Please note: this lesson was produced as part of the Nuffield Primary History project (1991-2009) and pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum. It is part of a full sequence of lessons available here.

In this simulation of an excavation, the children investigate a past event and imaginatively reconstruct what happened, on the basis of the evidence uncovered.

The lesson is based on a real archaeological dig by Gerhard Bersu in 1946.

(These resources are attached below)

Two items in the resources are supplied as separate downloads. One is a powerpoint presentation. The other is an account of Viking funeral customs by Ibn Fadlan, an Arab Muslim trader who witnessed a Viking burial in Russia in 922 AD. Read this through before sharing it with children - you may want to cut out some of the sex and violence. It is supplied as a Word document for easy editing.

Here are some of the objects found, now in the Manx Museum

• Ballateare Sword
• Skull of a sacrificed girl  

We are grateful to David M. Wilson for his kind permission to reproduce the material you can download from this page. 

More lessons Romans, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings Background information for teachers Vikings: a brief history