GREATEST ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERY
TASK
Archeology is the hands-on study of the past through careful excavation, study and
leading to an enriched understanding of civilizations in history. The 20th century has seen
many spectacular archaeological discoveries that have changed the face of ancient history
and the legacies of ancient civilizations. Your task is to select and research one major
archaeological discovery that has enlightened the modern world on how people and
respective civilizations lived prior to the 16th century.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Read the attached article called The Ten Greatest Archaeological Discoveries of the
Twentieth Century by Brian Fagan.
2. Select ONE discovery that interests you (as long as the excavations relate to history
that occurred prior to the 16th century) and research using books, articles or internet.
Here are some recommendations:
 Stonehenge
 Newgrange
 Tenochtitlan
 Harappa
 Rosetta Stone
 Mohenjo-Daro
 Machu Picchu
 Royal Tombs of Ur
 Sutton Hoo
 Babylon Ishtar Gate
 Lascaux Caves
 Palace of Knossos
 Catal Huyuk
 Dead Sea Scrolls
 Acropolis of Athens
 Tomb of Tutankhamen
 Terra-Cotta Army
 Pompeii
 Cahokia
 Angkor Wat
 Ozti
 Uluburun
3. Answer the following questions in a typed written summary:
 How and why is the process of archeology important in the study of ancient world
history?
 Based on the archaeology discovery that you selected, what excavation
procedures were used (tools, techniques, length of excavation, etc.)?
 What were the major conclusions, historical importance or impact of findings?
 Why was this discovery significant to the history of its specific civilization?
 How does this specific archaeological discovery meet the definition of legacy and
importance of learning about the past?
Criteria
-2 pages typed double spaced
-12 font; Times New Roman
-Proper introduction, body and conclusion
-Bibliography – MLA format
.
GREATEST ARCHAEOLOGY DISCOVERY: RUBRIC
Name: __________________________________
Criteria
Level 4
Level 3
Level 2
Level 1
Knowledge and
Understanding
*all instructions are
followed correctly (proper
intro, body and conclusion
paragraphs, Times New
Roman, 12 size font, double
spaced, title; bibliography)
*most of the
instructions are
followed but one of
the following is
missing (multiple
paragraphs, Times
New Roman, 12 size
font, double spaced,
title, bibliography)
*the writer did not
follow the
instructions carefully
as two of the
following are not
included (multiple
paragraphs, Times
New Roman, 12 size
font, double spaced,
title, bibliography)
*the writer does not
follow the
instructions carefully
as more than two of
the following are not
included (multiple
paragraphs, Times
New Roman, 12 size
font, double spaced,
title, bibliography)
Thinking /
Inquiry
*exceptional demonstration
of critical thinking
concerning the importance /
legacies of archaeology to
civilization and history
*reasons are supported with
examples in a highly
effective manner
*critical thinking
concerning C the
importance / legacies
of archaeology to
civilization and
history
*reasons are
supported with
examples in an
effective manner
*critical thinking
concerning the
importance / legacies
of archaeology to
civilization and
history is not evident
*there is little to no
attempt to support
ideas with examples
Application
*ideas are original and
sophisticated
*Main ideas / reasons are
thought provoking, original,
and is developed in a
sophisticated way
*exceptional bibliography
completed with very
credible sources in proper
MLA format
*Ideas are original
and sophisticated
ideas are well
developed and
clearly developed
*proficient
bibliography
completed with
valid sources in
proper MLA format
*critical thinking
concerning the
importance / legacies
of archaeology to
civilization and
history is somewhat
evident
*there is little
attempt to support
ideas with concrete
examples
*The idea are
somewhat original
but lack
sophistication
*argument is
evident, and clearly
developed at times
* bibliography
completed with
some valid sources
in MLA format
Communication
*Language is sophisticated
and highly effective
*Excellent development of
ideas
*Correct spelling, grammar
and paragraphing
*Transitions between
paragraphs is skillfully
handled
*Language is
effective
*Very good
development of ideas
*Few errors in
spelling, grammar
and paraphrasing
*Transitions between
paragraphs is used
correctly
*Language is
appropriate
*little development
of ideas
*Some errors in
paragraphing,
spelling and
grammar
*Transitions between
paragraphs is
attempted
*language is
misleading and or
inappropriate
*no development of
ideas
*numerous errors in
spelling, grammar
and paragraphing
*many errors in
spelling & or
grammar
*Transitions between
paragraphs is used
inconsistently, or
absent
*the ideas lack
originality and
sophistication and
ideas do not always
evident or clearly
developed
* weak bibliography
completed with
some poor selection
of sources with
missing components
of MLA format
DUE DATE: _____________________________________________________
The 10 Greatest Archaeological Discoveries of the Twentieth Century
by Brian Fagan
It was the century that saw our "caveman" ancestors change from mindless brutes to magnificent
artists who put museum-quality images on the walls of French caves. It was a time when
humanity's roots dug ever deeper — unimaginably deep — into the soils of an African past. The
tomb of a boy-king of Egypt, nicknamed Tut, showed the world what wealth and artistry meant in
1325 B.C. In the last 100 years, our understanding of the people of our past was fundamentally
transformed.
So was archaeology. At the last turn of the century, archaeology was still a gentlemanly pursuit
conducted in pith helmets, jackets, and ties. Women were not taken seriously as excavators.
Today we can identify, sometimes even map, archaeological sites from space, read ancient Maya
glyphs, even reconstruct prehistoric menus. We can date individual wheat grains, use fossilized
beetles to identify human settlements, excavate shipwrecks on the ocean floor, and decipher even
the tiniest details of long-vanished landscapes.
Only one thing remains unchanged: the compelling lure of the unexpected, of spectacular tombs,
hidden gold, and long-forgotten ancient lives.
Twentieth-century archaeology is a chronicle of discovery — of unsuspected cities and
civilizations, surprising craftsmanship, artistry, and sophistication, of an ancestry that challenged
the colonial and racial prejudices that filled the century's early years.
In March 1900, Englishman Arthur Evans dug into a hillside at Knossos, Crete, and unearthed the
Minoan civilization. Archaeology then was a small, incestuous club of excavators who knew each
other well — and gossiped ferociously. World War I changed everything, wiping out a generation
of younger scholars and giving hard-won military experience to others.
During the 1920s, young Mortimer Wheeler used his wartime experience to refine the systematic
1880s' digging techniques of Victorian General Pitt-Rivers and revolutionized archaeological
excavation. In the American Southwest, Alfred Kidder of Harvard University excavated Pecos
Pueblo and developed the first cultural sequence of early Pueblo cultures. And, of course, there
was Tutankhamun's tomb, which set the world agog and unleashed Egyptomania on the world.
The 1920s and '30s saw the last of the huge and heroic excavations, among them Leonard
Woolley's spectacular investigations at the Sumerian city of Ur. Woolley's fluent imagination
brought the past to life in ways few archaeologists do today.
Then adventure gave way to science. During the 1930s, young archaeologists like Grahame Clark
of Cambridge realized the potential of wet sites to preserve much of ancient environments. When
an amateur archaeologist found bones and stone tools in a glacial lakebed at Star Carr in
northeastern England in 1947, Clark found what he was looking for: a Stone Age encampment
with well-preserved organic remains. The Star Carr excavations of 1949-54 resulted in a brilliant
reconstruction of Stone Age life 10,000 years ago, and it has served as an icon of ecological
archaeology ever since.
The second half of the twentieth century swept in with the discovery of radiocarbon dating. For
the first time, archaeologists could date sites up to 40,000 years old and compare important
developments — such as the appearance of farming or urban civilization — in widely separated
parts of the world. The first radiocarbon dates were crude, but they made possible global portraits
of the early human past — the first accounts of world prehistory.
What is the most important archaeological discovery of the last century? High on that list must be
our dramatic, new perceptions of human evolution. Half a century ago, Neanderthals and the hoax
of Piltdown Man held center stage. Eugene Dubois' Homo erectus was ignored. When a young
anatomist named Raymond Dart described Australopithecus africanus, the "ape-human of
Africa," in 1925, his colleagues insisted he was wrong. Then, in 1959, Louis and Mary Leakey
unearthed the robust-looking Zinjanthropus boisei and, a year later, Homo habilis at Olduvai
Gorge in East Africa.
Back then, most experts still dated human origins to a few hundred-thousand years. The
potassium-argon dating of the Olduvai fossils to 1.75 million years ago transformed our
perceptions of human evolution and revolutionized the story of our beginnings.
Archaeologists of the twentieth century gave us our first clear understanding of the roots of
human biological and cultural diversity. This prehistory of human diversity ranks among the
greatest scientific achievements, for our success in the twenty-first-century world will depend not
only on our technology, but on our understanding of ourselves.
The following pages list, in no particular order, our choices as the 10 greatest archaeological
discoveries of the twentieth century. Our "Top 10" — somewhat arbitrary and as arguable as any
other — was chosen by the editors of Scientific American Discovering Archaeology, with advice
from our editorial advisory board of leading experts in many archaeological disciplines.
Most of the Top 10 were paradigm-busters that changed the way archaeologists interpret the past.
A few touched the public deeply, forging a new appreciation for the wonders of our ancestors.
And then there is the eleventh discovery — a spectacular find from the laboratory of a chemist,
not the dig of an archaeologist. Its impact is so profound that we list it separately — the single
greatest archaeological discovery of the century.
BRIAN FAGAN is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California at Santa Barbara,
and author of many popular books on archaeology.
The Top Ten Discoveries
1. The Biblical Mystery in the Desert: The Dead Sea Scrolls Rewrote History for the
Time of Jesus
2. Discovering the Tomb of Tutankhamun
3. A Bitter Tale of Old Bones: Finding the First American Meant Fighting the Status
Quo
4. The Forgotten Glory of Ur: A Colorful Archaeologist and a Spectacular City Held the
Public Eye
5. The Shipwreck at Uluburun: Underwater Archaeology Comes of Age
6. Ötzi, The Man in the Ice: A Human Face from the Late Stone Age
7. The Maya Finally Speak: Decoding the Glyphs Unlocked Secrets of a Mighty
Civilization
8. In Search of Ancestors: The Leakey Family Rewrote the Origins of Humanity
9. The Artists of Lascaux: The Roots of Fine Art Run Deep into Our Past
10. China's Terracotta Army: Silent Soldiers Guard the Breathtaking Tomb of Qin
Shihuang