It Takes a Village to Curate Burro Flats

Summary

Nestled in the hills of Simi Valley at what is known as the "old" Rocketdyne site and where NASA conducted testing for the Airspace program, is the sacred site of Burro Flats.

Considered to be a ceremonial site with evidence of astronomical alignments, Burro Flats carries important meaning for some of the tribes of Southern California, primarily the Chumash and other local communities such as the Fernandeno and the Gabrielino/Tongva. Mainly known for its’ painted cave drawings associated with the winter and summer solstices, Burro Flats is also the source of a diverse archaeological assemblage. Originally housed as a complete collection in the mid to late 1950s, this assemblage was later split in the 1980s and only recently reintegrated as a complete collection under the auspice of the Autry National Center of the American West. Through collaboration with public and private sectors, as well as institutional and academic branches, the Autry museum has created opportunities allowing students to assist with the reincorporation of the artifacts while working towards a solution for the curation crisis.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Crisis and Opportunity: Legacy Collections and Archaeological Research in the 21st Century

Keywords

Spatial Coverage