Virginia SOL VS.2.a
The Standard
describing how archaeologists have recovered artifacts from important places in the history of Indigenous people, including, but not limited to Werowocomoco
Virginia Standards of Learning for History and Social Science
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain how archaeologists carefully survey, excavate, map, record, and preserve objects at Indigenous sites. They use artifacts as evidence about life at places such as Werowocomoco.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students can describe the steps archaeologists use to recover an artifact without damaging its context. They can make a reasonable claim about Indigenous life and support it with artifact evidence.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may confuse archaeologists with paleontologists or call artifacts fossils. They may think archaeologists simply dig for valuable objects, rather than recording each object’s location and surroundings.
How to Assess It
- Show a picture of a pottery fragment and ask: “How would an archaeologist recover and record this object, and what might it reveal?”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Bury replica pottery pieces in a gridded tray, then have teams excavate, map, label, and bag each find.
Ask students to write: “What can a pottery fragment tell us about Werowocomoco, and what can it not prove?”
Play an evidence match game where students pair artifact cards with supported claims about food, tools, trade, or daily life.
Examine a museum image of an artifact from Werowocomoco and create a caption explaining what archaeologists learned from it.
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Printable VS.2.a Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to VS.2.a, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
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- VS.2.c
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- USI.2.a
describing how archaeologists have recovered artifacts from ancient settlements including, but not limited to Cactus Hill in Virginia; and
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