Digging ‘ancient’ history

Dozens of sixth-graders at Sonora Elementary School in Costa Mesa became archaeologists Monday, unearthing artifacts purposely buried behind the school by their teacher as part of their ancient civilization class.

Debra Muniz’ history class has been conducting digs for more than a decade — a trick she picked up from her father, an anthropology professor.

“I think kids like that ‘Aha, Eureka!’ moment when they find something,” Muniz said. “I think when kids are having fun, they’ll have a better chance of retaining something. They’ll always remember this day.”

The students are in the midst of learning about a variety of civilizations as far back as 10,000 B.C. and 700 A.D. Some of the periods are well documented and include great civilizations like Rome, China and Greece.

The Aztecs are also high on the list of learning.

“I love this class. It’s so much fun,” said Julian Jackson, 11, who’d dug up a small wooden cross, then brought it back to the classroom, studying the background of the crucifixion in a book.

It was a scenario that repeated itself for two hours straight as students dug through the dirt with tiny shovels and discovered all sorts of shells and pottery fragments and arrowheads and replicas of the hands of mummies.

Muniz said the items were buried behind her classroom during Christmas break by the fathers of a dozen students.

The school, Muniz said, was kind enough to allow her to use the grounds as a makeshift archaeological ground.