This brief slide deck and associated text provides background information for teachers using any of the lesson plans developed as part of the 2021-2022 UNC World View Fellows Program, Exploring Indigenous Cultures: Ancient North Carolinians, Past and Present. Educators are welcome to use these slides to introduce or enhance any of the lessons below. Length of instruction using these slides is estimated at 10-15 minutes. Fellows created the lessons below for K-12 schools and community colleges to help students learn about the ancient peoples that lived here and those who represent today’s vibrant American Indian populations. Lessons connect past to present day by exploring multiple resources within the Ancient North Carolinians: A Virtual Museum of North Carolina Archaeology website to examine how communities changed over time and what influenced these changes. Understanding past indigenous lifeways—their complexity, resiliency, and vitality—allows for a greater appreciation of the contributions American Indians made to the past and continue to make to the present and future of North Carolina.
Slide deck and text by Sierra Roark, Public Outreach Coordinator, Research Laboratories of Archaeology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.