Bothwell Middle School seventh-grader Jack Bishop shows off his Qin Dynasty crossbow he made for Wednesday’s Museum Night at the school. Students student ancient civilizations. (Journal photo by Christie Bleck)

MARQUETTE — Once again, the essence of mummies, pyramids and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon made its way into Bothwell Middle School.

The Marquette school, for the 11th time Wednesday, hosted Museum Night, which allowed seventh-graders to display their projects centered on ancient civilizations.

Teacher Joe Levandoski said the students have two such nights every year. The next Museum Night will feature the Roman and Greek empires.

He called Wednesday’s Museum Night a “great culmination” of hard work from the students, who study the unit for about a month and a half.

“It’s a real nice celebration of that,” Levandoski said.

The students studied Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Yellow River and the Indus River Valley.

“We study the four civilizations and we study different aspects of their culture, but then really, when they pick their civilization, they get to pick any artifact from there,” Levandoski said. “We guide them along the road. I have some links I share with some ideas, but really, it’s up to them. They’ll see something either in a video or something we cover that they really enjoy, and they’ll go after that.

“The fun part about it is that they can really dive deep into something in particular and really become an expert on that topic or artifact.”

The students used everyday materials for their projects, such as LEGOs to make the Ancient Egypt Step Pyramid.

Erin Moe’s display was the Ishtar gate for Mesopotamia.

“It was supposedly for the gate into the Hanging Gardens of Babylon,” Moe said. “The king had it built by slaves, supposedly for his wife to make her happy.”

The gate, she said, was buried in sand, rediscovered and taken apart, and now is in a museum in Germany.

However, her project wasn’t just about making a replica of the Ishtar gate from clay and cardboard.

“It was fun to learn more about it,” Moe said.

Christie Bleck can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 250.