Archaeology and the ancient Maya: What does the past mean to people today?

Suitable for 14-19-year olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom and at home.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 history and archaeology.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• This teaching resource explains the work of Dr Sarah Kurnick, an archaeologist at the University of Colorado Boulder, USA. She is investigating how Postclassic Maya communities at Punta Laguna interacted with their Classic Maya past, by working with the contemporary Maya who live in Punta Laguna today.

• This resource also contains an interview with Sarah and offers an insight into careers in archaeology. If your students have questions for Sarah, they can send them to her online. All they need to do is to go to the article online (see the Futurum link below), scroll down to the end and type in the question(s). Sarah will reply!

• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on Sarah’s research and challenges them to explore why we topple statues to protest how we commemorate the past.

• The article and activity sheet are also available in Spanish through the weblink below.

This resource was first published on Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

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