RAIDERS OF THE BACK YARD

The fictional adventures of Indiana Jones are legendary. Expert archaeologist Mary-Ann Ochota goes in search of the real-life treasure-hunters.

Archaeology is the study of how humans lived in the past, through finding and examining the remains of their buildings, jewellery, tools, weapons and even their bodies. Archaeologists are time-travel detectives. They find clues then try to piece together the story of what people in the past did, how they did it and why. It can be really exciting, but it is also careful, detailed work. Read on to find out more about the work archaeologists do are, the amazing artefacts they’ve discovered and how you can follow in their footsteps.

Prehistoric paintings

Prehistory is the time before written records were kept. Even though they didn’t write things down, we can learn about prehistoric people by studying the things they’ve made. A famous example of this is the Lascaux cave paintings. The walls and ceilings of these caves in France are covered with paintings of animals created by people during the Ice Age, around 17,000 years ago. The paintings are not easy to reach, so experts don’t know whether they were created to be looked at, or for some kind of secret ritual. Footprints on the cave floor and painted hand shapes in other Ice Age caves show that children helped to create some of these paintings. Can you imagine crawling into a dark cave and then painting a giant picture with just the light of a flickering lamp or a burning stick?

Dial of Destiny