Introduction to Archaeology: Lesson 2

These are teaching resources for free use, aimed at the second curriculum level pupils aged 10-12.

The series of seven lessons titled ‘Introduction to Archaeology’ introduces pupils the field of archaeology and the archaeological significance of the Orkney Islands through interactive activities.

Throughout the seven lessons, learners will explore the important concepts around archaeology and the skills to be a good archaeologists, ticking off the skills in the accompanying ‘Archaeology Skills Passport’. Learners are encouraged throughout the lessons to think creatively and work collaboratively through a range of activities, such as an excavation, drawing and group discussions, allowing them to develop a range of Experiences and Outcomes (Es&Os, an educational framework identifying a range of learning activities for Scottish Curriculum for Excellence) in a highly interdisciplinary and active way.

Teachers can choose to teach all the lessons or pick any lesson as a standalone class. This pack, ‘Introducing the Orkney Islands’, is the second lesson of the seven, and it introduces the Orkney islands and their historical significance and archaeological finds.

What this resource pack includes
This pack includes a set of slides in Powerpoint and PDF formats, along with a Teacher’s guide to help teachers run a class with the slides. Additionally, the pack includes the Evidence Book and Archaeology Passport PDFs which are intended to be used with all of the lessons as explained in the Teacher’s Guide. These can also be found in each of the lesson packs linked below.

Links to the accompanying lessons
Lesson 1: Introducing Archaeology
Lesson 2: Introducing the Orkney Islands - this lesson
Lesson 3: Excavation
Lesson 4: Human-environment Interactions
Lesson 5: Orkney and Human-Environment Interactions
Lesson 6: Protecting Sites
Lesson 7: Educating the Public

Author: Sam Connor, adapted by August Enger and Mayu Ishimoto.
Unless otherwise stated, all content is released under a CC BY SA 4.0 license.