The Western Illinois AIA Society and the Monmouth College Archaeology Research Laboratory held a Lab open house on “The Archaeology of prehistoric Western Illinois” in celebration of International Archaeology Day. For the event, the lab’s director, Kristian Lorenzo, and Senior Lab Assistant, Ariel Fornino, gave a tour of the lab and a hands-on introduction to the lab’s over 15,000 Native American artifacts to Mrs. Briggs’ 5th grade class from the local Central Intermediate School in Monmouth, Ill. Students handled real artifacts, saw what happens to artifacts in the lab, and each one received an Official Monmouth College Archaeology Lab Snack Kit. They also helped excavate a mock burial. An enthusiastic group of 19 5th graders peppered Dr. Lorenzo and Ariel with questions about spear points, arrowheads and woolly mammoths, while scarcely concealing their glee at doing ‘real’ archaeology. A great time was had by all!
