You are standing in front of a reader rail titled “What Can Archaeology Tell Us?” To your left are the restrooms. To your right is the main entrance and exit to the building. Behind you is a hands-on archaeology dig interactive.

The reader rail in front of you includes text, five images, and four flip panels.

The main text reads:

What Can Archaeology Tell Us?
Archaeologists dig in the ground to uncover evidence of the past. Even small items, such as fragments of pottery (known as sherds), can tell us a surprising amount about the people who used them.

The photo below the main text shows three people gathered around a table-like structure outdoors, sifting through dirt to search for artifacts. The caption reads: SERC’s Participatory Science archaeologists at work. 

There are four flip panels on the right. The text accompanying the panels reads:

Lift the panels to your right to discover what these pottery sherds found on SERC’s campus tell us.

The front of each flip panel includes a series of questions:

What is it?
How old is it?
Where was it found?
Where was it made?
What can it tell us?

Below each flip panel is a photo of a pottery sherd.

The first photo shows a light-colored, semi-circular pottery sherd with red and green paint on it. The text on the inside of the flip panel reads:

What is it?
Fragment of a slipware plate

How old is it?
ca. 1650s

Where was it found?
Shaw’s Folly

Where was it made?
Pisa, Italy

What can it tell us?
During the early colonial period, the British tried to restrict colonists to trade within their empire. This Italian plate may have been smuggled into the country.

The second image shows a brown, cone-shaped pottery sherd with markings on it. The text on the inside of the flip panel reads:

What is it?
Native American “running deer” tobacco pipe bowl

How old is it?
ca. 1650 to 1680

Where was it found?
Shaw’s Folly

Where was it made?
Locally

What can it tell us?
Archaeologists think that Native Americans made this tobacco pipe for Europeans. It provides evidence of trade between these two groups.

The next image shows a cluster of small blue-and-white pottery sherds depicting a boat, a pagoda, and other scenes. The text on the inside of the flip panel reads:

What is it?
Fragments of transfer-printed porcelain

How old is it?    
ca. 1820s to 1840s

Where was it found?
Woodlawn

Where was it made?
Staffordshire, England

What can it tell us?
This pottery may look Chinese, but it was actually made in England. Instead of being painted by hand, the patterns were printed using engraved plates. This type of porcelain was popular for tableware in the 1800s.

The last image shows a tan pottery sherd with blue markings on it. The text on the inside of the flip panel reads:

What is it?
Fragment of a stoneware pitcher

How old is it?
ca. 1776 to 1865

Where was it found?
Woodlawn

Where was it made?
United States

What can it tell us?
American-made stoneware was the everyday pottery used for preparing, storing, and serving food and drink from the 1700s to the early 1900s. Enslaved people and later paid servants used this pitcher to serve beverages.