Antropology Modules
Interpreting The Past and Living Present | Exploring Sinagua, Hopi, Tewa, Navajo, and New Age Cultures | MOAB Area Rock Art
Sites that we will explore:
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- Aztec Ruins, NM
- Mesa Verde National Park, CO
- Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation Cultural Park
- Hovenweep National Park, UT
- Observe cultural resource management interpreters as they pass on information to visitors
- Observe crowd reactions to the sites and to the interpreters
- What kinds of assumptions are implicit in the questions asked by tourists and in the answers provided by the staff?
- Pay special attention to signage and how the crowd is moved along through the site
- What are the guiding metaphors used by particular interpreters to aid in bridging the cultural and historical divide between contemporary tourists and the original builders of the site?
- What methods are used in preserving the site's physical integrity?
- What do we know about the Ancient Ones (Anasazi) based on our tour experience?
- What do we know about the relationship between water and humans?
- What do we know about the sudden depopulation of a thriving civilization?
Photo Gallery (click for larger image):
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Click here to view photo Slideshow
Sites that we will be exploring:
Photo Gallery (click for larger image):
Click here to view photo Slideshow
- Montezuma’s Castle; Montezuma’s Well
- Sedona, AZ
- Hopi Mesas
- Wupatki, where the earth breathes
- Tuzigoot
- Hubbell Trading Post
- Learn about the subsistence strategies of the Sinagua, Hopi, Tewa, Navajo, and New Agers
- Get a sense for why this land has always been considered sacred.
- How was, and is, water managed?
- What makes bordertowns sites of contestation?
- What do we know about the relationship between water and humans?
- How can people exist here?
Photo Gallery (click for larger image):
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Click here to view photo Slideshow
Moab, UT, was a meeting ground for several different indigenous groups over the centuries. Each group and historical era had its own pictographic and petroglyph styles. We will explore Anasazi, Ute, Barrier Canyon, and Fremont styles of rock art, including sites such as Newspaper Rock, that reflect change over time, and the famous Birthing Rock and Moab Man. We will visit the Potash Road and Loop Roas petroglyphs.
UNIT GOALS:
UNIT GOALS:
- Get a sense of the diversity of societies that passed through this region
- Reproduce some of the signs and symbols
- Learn basic features of each style
- Appreciate that the area was the meeting ground for culturally and linguistically distinct peoples
- Try your hand at interpreting symbols
- Understand that interpretation is often an exercise in imagination backed up by what we think we know
- Why here? Observe the natural surroundings for keys.
