Unraveling the lives of the Anasazi people of the southwestern United States is a mystery that has plagued archaeologists for decades. Today, students and teachers from Nevada and Utah are seeking to unlock some of these mysteries as part of an education project led by the Desert Research Institute and supported by the National Science Foundation.
Teams of high school teachers and students from Las Vegas, Carson City, Douglas County, Fallon, and Hurricane, Utah began this three-week study of the chronology and subsistence of the Virgin Branch Anasazi at a campground in Zion National Park on June 11. The project, part of DRI's Nevada Science Teacher Enhancement Project (N-STEP), will continue until July 1.
Led by archaeologist Dr. Paul Buck of DRI, students and teachers are engaged in mapping and excavating a small Anasazi pueblo site in the middle of Watchman Campground, the largest campground in Zion.
Students and teachers are recording structural walls, features found in rooms, and individual artifacts. In addition, the teams are learning to recognize the subtle traces of prehistoric land use by conducting an archaeological survey.
This work will shed light on cultural practices and environmental hardship by revealing the time and duration of occupation of specific groups in a given area. Reliance on wild versus cultivated food, an important question in the history of these people, will also be investigated.
Although much has been learned about the Anasazi since their original description by scholars in the 19th century, Buck points out that "questions remain about their evolution from an earlier hunting and gathering economy to full-time horticulturists, and about the causes of their eventual disappearance in the 13th century A.D."
The students and teachers have completed an extensive seminar series to learn the scientific procedures they are employing in the field. They are living in camp conditions throughout the completion of the fieldwork, while project staff manage logistics and supervise the general activities.
Buck, who is director of the N-STEP project, indicates that this is the first of three such field experiences this summer. A second project studying evapotranspiration and the water budget of the Lake Tahoe Basin will be conducted from July 6 to July 26. The series will conclude with a vegetation-mapping project in the Jarbridge Mountains near Elko. Fieldwork in Elko County will begin on July 31 and continue until August 18.
The teams from all three projects will analyze the results of their research this fall, preparing reports on their findings. Special project web sites will be established enabling students to communicate their results and conclusions among participating high schools and all interested parties.