Archaeology Education Portals

Archaeology can enliven a classroom lesson in almost any subject, from art to zoology. We encourage you to visit these sources for additional archaeology education resources.

Archaeological Institute of America
Lesson plans and projects that focus on ancient material culture and stress archaeological approaches and ways of thinking. Culture specific projects include Classical, Near East, Roman, and Medieval periods.

Archaeology Education Clearinghouse
The Archaeology Education Clearinghouse is a combined effort of the Archaeological Institute of  America, the Society for American Archaeology and the Society for Historical Archaeology. It is dedicated to promoting the use of archaeology in classrooms and interpretive settings.

Archaeology In the Community
A not-for-profit organization that “promotes and facilitates the study and public understanding of archaeological heritage” with informal educational programs, hands-on learning, professional development, and community events.

Into the Field: Archaeology
A collection from PBS Learning Media with archaeology-focused materials and lesson plans for classroom or home use. The collection includes 1 video, 5 documents, and 5 lesson plans for Grades PreK-13+.

Social Studies Resources
Teaching resources from the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, including articles, lessons, activities, posters, worksheets, and videos.

Project Archaeology
This joint program of Montana State University and the Bureau of Land Management offers workshops and educational resources. Project Archaeology workshops are conducted by facilitators who provide training and mentoring to local educators who wish to incorporate archaeology into their classroom teaching. Workshop participants receive the Project Archaeology activity guides, designed for Grades 4-7, or one of their curriculum guides (Grades 3-5). Online courses are also offered.

Teaching With Historic Places
Teaching With Historic Places from the National Park Service includes online lesson plans that use historic sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places to explore American history. Lesson plans can be adapted both for older and younger grades and link to the national curriculum standards for history for Grades 5-12, and Social Studies standards for middle school. Each lesson includes maps, readings, and photographs.

The Heritage Education Network
The Heritage Education Network (THEN) is an alliance of archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, educators, architects, folklorists, museum specialists, interpreters, art historians and others. THEN provides an annotated bibliography of heritage education resources, currently with more than 500 listings.