Our website update is underway!

The Heritage Education Network

The Heritage Education Network (THEN) is an alliance for those who use, manage, teach, or create information about past or present peoples and cultures.

We are archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, formal and informal educators, architects, folklorists, museum specialists, interpreters, art historians and others committed to public outreach about cultural heritage. We work together to network, exchange ideas, professionalize, and publish information. We provide a bridge between professional heritage specialists and those who produce, use, and disseminate educational materials.

The development of this website was funded through a Wenner-Gren Foundation, Innovations in Public Awareness of Anthropology Grant. The first “soft launch” for THEN’s website happened in March 2017 to coincide with the Society for American Archaeology annual meeting. The second “launch” took place at the beginning of November 2017 to coincide with the Southeast Archaeological Conference meeting.

New to THEN’s website are the Resources, News & Events, and Members Only pages.  Please take time to tour the content and search the Annotated Bibliography of Heritage Education Materials located on the Resources page. Use of the Annotated Bibliography is free!  Membership is required to upload additional references.

Take the opportunity to join THEN as one of the founding members. (More information on our membership categories can be found on the Join page.)

Visit the website periodically, learn a bit about THEN, and see some of the exciting things we have planned.

For more information or questions:

The Heritage Education Network
P.O. Box 31121
Tucson, AZ 85751-1121
information@theheritageeducationnetwork.org

News and Events

2025 FIRST LEGO League Challenge
UNEARTHED: Let’s Dig Deeper!

THEN welcomes this year’s FIRST LEGO challenge focused on archaeology. It’s a great opportunity for your team to discover how we learn about the past and to use your creativity to solve the problems archaeologists might encounter. Below are some resources for you to consider.

THEN has a free annotated bibliography available for educators to search about archaeology, teaching archaeology, and other topics. 

For this challenge, specifically, some of your best sources are the two main American archaeological organizations, which have posted information addressing UNEARTHED: Let’s Dig Deeper!

The Archaeological Institute of American (AIA) has a web page of resources, FIRST LEGO League Challenge 2025-2026.

There are two videos on the page, also available on YouTube, “Ask an Archaeologist: Unearthing Challenges in Archaeology,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A10Vsbmn-q4 (58:52), and “Ask An Archaeologist: Tech Edition,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2EOYJo5Rgo&t=9s (1.01.43). The first one is a general introduction to the challenge; the second one is focused on tech, specifically.

The AIA webpage also has other resources, including a list of common challenges, questions frequently asked by teams, links to other resources on their website, tips from other teams, information on how to find an archaeologist to talk to, and more.

The Society for American Archaeology (SAA) hosted a webinar on October 1, 2025, where four archaeologists answer questions about the challenge and talk about how we learn about the past. It is available on YouTube or you can link to it directly here: “Exploring Archaeological Challenges: A Webinar for FIRST® LEGO® League UNEARTHED(TM) Robotics Teams,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJICzYB8rqk (1.02.08). The SAA website also has information about archaeology that answers questions about what it is and what archaeologists do, among others.

Please also feel free to contact us here at THEN if you need to talk to an archaeologist or have other questions you want answered. 

We’ll be happy to help!