Figure 1: Image from the “Return to Prehistory” game.

Following the “Adventure of Mysterious Land ”, the Institute of History and Philology’s program for Digital Knowledge of Historical and Cultural Heritages –Archaeological Data , released its online game “Return to Prehistory ”. In this game, the protagonist Archy – the Archaeology Genie, who has suddenly ended up in prehistoric Taiwan, and, aided by the player, has to overcome various obstacles in the game to get back to the present day.

Figure 2: Archy – the Archaeology Genie

In the game there are three levels, and at every level the player is confronted with random challenges. Difficulty increases with the number of levels, and the player has to pass each challenge in order to go on to the next one. If the player is not alert or quick enough, the items on the pathway will be gobbled up by the Buffallo (circled in red in Figure 1), and the player is failed to bring back Archy.. If the player succeeds in passing the three levels, the player will get different prizes, depending on the number of points. Why not try and see if you can get the first prize (over 38,000 points)?

Figure 3: Getting past the obstacles

The original intention of “Return to Prehistory” was to have the player encounter various prehistoric Taiwanese artifacts in the program’s collection of stone tools, and enable them to understand how they were used. We, therefore, used these little bits of knowledge as an essential skill by which to get to the next level, so that the player can learn some knowledge of archeology while playing the game. If at any time the player forgets how to use of one of the stone implements, the “?” button on the screen can be selected at any time for a brief review of the stone tools (circled in purple in Figure 1). But don’t worry—the game will pause while you review. For those who want to know more about the stone tools used in the game, after the game is over, whether or not the player made it through all the levels, the descriptions of the artifacts can be looked up (Figure 4). Some of the artifacts are linked to relevant animations or educational websites, increasing everyone’s knowledge of archaeology in a richly instructive and entertaining intellectual journey. So what are you waiting for—come give it a try!

Figure 4: Descriptions of the artifacts

Further Reading:

1.   other archaeological games：

http://archeodata.sinica.edu.tw/h7/games_en.html

2.   other educational websites and animations：http://archeodata.sinica.edu.tw/h7/menu_en.html