Reference no: EM133228955

Conduct an archaeological "excavation" of your own home (or, if you're not comfortable with that, choose a public place instead-just substitute "place of worship" "store," etc. anytime I use the word "home" in this prompt).

Pretend that an archaeologist hundreds of years in the future discovers your home.

For the purposes of this exercise, assume that:

-life is much different in the future, so they won't be able to easily understand what everything is for like you would if you visited someone else's home today

-everything is very well preserved (though that's not usually the case with real archaeological sites!)

-no video recordings, audio recordings, etc. survive that their technology can play

-books and anything written down do survive and they can read the language

Also, remember that the archaeologist's data comprises the material culture left behind-and that's usually all they have to reconstruct the worldview of a group.

Give a brief description of the home, including major areas of activity (remember that the archaeologist doesn't have all the knowledge you do! What would they be able to observe about the activity areas of home without you there telling them about it?).

Would the archaeologist be able to easily identify the functions of each room and item in the home? Which rooms or items might be confusing for them?

Would they be able to easily identify the items or places that are most meaningful to you? Why or why not?

What would the archaeologist assume is most important about your life and those of anyone else who lives in the home?

Think of all the important aspects of a culture/life: food, career, technology, religion, gender, marriage, family, education, politics, etc. What information would the archaeologist be able to easily observe, and which aspects of life/culture would be difficult to reconstruct just from their observations of your home?

What challenges might the archaeologist have reconstructing the past from their "excavation" of your home? What knowledge would they simply not have access to since the data would not be available to them? What kinds of research questions would the archaeologist be able to answer based on your home? What kinds would they NOT be able to answer?