Στην Αυγή των πρώτων αγροτών. Εκπαιδευτικές δράσεις στο νεολιθικό οικισμό Αυγής Καστοριάς

Γεωργία Στρατούλη, Νίκος Κατσικαρίδης & Τάσος Μπεκιάρης Στο Π. Αδάμ-Βελένη & Κ. Τζαναβάρη (επιμ.) 2017. Το Αρχαιολογικό Έργο στη Μακεδονία και στην Θράκη 26, 2012, Θεσσαλονίκη: 1-8.

The archaeological practice is a contemporary activity. Archaeological reasoning and interpretation reflects the way we think about ourselves and our social world. The way we manage the past is strongly determined by modern political and social issues and also affects the contemporary reality. The past is indeed a modern play, since it involves modern parties and concerns modern interests. It is undoubtedly the role of the archaeologist to bring together the past and the present and it is certainly a challenge to choose the right means to do it. The Archaeological Project of the Neolithic Settlement of Avgi was initially designed to have a public character. To be more accurate, the Project seeks to in-corporate the archaeological practice into the contemporary reality by various means, targeting at different groups of people. At a regional scale, the primary objective is to emphasize on the importance of the archaeological work carried out and encourage the local community to embrace the archaeological site as part of their modern community, to make them ‘adopt’ the archaeological find and share their thoughts about it, by creating their own interpretation.

Special emphasis has been given on the educational purposes of the Project. From 2009 to 2012 more than 1500 students from Elementary Schools in the region of Kastoria have participated in the Educational Program ‘At the Dawn (=Avgi in Greek) of the first farmers’. The aim of the Educational Program is to familiarize students with the archaeological work, introduce them to the Neolithic Period and inform them about the finds of the research. Moreover, children are encouraged to submit their own interpretations about some of the finds (i.e. figurines, stamp seals, lithics, ornaments). The indirect purpose of the Educational Program is to inspire children to transfer the knowledge and the information to their social environments (e.g. parents, relatives and friends) and therefore to a group of people that may not have any prior contact with the archaeological research at Avgi.