The awesome archaeologists from Dig This 08!

Dig This! What a cool name, what an unforgettable class. Time never stops, as soon as I flickered my eyes, Dig This have already reached the end. Still remembered the first day of class, I was sitting at the corner of the Peabody classroom, being indifference to the class. I was like an oyster, stayed inside my shells and separated from the class. No matter it was the tour of Philip Academy Andover or eating lunches in the Uncommon, I was by myself. Seriously, it was not cool to be by yourself.

            Since I was come form Hong Kong, I have a different accent from the other kids. I was scared of talking, because I was afraid that my classmates would laugh at me. Dig This has let me understood that if I didn’t try, I won’t know the answer. As a result, I started to communicate with my classmates, such as Beebie, Aidan and Malina. I found out that they were really kind and nice. In addition, I chose to write a creative story for my final project. Because I want to challenge myself to speak in front of people, I want to show them what I have learned during Dig This!

            Dig This has been a great class. I have gained and obtained lack of knowledge. Our class has successfully unearthed the history. It has colored my humdrum summer, it has taught me tons of substantial information about the Native Americans. However, I still have three new ideas for Dig This!  First, I hope Dig This can add some excavation about prehistoric dinosaurs bones, don’t you think is cool if you find a tyrannosaurus’s tooth? Secondly, I hope the kitchen could provide different kinds of lunch for us, because I have had Turkey sandwiches for all my field trips. As a result, I was scared of Turkey now. Lastly, I hope Dig This could accomplish some kind of souvenir. So when I arrived in Hong Kong, I could show my accomplishment to everyone. Also, I can always remember all my beloved teachers and classmates.

            Obviously, since Mr. Newhall was an expert in Cornell notes style, he has “forced” us to follow his footsteps.  I was being sarcastic when I said, “Forced”. By the way, I have really taken advantages from taking Cornell notes. It has helped me organized my thoughts and information during class presentation. I am 100% positive that I am going to use Cornell notes at my school. Also, I have learned how to read an article and take good notes on it. In the past, I won’t take notes while I was reading, so I didn’t really understand the article. From now on, I started to take notes on the key idea of the article. Third, I have learned how to find appropriate and reliable sources for projects. It is going to be a vital skill for me, because at my school, I have to due with tons of projects. Lastly, I really enjoyed all the filed trips that Dig This has prepared for us. I really like to learn from looking at artifacts from the past.

            I was really proud to be part of Dig This! I knew I would never regret for coming to Philip Academy Andover. I have gained lots of substantial skills and met lots of really nice people and teachers, who I am going to miss them so much in Hong Kong. Dig This was like a big puzzle, formed by 13 little pieces, Malina, Beebie, Aidan, Anthony, Victoria, Sid, Christine, Cindy, Sameer, Thalia, J.P, Mary and Me. We were all part of Dig This 08! “Congratulation Kenny! You have graduated!”

They were our stars in Rebecca Nurse Homestead. They really helped us went through the process of excavating artifacts. If they didn’t help us, I don’t think the excavation in Rebecca Nurse Homestead would be that successful!

The wonderful treasury-The Harvard Peabody Museum

July 16th 2008
The Harvard Peabody Museum
I have a fantastic time in the Harvard Peabody Museum. It was a really grand and nice building. Also, it was the oldest museum in North America. I was really excited to explore the treasure in this wonderful museum.
We have a group activity in a secret room. I have learned how to use information and tools to help me dating a particular artifact. I also realized that information is really important to an archeologist. For example, if I didn’t know the characteristics of each period bottle. I won’t be able to date them easily.
After, we went to the Harvard yard. Teacher told me that most of the artifacts were related to foods, such as bowls and animals bones. In contrast, there were not so many things about Academic. The only thing they found was lab pencil. I think it was really interesting, because Harvard was a well-known great college. How come it has such a different life style in 17th century?
As soon as we finished lunch, we went back to the Harvard Peabody Museum. There were so much amazing and cool materials inside. Through the tour in the Museum, I have learned more about the Fur trade. For example, Indians used animals’ hides to trade for metal tools, firearms, clothing, tobacco and glass beads. In addition, traders recognized the business of hide trading, so traders created a market for buffalo hides.
There were also lots of cute and valuable artifacts, which I like, in the museum. For example, the Ceramic Owl (Zuni), founded 70 years earlier (1953-1959). It was made for tourist trade; also represent the highest point in the development of such owl to trade. The second one was the Saliko Mana, Salako Maiden. It was founded in 1892 by Thomas V. Keam prior. This doll was wearing a wool dress with a sash. Its shawl was made of white cotton with wool at the end.
We also went to learn about the Latin American. The Main Group, Copan in 8th century. They built large plaza with enormous stone monuments. They also built up zone, Acropolis, included numerous buildings with very complicated sculpt in the front of the buildings. Also, the Altar Q was the new monument of the last great ruler of Copan.
Lastly, we went to a nature museum. Although it was not our main purpose of visiting the Harvard Peabody Museum, but I really have lots of fun there. The ancient animals bones and those amazing creatures were my favorite. I really like to explore and learn more about them, but reluctantly, time was not available. Even though I just browsed through quickly, those mysterious creatures were still in my mind, I hope I will have chance to visit them again.
Gift shop was our last stop. I have bought some souvenirs and post card for my families. I really enjoyed the time in Harvard Peabody museum, next time if my parents came to visit me; I am going to bring them to this amazing treasury.

The last field trip-The Salem Tour

The Salem tour was a great experience. At the begging, I thought Salem is all about witches, wizard or witchcrafts those supernatural things, but after this substantial trip, I have learned more about Salem, such as trading and manufacturing.

            I think looking at the artifacts dug from the Narbonne House was the apogee of the Salem Trip. There were tons of significance artifacts, which could tell us more about the Salem trading and economic growth. For example, I think the traders have traded with the Chinese before by looking at China ceramics, cups and plates, which have lots of wonderful Chinese images on it.  I think the Salem people imported lots of tea, because there were couple teacups and teapots.

            Our last field trip, the Salem tour, was a great trip. I enjoy looking at the cultural environment and the history in Salem.

Rebecca Nurse Homestead 3

As soon as we arrived Rebecca Nurse Homestead. We took a picture in front on the house, which was purposely built for the movie. Although they didn’t build this house long time ago, but the house looked really old.

Today was the third time to visit Rebecca Nurse Homestead. We got to visit the graveyard in Rebecca Nurse Homestead. The first thing caught my attention was the monument, which was surrounded by green leaves, of Rebecca Nurse. She born in 1678 and died in 1698. There was one thing really interesting. The Putnam family and the Nurse family was enemy before, then why did they buried together?

Professor gave us a tour of the whole Rebecca Nurse Homestead. He also talked about the history of Rebecca Nurse. We also did some digging; I have found more stuff this time. I have found some broken pieces of bricks and also some broken bones. Obviously, when we started digging deeper and deeper, we found stuff, which were more valuable and older. Also, I realized that after we passed the rock layer, the soil became so soft and easy to dig. It was a big contrast between today and yesterday.

We end by a group activity about artifacts. We discussed about the characteristics of a particular artifacts. Professor said if we looked at the image and color of the artifact carefully, you can determine when did the artifact was made. I found it really interesting.

The personal experience in Rebecca Nurse Homestead

On July 12, the whole “Dig This” group went to Rebecca Nurse Homestead to explore and learn about how to dig in an archaeology site. When I arrived, I saw houses; one of them was built for a movie. And the house, which Rebecca lived, was painted in bright red. Also, I saw crops on the grassland, which was for feeding animals. The place was so original, such as the old fences and the old woods. I was ready and so animated to explore and experienced how does an archaeologist works.

What I have learned at the Mashentucket Pequot Museum!

The first stop was the Pequot Village, the most amazing native village. I have learned that farming was really important to the Pequot. They planted maize, squash and beans. In addition, they called the squash three sisters, because the squashes were like members of their family, it was vital to them. Young native child helped farming. They helped putting corns in the basket and gathered them together. Young native children also have small hunting games. They will hunt for squirrels, birds and rabbits. I realized that there were no points on their arrows. It was because sharp arrowhead will destroy the inside of the animal. They preferred smaller bow, because it is easier to control. It seemed I have gone back to the past time, I have seen and understood more about Pequot culture. And of course except two interesting facts that I mentioned above, I have learned more about what they do during daily bases.