In continuity with an activity already carried out in 2019 by members of the expedition in collaboration with the Lagodekhi Local Museum and its Director, Mr. Davit Kvavadze, a series of two lessons of “Introduction to Archaeology” for local high school students and teachers were carried out at the Lagodekhi Museum under the responsibility of Davide Memola, Gaia Babolin and Dimitri Natchkebia on October 5th and 12th. A third lesson, to be held both at the Lagodekhi Museum and at the Expedition’s house, had been programmed for October 18th, but it had to be cancelled because schools in Lagodekhi were closed because of the renewed COVID-19 emergency. The youth program acquainted students with the current activities of the GILAP project and highlighted the collaboration between countries inherent in many archaeological expeditions. Students had the opportunity to participate in hands-on experiments and perform tasks normally completed by experienced archaeologists. The workshops each day comprised a lecture and hands-on experiments. During the first session, students were introduced to the discipline of archaeology and excavation techniques. They had a topographic map and had to choose a limited number of squares to survey, simulating what archaeologists do in real life. Next, the students were tasked with excavating their own “site”: a box prepared in advance with different soil types, structures, and artefacts hidden in the sediment. They had to apply what they had recently learned in the lecture and excavate their box, paying attention to stratigraphy and record keeping (Fig. 17).
On the second day, the students were exposed to two special topics: relative and absolute chronology and scientific dating methods (after which they had to answer some questions about the age of selected objects and the best methods to date them), and drawing and recording of artefacts. After that, they made an attempt at drawing some pottery sherds themselves. The expedition hopes to continue the successful youth programs in the coming years in partnership with the Lagodekhi Museum.
