A
Discovering Archaeology
Written By Maria Guzman
s a young girl, I liked
playing outside. I
would sometimes spend
time collecting random objects that I stumbled upon, and
“investigating” their origin. It involved a lot of imagination on
my part. I would fi nd small weirdly-shaped pebbles in the dirt
and pretend that I was exploring an Aztec temple fi lled with
ancient artifacts. Sometimes I’d even wash them off and put
them in a box, marking them with the date and location of
my discovery.
Those were my first steps on the route to my passion for
history. I’ve always had a strong sense of curiosity, especially
when it comes to mysteries and unexplained events of the
past.
Toward the end of elementary school, I studied US history
and it was rather appealing to me. I learned about General
George Washington’s leadership of the American Revolution,
the Gold Rush in 1949, and the Industrial Revolution. All of
these things had a lasting impact on our country.
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GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
During middle school, I watched historical documentaries.
The ones that piqued my curiosity focused on the gaps or
“missing links” in human history. Historians in the films spoke
about mysterious civilizations, like the Olmecs of the Gulf
of Mexico, had developed thousands of years ago and then
disappeared without a trace. I thought it would be amazing
to discover the explanation for their disappearance.
In 8th grade, I read a book about the lost city of Atlantis.
There were theories that this mysterious city from the past was
submerged somewhere at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
People even organized diving expeditions to find it, without
success. My mind was filled with unanswered questions. I
later found out it was the Greek Philosopher, Plato, who first
wrote about Atlantis as his idea of utopia, not as a real city. I
realized that I enjoyed learning history because I want to find
out the truth about things for myself.
I’ve found it interesting that archaeologists work with a
lot of theories about the origin of the human race, how and
when we developed from apes into Homo sapiens and our
june/july 2019
gmhtoday.com