Mareike Wendorff (IPN) tests the Archaeo:Lab's ceramic puzzle during the open-day event. (Photo: Jan Steffen,Cluster ROOTS)

Together with supporters from business, politics, education and science, the Kiel Research Factory celebrated its 10th anniversary with an open day on Friday, 7 October. Guests were given an insight into the diversity of the teaching and learning laboratory of Kiel University (CAU) and the Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (IPN).
The Archaeo:Labor, one of the youngest members of the Science Factory family, also presented its activities. During the past year, it has offered school classes and teachers insights into the topics and working methods of archaeology and related sciences with the support of the Cluster of Excellence ROOTS.

For example, young researchers can examine a trench in the ground underneath a real excavation tent and also document the profiles. The traces left in the ground by a Neolithic house can be traced on a one-to-one scale with the help of a tarp. In the laboratories, the school classes can study pollen and grain seeds in order to draw conclusions about past landscapes and human nutrition in the Neolithic. Patterns of ceramic sherds are also extracted from a soil sample and reveal interaction between people from different regions, while the use of a weaving frame illustrates how much work it was to make clothes with your own hands.

"In this way, we cover the topics of housing, nutrition, clothing, environment and social issues of past societies, and at the same time show the students the techniques that researchers use to investigate these topics," explains Dr. Katrin Schöps (IPN/Cluster ROOTS). She adds: “So far, the feedback from classes that have visited us has been very positive. We look forward to many more curious young archaeologists visiting the Archaeo:Labor.”
 
For more information, please go to the official press release of Kiel University (German): here.

How did Neolithic people move boulders to build megalithic tombs? Schoolchildren can find out at the Archäo:Labor. Dr. Katrin Schöps (center), Ilka Rau (ZBSA/Cluster of Excellence ROOTS) and Dr. Walter Dörfler (Cluster ROOTS) test the new, heavyweight learning module.(Photo: Jan Steffen,Cluster ROOTS)

Dr. Katrin Schöps (IPN / Cluster ROOTS, right) shows Dr. Gabriele Romig, Head of Department at the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Culture of the State of Schleswig-Holstein, the excavation tent of the Archaeo:Lab in the Kiel Research Workshop. (Photo: Jan Steffen,Cluster ROOTS)