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Show Anasazi Workshop Duplicates Life Among Early Inhabitants BOULDER - After living like Anasazi Indians for a week, participants in a workshop here say the one essential piece of survival gear to take is Larry Davis. The students were amazed at the skill and knowledge of Davis, superintendent, Anasazi Indian Village State Reserve here who spent the week lecturing on ar-chealogy, history of the Anasazi culture and outdoor survival skills. He conducted workshops and demonstrations on everything from making arrowheads to digging for ancient artifacts. Twelve students are enrolled in the "Anasazi Workshop," a University of Utah summer course offered for the first time. It is sponsored by the university's division of continuing education in conjunction with the Utah Musuem of Natural History. The class is led by Annie Brewer, associate instructor at the U of U. Students ranged in age from 14 to 56 years old and occupations ranged from three full-time students, two IRS employees, a physician, a banker, a nurse, a housewife-student and computer programmer. No prerequisites for the class were outlined, so the variety of backgrounds and interests of the participants made the class stimulating and interesting, according to Ms. Brewer. The course could be taken for credit or non-credit and cost $45 for the week of instruction and $40 for food and travel. The group was camped for a week at Calf Creek Recreation area, 15 miles south of Anasazi. Each participant joined the class for a different reason. Some are retired and wanted to begin doing something they had always dreamed about. Others were steeped in Indian folklore and wanted an intimate introduction to what they had read about for years and still others were interested in learning survival skills. Some were just plain curious. The one-week course fitted their schedules perfectly and most agreed that it would have been difficult to fit anything more lengthy into their busy lives. The course was the brainchild of Brewer and Davis. She is a 1977 graduate of the U of U with a bachelors degree in cultural an-thropolgy who has been to the ex citing ruins of Anasazi Indian Village many times. For the past (Continued on Page 4) Admittedly amateurs, as part of the continuing education workshop at Anasazi Indian Village Stein Bronsky, Salt Lake City; Viva Meyer, Itrigham and Annie Brewer, Salt Lake City learned to "dig" archeology excavating ruins during week-long program. Anasazi (Continued from Page 1) two years she has been employed as a docent at the Utah Museum of Natural History in Salt Lake City and was delighted when she and Davis presented the proposals for the course adn it was accepted. A second week's session is planned for a different group Immediately following the present course and two previous trips in May were made with family groups, Brewer said the idea was conceived so that people can get a "feel" for the Anasazi culture and the hardships of their life. She also wanted others to gain experience with survival techniques, eating off the land, starting fires, making their own Implements and weapons, from digging tools to spears and bows and arrows. Students have participated in the Anasazi "dig" where continuing excavation has unearthed more and more artifacts of the ancient peoples who inhabited the area from about 1050 to 1200. The museum and excavation area are open year round and encompass the site of a village where life was sustained for about 200 people for a period of 75 years almost a thousand years ago. Excavation activities of the group were conducted under the supervision of assistant superintendent Dee Hardy at Anasazi. The week began vnfh a general-orientation on the Anasazi people, the desert and survival and a visit to several petroglyph sites. On Tuesday each selected a project to be completed by the end of the week. They chose from flint knapping (making arrowheads or sharp instruments), bows and arrows, atlatls (spear thowers), baskets, stone grinding tools or other items native to the Anasazi. They studied trees, bark, fibers and rocks and collected specimens. An "Anasazi experience of a lifetime", they all agreed, whether 14 or 56 or anywhere in between. |