Stanley at the Arizona Archaeology Expo 2004

Every year in March Arizona hosts a month of events dedicated to archaeology. One of the most visible events is the Archaeology Expo, a two day event where archaeologists from all around the state present information and activities for the public to enjoy and learn about archaeology in the state of Arizona.

Stanley helped out at the Archaeological Research Institute booth.

Archaeology Expo Staff:

back row left to right:
Steve, Josh, Alanna, Dave and Kim

front row:
Edie, Stanley and Rebecca

The ARI booth presents lots of interesting information for adults and children. This is the information board that we post. Check your package for copies of some of the ARI fliers that we hand out to people visiting our booth.

Stanley helped our staff teach kids about prehistoric Native American technology. Here Stanley and Tatsuya show off a pump drill. We make our own drill points from obsidian and chert to use in the display.

Here you can see Steve drilling with both hands at once. WOW!

 

Stanley shows the kids the kinds of tools that archaeologists use during excavation. See how Stanley is dressed? He is ready to go on his very own dig with a trowel, a rock hammer, bandana, good boots, and a big hat to protect his face from the desert sun. To find out more about the Archaeologist's Toolkit, visit our web based slide show. The Archaeologist's Toolkit.

Karen shows kids how to sort ceramic samples by the way they are decorated and the color of the vessel and gives them drawings of pots to take home and color.

We also show scout troops about dendrochronology - the science of using tree rings to determine the year that tree was cut down. Prehistoric people often used trees to construct their houses. With enough good samples of tree rings, we can determine when a house was built hundreds of years ago.

Stanley also went to visit some of the other archaeologists at the fair. Here are the tents set up in town. It was very hot sitting in the sun, but having shade made it a fun time for everyone.

Here you can see Stanley learning how to spin fiber into thread. This is called a spindle. A spindle is a long stick with a ceramic weight on one end. The stick spins inside that small cup so it can stay in one place. As the spindle turns, this woman gently pulls the fiber so it can spin evenly onto the stick. When she is done she has a spool of thread that can be used on this loom to make her own cloth.

Here we see an archaeologist, Chris, flint knapping.

Chris uses bone antlers and other natural tools to make arrow points and other stone tools.

You can see all of the tools sitting at his feet and a whole lot of garbage and left over obsidian pieces in the tarp in front of him.

Here Stanley learns how to make little animal figures from reed sticks. I think Stanley may have brought one of these figures to you in your package.

This man is a park ranger at one of Arizona's many state parks.

Stanley is showing you some of the different kinds of corn used in the Southwest. On the other side of Stanley, a little girl shows him how the Native Americans used to grind their corn with stone tools called a mano and metate.

This is Jason, he is an archaeology student at Arizona State University, but he also works for the U.S. Forestry Service in Arizona with fellow archaeologist, Becky.

Do you see the melted green bottle sitting in front of Jason? That is an object that Jason collected after the Rodeo-Chediski Fire in 2002. This was a really big forest fire in the national forest that destroyed thousands of acres of forest land.At the time, you could see the smoke from satellite images, that is how HUGE this fire became. That bottle in the picture became completely warped from the heat of the fire.

These are dancers from the Salt River-Maricopa Indian Tribe. They are wearing traditional dress to demonstrate their dances. The pictures on the top show the importance of basketry and basket designs, while the dance being shown on the bottom replicates the movements of desert birds hoping in the sand.

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