Days of Digging
beats- to come down strong and continuously
developed- to grow; to change
laboratory- a room for science experiments and test
origins- the cause or source of something; what something begins as or comes from
challenge- to give the best of
charted- to map; to show information as a picture
ruin- destruction, damage, or collapse
customs- a practice that has become accepted by many people; a tradition
Expository Text- nonfiction that is written to inform, explain, or persuade
Your team has been digging in the summer sun for three months. each day, it takes an hour by jeep to
get to your site. The water you drink ahs to be boiled so you will not get sick but you hope to be back at
the museum soon. You jot notes in your field book and take a break as you watch the twenty m embers
of your team carry out the excavation. Layers of dirt are slowly and carefully removed and every inch of
the dig is charted or mapped on paper. The objects are studied before they are removed from the
ground. Artifacts are drawn, numbered, and photographed. The artifacts are then examined inside the
tent in a makeshift lab. They are carefully packed to be sent to the museum. You put your field book
down and return to your work. You use a fine brush to remove the loose dirt around something you
have found. The team has found animal bones. The bones are thousands of years old. The bones have
scratches and marks on them. Your team believes that humans made these and you hope to find the
bones of the humans who you believed live here long ago. The piece you are working on comes loose.
It’s a small rock but no ordinary rock. It has sharp edges. You also find a sharp tool that made marks on
the bones. Your heart beats with excitement. You know humans were here. You tell the rest of your
team and everyone is excited. Your team begins to discover more tools and human bones. Who are
these people? What were they like? Your team has just begun to find out the history of these people of
the past.
Imagine being the first person to find an ancient city. Imagine finding the bones of ancient warrior and
solving the 5,000 mystery of what happened at a place where all the villagers died at once.
Archaeologist get to challenge themselves with many thrilling possibilities of the past. Archaeology
(ancient study) is a science. They discover and study past human cultures or societies. Each group that
is studied has its own values, customs and beliefs. An archaeologist does research about a culture. They
study the artifacts from that culture and try to find out when and how the culture develops. This study
can take an archaeologist to any place on the planet.
Archaeologist try to solve puzzling issues. They may try to solve mysteries about a culture’s ruin or
disappearance. They may try to find out why a culture did certain things. They may try to find out why
a culture changed dramatically from its origins. An archaeologist would try to discover why a culture
that fished developed into a culture that farmed, what caused the culture to stop fishing? What made
them start farming? These questions may be answered through archaeology.
You may wonder why it is so important to lean about our human past. It’s important because it teaches
us about human beings and shows us how creative and resourceful humans are and have been. The
past is important because it tells us how we became what we are today and explains how and why we
have so many different cultures. It also teaches us to respect those cultures and our own.
Our theme in our literacy program (Imagine It) is Communities Across Time. We take a test on the
weekly reading selection every Friday.
Days of Digging
1. This selection is written from the second person point of view. How do you feel as the reader?
2. Why does the water that they drink have to be boiled?
3. What kind of notes do you think an archaeologist would take in their field book?
4. Name each thing in order that has to be done before discovered artifacts can be sent to museums:
A. _
B. _
C. _
D. _
E. _
5. Why is every inch of the dig charted on paper?
6. What did the team find first from the dig?
7. Why do you think the bones have scratches and marks on them made by humans?
8. What is archaeology?
9. Name 5 things the selection mentions that an archaeologist could try to learn or discover?
10. Why is it so important to learn about our human past?