gmhTODAY 26 gmhTODAY June July 2019 | Page 14

A Discovering Archaeology Written By Maria Guzman s a young girl, I liked playing outside. I would sometimes spend time collecting random objects that I stumbled upon, and “investigating” their origin. It involved a lot of imagination on my part. I would fi nd small weirdly-shaped pebbles in the dirt and pretend that I was exploring an Aztec temple fi lled with ancient artifacts. Sometimes I’d even wash them off and put them in a box, marking them with the date and location of my discovery. Those were my first steps on the route to my passion for history. I’ve always had a strong sense of curiosity, especially when it comes to mysteries and unexplained events of the past. Toward the end of elementary school, I studied US history and it was rather appealing to me. I learned about General George Washington’s leadership of the American Revolution, the Gold Rush in 1949, and the Industrial Revolution. All of these things had a lasting impact on our country. 14 GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN During middle school, I watched historical documentaries. The ones that piqued my curiosity focused on the gaps or “missing links” in human history. Historians in the films spoke about mysterious civilizations, like the Olmecs of the Gulf of Mexico, had developed thousands of years ago and then disappeared without a trace. I thought it would be amazing to discover the explanation for their disappearance. In 8th grade, I read a book about the lost city of Atlantis. There were theories that this mysterious city from the past was submerged somewhere at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. People even organized diving expeditions to find it, without success. My mind was filled with unanswered questions. I later found out it was the Greek Philosopher, Plato, who first wrote about Atlantis as his idea of utopia, not as a real city. I realized that I enjoyed learning history because I want to find out the truth about things for myself. I’ve found it interesting that archaeologists work with a lot of theories about the origin of the human race, how and when we developed from apes into Homo sapiens and our june/july 2019 gmhtoday.com