The Misconceptions Of Archaeology

The author found that most museum educators encounter the same misconceptions about archaeology from participants of their programs. The educators and museum professionals that responded to the online survey provided similar responses to those of the Penn Museum camp counselors. These were then reinforced by the responses of the campers themselves. The majority of responses to the online survey indicated that these museum professionals believe that fifty percent or fewer of program participants know what archaeology is. The top misconceptions that these professionals have encountered include the belief that archaeology equals excavation, and that archaeologists dig up dinosaurs and fossils. Responses from the Penn Museum camp counselors also

Films such as Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Lara Croft Tomb Raider, and The Mummy, feature archaeologists that uncover magnificent finds marveled at for their monetary value or supernatural power. When asked about archaeologists, forty campers from Penn mentioned Indiana Jones. Five campers mentioned the movie Atlantis: The Lost City and four mentioned The Mummy. These were the top pop culture archaeologists that campers were aware of. Not surprisingly, the character of Indiana Jones peppered the camper’s responses, making an appearance in many of the campers’ drawings and descriptions of archaeologists. Figure 33 shows the drawings of camper 42, age nine, from both the beginning and end of the week. The drawings from this camper are some of the most telling, as the camper showed both what he would expect archeologists to look like and his understanding of what an archaeologist looks like in

The gallery talks were then built up on and supplemented by the hands-on art activities. Monday and Tuesday included are activities that correlated to the lessons on burial customs. Campers got the chance to create their own grave stela or maker, as well as a roman sarcophagus. The end of the week’s activities included making a gladiator poster and cleaning and processing artefacts from the mock dig. The mock dig took place on Monday and Tuesday outside in the Museum’s interior courtyard where “trenches” has already been set up. After an introduction to archaeological excavation and an overview of the different jobs the campers decided amongst themselves who in their excavation team would have which duty. Positions included diggers, sifters, and recorders. Campers were made aware of the importance of employing proper excavation technique and the necessity of recording every step accurately. Counselors made sure that the campers took turns performing the different jobs, and that they did not dig haphazardly. Excavated soil was placed in buckets and campers took turns taking these across the courtyard and putting it through a sifter to check for any small artefacts that may have been missed. It was made very clear that they were expected to excavate patiently