For downloadable resources and activities relating to ancient Greece, visit Newcastle University’s outreach website Reimagining Ancient Greece.
Outreach & Activities
The knowledge we gained from the analysis of objects (see About the Project for more information) was incorporated into a series of school workshops, designed to demonstrate how science can help us understand the lives of children in the past.
In a similar way the feeding cup was an important element of another school workshop. Children were shown scans of the cup and given 3D prints to handle. This proved to be an excellent way of introducing them to an object that can act as a window onto the lives of children in ancient Greece. A close appreciation of the size and form of an artefact is invaluable in determining its significance to people in the past.
It was fascinating to see how the children involved responded to their encounters with archaeological science. One of the things that was noticeable were the high levels of engagement with the workshops. One pupil asked if the session was really history. They had been so interested in the archaeological science that they had not realised they had been taking part in what was essentially a history lesson.
Presenting the past in diverse ways and demonstrating a range of techniques for understanding it is a way of keeping things fresh in history teaching. The fact that the scientific analysis also led to some active learning, through handling 3D prints and making clay figurines in a mould, added to the experience, deepening and enriching the school children’s understanding of the past.
Participating children were given a brief introduction to the objects and some of the techniques we used in the lab. Scans of the boar and tortoise, for example, were shared with a number of groups. Afterwards children taking part were given the opportunity to make their own clay copies of the ancient Greek boar and tortoise. This allowed them to gain a close understanding of how an ancient Greek potter would have worked as well as allowing them to engage with the past in a creative way.
