Last updated: March 12, 2024
Lesson Plan
Learning from Spanish Coins
- Grade Level:
- Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
- Subject:
- Science,Social Studies
- Lesson Duration:
- 60 Minutes
- Thinking Skills:
- Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words. Applying: Apply an abstract idea in a concrete situation to solve a problem or relate it to a prior experience. Analyzing: Break down a concept or idea into parts and show the relationships among the parts. Evaluating: Make informed judgements about the value of ideas or materials. Use standards and criteria to support opinions and views.
Essential Question
How do archeologists use coins to date a site?
Objective
Learn how to interpret the markings on Spanish coins found at shipwrecked sites in order to practice relative dating.
Background
In 1705, a Spanish ship named La Galga wrecked off the coast of Virginia on its way to Spain from Havana, Cuba. In 1802, another ship, Juno, wrecked on its return to Spain from Veracruz, Mexico. Today, the shipwrecks lie off Assateague Island National Seashore.
Students will use 3D replicas of coins associated with La Galga and Juno to learn relative dating, a method for dating sites that is important for archeologists to know. Dating an archeological site means using evidence to determine historical events, for example, when a ship sank.
Prepare for the lesson plan by reading in-depth about the markings on Spanish coins.
Note: The National Park Service partnered with the Virtual Curation Lab at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) to create the 3D models. Each file name (such as "Spanish coin VCU 4983") refers to VCU's system for managing 3D files.
Preparation
Gather U.S. coins for the Lesson Hook activity.
Print copies of the worksheets for each of the four coins: Spanish coin VCU 4975, Spanish coin 4983, Spanish coin VCU 4985, Spanish coin VCU 4987.
Load the webpages for the 3D models: Spanish coin VCU 4975, Spanish coin VCU 4983, Spanish coin VCU 4985, Spanish coin VCU 4987. Use a projector, if possible, or make the links available for students to load on personal devices. The file for each 3D replica may also be downloaded and printed at a printshop, library, or maker's space.
Materials
Lesson Hook/Preview
Use modern U.S. coins to practice finding information on historic currency. Draw a large coin on the chalkboard, with its president and markings. Point out and explain the portrait, mint marks, date, and denomination. (For details and background, see Anatomy of a Coin, U.S. Mint.) Explain that these ways of marking currency are very old, and the class will learn how archeologists use this information to learn about the past.
Divide the class into groups. Give each group a different U.S. coin. Ask the groups to identify a date, president, year, and location.
Have each group report the date on their coin. Create a chronological timeline. For example, one coin could be from 2001, two from 2018 and one from 2019, which creates a timeline of 2001-2019.
Ask students, "Why do you think archeologists might like to find coins with dates on them at archeological sites?"
Procedure
- Complete the Lesson Hook activity.
- Complete the Spanish coin worksheet activity.
- Lead a discussion putting the findings together into a chronology.
Vocabulary
3D replica: A digital copy of physical objects that is created using special imaging technologies.
Artifact: An object that has been modified by a human being.
Asseyer: A government agent who verified that the coins were manufactured to government standards.
Chronology: The arrangement of events, times, or dates, in the order that they occurred.
Cob or Cobbed: Describes coins made from hacked chunks of excess metal -- like slicing cookies from a roll of dough. These chunks were then chipped off to be the correct weight of a real and marked with the Spanish pattern. Cob refers to the Spanish word cabo (end of bar).
Escudo: Unit of Spanish currency.
Milled: Coins made by punching circular shapes from sheets of silver or gold, like using cookie cutters on rolled dough.
Reales: Spain's currency from the mid-14th century until 1868. Reales translates to "royalty" in Spanish.
Relative dating: The process of determining an order of events or objects relative to one another without determining their absolute age.
Assessment Materials
Analysis of Spanish Coins Answer KeyThe first section below is the answer key for each coin. The second section is a series of questions to ask students to ensure they understand how relative dating using coins works and what it tells us about the two shipwrecks.
The answers for each coin are:
Spanish Coin VCU 4975:
Crowned Arms Between Pillars
1799 - Charles IV
Bolivia
Potosi PP
8 reales
Spanish Coin VCU 4983:
Silver Royal Arms
1734 - Phillip V
Milled
Mexico City
MF
2
Spanish Coin VCU 4985:
Silver Royal Arms
1741- Phillip V
Milled
Mexico City
MF
8 escudos
Spanish Coin VCU 4987:
Silver Royal Arms
1740 - Phillip V
Milled
Mexico City
MF
8 escudos
Questions and answers for relative dating are:
1. What is the relative date for these shipwrecks? (1734-1799)
2. Which of the coins could have been found on La Galga? Explain your answer. (1734, 1741, 1740 on La Galga because they were manufactured before she sank.) Which coins could not have been found on La Galga? Explain your answer. (1799 NOT on La Galga because she wrecked in 1750 before the coin was manufactured.)
3. Which of the coins could have been found on Juno? Explain your answer. (All coins because they would have been in circulation when the ship sank.) Which coins could not have been found on Juno? Explain your answer. (All of the coins could have been found on Juno.)
Related Lessons or Education Materials
The Spanish Treasure Fleets of 1715 and 1733: Disasters Strike at Sea