A journey back in time to Mesopotamia
Imagine your group is a group of archaeologists. Each of you is a specialist in one
area of the “spokes” of the wheel of civilization: cities, culture, institutions, social
hierarchy, and economics. Your mission is to find out about Mesopotamian
civilization so you can fill out the wheel of civilization to teach other people about
how Mesopotamian people lived.
There are 15 fact cards in your packet: some are primary source documents (which
have already been translated for you from their original cuneiform) and some are
secondary source documents. Each of you must read all 15 cards to search for facts
that fit your area of specialty to add to your log.
Intro: All practice with physical geography spoke
Part 1: (Your group leader is the “Cities” archaeologist.)
Group leader: Hand out 1 fact card to each group member (it does not matter which
number people start with; eventually each of you will see every card.) Leave the extra
cards in your folder.
All: Read the card for information about your topic. As you find information that tells
you about your topic, fill in your log for that card # (make sure you are writing your
information on the corresponding row.) Note: Some of the readings may have nothing at
all about your spoke, others will have facts that clearly apply to your spoke, and some
will have “hidden” information from which you must make inferences for your spoke.
All: When you hear the bell, pass your fact card to the left.
Group leader: Once a card has made it through the entire rotation, take it out of the
rotation, place it face down on a desk, and pull a new card out of the folder to put into the
rotation.
Part 2: Share your information
When the fact finding time is over, you will get together with the archaeologists from the
other groups that studied the same topic spoke as you. Compare your notes to each
other’s. If someone has information for a card that you did not get, add it to your log.
Part 3: Create your Wheel of Civilization Webs
Return to your original group to create a web diagram on your laptop.
We will all practice adding to our Wheel of Civilization web by doing the physical
geography spoke together.
The city person will start with the laptop and add his/her facts to the cities spoke. When
s/he is done, s/he will pass the laptop to the next archaeologist to add his/her information
to the wheel. Repeat until each of the spokes has been created. Print a copy for each
group member.
Part 4: Choose 1 of the following 3 writing assignments. Each of you must do your
own written assignment—This is NOT a group effort.
a. Write a report for the Smithsonian Institute of History by summarizing the
information in your web by writing 6 paragraphs; 1 paragraph for each spoke. Be
sure to integrate all of the bullets from the web into your paragraph summaries.
b. Imagine you are a time traveling archaeologist. You have just arrived back in time in
Mesopotamia. Write a journal entry that describes what you are seeing and doing as
you walk through the city. Your journal entry must describe at least 2 ideas from
each of the 6 spokes (institutions, physical geography, economics, cities, culture, and
social hierarchy.)
c. Imagine you are a princess/prince in Mesopotamia who has left your castle disguised
as a beggar (imagine princess Jasmine going to the Bazaar in Aladdin dressed in
street clothes). You are mistaken for an escaped slave and given to a high priestess to
be her slave. Write a “secret diary” that compares and contrasts your life as a
princess/prince and that of a slave and includes a prayer to a goddess to help you
return to your place in the castle. Your diary entry must mention at least 10
specific elements from the wheel of Mesopotamian civilization web.