Investigating middens
In this activity, students investigate what historic rubbish dumps (called middens) can reveal about people’s daily lives and the resources they used.
Midden
Midden on Ninety Mile Beach, Northland. This midden shows up as a raised mound of shells amongst the sand dunes. Middens are the most common type of archaeological site found in New Zealand.
By the end of this activity, students should be able to:
talk about what ancient middens tell us about past lives
understand that discarded rubbish can tell us indirectly about the environment
predict what will happen to today’s rubbish in the future
extract information from written text.
Excavation of a midden
A cut-away section of a midden showing shell layers. This archaeological excavation shows the layers of shells, ash and bones that typically make up a midden. This midden had been covered by a layer of soil after it had ceased to be used as a rubbish dump.
Download the Word file (see link below) for:
introduction/background
what you need
what to do
extension ideas
student handout.
Sieving a midden
Scientists sieving a midden to determine its contents. By collecting the shells, bones, pollen and charcoal from a midden, scientists are able to determine not only what people ate but how long ago this rubbish was left.
Related content
Find out more about middens.
Explore the issue of rubbish disposal with these key resources below:
Material World – Recycling and biodegradability – curates the wide range of Hub resources on the issue of waste, landfills and more.
Building Science Concepts Book 60 Rubbish: How Do We Deal with It? for use in the early to middle primary years.
Waste – a growing challenge! – activity that support students in levels 1–4 with learning about waste and recycling.
Read up about the structure of landfills in New Zealand, then try this online labelling interactive or paper-based activity and information resource. Thinking about landfills is a ready-to-use cross-curricular student worksheet for NZC levels 4–5.
Useful links
Learn more about regulations around middens and archaeological sites on the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga website.
See the New Zealand Archaeological Association website and for more information about archaeological sites in Aotearoa New Zealand see ArchSite.
