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Bridges to Babylon

Bothwell holds Eastern Hemisphere Civilizations Museum

Benjamin Hellman, left, and Bradley Miller, both seventh-graders at Bothwell Middle School, present their exhibits Thursday during the school’s Eastern Hemisphere Civilizations Museum. Students created replica artifacts after having researched them and their corresponding ancient civilizations. (Journal photo by Christie Bleck)

MARQUETTE — It might have been the closest local residents could have gotten to the ancient Egyptian pyramids without actually being there.

Bothwell Middle School on Thursday held its fifth annual Eastern Hemisphere Civilizations Museum for which they made replica artifacts. To be as realistic as possible — making a proper pharaoh head, for example — they researched the artifacts and the ancient civilizations that produced them.

By doing so, they became historical experts of that era, which included their topics of study: early Egypt, Mesopotamia-Babylonia, the Indus River Valley people along the India-Pakistan border and the early Chinese dynasties.

The cafeteria was filled Thursday night, after weather postponed the event that was originally scheduled for Wednesday, with exhibits detailing the backgrounds of their artifacts, which included a tiny chariot and even a life-sized mummy.

Bothwell teacher Scot Stewart was on hand at the event.

A replica ornamental mask is pictured. (Journal photo by Christie Bleck)

‘It involves seventh-graders researching an artifact from one of four civilizations we’re currently studying,” Stewart said.

The museum was open to the public so they too could step back in time and learn about early peoples and regions of the Eastern Hemisphere.

The seventh-graders, though, also gained experience in teaching others about what they learned.

“This past week, they have been serving as museum interpreters, or museum guides, and have guided students through to learn about the artifacts they’ve made and researched,” Stewart said Thursday.

Much of the research was performed in class, but students did most of the work at home, he said.

“We assigned it before Christmas break and encouraged them to try and get their work done before then, but I think some of them did most of the work during Christmas break,” Stewart said.

Whatever the timeframe, the students managed to bring their projects in after break to be put on display.

Learning about modern history is one thing since it’s probably more familiar to seventh-graders, but learning about civilizations that existed thousands of years ago is a different matter.

“Early on, everyone wants to do Egypt,” said Stewart, who believes things like tombs and gold appealed to the youngsters.

More research, though, can be a game-changer for the students.

“The archaeological discoveries, I think, are always appealing to begin with,” Stewart said.

However, he said the youngsters got different ideas as they begin to see how people lived during these times, how little they had and how creative they were.

“One of the things we try to bring in there too is that technology that was available at this time, and how, I think, they really appreciate how much they were able to do with so very little.”

That’s why the Egyptian pyramids were such an interesting study for the seventh-graders, he said.

“Just moving these 2.3 million blocks of rocks to build a structure that was 481 feet tall,” Stewart said. “For centuries, for the millennium, they were the tallest things in the world, so I think those kinds of the things are exciting for the kids once they start researching on their own.”

A little botany lesson was in order for one seventh-grader.

Student Christopher Ricker’s’ project was about Chinese tea and how it was made.

“The oldest tea tree is China is over 3,200 years old of age,” said Ricker, who noted the tea was made 5,000 years ago by accident with a nearby a boiling pot of water.

“There was a tree plant next to it,” Ricker said. “A tea tree leaf actually fell into the boiling pot of water and was served to the king.”

The king, who drank the liquid, didn’t think it tasted like water, but still drank it.

“And it wasn’t bad for him,” Ricker said. “He thought it was a tasty beverage.”

Chinese tea also is used as medicine and for treating sunburns, he said.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon was another project, one that creator Benjamin Hellman might be reluctant to dismantle after the museum.

“They existed about 600 B.C. and built by King Nebuchadnezzar II,” Hellman said.

He and fellow student Bradley Miller both were working on the same Babylonian-themed project, so their creations were side by side at the museum.

Hellman’s project was a multi-tiered exhibit embellished with artificial flowers and trees.

According to worldhistoryproject.org, the Hanging Gardens, located near present-day Al Hillah, Babil in Iraq, are considered to be one of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The king was reported to have built the gardens to please his homesick wife, Amytis of Media, who yearned for the trees and fragrant plants of her homeland Persia.

Several earthquakes destroyed the gardens after the second century B.C.

It’s unlikely an earthquake, though, will destroy Hellman’s Hanging Gardens, which took him about five hours to make.

Christie Bleck can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 250. Her email address is cbleck@miningjournal.net.

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