It’s a Small World After All

 

In this photo, Cindy and I are listening to her Chinese music, and she is translating for me. I’m trying to pronounce the name of the song (and failing miserably). This photo shows how friendship is a universal language.

 

Coming into the Dig This! program, I really didn’t know what to expect. Everything seemed new to me. I had never gone on a real archaeological dig before, I didn’t know how to identify artifacts. Then I realized that this was new to everyone else, too. We were all there to learn about history and archaeology together. And wow, did we learn a lot…

One of the many things I enjoyed about Dig This! was the field trips. Going to a hsitorical site can give a history lesson a whole new meaning. Our class spent a good amount of time at the Rebecca Nurse Homestead in Danvers, Massachusetts. We actually got to dig at the Homestead and find artifacts. Knowing that the ring you just dug up could have been worn by someone in the 18th century is thrilling. I learned about how archaeologists work at a real dig and how they date artifacts. After several visits to the Rebecca Nurse Homestead, I now know how to dig a test pit, measure levels of soil, screen soil for artifacts, and distinguish worms from 200 year old nails (a good skill to have as an archaeologist).

In class at the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology, there was a lot of note-taking. I really don’t feel comfortable taking notes, it never works for me. This summer, I learned a new note format called Cornell Notes. Although it was frustrating at first, learning to use the Cornell Notes style has helped me a great deal during class, and I think it will help me when I return to my regular school.

Another skill I learned during Dig This! was how to participate more in class. I’m usually pretty quiet in class at school, but there was something about this summer session that made me want to ask more questions and get more involved. The format of our classes was fairly open, and students were encouraged to ask questions. We also did some fun activities that invovlved the entire class, like reenacting the Publo Revolt and learning how to shoot a dart using an atlatl (let me tell you, it’s not easy!). Suddenly, class seemed less like class and more like learning while having fun.

For me, history has always been interesting, but it’s just history. It’s in the past. By the end of Dig This! I knew for sure that history is not way back in the past, gone forever. In fact, it’s still very much alive today. I was amazed to hear that the Lakota still claim the Black Hills as their sacred land, or that my teacher was a descendent of Rebecca Nurse. The events of the past are still effecting the lives of people today, and this course has helped me to realize that.

As I began to dig deeper and deeper into history, studying different points of view, it became clear that history is not simple, black and white stuff. It’s not just Indians versus white settlers, or French versus English. History is much more complex than that. Everyoe has their own point of view, and it’s no different with historical figures. Analyzing major conflicts, such as the Raid on Deerfield or the Pequot War, has shown me that there’s more than two sides to every story.

Some lessons I learned at Phillips were outside of class. I made friends with kids from the other side of the planet. Guess what? They’re not that different from the kids in my neighborhood! Sure, they may eat different food, or even speak another language, but teenagers are teenagers, all around the world. Spending time with such a diverse group of students is living proof that it’s a small world after all.

Dig This! has taken learning to a higher level. When my friends go back home to California, or Lawrence, or Canada, or Shanghai, I think we’ll all remember what an amazing summer it has been, and we won’t ever forget it.