Computer Game Turns You Into a Real Archaeologist!

From Dig It Games, Roman Town is a computer game that claims to turn players into real archaeologists.  Players will excavate, analyze, and explore just like the professionals.  While I don't appreciate the claim that a computer game can simulate the full experience of being an archaeologist, the game does contain some features that most other archaeology-themed games don't cover.  You can:

• Manage a team of diggers to excavate the site
• Learn scientific methodology and real archaeological techniques (although they didn't elaborate what they mean by real archaeological techniques)
• Analyze your finds in the lab - sort and classify your find and reconstruct rare artifacts piece by piece (there's that adjective "rare" - does every artifact have to be described as "rare"?)

My complaint with this game is that it claims to simulate the archaeological experience simply by clicking around on your computer.  I mean, sure, the game was created by a professional archaeologist, but he didn't include every single procedure he had to do in his profession, right?  Where is the paperwork you have to do before going to a site?  If this was completely accurate, you might not even find a worth-while artifact during your excavation.  But this game makes it out to be that you'll find a rare artifact on every dig, guaranteed.  I'm sure this game has good educational value, but its claim to make you into a real archaeologist is just not true.

I found a demo video of the game, and it looks like a decent game for kids - fun to play and interesting.

So although Roman Town won't turn you into a real archaeologist, it will give you a pretty good impression of the field and teach you the method and techniques in the trade!