This presentation was expanded into an article "Archaeology Excavation Simulation: Correcting the Emphasis" that will appear in the summer 2012 Journal of Museum Education.
To provide several more images to illustrate the argument and the alternative programme, Paul Thistle has created a web site "Archaeology Excavation Simulation" web site here.
In the interim Paul thistle presented a related OMA Ignite! session on 3 November 2011. See this site for more .
The abstract for the article is:
Museums offering archaeological programs often attempt to use the "sandbox approach" to simulate archaeological excavation work. However, in light of the definition of simulation and given the realities of actual professional practice in archaeological excavation, the author argues that the activity of troweling for artifacts in loose sand places the emphasis of such programs on activities that are not realistic and therefore actually counterproductive—if not miseducational. The author presents an alternative approach to simulating excavations in museums that is much more realistic and places the program's primary emphasis on the precise skills professional archaeologists actually must carry out in excavating and analyzing archaeological sites.
Museums offering archaeological programs often attempt to use the "sandbox approach" to simulate archaeological excavation work. However, in light of the definition of simulation and given the realities of actual professional practice in archaeological excavation, the author argues that the activity of troweling for artifacts in loose sand places the emphasis of such programs on activities that are not realistic and therefore actually counterproductive—if not miseducational. The author presents an alternative approach to simulating excavations in museums that is much more realistic and places the program's primary emphasis on the precise skills professional archaeologists actually must carry out in excavating and analyzing archaeological sites.
