ASCO's booth with posters, a diorama, and a trackway was a hit with the young students. Eileen Gose's idea for a trackway of full-size mammoth and human footprints, cut from contact paper and stuck to the floor, worked well for capturing students interest. Using posters with images from White Sands National Park, Eileen was able to provide context for the trackway as the students compared their gait to that of a mammoth. A 4th poster provided awareness with the long history of occupation in Central Oregon. Judging from the students' questions, comments, observations and excitement, ASCO certainly helped inspire future scientists!

“Archaeology is about facts….Forget any ideas you’ve got about lost cities, exotic travel and digging up the world. We do not follow maps to buried treasure, and X never, ever marks the spot.”  -- Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones, Jr., Fictional Archaeologist & Heartthrob

Despite being a fictional archaeologist, Indiana Jones can still inspire students to become real archaeologists! In March, ASCO volunteers went to Metolius Elementary School to lead the fourth grade students into understanding the part archaeology plays in preserving the past. After explaining that archaeology is not the study of dinosaurs (a common mistake), ASCO members introduced the topics of culture and artifacts, survey and stratigraphy. And, importantly, students could see the difference between legitimate excavation versus illegal looting. Students enjoyed putting their new-found knowledge of archaeology to use by trying to identify real artifacts. At the end of the day, students realized an archaeologist’s tools include a trowel, not a whip!