Apr

Our Smithsonian: Backyard archaeology

Rajshree Solanki is an archaeologist and Chief Registrar for the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, currently working from home and trying to keep her six-year-old son, Relam, occupied.

Being at home every day with young kids whose school routine has been disrupted is challenging. You really have to rely on your creativity and own experiences to keep them engaged and excited about learning. If my six-year-old, Relam, had his way, he’d spend all day playing video games. Frankly, so would my husband.

Recently, Relam was watching an episode of the “Magic School Bus Rides Again” about archaeology and became fascinated by fieldwork. I gained new respect when he learned that Mommy herself is an archaeologist. He set up a small “dig” in our living room to hunt for fossils. The living room may not have been the most fruitful site for fossils, but what do I know? I’m an archaeologist, not a paleontologist.

Preparing the site for archaeological exploration. (Photo courtesy Raj Solanki)

For his next dig, Relam decided to explore more fertile ground—literally. As the chief archaeologist from the planet Cybertron (you know—Cybertron, the Transformers’ home planet), Relam staked out my herb garden for study. I was reminded of an exercise my archaeology professor had given the class—to approach a site as if we were aliens exploring Earth.

A carefully labeled artifact. (Photo courtesy Raj Solanki)

The young Cypertronian archaeologist dug down and rescued some worms. He found some rusted nails, broken potsherds from terracotta flowerpots and some ancient “rock tools” (that bore a suspicious resemblance to actual rocks.) He also discovered an old window sash weight which provoked discussion about how it was used.

We labelled and bagged the artifacts. Like a good archaeologist, Relam took some notes and some photos of artifacts as well as where they were found. He and my husband cleaned the artifacts and prepped them for display in the museum Relam plans to set up in the house.

Who knows? We may have the beginning of the next Smithsonian museum!

Young boy laughing and pointing at art book

Young scholar Relam Solanki is a bit of a Rennaissance boy. Here, he enjoys Heironymous Bosch’s evidently hilarious paintings about the fall of man into hell. (Photo courtesy Raj Solanki)