- Items like glass and nails were found in the dig site.
- The program connects classroom learning with real historical artifacts.
- Watch the video to learn about the mobile museum tour.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Jefferson County students get hands-on archaeology lessons by teaching them how to dig for ancient treasures.
I'm Lentheus Chaney in Jefferson County seeing firsthand how Aucilla Research Institute helps students preserve Florida's archaeological heritage.
Patrick Parish and Dorian Brown are juniors at Jefferson k-12. They say they feel proud to share the history they learn and the items they find with family.
" I know that some people a lot of their families once lived here. So I kind of wanna be interested. I figured out maybe my people used to live here, too. "When I find an artifact I feel excited. I feel like I want everybody to see that I found an artifact. It's like adrenaline," Parish said.
The dig site is at the old Treelawn Plantation which was founded in 1836. Students are finding lots of buried items behind the main house where once stood an outbuilding and kitchen.
Dr. Willet Boyer teaches US history and guides the class through each step of the digging process. He says skills learned will benefit the students.
"The goal is to link what we are learning in the classroom with the actual physical artifacts they're finding and illustrate the fact that the historical events aren't something remote that happened many years ago, that they happen to people that these students know," Boyer said.
The students work at stations as a team and some help the younger kids learn the process.
"Hopefully one day, like ya'll could experience something like this because it's awesome, it's awesome," Brown said.
Boyer says the weekly excavations are also open to home-schooled kids. Neighbors can experience the institute's mobile museum at their First Floridians First Americans Conference in October at the Monticello Opera House. In Jefferson County. Lentheus Chaney, ABC27.
