NEH Archaeology Camp - Week 1 Highlights July 18-22, 2011

The Storm...

On Monday night, after the first full day of seminar activities, several of went out walking (my brain was full to overflowing and it was only the first day of the lectures) and we noticed storm clouds begin to form over the mesas. The lightening was beautiful and again, with the unobscured view, you could see it more clearly streak across the sky than you can in Virginia. The sky was getting darker, we were still pretty far from main campus and then the lightening picked up over the wheat fields to our right. It might be wise to start heading back. No sooner did we step foot in the Hogan, then the rain started in earnest, the lightening picked up, and the thunder cracked louder and louder.

Unfortunately, that’s not where this story ends. A few moments later, we see a yellow poncho hurrying up the hill towards us. It was Karen, one of the Crow Canyon staff members, who told us to get to the lower floor of the Gates building as quickly as possible. Evidently, a tornado had been spotted a few towns away and there were wind advisories. (We found out the next day a tornado had touched down 5 miles from Crow Canyon's campus!)

In the lower level of the Gates building, we all sat at tables in the lab and played board games.  I love Scrabble and the mental challenge kept our minds off the gale blowing outside. We wearily trudged back up the hill to the hogans when we were given the "all-clear" sign. It was a memorable second night on campus!

Mesa Verde...

"Big Red" was waiting bright and early as the clouds settled heavily over Crow Canyon. The faded white and red painted school bus stood out against the vegetation of the grounds, signaling a change was to take place today.  We climbed into Big Red with our driver, Ted who wore the requisite Western garb--  jeans, a blue & white plaid shirt, & cowboy hat--- and were on our way to Mesa Verde, one of the richest archaeological site in North America. Up the winding roads we went, faster and faster as our master driver, Ted, led the way with an authority that comes only with years of experience. Soon we had climbed to the top of the Mesa and disembarked at the first site--Spruce Tree House (oddly named since there are no spruce trees; the poor European discoverers apparently were not arborists...). From the look out point, we gazed in awe at the most amazing site. Words and pictures cannot do the experience justice as I took in the magnitude of the cliff dwelling house. The structure, though in ruins, had a magnificent aura that really spoke to all of us. Tessie Naranjo, a distinguished scholar and our new Tewa friend from the Santa Clara pueblo, was asked for her thoughts; I believe her response describes exactly how I felt about this aesthetic moment. A moment of silence passed as we waited for her wisdom, and then, without looking at any of us, she quietly answered, "I don't THINK as much as I FEEL while I am looking at this." I felt a sense of wonder for this civilization -- for their architecture, for their use of natural resources, and for their respect for the land they were living on.  I would not last even one moment in this culture as the hike down into the cliff dwelling was steep and I could only imagine what it could be like without the paved path we were trekking on. (Um, hello?  My previous idea of "hiking" meant stepping off the curb in a paved suburbia!  I am discovering that I like hiking in the real natural world. ) Once inside the sheltered cove, I could barely believe what masonry and dedication went into the building that stretched about 100 feet back into the cliff. The cliff dwellings only scratch the surface though, because as we began to explore, we also discovered the underground Kiva. 

The park service has beautifully restored the roof to one of the kivas at Spruce Tree House. Down I went into the kiva, all the while feeling the presence of the past and marveling that about 5-7 people most likely shared sleeping quarters in the kiva to keep warm in the winters.  Kivas also served a ceremonial places where native people practiced their religion and are part of the sacred landscape to the modern Pueblo Indians who visit the "Homes of the Ancestors". Climbing back to the top of the Mesa, all I could think about was how in shape the ancient Puebloean people must have been! (As I like to say - I'm in shape --  if you count ROUND as a shape!! :)

 



We traveled back in time after our visit to Spruce Tree House, viewing some basketmaker sites (pre-cliff dwelling) at the top of the mesa on the so called "Ruins Road" before heading to our last cliff dwelling site of the day -  the spectacular and almost enchanted Cliff Palace.  I'm very proud of myself for climbing down and up to experience this cliff dwelling; I acquired a new found respect for the cliff dwellers as they did NOT have sturdy ladders to climb as I did. They climbed in and out of Cliff Palace by chiseling handholds and footholds in the rock (!!!!). 

Can you believe that if two cowboys (ranchers actually) had not brought their cows to the valley to graze (in the 1800s) these dwellings may have remained uncovered for hundreds more years? Thanks to Florence Lister, a 91 year old retired archaeologist, I learned this piece of the Mesa Verde story. Florence was a gracious host, who welcomed all 30 of us teachers to her lovely home for dinner after a long day hiking and visiting.  After eating, she gave a short talk about the history of Mesa Verde and the role of archaeologists in excavating & opening it with the National Park Service. Her home is lovely as is Florence herself and several of us had Mrs. Lister sign copies of her many books.

Hands-On Learning...

The rest of the week has been filled with a lot of learning. It's been fantastic-- we have been doing a lot of hands on activities with the directors of the program and some of the Pueblo/ Native American staff members/volunteers who truly are experts. We went to the basketmaker learning center on campus which is a replica of a pithouse dwelling during the basketmaker time period. It is built to scale building and is surprising cool (temperature wise) even in the heat of the day.  Surprisingly, it's roomy as all 30 of the participants and four instructors fit in it with no problem as we sat on the floor in a circle for our lesson in "making fire" which, by the way, was an epic fail for all of us. It was a lot of fun to try, but I'm very grateful for matches.  Again, I would need a lot of work and practice to survive in the ancient world.  I am humbled by how much I can not do and how much I do not know about basic survival.  I am firmly rooted in the 21st century and used to living with the luxuries of electricity, running water, and so on!

We also learned how to make string from Yucca, which I was a lot better at (though that is traditionally a child's job) and how to throw the Atlatl, which is a way to turn a spear into a projectile (before the bow and arrow). I was terrifically bad at that too, but one person in our group did hit the fake turkey, so at least we would have something to eat (though we couldn't cook it because none of us could make fire...guess we'd have to wait for a lightening strike in just the right place).

After the Atlatl, we went up to the Pueblo learning center on campus, which is a replica structure from the Pueblo III time period. It is a really neat learning facility where we learned about clothing and living arrangements.

One of our native scholars, Dr. Tessie Naranjo, then gave a lovely lecture about Santa Clara, her home pueblo, and the changes that have taken place over the last 100 years or so. Every time I learn more about this community I am amazed by their fortitude and ingenuity in walking in "two worlds" -- the Western World as Americans and the Pueblo World as Native people. Her presentation was beyond words  - she is a poet equally as she is the scholar who holds a PhD and has been published many times over.  Porter, Tessie's nephew, then taught us a traditional Tewa game using nothing but a stick, rocks, and a game board he etched in the dirt on the ground.  It was a lot of fun to play and I hope to share it with my students in the fall as it really involved strategy and encouraged team building

There is so much more that I experienced this first week but these are a few of the highlights!