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Show Course Will Explain Anasazis I DOULDEIt"- A family oriented I course In the Anasazl Indian culture of the Four Corners region 1,000 years ago will be held at a major archaeological site by the Utah Museum of Natural History. The "classroom" will be the Anasazl Indian Village State Historical Monument near Boulder in Garfield County. The course is offered April 6-8 and will be repeated May 4-6. Tuition is $45, or $25 for children, and registration is with the museum at 581-6927. After an evening orientation, participants will spend half day working in an actual archaeological excavation, followed by short guided hikes to rock art sites and ruins in the vicinity, says Mary Gesickl, curator of education. The primary Instructor is Larry Davis, archeologist and chief ranger at the state park. "The group will learn about the mystery of why a village of .200 people with 83 buildings was burned and suddenly abandoned nearly 800 years ago," Gesickl says. "In addition, participants will develop an appreciation of the techniques of archealogical excavation and discovery." For accommodations, par-ticiapnts will have their choice of motels, improved campgrounds or rustic campgrounds in the Escalante area, a scenic half-hour drive from the state park. The Anasazi society attained the pinnacle of pre-Columbian culture in the Southwest, and built the cities at Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon. The state park where the museum course will be held is thought to have been one of the largest Anaszai settlements west of the Colorado River. The site was excavated by ar-cheologists from the University of Utah beginning in 1948. In addition to the ruins of stone buildings with burned wooden roofs, they found numerous household artifacts, suggesting a sudden abandonment of the site, and yet no evidence of warfare or other overt cause of the sudden departure. The site was declared a state park in 1970 to insure its preservation. A museum in the visitor center, which will also serve as resource for the Utah Museum of Natural History class, highlights artifacts found at the site and perishable materials such as sandals and baskets from other Anasazi excavations. |