Staff room

An archaeologist's obituary

	To explore why people should be remembered and why certain people have a record made of their achievements.
	Examples of newspaper obituaries
	Teacher presentation / individual or group work

Discuss with the class why it is important to remember people. If you are not going to see somebody for a long time what are the important things to remember about them?

What would you tell somebody who had never met that person?

Show the class examples of obituaries cut from newspapers as illustration. Point out that obituaries often include a picture of the person and that they must describe when they were born and died. The text describes what the person has achieved and what they will be remembered for.

What would make you interested in learning about this person?
Why do you think he or she has an obituary rather than somebody else?
Do you think it is only good people who have an obituary?

Ask the pupils to choose their favourite archaeologist from the Tombs Story or Time Story. If practical they could download some of the images and word process their text. The pupils could draw their chosen archaeologist and write an obituary beside it.

see: Rediscovery of Mesopotamia