November 8-14, 2012, Current Events Lesson Plan
Current Event:
An ancient skeleton discovered with metal spikes driven through its shoulders, heart, and ankles may be the earliest known vampire burial in Europe, according to a new report recently released by British archaeologist Matthew Beresford. He re-examined the skeleton, which was originally excavated in 1959, and the site of the burial in the United Kingdom and concluded that it reveals an ancient belief in vampires.
Objective:
Matthew Beresford concluded that the unusual burial provides real evidence of the steps people once took to protect themselves from the undead. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles take a look at this unusual burial and the perception of vampires throughout history.
Terms to Know:
• Anne Rice
• archaeologist
• burial practices
• Dracula
• legend
• Nottingham
• Skeleton
• Stephenie Meyer
• vampire
Discussion Topics:
1. Ask your students to write down everything they know about vampires. Challenge them to write down at least five sentences, and then ask them in turn to orally read some of their sentences aloud. After each sentence is read, ask the rest of the class to raise their hands if they, too, wrote down the same fact. This will give you a better understanding of how your students view vampires.
2. Next, talk about the perception of vampires both today and more than 100 years ago in literature. To do this, you could compare Count Dracula of Transylvania to Edward Cullen of Twilight fame or the vampires in the “Vampire Chronicles” series by Anne Rice. How are they similar? How are they different?
3. The skeleton that British archaeologist Matthew Beresford studied was originally excavated in 1959 but was placed in storage and forgotten until now. Ask your students to speculate about why archaeologists didn’t study the skeleton after it was found.
4. The skeleton was likely buried between A.D. 550 and 700. Many aspects of the burial strongly suggest that people feared the occupant of the grave might be a vampire. Ask your students why they think the body was staked to the grave. (The location of the burial at the fringes of what was a late Roman-era settlement was one indication. Beresford knew that in the past, certain people were buried away from the town or village, along roadsides or near road intersections. This was thought to be far enough away from town to keep vampires from coming back or to confuse them so they would become lost and not return to the town. As an extra precaution, some bodies were staked or pinned into the grave.)