Excavate! Mesopotamia
Apply C3 skills in this social studies game that brings the ancient civilizations of Sumer, Assyria, and Babylon to life through archaeology. Suitable for Grades 4-7
For Online Play
iOS iPad & Phone
For Android Tablet Play
Amazon Fire Tablet Play
Game Overview
Piece together the daily life of ancient Mesopotamia in this immersive social studies educational game! Use archaeological thinking to apply C3 skills of Inquiry and Evaluation of Evidence to aspects of Mesopotamian daily life not covered in textbooks.
Excavate and analyze three significant locations to make connections and deduct facts about the people who lived, worked and played there. Explore the city of Ur from ancient Sumer and discuss how humans went from farming to complicated societies. Discover Hammurabi’s code in Babylon and learn about the oldest rule of law. Allow your students to discover that the Assyrians were fierce warriors. Visit the sites in any order; your progress will be recorded in journals that log collected artifacts, field notes and achievements. At each location, make meaning of how artifacts were used through a series of analysis questions and reports that help you consider the historical context of the primary source artifacts to make connections.
Finally, players see each site come alive as artifacts populate an historically accurate image of Mesopotamian life.
Featured Learning Goals:
- Explore the significance of Sumerian art
- Gain a new perspective on the role of the military in ancient Assyria
- Describe the role of gods in Babylonian society
- Distinguish the roles of women and men in Mesopotamian societies
- Compare and contrast the lifestyles of the Babylonians, Assyrians and Sumerians
- Piece together daily life
- Explain architectural innovations that were used to build temples and palaces
Game Purchase Options
This world history educational product is available for online browser play at our store and for tablets and phones at one of the app stores below. iOS and Android tablets are supported.
Price: 3.99 (Limited Time) (stores may vary in price)
For Online Play
iOS iPad & Phone
For Android Tablet Play
Amazon Fire Tablet Play
Curriculum Materials
- Teacher’s Guide – a step-by-step guide for game-play as well as a resource containing all content and answers. (2 Files – Excavate Overview & Mesopotamia Content Guide)
- Inquiry-Based Analysis Lesson (D-I-E) – Activate student interest before playing Excavate! Mesopotamia by inviting students to describe artifacts and hypothesize their use in ancient Mesopotamia. Use the D-I-E lessons to record observations during game-play and to check their hypotheses for accuracy. It is a fun way to prepare and engage with content while playing Excavate! Mesopotamia. (Answer sheet included)
- Artifact-Based Question Prompt (ABQ) – Each location in Excavate! Mesopotamia culminates with a beautifully rendered scene that incorporates all excavated artifacts in an historically accurate scene. Use this scene combined with artifacts from the game to have your students answer a DBQ assignment that will demonstrate their learning. (rubric included)
C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards:
- D2.Civ.1.3-5. Distinguish the responsibilities and powers of government officials at various levels and branches of government and in different times and places.
- D2.Civ.4.3-5. Explain how groups of people make rules to create responsibilities and protect freedoms
- D2.Civ.6.6-8. Describe the roles of political, civil, and economic organizations in shaping people’s lives.
- D2.Civ.10.3-5. Identify the beliefs, experiences, perspectives, and values that underlie their own and others’ points of view about civic issues.
- D2.Civ.12.3-5. Explain how rules and laws change society and how people change rules and laws.
- D2.Eco.3.3-5. Identify examples of the variety of resources (human capital, physical capital, and natural resources) that are used to produce goods and services.
- D2.Eco.4.3-5. Explain why individuals and businesses specialize and trade.
- D2.Eco.13.3-5. Describe ways people can increase productivity by using improved capital goods and improving their human capital.
- D2.Geo.4.6-8. Explain how cultural patterns and economic decisions influence environments and the daily lives of people in both nearby and distant places.
- D2.Geo.5.6-8. Analyze the combinations of cultural and environmental characteristics that make places both similar to and different from other places.
- D2.Geo.8.6-8. Analyze how relationships between humans and environments extend or contract spatial patterns of settlement and movement.
GBLxAPI
The Excavate! Mesopotamia educational game includes the new GBLxAPI standard developed through the support of the National Science Foundation. GBLxAPI creates a common standard for analytics collection across game-based learning and other digital educational products. In the Excavate! Mesopotamia game, GBLxAPI is used to track student progress against C3 and ELA education standards in an easy to read format. Learn more about this standard and how it can help you evaluate your students’ learning at gblxapi.org.
Platform Support
Six World Civilizations
Mesopotamia – Egypt – Greece – Rome – MesoAmerica – Byzantine
