We continued our public events with a Public Archaeology Day at History San José’s Peralta Adobe on November 13, 2011. Our revamped Public Archaeology program was a hit among the visiting kids and their families! Our volunteers had a fantastic time as well.
Students setting up our new excavation activity.
For this event we created a new, more complex Excavation activity. The visiting kids first excavate a “trash pit” with the trash from several different buildings. Then they use the evidence from the items found in the trash pit to identify the types of businesses or residences that threw their trash in the pit. We also added an activity where the kids can learn how to catalog the artifacts that they find.
This was our first event at the historic Peralta Adobe site in downtown San Jose. This Spanish-Colonial period adobe is the last of the original adobe buildings from El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe remaining in the city. The Peralta Adobe is located just a few blocks from the site of the Market Street Chinatown in downtown San Jose.
Families enjoying our hands-on activities
We have additional Public Archaeology Events planned for the coming months, and we would love to see you and your families at these events!
February 26th, 2012 – Peralta Adobe, 11:00 PM to 4:00 PM
April 29th, 2012 – History Park
May 20th, 2012 – History Park
For information about or directions to either location, please see History San José’s website (http://www.historysanjose.org/).