On the Ashkelon dig, we have many different people who come to help. Specialists, volunteers, supervisors, and I all work together to excavate and answer questions we have about Ashkelon in the past. Watch the video here that explains what all the jobs are!
One of the dig specialists, Dr. Sherry Fox, recently took the time to Skype in with me from Greece to talk about what she studies-human bones! Watch the video below to see her explain how she is able to tell the gender, diet, and age of the person while they were alive.
Question of the day:
What else do you think scientists look at around where they find human bones? What other clues that are near the person may give scientists a hint of what was important to that culture?
Junior Archaeologist Assignment:
Look at the different types of meats you may have in the freezer at your house (or at the grocery store) and compare the bones that you see. Can the bones give you hints of what part of the animal that the meat cut comes from? What do the different bones have in common, and how are they different? Do you think that you would be able to identify what type of animal it came from by just looking at the bone?