Digging around in Second Life

Hello again, Dear Reader, and welcome back,
This week I was fortunate enough to meet Canadensis Yellowjacket,
a RL archaeologist who also teaches the subject in Second Life. He has
found a home at Robert Welch University-

Robert Welch University, Teaching 6 (42, 61, 22)

Let's go visit....


















Canadensis Yellowjacket (let's just call him CY, shall we?)
has set up a classroom for one on one tutorials- looks comfy!



















As well as a vitual archaeological dig site to teach his students
about how to dig, how to uncover the past correctly- as he says
"Excavation =destruction" so one must do it carefully.



















OK, first things first- set up a methodology for your site,
How, where and in what timeline will you dig?

On the site, is a screen which links the students into
Nabonidus.org, a worldwide registry for archaeologists to share
the info from their digs.



















Set up your page, make your arguments to CY about your methodology,
and once approved, you are good to go...recording in Nabonidus as you go..
BTW, Nabonidis was the last king of Babylonia...;-)



















At CY's site, you lift the layers by touching them revealing, the ages
and artifacts past- a bit easier than in RL, but it teaches the same thing.

CY told me that we have about 10 meters of depth average
between our time in RL and the time of Augustus Ceasar, so
that's a lot of digging for the RL archaeologists- whew!



















And as you work your way down through the site, artifacts are
uncovered, and when they are touched, you are linked to
various web pages that feature these items, explaining
their historical frame and meaning.
So now, I am beginning to get it- this is what the words
layers, contex, deposition and events, mean to an archaeologist-
Very clear, CY!


















So, what does an Archaeologist think about SL?
CY has some interesting things to say about that-
and if you touch the rotating sculpture in his site, you will
get a list of places he considers a worthwhile visit. Places that
educate by using "situational learning" or just have the
whole archaeological thing going on...

Think on this for a minute- Dear Reader- How do the
rules of SL reveal themselves in the objects that get built
and thrown away? CY asks that to us.

Did you know we have a dump? yupper!- the SL Dumpster
(an archaeologists paradise, btw)

SL Dumpster, Fearzom (209, 43, 67)




















Drop your unwanted stuff in the SL dumpster, attach a decay script to
it, and watch what happens- and besides from being a fascinating art project
it will clean out your overstuffed inventory-

CY has plans for the future too- A larger, elaborate site such as the one
at Okapi, all linked in and referenced of course...

Okapi Island (archaeology resear, Okapi (90, 116, 36)




And of course the Greeks, who have lots of ancestry to be proud of
have built a reconstruction of the Parthenon and the theater-
visit it here-
Greece Official in SL, GreeceOfficial (53, 53, 24)























And of course, Roma--RP! Citizen!
ROMA (SPQR) - The Ancient Roman , ROMA (214, 25, 22)

Other schools have gotten into the act as well-
Here is the Applied Media and Simulation Games Center
on Crimson Island- the "Classroom in the Clouds".

IUP - Crimson Island, Crimson Island (97, 60, 21)

UC Davis- this lab explores Schizophrenia and it's manifestations...

Virtual Hallucinations, Sedig (26, 45, 22)




















And last, but not least- Vassar has made a virtual Sistine chapel-
for those of us who cannot make it to Rome this year-

Vassar Island, Vassar (170, 87, 24)





















Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. William Butler Yeats

Until next post, Dear Reader, be safe, have fun-
Best,
Annabelle