13,000 Years of History in 990 Square Feet: Recent Undertakings in Public Archaeology at Petrified Forest National Park.

Summary

Petrified Forest National Park boasts an archaeological record spanning 13,000 years of human history with occupations dating from the Paleoindian, Archaic, Basketmaker II and III, Pueblo I –IV, and Historic periods. This remarkable depth and diversity of archaeological sites has long drawn the interest and attention of researchers. Yet the public remains largely uninformed about many of the park’s unique cultural resources. Recent undertakings in public archaeology at the park are beginning to address this issue. A decommissioned former park entrance station dating to the 1930s has been selected and restored for the park’s first permanent archaeology exhibit in decades. Plans for the exhibit include highlighting the diverse implications and interpretations of the park’s cultural resources by incorporating modern Native American perspectives and both local and regional archaeological information. In addition, the exhibit will showcase the restored building, highlighting the long administrative history of the park. The opening of this exhibit marks a tremendous move forward at Petrified Forest towards better meeting obligations to the public which all archaeologists share; to inform and educate the public on the meaning and significance of the archaeological record and cultivate a desire to conserve archaeological resources.

SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author of this presentation you may upload your paper, poster, presentation, or associated data (up to 3 files/30MB) for free. Please visit http://www.tdar.org/SAA2015 for instructions and more information.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Recent Archaeological Research in Petrified Forest National Park   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage