Attendees participated in a simulation canvas dig of the Blanchard House.
On April 19th, the Andover Historical Society hosted eight children at our newest program Can You Dig It? Andover Archaeology. All of the participants had a lot of fun learning about archaeology and taking part in fun hands-on activities. The cookie excavation was a crowd favorite. Each child carefully excavated M&Ms and chocolate chip “artifacts” from the cookie “site” doing their best to keep the “artifact” intact. It was hard work and the kids realized that they had to be very careful to prevent any damage. Once the artifacts were excavated we turned our stomachs into museums to store the artifacts. One of the participants, Ashlyn, said “My stomach is happy!
This participant is carefully excavating an M&M from a cookie!
At one point, objects from the Blanchard House were interpreted by the children. The children learned how to look closely at a variety of objects to determine what they were and how they were used. Some of the objects were very unique and the children had never seen such things before. As the children gained a critical eye and determined what several of the artifacts were! Another favorite part of the program was using the “coil and scrape” method to make clay pots. This Native American pottery method was used in the Northeast for thousands of years. Using experimental archaeology, the kids were able to practice this method to learn how the pots were made.
Ashlyn and Charlie created their very own pots using the "coil and scrape" method.
The Andover Historical Society has many programs for children of all ages to learn about the past. If you would like to sign-up for this program or learn about other opportunities to visit the museum please call 978-475-2236 or email ddesmet@andoverhistorical.org.
Coming up next on the Andover Historical Society calendar, a series of events this June called Spirit and Sacrifice: Andover in the Civil War.
Children can learn about Abby Locke a real Andover Girl and families are invited to a Civil War Reenactment by Jim Bedford. Don’t miss out on all of our exciting events.
