This month, seventh grade students in Ancient World Cultures (AWC) took what they learned about the food choices of Paleolithic and Neolithic homo sapiens and designed a restaurant menu true to one of those eras. AWC is the study of seven ancient civilizations and their contribution to the formation of cultures around the world, from the prehistoric tribes of Ethiopia to the economies and governments of ancient Egypt and China. This prehistory project required students to synthesize what they had learned about the differing cooking tools, lifestyles, and food sources of humans in the old and new stone ages. Students demonstrated an understanding of the foods and preparation details consistent with one of the eras in a way that is creative in design and concept.

Paleolithic humans were hunter-gatherers, dwelled in caves, and would have used primitive stone tools and fire in the preparation of their food. Over the thousands of years that separated the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras, the lifestyle of early humans transformed. Humans were no longer nomadic, and they settled in villages. They learned to farm and to fashion more sophisticated tools out of stone and bone, including harpoons, fish hooks, and spears. 

Each menu required a combination of creativity and concrete knowledge of the era. Students enjoyed devising restaurant names and mottos such as the Catch n’ Cook Cafe, where “You get ‘em, we grill ‘em,” and the Sabertooth Sushi Bar, where the adage is, “eat or be eaten.” Students had to include an image for each dish, including an appetizer, an entree with two sides, and a dessert. Each menu item required a description of how the food was caught, grown, or foraged, how humans prepared it, any tools used, and how it would be served. Concluding the prehistory unit, the project gave students a chance “to reflect and think about what it would have been like for early humans to try to obtain food,” says Upper School History Teacher Andrew Barker. In addition to the unit test, this project allowed students to demonstrate their understanding in multiple ways. “A student might not be the strongest test taker, but if they are creative, this is an opportunity to highlight their knowledge and skills.”