Archaeology goes to school

12-year project took archeology to 1524 students from Matosinhos schools last year

"Archeologists read the inside of the earth as if they were reading a book, page by page, layer by layer. And that's how we reconstruct history", explained one of the technicians involved in the "Archaeology goes to School" to the students of a 4th grade class of the basic school of Praia de Angeiras last Friday, in one of the actions developed under this project of the Matosinhos City Hall and its educational services that have been taking archaeology to the municipality's schools for 12 years.

Disclose the history of the county, with the aim of developing a sense of belonging and identity, contributing to the increase in the sense of preservation and dissemination of heritage is one of the main purposes of these educational sessions on the historical and archaeological heritage of the county.

In Lavra, at the school of Praia de Angeiras, it was a different week for the students of four 1st cycle classes that hosted sessions of this project and got to know more about the history and local heritage of their region, combining the curricular objectives of the subject of Environmental Study and the objectives of the Matosinhos Memory Museum to provide the students with records of identity and the creation of affective ties with the local heritage.

Students learned about the Roman villa present in Lavra and viewed a scale model of the Roman villa of yesteryear. They became familiar with the existence of, among others, the "Casa Grande", the Roman mosaic fragments found, the Roman tanks, the cemetery (discovered in 2021), the graves, the pottery and several other archaeological finds. Remember that some of these can be seen at MuMMa - Matosinhos Memory Museum.

The children were also able to "travel" a little to the sites of the archeological excavations. Videos about the excavations and the archeological remains were shown, with the registration of several images of the site, namely from drones.

After the theoretical lesson, where they also learned who was Joaquim Neves dos Santos (industrialist, archaeologist and ethnographer), the students did a practical activity of building mosaics. They observed some materials of the time and learned a little more about colors and some concepts related to the theme. The final construction was left at the school for future memory.

Last year, "Archaeology Goes to School" registered 74 sessions and 1524 participants, among teachers and students between 7 and 18 years old.

To have access to the sessions of "Archaeology Goes to School", the schools must send an email to mumma@cm-matosinhos.pt and proceed to schedule the actions. It is also possible to schedule guided visits to historical heritage sites in Matosinhos.

In addition to schools, the archaeology project of the Matosinhos City Hall also promotes intergenerational archaeology sessions, with one already scheduled for April this year, at the Padre Silva Lopes Library, located in the Centro Social e Paroquial Padre Ramos, in Lavra.