Fifth through eighth grade students from Whittier Adventist Elementary School found 150 beads, several arrow heads, 23 wooden pegs, 24 glass chunks, an elephant sculpture and 83 marbles as they excavated a three-by-six foot archaeological site that their teacher and principal, Daniel Weston, had found.

Students carefully sifted through the layers of sand and soil, making sure to plot the locations of each item or cluster of items found. Some chose to record, some dig, some sift and some managed the discoveries.

Students concluded that the people that lived in the area were traders — trading with people as far away as China. Since the ground was sandy, they decided the glass was probably made locally. Perhaps it was used for currency. All items were in fairly good shape, so the site must not have been a dump. Perhaps, the items were stashed for trading and forgotten. The marbles seemed to indicate they enjoyed games. The activity gave students an idea what it is like to be an archaeologist and find out about life long ago. Usually, all finds are turned over to a museum, but in this case, students were able take some of the findings home.