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The Royal Road to Learning: The Role of Video Games in Archaeological Education

Al-Yasa Khan

The widespread use of the internet in the past two decades has been revolutionary in the way people
have access to information. Increasingly, the internet is being used in schools as a way to teach
students; a 2006 survey stated that 96% of teachers in the UK used a computer in class (Korte &
Hüsing, 2006, p. 3). This has no doubt increased in the last decade, especially with the widespread use
of laptops and smartphones. Furthermore, teachers do see the benefits of using the internet in
schools; 80% of European teachers see the advantages of ICT use in school and for letting the students
use computers to do exercises, and 86% state that students are more motivated and attentive when
the internet is used in class (ibid, p. 4).

Because of how quickly technology is adapting these days, the new generation of teachers face a great
challenge of improving and modernising existing educational practices for use in lessons (Stošic &
Stošic, 2015, p. 462). This essay will look at three games from the Assassin’s Creed series and analyse
how they can be used to educate people archaeologically and historically.

It is important to note that, despite the benefits of archaeological education to students (Cole, 2014),
archaeological education is declining. In 2016, AQA dropped a number of subjects as A-Levels including
AS and A-Level Anthropology, Archaeology, and Classical Civilisation (AQA, 2019). This news was
followed by the University College London offering the first ever University Archaeology Day the
following year in 2017, as a response to a decline in students taking up archaeology at university.
There are a number of factors for this decline, such as increasing university fees forcing students to
view university as a financial investment for the future instead of as an institution to explore and
experience subjects (Shepperson, 2017). However, the need to understand archaeology in historical
education is growing, especially given the fact that History GCSEs must cover the following areas
(Department for Education, 2014, p. 4):

 Three different eras: Medieval, Early Modern, and Modern.

 Three time scales: short depth study, medium period study, and a long thematic study.
 Three geographical contexts: a locality, British, and European and/or wider world.

The study of a locality, the historic environment, places the most focus on archaeological and heritage
sites, such as Durham Cathedral and the Globe Theatre (both of which have been focuses of study in
past years).
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Archaeological evidence can further assist the thematic studies when looking at continuity and change
over a wide period of time, for example; medicine and health and how you can see the evidence of
diseases in skeletal remains; for Migration and how you can see evidence of trade in the pottery
remains and the change in burial methods; and for Warfare, the evidence of weapons that have been
excavated, or the damage weapons do to the human body, as seen from the skeletal remains. An
example can be seen from the body of King Richard III, whose skull showed signs of several injuries
such as Figure 1, which was the wound that probably killed the King (University of Leicester, 2019).

Furthermore, the use of archaeology in historical education can also raise awareness about aspects of
archaeology that are not always considered, such as industrial archaeology, modern archaeology, and
maritime archaeology. When studying the industrial revolution, an analysis of the housing of industrial
workers, or when studying the First World War, an analysis of excavated trenches, can bring a personal
and more memorable touch to historical education and can seek to enhance pupil knowledge in the
subject.

Figure 1: A view of the injury from King Richard III's skull. The damage would have been caused by a long, very sharp blade,
such as a halberd, and would have been fatal (photo taken from the University of Leicester).

Archaeology and Education

Before we can continue, it is important to define two terms here; archaeology and education. This
task is not as easy as it seems, however, as both words have different meanings to different people.
Because of this, I have elected to define archaeology and education in the broadest possible terms, to
encompass a wide range of thoughts and ideas.
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Archaeology is often thought of as an exercise in merely collecting the oldest or most notable artefact
for display and for glory (Smith, et al., 2012, p. 7617). Often, the first experience of archaeology comes
from films such as Indiana Jones, games such as Lara Croft, or through early education such as knowing
about Howard Carter and how he discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb when studying Ancient Egypt in
primary school. All these examples are focused on the idea of an object or objects being rescued from
a tomb and brought to show the public.

This has truth in part, in that archaeology does include the study of artefacts and ecofacts. However,
this definition includes no mention on sites and landscapes, both of which play a significant role in
archaeology. This definition also furthers an incorrect narrative that archaeologists are focused solely
on the role of materials in history which then leads to the perception that archaeologists are only
concerned about the value of objects and not humans, and this is perhaps the reason it is not used
extensively in historical education; as the cliché goes, “geography is about maps, history is about
chaps,” relating to the idea that history is the study of people. Furthermore, this cliché exemplifies the
divide in British education about the environment (geography) and the past (history). Archaeology
acts as a bridge to this gap, as part of archaeology is focused on landscape and the environment;
understanding that what we perceive as “natural” environments are actually a result of thousands of
years of human exploitation, and that the environment is constantly changing (Henson, 2004, pp. 28-
29). Archaeology is the study of humans; how they lived, where they lived, what they made, what they
believed. This includes ideas such as identity and culture, all of which can be studied and understood
through archaeological means. In historical education, archaeology can bring in a deeper
understanding to the past and the people who lived there; every single tool, every building, every
environment, was made and shaped by people for a reason in the same way we build tools, buildings,
and change environments today.

It is also worth mentioning how archaeology differs from history in historical teaching. Davis (2005,
pp. 15-16) says that history is the study of the past through the written word, whilst archaeology is
the study of the past through material remains. This is a worthwhile distinction, especially as history
seeks to construct a narrative of what actually happened in the past, as narrative is easy to understand
because it involves key events and main individuals whom students can identify with (Henson, 2004,
p. 29), and this is done through textual sources that have been left behind. This is the reason why the
historical narrative struggles to deal with the prehistoric period (and indeed is why it is called the pre-
historic period); there is the absence of written texts in this time and thus there is the inability to
create a historical narrative of this era. The narrative of history lends itself to period studies, whether
that is a short period such as the focused period study outlined in the history curriculum, or a longer
period, such as the thematic study.
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In archaeology, constructing a narrative is rather difficult, as what is excavated is only a screenshot of

a slice in the past. Archaeologists often are able to dig into the detail of a specific area in much more
depth and with much more understanding, as the evidence that is available lends itself to
understanding the logistics of everyday life in the past, in a way a historical narrative is not usually
able to do.

It then becomes clear the value of using both historical and archaeological evidence when teaching
the past; historical evidence can provide the framework of understanding, whilst archaeological
evidence fills in the details that allow the past to be fully understood; about how people lived, why
they constructed buildings and how they manipulated the environment. This level of understanding
brings us closer to the past, and it is with this closer understanding that we are able to use both history
and archaeology to learn from the past, and not just about that past, a criticism that Henson levels at
both subjects (Henson, 2004, pp. 28-29).

The term education also needs clarifying, because there are many pre-conceived notions about how
education works. For most people, education, or at least formal education, is synonymous with
schooling. In the UK, a student must remain in school until the age of 16, after which they must remain
in education until the age of 18 (Department of Education, 2008). After the age of 16, the student can
elect to take up further education outside of a schooling environment such as a Sixth Form or College,
by undertaking various qualifications such as a Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC).
This can be undertaken alongside work, such as through apprenticeships. Education in schools is
mostly classroom based, with few exceptions in subjects such as technology and science for example,
who supplement classroom-based teaching with practical work and lab work. Teaching in these
classrooms are often what most people think when they think of education, with this teaching leading
up to a test, often an exam, to gain a qualification at the end.

This view of education presents a very skewed view, that all education must lead to a qualification,
and by extension, a job through this qualification. This view is partially to blame for the
aforementioned drop in people undertaking degrees in subjects such as archaeology, as people do not
believe the investment required to undertake a university degree in the subject is able to make them
employable after their graduation.

Whilst it is important to look at education as a route to employment, this should not be the only view
of education. Education should be, first and foremost, a way to explore interests and to allow the
growth of a student and their ability to think. The benefits of education are well documented, to both
the self and the society (Shrivastava & Shrivastava, 2014; Coulombe & Tremblay, 2009), and a crucial
component of educational growth is through interest and exposure. This is done in schools, but also
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outside schools, such as through reading and, due to the rise of technology, through the internet.
When a student is interested and engaged with a subject, they are able to study consistently and learn
the course material well (Leong & Luo, 2011, p. 4). Especially when traditional teaching is now seen
by students to be ineffective and boring, schools are facing major problems around student
engagement (Lee & Hammer, 2011, p. 1). It is through this lens of improving student engagement in
archaeological education that I present the value of using video games.

The Value of Assassin’s Creed

Video Games have been a growing trend, with the video game industry worth around $135 billion in
2018, marking an increase of over 10% from 2017 (Batchelor, 2018). Games that deal with
archaeological and historical themes have also shared in this growth. There is very little written about
archaeology and video games. When research is done, they often deal with the public perceptions of
games such as the “Tomb Raider” series of games (Watrall, 2011). Tomb Raider revolves around a
female British archaeologist called Lara Croft and her adventures of searching for lost artefacts in
tombs and ruins, much like Indiana Jones is seen to do in his films. Once again, note the focus on the
notion that archaeology deals exclusively with artefacts, and how this idea fuels public perceptions of
archaeology. Tomb Raider debuted in 1996, and is still popular, with the 20th game in the series
Shadow of the Tomb Raider being released in September 2018 to a rating of 76 out of 100 on Metacritic
(2018). Other research into historical video games tends to focus of strategy and empire building
games, as these are more likely to capture the historical narrative of growing an empire, such as the
Roman Empire, from the ground up (Gardner, 2007). On the other hand, whilst there has been much
research into the effects of games in children and teenagers, very few people have examined the
approach of trying to bring game elements into lessons, also called “gamifying” (Ding, et al., 2018, p.
213). The few studies into the subject that have been done indicate that game mechanics do indeed
engage students, although they are not the silver bullet to solve all issues related to teaching
(Shrivastava & Shrivastava, 2014, p. 4).

For the purposes of this study, I will be focusing on one series of video games, the “Assassin’s Creed”
series, but I will be drawing examples from three games in the series as case studies. These are
“Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey”, “Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate” and “Assassin’s Creed Unity”.

Assassin’s Creed is an action-adventure stealth game, where the player takes the role of an assassin
who is part of a centuries-old struggle between the Assassins, who fight for world peace through the
tenants of free will and liberty; and the Templars, who fight for world peace through control and
subservience. Each game takes place in a period in the past, which ranges from the Levant during the
Third Crusade to America during the French Revolution and Ptolemaic Egypt. The games have been
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well received, with the latest game in the series, “Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey” set in Ancient Greece
during the Peloponnesian Wars had a total of 4.5 million sales on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One by
the end of 2018 (VGChartz, 2018). In contrast to this, the number of students taking History for GCSE
in 2018 was 248,925 (Ofqual, 2008, p. 3). This number was lower at A-Level, where only 44,900
students undertook the subject, a drop of 40% from the previous year (ibid, p.12). Table 1 shows the
number of students starting a history or archaeology degree at university in the year 2017-2018. These
numbers show how popular the game is compared to formal study in a related subject.

Other Non- Total

Total European European Non-
UK Union Union UK Total
(V1) History 10,630 260 310 570 11,200 Table 1: The number of students
by period starting their first degree at university
in the year 2017/2018 in History and
(V2) History 300 30 15 45 345 Archaeology (Higher Education
by area Statistics Agency, 2019).
(V3) History 1,390 190 195 385 1,775
by topic
(V4) 905 40 65 105 1,010
Archaeology

Whilst this is not a straightforward comparison, it does show the massive discrepancy between people
who consume archaeological and historical education (the education here being passive through
gameplay), and the people who study it. It is important to understand that it is this form of education
that games like Assassin’s Creed harness. Through gameplay and setting, the player is immersed in a
simulated world. They have left their original setting and have entered a world set in the past, a
historical simulation in which they learn from experience and from exploration. Just like books teach
you how to think like the author, and films teach you how to gaze at the world, video games are able
to assist the player in making sense of a world by teaching an interpretive understanding of the world
around them (Friedman, 1998, pp. 132-133).
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Assassin’s Creed developers understand that people expect historical accuracy in the development of
their games. For Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, the World Director, Ben Hall said the ultimate goal was
“to make sure we create the most authentic, credible Greece we can while making it beautiful and fun
at the same time,” (Ryan, 2018; Burrows, 2018). This meant bringing in a historian to consult on any
game ideas but reserving the right to edit the game as needed in order to create a fun environment
to play in; the game’s purpose is not to educate, it is to make money for the company.

Figure 2: A screenshot from the game Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, which takes place in Victorian London. Here the
protagonist of the game stands in the Southwark borough of London, an industrialised section of London containing
factories and the houses of the factory workers (picture by author).

With this in mind, the games present a past as shown by the eyes of the people who developed the
game. But this is no different to a reconstruction shown in a museum or in a book. In some ways, this
reconstruction is better as it immerses the player in the setting, allowing for the player to explore the
past. Figure 2 shows such an example. Here, the protagonist looking down an industrial estate, with
the factory looming in the background. Reconstructed here are the houses of industrial workers, akin
to what one can see at places such as Beamish, a living museum that aims to recreate the past
(Beamish, 2019). However, here, the full industrial experience is recreated, from the chimneys
belching pollutants into the air to the sounds of children with thick cockney accents running down the
dirty alley. From the comfort of their homes, the player is transported into a representation of a past
that is not limited by health and safety laws or budget constrictions. They view an accurate
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representation of the past that they are able to run around and explore, from the reconstruction of
Buckingham Palace to the alleyways of Lambeth.

Figure 3: A screenshot from Assassin's Creed: Odyssey; Ancient Greece is usually thought of as a place of white marble, but
reconstructions such as these are able to show the vibrant cities of Ancient Greece, complete with the sounds of people
dancing and conducting business (picture by author).

Figure 4: Another screenshot from Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, this time of the Parthenon in Athens, a building that captures
public perceptions of Ancient Greece. Unlike a reconstruction in a museum however, in the game the player is able to climb
on and explore the building much more intimately (picture by author).

Figure 3 shows another example, this time showing the sun-bleached islands of Greece. To many, the
view of Ancient Greece is tempered by what remains today; the white marble ruins of the Parthenon
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on the Acropolis in Athens for example. Figure 3 shows the opposite of what we perceive Greece to
be like; in the past, it was bright and vibrant, with songs and dancing. Because of what is left as
archaeological remains, colour and sound is often not something that is thought about, but what
reconstructions such as this remind the player that the past was just as colourful and vibrant as the
present is today. This is better shown in the reconstruction of the Parthenon itself in Figure 4. Through
this reconstruction, the player is able to see the Parthenon as it was meant to be viewed, with the
colour and the sounds of people in and around the temple. The attention to detail in the game means
that the players are able to fully immerse themselves in the time period; Appendix A lists further
screenshots from the game, including a picture of statues in the middle of being carved. These statues
are symbolic of Greek art and culture, and by seeing a workshop with statues in various stages of
completion reminds the player that these people were humans too and helps to bring the player closer
to the past.

Figure 3: A view of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Assassin's Creed: Unity (picture by author).

The detail in the construction of the historical environments are often well done. Figure 5 shows a
view of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Assassin’s Creed: Unity, a game set in Paris during the French
Revolution. Players are able to visit key places in the revolution, such as the Bastille, which no longer
stands in Paris, as well as Les Invalides and Palais des Tuileries. On the 16th April 2019, the Notre-Dame
Cathedral was ravaged by a fire that destroyed most of the roof and the spire (both of which can be
seen in Figure 5) (BBC News, 2019). Ubisoft, the company that makes Assassin’s Creed, pledged aid to
the reconstruction as well as lending assistance through the modelling they undertook to make the
cathedral in the game, though it is important to note that the modelling is not fully accurate as changes
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had to be made to the game design to make the game playable (BBC News, 2019). In the meantime,
the developers released Assassin’s Creed: Unity for free for a short period of time to encourage people
to visit Notre-Dame and view the structure in-game.

Following on from this, all the Assassin’s Creed games require the character interacting with historical
characters as they appear. In Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, for example, the player can interact with
figures such as Karl Marx (Figure 6), or Charles Darwin. When meeting these characters, the players
are often sent on missions where they must assist the character in their endeavours. For example,
with Karl Marx, the characters are tasked with helping him grow the Workers’ Party, reflecting the
views the man had on how workers should be treated in a time where workers had little rights.

Figure 4: Karl Marx, as shown in the game Assassin's Creed: Syndicate (picture by author).

Such figures can cause controversy as to how they are depicted, but this can often be good, as it allows
the player to question and research these figures. Other famous people such as Robespierre in
Assassin’s Creed: Unity, are depicted as evil characters, and the game can help question why such a
view was held about these people. Part of this is through the use of missions in the game, but also
through the player’s own initiative to understand the historical environment further.

Equally as important is the use of the common characters in the game. In Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey,
for example, the player is often tasked to complete quests for the various people in Greece, which
include people of low status. Whether this is to fetch some ingredients from the marketplace because
the quest-giver has to take care of their sick father, or if it is to help an adventurer reach the house of
Odysseus because they wanted to create an odyssey of their own, the games are able to capture the
plight of the common people in their historical environments, something that is often missing in
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historical narrative. Through the use of archaeological evidence, the game is able to tell the tales of
the everyday people and their struggles, informing the player that history is not solely the story of the
rich and the famous, but of the common man, woman, and child. A series of missions in Assassin’s
Creed: Syndicate has the player rescuing children from factories, whilst another series of missions in
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey has the player throw off Athenian rule on the island of Delos so that the
inhabitants may live free.

In terms of education then, the use of games such as Assassin’s Creed can be very beneficial to
students when learning about the historical period each game is set. The games are able to take the
student back in time to view the historical environment and to view the cities and monuments as
representations of what they could have looked like. The games are also able to present ideas and
historical figures in ways that can make them memorable to the student, as well as challenge
viewpoints. Furthermore, it can seek to allow the player to question the decisions made by the
developers in the game; Why did they present Napoleon in a certain way in the Assassin’s Creed:
Unity? What evidence do they base it off? Why did having a female protagonist in Assassin’s Creed:
Odyssey cause so much contention? What was the role of women in Ancient Greek society? How does
the female protagonist overcome such views? These debates and discussions can be used in
classrooms to enhance the student’s knowledge of both the game and the topic covered.

However, there are various downfalls to using the games as an academic source and they must be
understood. The games are not there to teach history and have no obligation to present history in a
way that is historically accurate. Indeed, the games manipulate history to suit the story being told. The
battle between Assassins and Templars is said to have been going on for ages, and key figures are seen
to be members of each group. Though it is obvious to most that such elements are fabricated to tell a
story, it is still a danger that people can believe this presentation as fact. On a more sophisticated
level, whilst a player might not accept the wider story elements as fact, they can view smaller details
as fact when the reality was much more complex. An example of this is seen in Assassin’s Creed:
Syndicate, where the player has to undertake the mission of freeing children from working in factories,
as mentioned above. Though this seems like the most moral thing to do, and indeed it is probably
something people would do themselves if they had the chance to go back in time, the factors for
children working in factories is not mentioned. The reality would be that most children had no choice
and that the pay they received from working in these factories would be used to care for their parents
and siblings. To many, having no work was worse than having work. Another example is seen in the
storming of the Bastille event in Assassin’s Creed: Unity. The game portrays the storming of the Bastille
as part of the revolution, but it makes no mention of the real political situation that lead to the Bastille
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being stormed; the fear of the Third Estate that King Louis had moved his army outside Paris to shut
down the Estates-General, and the increase of food prices due to financial ruin.

Not only this, but the game also presents certain views as correct, due to the viewpoint the game is
played in. The purpose of the game is often pro-libertarian, where the protagonist has to fight the
already established rulers who are portrayed as nasty and draconic. In Assassin’s Creed: Unity, the
revolutionaries are often praised, despite the fact they too committed crimes in the name of the
Revolution. Furthermore, in Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, the game promotes a very anti-capitalist
message by showing the rich industrialists as the antagonists of the game. Such views are complex
questions and there is the danger of accepting the games as fact instead of questioning the placement
of these ideas, as education should do.

In addition to this, despite trying to stick to historical accuracy, the recreation of the game work is
entirely that; a recreation. An example of this can be seen in Figure 7, which shows a picture of the
city of Lacedaemon, more commonly known as Sparta. Whilst Athens is easily reconstructed due to
the wealth of archaeological information available, Sparta has information available and thus this
reconstruction is done primarily on the vision of the developers. There is, once again, a danger to
believe that everything presented in the game is fact, and this has to be kept in mind at all times.

Figure 5: A view of Sparta from Assassin's Creed: Odyssey (picture by author).

Lastly, the game does not teach the basic skills required by an archaeologist or a historian. Skills such
as critical analysis, clear concise writing, research and referencing are all methods that have to be
taught by practice and playing a game does not teach these skills. With these dangers in mind, it always
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important to understand that games cannot remove the need for traditional teaching and can only
seek to supplement them, or to encourage people to study the areas that are depicted.

However, as has been shown, games have the power to captivate an audience and are much more
widespread than people who study these subjects at a university. They are often memorable and
enable a player to interact with the past in ways that other forms of media cannot replicate. For
archaeologists, they can help to build a picture of the past away from the artefacts and environments
that we are accustomed to seeing. They can also combine the political, social, and economic areas of
a place such as Ancient Greece and present them together so that we are able to understand how all
these areas interact and work together, which can help us understand the past better. To the player,
they are able to introduce them to a period of history they may have never studied or thought about,
generate interest, and convince the player to research the area themselves. To a teacher, they can
also help to entrench ideas about the society and the geographical features of a region.

That is not to say that the games are the silver bullet for education, but it is important to understand
that for many people, this is a way that they consume historical and archaeological information. More
study is needed to fully understand how games can impact the student and ways that teachers are
able to integrate this into teaching history and archaeology. Perhaps the use of games can seek to
reverse the decline in student numbers for the subject by increasing the desire to understand the past
better?
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Appendix A
Images taken from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. The captions of each image are located underneath the
image. All images are taken by the author.

A view of Athens from the acropolis.

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An image of a statue workshop. Note the detail in the chisel marks, showing the statues in the midst
of being created, something that we do not see in museums today.
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