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Show X ; Anasazi Indian Village Looks At Ancient Life In Bould;. " Anasazi Indian Village, just outside out-side Boulder on Utah Highway 12, offers the visitor to Garfield County a unique and exciting look at the past. The State Historical Monument, open year-round, encompasses the site of an Anasazi Indian village where life for about 200 people were sustained for a period of 75 years almost a thousand years ago. "Anasazi" is a Navajo term adopted by archaeologists to describe de-scribe the ancient Indian people who inhabited the four-corners area of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico during the period of perhaps a few hundred years before Christ until the late 1500s. Anasazi translates roughly into "enemy ancestors" and was used by Navajos to describe the remains which were discovered when they entered the Southwest about 1500. The structures of today's modern Pueblo Indians are not at all unlike those unearthed at the various sites in the four-corner area where some of the most extensive archaeological archaeologi-cal research in the world has taken place. Anasazi Indian Village, known to archaeologists as the Coombs Site, is thought to have been one of the largest communities of Anasazi Indians west of the Colorado River. Occupied from about 1050 to about 1200, its inhabitants are believed to have come from northeastern Ari-zona. Ari-zona. : The everyday tasks of making a im" ... : r---r n L, t ;f ? I t '... 5 ' i The museum and visitor center at Anasazi Indian Village State Park near Boulder explains a long-ago culture with an on-site experience for the visitor who can walk among the remains of the village once inhabited by the Anasazi Indians. living and obtaining materials to be used for making pottery, tools, and buildings must not have been too difficult for the Anasazi at the Coombs site. There was an abundance of fertile soil around the village and streams from the magnificent Aquarius Plateau flowed nearby. A variety of wild animals and useful plants were available around the village and in the nearby mountains. Corn, beans and squash were raised in garden plots near the community and small game such as rabbits, rodents and birds were hunted in the vicinity. Deer and mountain sheep, valued not only for food but also as providers of hides, horns and sinew, were obtained from the canyon country to the south and the plateau to the north. Various kinds of stone, wood, clay and vegetable fibers were available in the neighborhood. The resources at hand for the ancient occupants were equal to or better than those of many areas where the Anasazi lived. What ultimately happened to the inhabitants of the Coombs site is a puzzle. The village may have been abandoned due to a change in the rainfall pattern or possibly a change in the growing season, or perhaps a combination of both. It is also possible that there was pressure from outside peoples, but archaeologists archaeol-ogists have found no real evidence to support that reasoning. Shortly before or after abandonment, abandon-ment, the village was bumcd and, whatever the reason for abandonment, abandon-ment, the town was never reoccu-pied. reoccu-pied. With the exception of perishable artifacts (sandals, baskets, mats, and other wood or vegetable materials) the artifacts displayed in the museum mu-seum at Anasazi Indian Village were found at the site. The diorama seen in the museum was constructed to scale using the map drawn by the archaeologist and architectural evidence uncovered through excavation at the site. The village was excavated during the summer;:. L'niver; : Gkr.C. (Cvr. r - I t , ! I I t t uld. ich Jcli t f n Typical Ar.' , Anasazi In:-' q discoveries made 'OU none ANASAZI (Continued From Page 14 D) The museum offers special programs pro-grams and filmstrips for groups. Outside, five picnic areas provide an additional attraction. Overnight camping is available at nearby Deer Creek, Calf Creek, and on Boulder Mountain at Oak Creek, Pleasant Creek and Singletree Campgrounds. Probably the most interesting parts of the village" are. the areas where the visitor can see for himself him-self how the ancient inhabitants lived. A clearly marked self-guiding tour with trail guide leads the visitor visi-tor easily around the site, explaining explain-ing each archaeological antiquity. Superintendent Larry Davis and his assistant Dee Hardy, both trained archaeologists, can make the visitor's stay at Anasazi a special experience with an introduction to the ancient peoples of the area. |
