21 Aug 2024
Year 7 History have been digging into the deep, dirty past to learn about coprolites and the people and animals who produced them.
Coprolites, for those unfamiliar with the term are fossilised faeces. Palaeontologists and archaeologists can use coprolites and slightly less ancient paleofeces to study behaviour and diets of ancient and prehistoric people and animals. They can also be able to determine the structure of a prehistoric animal’s digestive tract.
For their Investigating the Ancient Past module, students have been learning about all sorts of archaeological artefacts from the past, including coprolites. As part of their research into the topic, the students were tasked with making their very own “poo from the past”.
Each student used brown play dough to lovingly craft their own coprolite peppered with seeds, grains and dried vegetables. Using this evidence, their peers were able to determine the diet and lifestyle of the coprolite’s creator. As history teacher Ms Skinner puts it, “It really was a CRAP lesson!”
