Tours and Meetings

Campus Tour



A certain to remain nameless individual has been complaining that they don't understand some of the places that I talk about around Crow Canyon due to the fact that they have no visuals. So I have taken a few pictures to give said individual and others a better perspective on the campus. It is not inclusive, but shows some of the main highlights.



...The Hogans (my soon to be past home...I get moved to the Intern Cabins next week)



...The Gates Building (where there are offices, internet connection, classrooms, and labs)



...The Circle (in front of the Lodge and where the kiddies are dropped off)



...The Lodge (sleeping quarters for many of the guests and the kitchen)




...Simulation Excavation (self-explanatory)





...Pueblo Learning Center (for Pueblo Lifestyles module)




...Pithouse (under construction...but for the Basketmaker Lifestyles)



...Atlatls (Basketmaker Lifestyles)

I hope that you all now have a better understanding of this place. If you think that there is something missing let me know and I'll take a picture and add it.

Driver's Ed and Goodman Point Pueblo

Monday was a day off from teaching for many of the educators. This meant that it was the perfect time for the other newbies and myself to take our 15-passenger van driving test. For the morning we got to go back to driver's ed and learn about the staggering roll over rate for these vehicles and then take them out for a test drive. No rollovers to rate although a few people received a collective "D" on their brake checks :~) (Not me all you evil people!)

In the afternoon, the research staff were so kind to take a large quantity of the education staff out to the site that Crow Canyon is working on for the next 5 years and where our students will be excavating starting in May. It was nice to get a view of the layout and to learn about it from the experts, as we will be giving our own site tours in the coming weeks. This site is huge and kiva dominated (with 107 recorded kivas and 42 different sites that have 56 contemporaneous events linked to them).

Semi-Annual Meeting

Every year, Crow Canyon hosts two meets were patrons and board members come to hold meetings and discuss the going-ons of this place. This Semi-Annual meeting contains talks and outings. I managed to hitch a ride on the Research Committee's "Mystery Day Trip." This mystery trip entailed a van ride out to the Ute Mountain Ute's reservation were we got to see a few spectacular Pueblo III (AD 1150 to 1300) sites.

The first site that we visited was Moqui Springs. This site affords a great view of...



...the Mesa tops (the rocks are Mama and Baby),



...Chimney Rock (the protruding rock formation in the background. Sorry the picture can't be closer),

...Ship Rock (in New Mexico),



...and the Sleeping Ute (the mighty Ute Warrior that will awaken and defeat the enemies of the Utes when they need him).




This site had some fantastic black on white pottery sherds and some nifty slate rocks (bluish with dark bands in them). There were also some lithics and numerous kivas and roomblock remains. This is one of the many sites were you need to use your imagination to see what was once there as everything has since tumbled down and none of the original structures are still standing.





From Moqui Springs, the convoy headed a few miles further in land to Cowboy Wash (not the famous cannibal site, but within the same area). This site was contemporaneous with Moqui Springs. The site though was lived in for a time, then abandoned, lived in again, abandoned, etc. in conjunction with when there was water available in the wash that runs through it.







After lunch, a few people decided to return to the hotel, but the majority of us continued on to one last site, Yucca House. This site is considered to be one of the three largest communities in the area (with Goodman Point Pueblo and Sand Canyon). Many archaeologists also consider this site to be a Chacoan outlier because it contains a Great House with is a signature Chaco feature. The pottery sherds that were found during a site survey by Crow Canyon find this anomalous due to the fact that all of the pottery sherds found at the sites date to after the Chaco influence (which ran from about AD 1050 to 1180). The site went around in a giant horseshoe with the Great House in the middle and a huge tower and mini-Great Kiva off to the side.

This meeting was a little different than all of the previous meetings in that someone decided that it would be an excellent idea to have a traditional Pueblo meal at the culmination of the three days of meeting. This meant that different Pueblo Indians (form Acuma, Taos, Zuni, Hopi, Santa Clara, and Afognak (Alaskan)) came and brought or cooked here, native dishes. This turned out to be a great feast with various foods that many of you would have liked to try. For me, not eating mammals and all, I had a lot of bread and the token Irish potato salad. The menu included, Red Chile with Pork, Posole, Chicos with Elk, Buffalo roast, Sea Loin Stew, Bowhead Whale, Piki Bread, Wild Salmonberry Jam, Sopa, Little Sisters, and many other different (and delicious if the empty platters are any indication) delicacies.




I helped to make traditional cookies.




Meet Purple Crow. I won him for finding the misplaced Posole. And before everyone gets on my case for the name: Purple is what I called him. Margie who gave him to me added the "Crow" part cause we're at Crow Canyon. So despite the fact that he's a purple dinosaur, he's name remains Purple Crow.

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