Activity: How will artifacts change?

Make a list of five items from a room in your house. Write a short description of how the item is used and what it tells about who lives in your house. Now imagine these items have been thrown away and buried in a hole. Say they have remained undiscovered for 500 years. Take into consideration the effects of weather, corrosion, rotting, etc.

How will the items change? Will they be recognizable? Which items have multiple uses? (For example, if people had never seen a toothbrush, what would they think it had been used for?) Would the past use of the items be apparent? What would the items tell about the daily activities of the people who used them?

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