Museum School
Our class spent 5 days at the Museum of Ontario Archaeology learning all about the Indigenous peoples of our region. The site on which the museum sits was home to many Haudenosaunee who built longhouses. These longhouses are no longer there but archaeologists know exactly where they had been built because of what is called postholes.
Postholes: A posthole shows where a wooden pole or post once stood. When they are found by archaeologists, postholes usually look like dark circular or semi-circular stains in the soil because the hole was filled with different dirt.
The people who occupied the Lawson site likely chose the site for its strategic location. The plateau it sits on acts like a natural defense mechanism. They build a palisade that surrounds the entire village for protection.
We learned so many different things about archaeology and even became archaeologists ourselves! We went digging for artifacts in soil and even simulated an underwater excavation at the bottom of a lake! We used flashlights to help us find these items and we carefully recorded what we found, just like a real archaeologist!
We explored the inside and outside of a longhouse using virtual reality goggles and learned how the Indigenous peoples would have lived inside. Some of the foods they ate included the “3 sisters” which included
- squash
- beans
- maize. They even ate sunflower seeds, too.
We made many crafts during our week including our own artifacts out of clay, a clay pinch pot, a wampum keychain, a diorama of a longhouse, and a letter to a family member or friend written using a quill.
Wampum Belts
Wampum is a traditional shell bead and includes white shell beads and purple beads made from a hard-shelled clam. Before European contact, strings of wampum were used for storytelling, ceremonial gifts, and recording important treaties and historical events.
Here are some thinking questions for you:
- What is midden?
- What kind of meat would the Indigenous people have eaten?
- What did they make with maize?
- Where did the Haudenosaunee sleep when inside the longhouse?
- How many people could live in a longhouse?
- What types of tools do archaeologists use?
- Where in the soil would really old artifacts typically be found?
- What does “Haudenosaunee” mean?
- What are 4 reasons why the Indigenous peoples chose the Lawson site to build their settlement?
What was one thing you really enjoyed about Museum School? What will you miss?
Dear class the Museum school was amazing! OMG I love the museum!
I really liked the VR! I’m going to miss learning about longhouses.
Goodbye museum school hello normal school. I had a lot of fun doing V.R of the long house . I’m going to miss exploring the gallery and doing fun arts and crafts.love Charlotte
Dear class I hope you had a good week at Museum school.What was your favourite part.My favourite part was doing V.R.I also liked making the clay artifacts. Love Keira
Dear . class I really enjoyed the Museum. these are a couple of things that I am going to miss. All of the activities Myriam, Reggie, Mattyb, kamila, and georgia. it was so fun and I hope to go back one day.
I love learning about the long houses and I love enjoy doing the cookie excavation.
From, Gary
I like when we did double ball. It was fun. I will miss all the people that work there.I hope we go again!from Joseph!
I really enjoyed was the cookie excavation and one thing that I will miss so much that I will DIE to get back was the double ball.Bye!!!
I love the scavenger hunt😄
One of my favourite parts of the museum was learning about the big beavers.
I really enjoyed the excavations especially bottom of the ocean one it was very dark. I will miss sculpting things out of clay
I also missed the excavations!
my favorite part of the museum was going snow shoeing, it was my first time. I WILL MISS Finding the artifacts and I’ll miss the hike.
I will miss the museum.😭💖
~love, Rose
My favorite part of the museum was going on a hike. I will miss making clay artifacts. I also enjoyed the scavenger hunt.
Damian
Great week for the kids !
I enjoyed learning about the longhouses and exploring the different types of animals that existed back in the ice age specifically the “giant beaver”.
I will definitely miss hanging out with the cool and super-smart kids in Mrs. Sullivans class! 🙂
– Marta (Damian’s mom)