Cloverland sixth graders recently had Ancient Egypt brought to their classrooms and were able to examine firsthand a few genuine ancient Egyptian artifacts during a presentation called “The Egyptian Afterlife.”

Konstantina Delfakis of the Ancient Artifacts company reported that the age of some of the commonly found artifacts she brought for the classroom presentations ranged in age from 2,800 to 4,000 years old. Students were able to handle the artifacts that included funerary objects and figurines of Egyptian gods made out of a type of glazed glass called Egyptian faience.

Part of the sixth grade standards curriculum includes the study of ancient cultures.

Delfakis infused humor and interactive storytelling into her 60-minute presentation to the students about the culture of the ancient Egyptian afterlife. She explained that the ancient Egyptians believed that the afterlife was like the current life and that when people died, their bodies were preserved through mummification because it was believed they would need them and they were entombed with objects, items, and even servants that they would “need” to live in the afterlife.

One aspect of the presentation had the students pretend that they were part of the ancient Egyptian culture and that their own teacher was going into the afterlife. She asked them what sorts of items would need to go into their teacher’s tomb to live in the afterlife. Students made suggestions like a computer, pencils and paper, and several other teaching-related items, even a car to get to work. This helped the students better understand what the ancient Egyptians believed.

Cloverland sixth grade teacher Lori Guyll explained that the presentation used the genuine artifacts and Egyptian mythology to demonstrate the perception of life and death held by the ancient Egyptians. She also said that this hands-on enrichment program helped the students appreciate the ancient Egyptians’ outlook on natural phenomena, art, architecture, monotheism (one god) versus polytheism (many gods), as well as the role of women in society.