Walk on the Wild Side Explore Your Public Lands Activity Book

Scientists called archaeologists study clues to human history. You can think like an archaeologist. Imagine that one of the bedrooms on the right is yours. Now imagine that someone who had never met you before saw your bedroom. What could they tell about you, just by seeing your room? Would the person know if you were a boy or a girl? How old you were? If it was during the 1960's or 1990's? What your hobbies were?

Archaeologists work the same way. They study a site and look at all the things people left behind. They keep detailed records about everything they find, and handle ancient objects very carefully. They put together hundreds of clues to get the whole story.

But what would happen if some of the clues were missing? Unfortunately, this happens all too often. There are so many archaeological sites on BLM lands that it's impossible to watch over them all. People take things such as arrowheads and pieces of pottery. Sometimes they don't know any better. But sometimes they steal things on purpose to add them to their own collections or to sell them for money. They are taking to the past and destroying them forever.