At the Dallas Museum of Natural History we've done a number of simulated
digs, from actual mock digs with flower pots and coins to game-based
simulations.  Each year I've also organized an archaeology competition in a
regional science fair, where contestants try to interpret features and
stratigraphic sequences using basic archaeological principles (stratigraphy
and superposition, terminus ante quem, and so on).

One of the most successful mock-dig interactives was created out of
desperation.  Right after my arrival the Museum sponsored a family
archaeology day, I think with the notion that I'd take everyone out to a
local site and let them pot around for souvenirs.  Obviously that wouldn't
do.  With little time to think of alternatives I went to a building supply
store and bought a box of floor tiles.  I drew a simulated archaeological
site on one side, and numbered the reverse side 1-36.  Folks at the family
day encountered a 6 x 6 grid of tiles, and could request one tile be turned
over.  As each additional tile was turned over, the relationships between
features, stratigraphically superimposed elements, and likely functions
became clearer.  Like Wheel of Fortune, the idea is to make valid inferences
about the nature of the site and relationships among site features using a
fragmentary data set (just like the real thing).  And just like the real
thing, the ability to draw valid inferences is in part determined by
strategic choices in which tiles to reveal.  Most like the real thing, at
any given stage there's more than one plausible inference that might be
drawn, and by selecting specific tiles the validity of the inference can be
assessed by the players.

The game has been quite successful, and has been improved in several ways.
One important improvement is that we no longer use floor tiles (heavy as
sin), but light corrugated plastic.  It's also easy to adapt to the local
archaeology of a region, and it's easy enough to make variants for different
ages or interests.

One reason I like the game is that it's driven by archaeological principles,
instead of the treasure-hunt basis of many mock digs.  The mantra I drill
into all students (kindergarten to grad students) is "archaeologists don't
dig to find things, they dig to find things out."  I think the game does a
pretty good job of illustrating that.

Sorry for going on...

AB
____________________________________

Alex W. Barker, Curator of Archaeology
Dallas Museum of Natural History
PO Box 150349 Dallas, TX 75315-0349
(214) 421-3466 ext. 244
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