What Are Artifacts?

What Are Artifacts? — page 1 — Look What I Found It was a rainy day in May 2015 A team of archaeologists was working in Greece They were trying to find clues about the lives of people who lived in that country a long time ago They had been digging for days without much luck Then one of them turned over some dirt and saw something green It was bronze The team kept digging very carefully Soon they found weapons armor silver While digging in Greece a team of researchers from the University of Cincinnati discovers a grave filled with Bronze Age treasures 4

What Are Artifacts? — page 2 — and gold cups beads and gold rings These items had been buried for more than three thousand years What these Vocabulary Archaeologists are scientists who study history by examining what people leave behind scientists found were artifacts Artifacts are objects made by humans Natural objects are artifacts too if humans have changed them Carved bones or knives made from stone are artifacts Archaeologists study artifacts to learn about how ancient people lived Artifacts help to solve mysteries about the past This sword had been buried for thirty five centuries before researchers found it 5

What Are Artifacts? — page 3 — GarbaGe and Graves Archaeologists often find artifacts in garbage pits It might seem odd to dig in piles of old trash However garbage pits are good places to look if you want to learn about people who lived in the past Garbage shows what people ate and how they lived Archaeologists found scissors thimbles and needles in the garbage of a family who lived in the American colonies An Irish coin from 1723 a piece of pipe a musket ball part of a comb and a knee buckle were found at a dig at Fort William Henry in Bristol Maine 6

What Are Artifacts? — page 4 — in the 1700s Those artifacts showed that the family probably made most of their own clothes Archaeologists also find artifacts in graves Buttons and jewelry can last a long time in a grave Some cultures buried personal belongings with their dead Archaeologists also find religious artifacts and weapons in graves All these things give clues about when a person lived and his or her role in society 7 Gold items from the 200s BCE were found in a grave in a mining village in Sudan Think About It What do you think an archaeologist could learn from the things in your garbage

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