Kids between the ages of 9 and 12 are digging for artifacts around the 18th century site of the Mary Ann Furnace.
The summer camp was offered through a partnership between the York County Department of Parks and the York County Heritage Trust as a part of Nature Discovery Week to teach students about archaeology and history through actual excavations.
Jeri Jones from the Department of Parks is the program’s coordinator who specializes in geology and archaeology.
"Every year we continue to put together pieces of the puzzle and find out more about the Mary Ann Furnace," Jones said. "It's a tedious operation but the kids have already learned some things."
Patrick Bochy, a museum educator from the Heritage Trust, assisted the children in identifying artifacts and talking about the history of the area. He said the furnace made ammunition for soldiers during the Revolutionary War and the area has artifacts showing its existence.
Bochy said it's important for kids to take advantage of opportunities like the archaeology camp over the summer to learn more about history and science.
See what the kids have to say about archaeology. So far they all want to find a dead body, a foundation wall (that made me smile), arrowheads (come to Florida we have hundreds of them), a sword and a skeleton. Pretty wishful thinking, but all archaeologists have lofty goals in mind, even though we may not let you know.
3 Comments:
This sounds like a wonderful thing for kids. We used to have a vacant lot down the street from us when I was a kid. All the kids in the neighborhood used to go there to dig for old bottles. I never knew why it was bottles we looked for, but it was always that.
I still get excited when I find colored bottles Ratty, so I think it's in the blood of all us adventurers. lol
A marvelous idea. Children have fun while learning. I love it.
Post a Comment
We appreciate comments, but we delete SPAM.