Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Archeology Photos

by Julian, age 8, Toronto, Canada.

"This scene shows an expedition team digging for ancient artifacts."

Fantastic archeological dig site! Brilliant choice of LEGO pieces to create the roped off area. I am particularly fond of the outdoor setting, I think it takes your design to a new level. Neat to see all the workers in different positions with interesting tools. Great use of sand colored LEGO for most of this construction. It is a very delicate job, and this site looks tidy and organized.


by Bryn, age 8, France, Europe

"This is an excavation site and a resting house. There is a person digging up a midieval wheel. The person on the computer is finding more information about the wheel."

Fantastic site you have created! I love that you designed a resting house and a vechile for the field workers. This particular find is very exciting. A medieval wheel may seem rather ordinary, but to the medieval person this was a much feared torture device also known as the breaking wheel. I love that you have on site computers for looking up information. Wonderful outdoor setting!


by Tal, age 11, Southern California, USA.

"Title: Artifact That Hasn't Been Discovered Yet
Location: Unknown
Builders: Unknown
Material: Unknown
Age: Approximately 3 trillion years old
Height: 23 feet
Environment: Forest
Discovery Date: Hasn't been discovered yet
Description: Tall. Black. It looks old (there is moss growing on it), but it is in strangely good condition."

Very interesting artifact, right out in the open. So curious how it has not been found yet. Must be in an extremely remote area of the earth. It looks as though it sits in a mountainous region, surrounded by thick, tall pine trees. No doubt after seeing this, many archologists are packing up to go in search of this three trillion year old black pyramid. Great use of LEGO Digital Designer!


by Caitlin, age 12, Lexington, Virginia, USA.

"A local teenage boy discovered this 2000 year old ruin last week. Archeologists think that this may have been a small summer house for a Roman general. The world's top archeologists are on the way!"

How exciting to come across an ancient ruin like this one. The local boy might become famous for this find, perhaps even having it named after him! Clever use of bricks here and there, with missing gaps. This design makes it look very old, weathered and falling apart. Perfect!


by Ben, age 6, Lexington, Virginia, USA.

"In my Lego battlefield, basically what the archeologist is doing is discovering a spear. She's already discovered the skeleton and the axes. If you're wondering what's in the crate, it's dynamite! They have the dynamite in case they need to blow into something that's too hard to dig into with a pickaxe."

Awesome scene you've created! This is an interesting unearthed ancient battle ground. The archeologist must be learning some important information about who once lived there. I love how you show earth and rocks by using grey LEGO bricks. The hunched over position of your person makes her look interested and hard at work.


by Zach, age 8 and Luke, age 6, North Carolina, USA.

"Luke developed the site with the dinosaur fossil. Luke built the "cabin" where they store their drinks and supplies and the submarine (on the left) which is an old wreck site showing that the area used to be under water. Zach built the 4-wheel ATV and the man who supervises the site."

I absolutely love how you build the dinosaur fossil out of flat white LEGO pieces. Ingenious to bring in some gravel to place the fossil on, making it seem that much more real. Nice to see the area is fenced off for protection. Nice to see a supervisor there with the sturdy all terrain vehicle, making sure everything is going as planned and protecting the dig site. Great collaboration!


by Aaron, age 6, Tucson, Arizona, USA.

"The crumbly-looking stuff is real sand. The team is excavating gold and silver that people used long ago. The people in the team are Lotso, Buzz, Woody, Chunk, Stretch Flex and a guy driving the dump truck."

How on earth did you get such famous movie characters to excavate this site! I love that you used real sand to create your scene. I see some interesting tools being used for chipping away at hard rock and soil. I hope they find lots of gold and silver.


by Ben, age 7 1/2, Akron, Ohio, USA.

"Poseidon's Trident, Zeus' Master Bolt, and Hades' Minotaur."

Unbelievable! To unearth some of the most famous artifacts of mythology. The god of the sea, the god of the sky and the god of the underworld. How did these three brothers leave behind their most powerful weapons? Your detailed design in these three artifacts are wonderful!


by Julia, age 9 and Camryn, age 4, New Jersey, USA..

"These archeologists hit the jackpot, finding all sorts of bones. The little building is where they bring in the bones to study them. The gates at the front are voice activated electric military fences."

Fantastic construction surrounding your dig site. The building is the perfect shelter to study all the findings away from wind, dust and rain. I love the electrified fence! Looting an archeological site is an ancient problem, many of the Egyptian Tombs were looted. Nice to see you've taken some precautions to protect your findings.


by Charlie, age 10 and Xander, age 7, New Jersey, USA.

"This is an ancient building that was found underground that contains a sacred stone that is 1000s of years old. The black wire sets off a booby trap if anyone crosses it. These archeologists made it through."

Fantastic ancient find. This reminds me of Indiana Jones and some of the quests he has gone on. I love that you used a red light LEGO piece for your sacred stone! Nice touch having your archeologists wearing uniform working outfits. I especially like the booby trap you set up. Great use of the string piece!



by Noah age 11, New Jersey, USA.

"This dig takes place in the present day in a desert, in search of The Lego King's ruby, which was hidden at the top of the pyramid between the rocks, one thousands years ago by The Lego King. While digging the archeologist came across a dinosaur skeleton. The lead scientist of the team ,that found the ruby, believes that the skeleton was millions of years old, but the rest if the team believes it is only one thousand years old!"

I love that this scene was arranged outside in the dirt! Very realistic. How very exciting for them to have found a dinosaur skeleton while excavating something totally different. Interesting that the scientists are having a difference of opinion about the age of the fossil. Carbon dating will tell them the age of the skeleton and the disagreement will be settled. Wonderful pyramid design!


by Casey, age 9, Keirna, age 9 and Will age 6, Selah, Washington, USA.

"All of the kids did a little research on Vimeo for this project. They watched several videos to get a good idea of what the inside of the museum would look like. I am really proud of their team work."

Great collaborative effort! Each one of you contributed something unique from your own vision. This really does look like the inside of a museum. Very interesting artifacts here and there. These must be a variety of objects from various excavation sites. Do I see an ancient piece of golden pottery in there? Fantastic.


by Tyler, age 7, Minnesota, USA.

"The lines are so they know where the artifacts were and that they can make a story of what they think happened. The wall is so nobody can get it because they can mess up the ground and break the artifacts."

Amazing grid you created over your excavation site. So precisely done, the information gathering will be very accurate with this in place. I love that you said "they can make a story of what they think happened." Educated guesses based on what they find. It's kind of like detective work! So smart to have built a wall around the dig, this is very delicate work and can get messed up very easily. I wonder what you used for the string? Great idea!


by Sam, age 7, California, USA.

"The part of the skeleton that you see was supposed to be white, but it was burned. The brown thing rolling down the ramp is a boulder. Inside the treasure chest was a green jewel."

This is reminiscent of an Indiana Jones adventure. I wonder if when the lid of the treasure chest is opened the bolder comes rolling at you? Yikes, only for the very brave! Looks as though the poor person who is now the skeleton once tried to get this green jewel. Great scene you created!


by Calvin, age 9, California, USA.

"My scene takes place in England. The archeologist has found a skeleton of a man still wearing his helmet, a gold coin, the skeleton of a horse, and a half buried house."

What an amazing find! I love how the helmet is still on the skeleton, and the horse bones are there too. Perhaps this was an ancient battle scene? The gold coin would really be an important find, telling the archeologist exactly what group of people in history they were looking at. I love the bits of house that are visible and all the foliage concealing everything.


by Zephyr, age 7, Wichita, Kansas, USA.

"This was all from my imagination. It has traps, gold, ancient spears and plumbing pipes. They were a pretty advanced civilization. My archeology team and I found this deep in the jungles of Peru."

I wonder if some of this is from the lost cities of Peru? Very astute of you to tell us they are an advanced civilization. They would indeed have to be if plumbing artifacts were found. This is very detailed and dense in design. So much hidden here and there. I love all the plant growth that has happened over the years, covering up all the objects.


by Josh, age 5, Minnesota, USA.

"The first artifact is a mask. It is no longer symmetrical because some of it disappeared before it was found. The second artifact is a snack machine. The blue "roof tops" on the side are motors. The yellow piece is a conveyor belt that goes to a chute and the snack lands in your hand. On the back side there are numerous holes that the ingredients go into. This may be an artifact that would be found in the future."

I love this juxtaposition of old and new. It's like two objects from completely different times. Makes me wonder if a time machine was somehow involved? The mask seems ancient, especially with the decaying of the edges. The machine however, seems to reflect on a contemporary culture, one of convenience. These very exciting artifacts will boggle the minds of many I'm sure!


by Jonathan, age 6, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.

"I made my model on Digital Designer. I made two pots."

These are fantastic hand made pots you created in LEGO Digital Designer. Pottery is an exciting artifact found at a dig site, since it's hand made these vessels can tell us a lot about the people who built them. Great construction job, they look so round, yet are made of nothing but geometric shapes! However you built these, they look hollow in the middle, very impressive!



by Nathan, age 10, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.

"I made an excavation of two dinosaurs, a stegosaurus and a triceratops. There are the fossil trucks and minifigures working on the dinosaurs with pickaxes and shovels. And Joe, (working on the stegosaurus' front leg) got sunburn!"

Wow, these are so impressive! Please click on the image to see the detail of this design. All the dinosaur bones are made with flat white bricks. I love the rod or flag pole pieces you used for the rib bones. The fossil trucks are magnificent! The back area made especially to carry away any finds. There is so much going on in this scene! Many people working with many cool tools. Brilliant use of LEGO Digital Designer!


by Ethan, age 9, Oregon, USA.

"This was very fun to make. There are some dinosaur bones that have not been put together yet and a small part of a house that is only partly uncovered. The people are very happy with what they found! Two discoveries in one site! "

Fantastic that you made your scene in all this sand! With half buried structures and bones sticking out here and there, it looks very realistic! Great barrel of tools in case a different implement is needed. Do I spy Indiana Jones at the bottom left? He looks as though he is overseeing the whole operation. There is an energetic bustle about this dig.


by Micah, age 6, Saskatchewan, Canada.

"It is a dig site of an old castle that is close to a river. We found a crossbow, arrows, helmets, a shield, a treasure chest, an old chariot seat and wheels and a skeleton. Some of it was in a big rock. Indiana Jones is in charge of the dig."

What an amazing amount of objects you uncovered! Finding an ancient castle would be so exciting. All the ancient weapons and armour help to fill in the blanks of the past. I love the guy with the metal detector and the amount of wheels that were discovered. Very impressive!


by Lewi, age 10 and Brad age 12, Australia.

"This is a cursed archeological dig-site with zombies and a living skeleton of a T-Rex who has just crawled out of the ground. The army have arrived to sort it all out."

I would NOT want to be the archeologist that found this site! Scary, haunted, possessed creatures everywhere! I wonder what they might be protecting? Perhaps there is the most amazing treasure behind the zombies and T-Rex bones! I love the landscape you used, very rugged, rocky terrain. The army you created, with all those weapons look like they mean serious business!


by Kaleb, age 10, Canada.

I love all the half buried skeletons! Making this scene outside in the real dirt creates a marvellous effect. It's very interesting to see all the weapons that are being uncovered as well. This looks to me like an ancient battle scene! I love the guy up on the rock, chipping away at it. Awesome!


by Andre, age 11, South Western Ontario, Canada.

"The red pile of bricks is an egg. This egg is from when the dinosaurs died, there was a dragon there and the dragon threw the egg out of the atmosphere. The egg started to orbit the earth and one day it was hit by a meteorite and it came hurdling back into the atmosphere. It struck this area and the people that work at Area 51 came to excavate it. They are planning on bringing it to Area 51 and putting it in an electrical cage until it hatches. The person with the number 10 on its back is looking for evidence in the soil. The person with the space helmet is looking for evidence in the water. The person with the red top and blue pants (holding the pile of red bricks) is pulling the egg out of the water."

How very interesting that the military personnel from Area 51 came out to excavate this ancient dinosaur egg! Since it came from outer space, they probably thought it was extra terrestrial in nature. I love that you show people actively taking samples from the soil and water. Imagine if they could actually hatch the dinosaur egg? It would be Jurassic Park all over again!


by Adrienne, age 13, South Western Ontario, Canada.

"The black tent is where they examined the objects found at the site. On the site there are more objects dug up, a broom, a wheel, some money, a treasure chest, and a lamp. One digger found the head of R2-D2 in the dirt by the river. The brown area has been all dug up, the green area on the other side of the river will be dug up later." 

I love how you created green space, water and soil on your landscape. The dirt area is so interesting with all the dug out spaces and piled up ground. The artifacts lined up ready to be examined in the black tent are all so fascinating. I think it's really cool that you've put R2D2's head underground. The effect of having the brown brick slightly covering it's head looks very realistic.


by Laurence, age 8, South Australia.

This is a cool mosaic. The background is grey, like the skin of a dinosaur and the word and picture made from white bricks reminds me of bones. I especially like the dinosaur head and the ferocious teeth!


by Austyn, age 6.5, Ontario, Canada.

"I did two archeological digs. The first one was the discovery of an Egyptian tomb. The tomb had been exposed to the sun for a little while. The man is observing the tomb with hisflashlight. He knows that it has been exposed to the light for some time because there is a plant growing in it and a scorpion on top of the plant. The second one is a dig that takes place over the tomb. The men are uncovering an alien being (you can see his head sticking out). This tells us that aliens were likely on earth during ancient Egyptian times."

First off, I love your photo! How great that you are able to show us your two creations in one picture! Your first dig, the Egyptian tomb, is wonderfully photographed. I love that it looks as if we are inside the depths of the tomb. The light beams look as though they are coming from a strong flash light. Great effect! Dig # 2, excavating an ancient alien being. Whoa! Creepy. Those people look like they are very serious about their work. Fantastic sites you created.


by Nathan, age 8, Redmond, Oregon, USA.

"This is a giant shark that was washed ashore thousands of years ago."

Nice ancient shark remains. I love how many teeth this skeleton still has left in it. I see you made a small wall to border your find. Sometimes buried remnants have a way of spreading out. Great to see you've designed props to support your skeleton in the longer, thinner areas, so the crew can dig underneath without having it fall to pieces! Very smart.


by Shawna, age 9, Ontario, Canada.

"This excavation site is unearthing bodies and treasure in China. There is a pit with olddelicate clothing and R2D2 is sorting jewels. There is a bench with ice cream service for the hot workers, The guy in the green hat is trying to figure out the code to get the treasure buried there. The girl in the blue outfit is digging out a house. The man in the red hat is recovering treasure in another house. The person in red is trying to find the old palace the king used to live in."

This is amazing. There is so much happening in this scene. I love the yellow pit area filled with many ancient bits of clothing. Brilliant use of pieces to make the clothes. The fact that R2D2 is on site working is super cool. I think this may be the first ever excavation site that has an ice cream stand! This is an exciting, detail rich construction!


by Eli, age 6, Dayton, Minnesota, USA.

"This is an excavation site with dinosaur bones and a skeleton. The archeologists have to hurry, thus the motorcycle, because the land is haunted."

There is nothing scarier than a haunted archeology site! I love that you used this pre-molded cardboard packaging as your ground. It's perfect, making the landscape look like the desert. Good to see there is a vehicle for a quick get-a-way, in case any spirits get disturbed.


by Eric, age 8, Oakland, Florida, USA.

Eric decided to make an Owl Totem Pole using his nano blocks. They are made in Japan, same concept as lego, just teeny tiny pieces! Eric's Yaya (is Japanese) brought these as a gift after visiting her hometown recently. They were very very challenging. Last weekend we visited the Avian Reconditioning Center where we saw all sorts of birds of prey, especially owls.

Nano Blocks look super cool. Did you know Nano holds the world's record for the smallest building toy! I love that you built a totem pole! Totem animals have great symbolic meanings. The owl represents deception, clairvoyance and insight. This design has beautiful symmetry and patterning. This looks like LEGO, but is so, so much smaller. I think this creation is maybe an inch or two tall? Amazing!


by Cooper, age 9, Dayton, Minnesota, USA.

"Thers a ester egg thats the dog. If you can spot him you get a cookie. Thay got caught in traps. One is on the phone. The one thats on the phone has not got caught by a trap."

Those are some deadly traps, looks like one guy fell in! I spy a net at the top right and under it, is that the Easter egg and dog? Do I get a cookie? It looks like the guy on the phone might be calling for help. I love the tarantula and snake stand off, very scary!



by Grace, age 11, Georgia, USA.

"This is a dig site where archaeologists have found ancient artifacts."

Awesome! I love how you made a site that is underground, yet you've opened up the viewers wall so we can see inside. There is so much great action going on here. Lots of people working at their different jobs. The multilevel design makes this very interesting.


by Phoenix, age 8, North Carolina, USA.

"He is digging a hole looking for lost treasure."

Nice use of LEGO Digital Designer! This is a clean, simple design, showing the action of the archeological dig site. The body language of the person working as well as the tool in hand are great additions. I love how there is a mound of dirt showing the removal of soil from one place to the next.