Author: Kathryn Chapman

Archaeology Fridays are a free education program for K-3rd graders. We do ask that you call in advance to let us know you plan to com 618-653-4316. The first two sessions welcomed a small but engaged bunch of Kampsville kids. Our first session theme was Paleo-Indian and Symbolism. We talked about the culture of the Paleo-Indian period including what it must have been like to live with mega fauna (mammoths & mastodons) and then talked about pictographs and how without words, symbols are important to share ideas. We finished by making our own art and a very common symbol found on rock walls around the world, hand prints.

Our second Archaeology Friday session theme was Early Archaic and Domestication. We talked about how the environment changed from Paleo-Indian period to Early Archaic and how the people changed their style of living. We talked about seasonal rounds, the practice of moving with the seasons to places where food and resources are available and then talked about domesticated animals. We know that the earliest domesticated dog burial dates back to this time period. The participants cut out pictures of animals and made collages for domestic and wild animal categories. To have a little outdoor fun, we threw spears outside with and without the atlatl a tool known to have been used for hunting during the Early Archaic time period.