Inquiring minds want to know: what was life like at Moundville hundreds of years ago?
“Archaeology Adventures,” a new television program aimed primarily at elementary school students in Alabama, answers that question.
Dr. Alex Benitez, director of Moundville Archaeological Park, and Dr. John Blitz, professor in UA’s department of anthropology, recently assisted a film crew from Alabama Public Television in developing the program.
“Archaeology Adventures” is an effort to engage second- through fifth-grade students in learning about Alabama’s history in conjunction with the state’s bicentennial, which occurs in December 2019.
Alabama’s bicentennial celebration, named Alabama 200, kicked off in Mobile in May 2017 and brings together partners and sponsors in the state to celebrate Alabama’s history over a span of three years. APT is a partner of Alabama 200, allowing the Alabama Bicentennial Commission and its committees to provide resources and engage with the community.
In the program, three young archaeology “adventurers” explored the Moundville site with Blitz, a UA graduate who has been a professor at the University since 2003, acting as their archaeologist guide. He showed them artifacts found by archaeologists at the Moundville site to answer their question, “How do archaeologists know what life was like at Moundville?”