Archaeology for Kids: Excavate the Chocolate Chips from a Cookie!

If you’re looking to introduce a young archaeologist to some of the principles of archaeology, try this fun (and delicious!) activity for #InternationalChocolateChipDay! This cookie excavation will help children understand how important it is to be careful while excavating fragile artifacts. They will also learn how an archaeological excavation destroys a site, and why recording the location of artifacts is crucial to preserving archaeological knowledge. In this activity, the chocolate chips serve as the artifacts while the cookie serves as the archaeological site.

For this activity, you will need:
– Toothpicks
– Chocolate chip cookies
– Activity Sheet

Instructions:

Give each child a cookie, activity sheet, and two toothpicks.
Before starting the excavation, children should place their cookie on Grid A. Then draw the cookie, with all the visible artifacts (chocolate chips) included. This will be their record of the archaeological site.
Excavate the cookies with the toothpicks, by carefully chipping away at the dirt (cookie) to slowly reveal any hidden artifacts (chocolate chips). Be careful not to damage the artifacts while excavating! For an added challenge, remind them that they should not pick up their cookies because archaeologists cannot pick up sites.
For each “artifact” found add it to the drawing on grid B.
At the end each child should have a pile of back dirt (cookie crumbs) and artifacts (chocolate chips), and their drawing of what they looked like before.
Count artifacts; who has excavated the most?
Eat the destroyed cookie!

What does this activity teach us about archaeology?

Archaeological excavations are a destructive process. When archaeologists have finished with a site, they have largely taken it apart piece by piece to discover its secrets. Unfortunately, this means a site, once excavated, can’t be excavated again. To fix this problem, archaeologists take lots of notes, drawings, photographs, and soil samples, and they write detailed reports so archaeologists in the future can come back to their excavations and learn even more.

New Collections with MOA Merger!

Last December we announced that the MOA was taking over the 8000 square foot repository formerly operated by Western University. As part of this transfer, the museum has also taken responsibility for the care of the objects, introducing millions of new artifacts to the museum’s collections. These include collections from UWO’s Anthropology department, as well as hundreds of boxes from cultural resource management firms including ASI, TMHC, Dr. Poulton, Golder, AECOM, and Amec Foster Wheeler. The museum has also taken over the responsibility of caring for over 2000 boxes of archaeological materials for the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport that were transferred to the repository in September 2017. These materials are now accessible to Indigenous communities, and to support interpretation and research taking place at the museum!

A long row of shelves with labeled green – a peek a repackaged collections in the repository.

Work is underway by collections staff and volunteers to integrate these with existing collections, and bring all materials up to the standards of packaging and care for long term storage in the repository. This involves repackaging of collections, moving archaeological collections from the museum’s storage area into the new repository, and completing data entry of artifact and inventory information.

Collections volunteer assisting with repackaging

Interested in helping out? Check out our current Volunteer Opportunities!