Daily Life in Ancient Times

FAIN: ES-50241-08

Andrews University (Berrien Springs, MI 49104-0001)
Rhonda G. Root (Project Director: March 2008 to June 2011)

A four-week summer institute for thirty school teachers on daily life in the ancient Middle East.

We propose a four-week institute, "Daily Life in Ancient Times" for 30 K-12 teachers. It builds on our successful 2004-2005 NEH Institute by focusing on 13th century B.C.E. remains at Tell el-'Umayri in Jordan. Finds at this site demonstrate changes in human interaction with the environment in Israel and Jordan. To promote effective links among teachers, archaeological research and Near East cultures, we present: 1) how we know what we know about the past; 2) why the past is important; 3) daily life in the Fertile Crescent; and 4) how to use archaeology in classrooms. Seminars and laboratories with archaeologists and master teachers will result in cross-curricular lesson plans. Artifacts from the Horn Archaeological Museum at Andrews University will help teachers to envision the daily lives of people who lived in the 'cradle of civilization'.