Why would anyone want to dig up an old outhouse pit? In the 1800s there was no garbage pickup, so household trash was often thrown into the outhouse. Privy pits are a known time capsule to archeologists.

To really get students turned on to learning, the Orleans-Niagara Board of Cooperative Educational Services, Niagara Falls Alternative High School has used interdisciplinary teaching in an effort to help students meet state standards.

The members of Orleans-Niagara BOCES Teachers Association, led by Kristin Sterling, worked collaboratively to devise Archaeology Day. In early October, students had the opportunity to dig up history.

The vacant lot that was selected was once the site of the New York Central Railroad Hotel from 1870 to 1903.

A former privy, or outhouse, and a cistern were located with the use of a spring steel probe.

Differences in soil density can be determined by inserting the probe into the ground. In this case, the privy was located when the probe sunk up to its handle.

And, ash at the tip of the probe was an excellent indication the area might hold artifacts.

With shovels and sifters, students excavated Pit 1, the privy, and Pit 2, the cistern, sifting the soil for tangible pieces of the past.

They calculated and measured dimensions of each pit, and the volume and surface area to meet math standards.

The artifacts that were unearthed were beyond everyone's wildest expectations: clay tobacco pipe bowls, animal bones, clam and oyster shells, buttons, a stoneware master ink bottle inscribed "Denby Pottery Arnold London," shards of ironstone china with British trademarks, shards of cobalt blue decorated stoneware, shards of bottles, including Congress Mineral Water from Saratoga Springs, a piece of a piano embossed "Schubert Piano Co, New York," part of an old pistol, and countless nails, bricks and pieces of coal.

"It was a lot of fun and exciting," said sophomore Dashaun Pryor. "I want to show my brothers and cousins the amazing things you can find in the dirt. I may even switch my career to archaeology."

Students collected quantitative and qualitative data by weighing and classifying artifacts to help fulfill the state science and math standards of carrying out a scientific investigation, observing, describing and classifying. They organized results using data tables to show relationships.

"Archaeology Day was a great experience," said Eric George, a junior. "I was actually able to see the soil horizons I learned about in earth science class. Life from the past resurfaced before my eyes. I never knew there was a hotel there a hundred years ago."

Following the dig, students used the unearthed artifacts to meet standards for social studies and English. They studied the area's history and analyzed major themes and developments in New York state history.

In English class, each student researched a select artifact, such as a bottle embossed "Trask's Magnetic Ointment."

Using the information from their research, students then compiled a report detailing the history of the artifact as well as its uses, what it was made of and where it was manufactured.

When the research was complete, students put together a display of artifacts and research reports in the school lobby.

Students also took rubbings of gravestones at the city's Oakwood Cemetery, where many famous people are buried — Anne Taylor, the first woman to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel and survive; and Leroy Williams, the first African-American to receive the Medal of Honor, for heroism in the Civil War.

What better way to learn about life in the past than by being able to touch it? Creative, hands-on lessons such as this can help students meet today's standards and make them lifelong learners, the teachers agreed.

Archaeology Day also helped build relationships between faculty and students and taught students how to work together to achieve a common goal.

Science teacher Peter Jablonski is a member of Orleans-Niagara BOCES TA.