Browse lesson plans

Archaeobotany

In Intrigue of the Past, page 2.6

Students will use pictures of seeds, an activity sheet, and a graph to identify seven seeds and the conditions in which they grow. They will also infer ancient plant use by interpreting archaeobotanical samples and determine changing plant use by Native North Carolinians by interpreting a graph of seed frequency over time.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4–5 and 8 Science and Social Studies)

Artifact classification

In Intrigue of the Past, page 2.4

Students will use pictures of artifacts or objects from a teaching kit to classify artifacts and answer questions about the lifeways of a group of historic Native Americans.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 Social Studies)

Coastal Plain cultures graphic organizer

In Two worlds: Educator's guide, page 2.5

As students read the article "Peoples of the Coastal Plain," this graphic organizer will help them develop an understanding of the cultures that existed in North Carolina's Coastal Plain hundreds of years ago.

Format: /lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)

By Pauline S. Johnson.

Culture everywhere

In Intrigue of the Past, page 1.3

In their study of culture, students will use a chart to show the different ways that cultures meet basic human needs and recognize that archaeologists study how people from past cultures met basic needs by analyzing and interpreting the artifacts and sites that they left behind.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 and 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

Experimental archaeology: Making cordage

In Intrigue of the Past, page 2.8

Students will make cordage and use an activity sheet to experience a technique and skill that ancient Native Americans in North Carolina needed for everyday life. They will also compute the amount of time and materials that might have been required to make cordage and construct a scientific inquiry to study the contents of an archaeological site.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Visual Arts Education and Social Studies)

Inference by analogy

In Intrigue of the Past, page 2.12

Students will use historical sources and an archaeological site map to infer the use or meaning of items recovered from a North Carolina Native American site based on 17th-century European settlers' accounts and illustrations. They will also describe prehistoric lifeways based on archaeological and ethnohistoric information and explain why archaeologists use ethnohistoric analogy.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)

Interpreting lives through tombstone analysis

In this lesson students will take on the role of archaeologists by examining pictures of gravestones from the Built Heritage collection at North Carolina State University. They will use their knowledge of history, observation skills, and inference to draw conclusions about the lives and deaths of past North Carolina residents.

Format: lesson plan

By Loretta Wilson.

It's in the garbage

In Intrigue of the Past, page 1.9

In studying archaeological concepts, students will analyze garbage from different places demonstrate competence in applying the concepts of culture, context, classification, observation and inference, chronology and scientific inquiry.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

Language families

In Intrigue of the Past, page 4.7

Students will identify and locate the three language families of contact period North Carolina and calculate the physical area covered by each language family.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 and 7–8 Mathematics and Social Studies)

Measuring pots

In Intrigue of the Past, page 2.7

Students will use an activity sheet or modern pottery rim sherds to compute circumference from a section of a circle and construct analogies based on their own experience about possible functions of ancient or historic ceramics.

Format: lesson plan (grade 7–8 Mathematics and Social Studies)

Mountain cultures graphic organizer

In Two worlds: Educator's guide, page 2.4

As students read the article "Peoples of the Mountains," this graphic organizer will help them develop an understanding of the cultures that existed in North Carolina's mountains hundreds of years ago.

Format: /lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)

By Pauline S. Johnson.

Name that point!

In Intrigue of the Past, page 4.4

In their study of projectile points (i.e., spear points or “arrowheads”) dating to the Archaic period in North Carolina, students use activity sheets to compare projectile point attributes and to identify and classify points based on clearly defined variables. They will also match projectile points to a chronology and determine when the points were made and why the information is important to archaeologists.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 and 6 Social Studies)

"Native Carolinians" additional activities

In Two worlds: Educator's guide, page 2.10

These lessons from the UNC Research Laboratories of Archaeology's Intrigue of the Past can be used as additional activities for the digital history textbook module "Two Worlds: Prehistory, Contact, and the Lost Colony."

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)

By Pauline S. Johnson.

North Carolina place names

In Intrigue of the Past, page 4.8

This lesson contrasts and compares the names that Native Americans living in North Carolina gave to their villages and places with the names that European and other settlers gave to theirs.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 and 8 Social Studies)

Piedmont cultures graphic organizer

In Two worlds: Educator's guide, page 2.3

This activity will assist students in understanding Piedmont cultures as they read the article "Peoples of the Piedmont."

Format: /lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)

By Pauline S. Johnson.

Shadows of North Carolina's past

In Intrigue of the Past, page 4.2

Students will infer past Native American lifeways based on observation, construct a timeline of four major culture periods in Native American history, and compare these lifeways and discuss how they are different and alike.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)

Why is the past important?

In Intrigue of the Past, page 1.2

As an introduction to the study of North Carolina's archaeological heritage, students will use personally owned object to share the importance of their past and connect this importance with reasons why the human past is important.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 Social Studies)

Resources on the web

Ancient Observatories

Journey into Chaco Canyon, where ancient people built monuments to the cosmos and find out about archaeoastronomy using maps, films, and animations. (Learn more)

Format: website/lesson plan

Provided by: Exploratorium

The Mesoamerican Ballgame: the sport of life and death

This interactive site provides information about Mesoamerica. It is well organized, colorful, and content rich. (Learn more)

Format: website/lesson plan

Provided by: Mint Museum of Art