carefully excavated and recorded. When the pieces were all put together, they had a skeleton. The team called the skeleton “Lucy.” The name came from “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” a popular song at the time. The team sang that song as they worked at the site.
Analysis
[20] Once objects are found and recorded, they are sent to a laboratory. Here the process of finding out the age of the object begins. Until 1950, dating was done by good guessing and by looking at layers of dirt. Today there are laboratory tests. Archaeologists rely on relative and absolute dating.
Relative dating means that the scientists think that things found in the same layer are the same age. They connect an object that does not have a date to one that does. Other methods can give an absolute date—a date that is accurate within two hundred years. Scientists can find this absolute date by looking at written historical data. They also use radiocarbon dating and Potassium Argon dating. In radiocarbon and Potassium Argon dating, scientists use what they known about how certain substances change over time to determine an object’s age.
In Africa, the skull of Lucy was dated by Potassium Argon dating. Potassium Argon dating is used on volcanic ash. Lucy was found in a bed of volcanic ash. According to this method, Lucy is 3.2 million years old. Johanson’s team found 13 more skeletons on the same site. Then they studied all the bones that were found in the area and dated to the same period. They figured out that a band of humanlike creatures had lived there more than 3 million years ago.
[23] Archaeologists don’t stop their work when all the clues have been sorted. Instead, they explain the puzzles to others. The work isn’t done until they write down all that they have learned. Most of these detectives write about their hypothesis. They tell how they went about processing it—and what they found when they excavated the site. They also tell how they were able to date the objects. Finally, they draw conclusions from their work. Archaeologists’ search for clues really does make them “history’s detectives.”
Archaeologists—History’s Detectives
RI.1 (all)
1)Why do archaeologists do what they do?
2)Why do archaeologists have to be committed to their work?
3)How do archaeologists decide where to dig? (at least 4 answers)
4)Why were Johanson and his team so thrilled to find human bones in Hadar?
5)If an archaeologist is doing a vertical dig and finds a fragment of a bowl with a piece of a knife below it, which one is probably older?
6)What if, when the archaeologists get back to the laboratory, they discover that the bowl is actually older, what might they conclude?
7)When archaeologists begin to dig, they start with shovels. Why do they quickly switch to trowels and brushes?
8)Why did Johanson and his team conclude that a small band of humans had lived at Hadar more than 3 million years ago?
Poetry – Images, Similes, Metaphors
Faces of Fog
Listing
____12-15 descriptive words ending in –ing
____For 6 of the –ing words, put a noun either behind or in front of it.
____at least 4 adjectives not ending in –ing
____At least 2 similes
____At least 2 colors
____At least 4 prepositional phrases which can be part of your similes
____At least two instances of alliteration within the same line
____At least two examples of assonance within one or two lines
____Last line, summary, no more than 7 words
Faces of Fog
Listing
____12-15 descriptive words ending in –ing
____For 6 of the –ing words, put a noun either behind or in front of it.
____at least 4 adjectives not ending in –ing
____At least 2 similes
____At least 2 colors
____At least 4 prepositional phrases which can be part of your similes
____At least two instances of alliteration within the same line
____At least two examples of assonance within one or two lines
____Last line, summary, no more than 7 words
Personification
Analogy
The fog as a playful, mischievous child
Begin by brainstorming things young children do when they want to be noticed or want to play.
Think about the movements of a child as you brainstorm your –ing words: taunting, teasing, hiding . . . .
Personification
Analogy
The fog as a monster capable of destruction
Think of the ways fog moves. Think of ways fog can create havoc or become dangerous. Consider the trajectory: at first fog is just there; then it can become a distraction, a problem, or a monster: covering, smothering, choking, overwhelming . . . .
Personification
Analogy
The fog as a beautiful painting or tapestry
Consider the perceived shapes and design of fog.
Consider the ways fog can become beautiful, for example, when combined with sunlight.
Consider how fog looks against a backdrop of something else.
Consider how fog can make other things beautiful because it covers, hides, or transforms.
Poetry Grid
You have 12 lines. Consider placement and organization. You may choose to break your lines into more than 1 stanza. All items listed on the first page will appear somewhere in your poem.
12
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
Shot Down
In February 1991, Captain Scott O’Grady found himself alone, cold, and hungry in the mountains of Washington state. He had to eat black ants and grasshoppers in order to survive. He had to start fires using the rays of the sun and make tools out of tree branches. And to ward off boredom, he played “entire rounds of golf and chess” in his mind. Yes, it was a brutal and grueling test for O’Grady, but it was only a test. The jet pilot was taking the U.S. Air Force’s three-week Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) course just in case he ever needed these skills.
He did. On June 2, 1995, Captain O’Grady took off in his F-16 fighter for a routine air patrol over Bosnia. On this mission, Captain Bob Wright flew alongside in a second F-16. Both pilots were part of a multinational military force trying to stop Serbian attacks in Bosnia.
As O’Grady and Wright flew their patrol, the Serbs launched two surface-to-air missiles at the incoming F-16s. O’Grady’s instruments picked up the incoming missiles, but he could not see them because the sky was cloudy. One missile exploded in the air, doing no harm to either plane, but the second missile sheared O’Grady’s jet in half. As the front section of the jet tumbled toward the ground, O’Grady pulled a special cord that blew away his canopy and ejected him from the cockpit. He then parachuted into the Serb-held hills of western Bosnia.
Right after landing, O’Grady got rid of his parachute and dashed into the woods, hoping to avoid capture. He fell face down on the ground and covered his head and ears with his camouflaged gloves to make himself harder to see. Civilians and soldiers were all around. Once O’Grady saw armed soldiers walking nearby. He whispered a silent prayer thanking them for not having sniffing dogs.
Now O’Grady really needed the training he had received in the SERE course. He had the necessary equipment to evade the enemy and to survive for several days—a radio, a compass, flares, a first-aid kit, a pistol, and other such items, and the SERE course had taught him how to live off the land. He used a sponge to soak up rainwater, and he ate grass, bugs, and grasshoppers. He slept during the day, hidden under a camouflaged cover and traveled only after midnight.
O’Grady didn’t use his radio to call for help right away. His training had taught him that downed pilots are often captured because they radio too soon, giving away their position. Thus, he watched and waited for the right time. After 5 ½ days, O’Grady finally took a chance and at 2:08 a.m. on June 8, broadcast his call sign: “Basher 52.” His voice was picked up by a patrolling F-16 jet. This was the first time anyone actually knew that O’Grady had survived the missile attack and was still alive. Captain Wright had last seen him going down through the clouds and hadn’t seen his parachute open.
A rescue operation had already been planned just in case O’Grady was still alive. It was a huge effort involving 40 aircraft, 6 ships, and more than 100 soldiers. There was a primary team as well as backup teams—all willing to risk their lives to save the downed pilot. As it turned out, the backup teams were not needed because the primary team did its job so well.
At 5:50 a.m., less than three hours after O’Grady’s message was received, the rescue got underway. Two Super Stallion helicopters, two Super Cobra helicopters, and four jet fighters took off from a ship in the Adriatic Sea. Each aircraft had a special job to do. The Super Stallions carried a total of 40 combat Marines. They would land and rescue O’Grady. The two Super Cobra gunships, armed with missiles and machine guns, would hover overhead and deal with any enemy who might show up, and the jets would provide additional air support.
As the choppers moved into position the Marines aboard spotted a yellow smoke signal—O’Grady’s sign. Unbelievably, the Super Stallions had landed within 50 yards of his hiding place. The 40 Marines piled out and formed a tight defensive circle. Moments later, O’Grady rushed out of the bushes. He appeared to be very cold, so one Marine gave him a blanket. Then he was helped into one of the choppers. From touchdown to takeoff, the rescue took less than two minutes. It was perfect—a “textbook” rescue.