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Tag Archives: history

Beer cans…

beer-can-litterOh, great, we have 50 million new artifacts to record in the state of Wyoming.  Well, at least half will be found in old archaeological field camps, so that will make it easier. We know where those are.

http://westerndigs.org/ring-tab-beer-cans-are-now-officially-historic-artifacts/

 

Selling concentration camp artifacts…

 http://bit.ly/1bojSXtManzanar 

In this photo, you are looking at the guard tower at Manzanar, the Japanese Relocation Camp in California.

When President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered Japanese Americans to be incarcerated in camps in their own country, they lost everything:  Their homes, their possessions, their identity as Americans.  They became exiles in their own country.  Kathy had a professor whose family had been incarcerated at Manazar in California.  His tales of what it was like as a boy growing up in that camp were heartbreaking.    It’s difficult for us to understand how anyone can sell artifacts stolen from any archaeological or historical site…but selling artifacts from sites like this is especially troubling.  

If you had the chance to buy Hitler’s hat, would you?  Would you buy an artifact stolen from Auschwitz?    Why or why not?

 

Four Ajanta caves to be closed to the public

Four Ajanta caves to be closed to the public

Ajanta cave 5 Ajanta cave 6

One of the most difficult decisions that any archaeological or historical site has to make is over public access to the site.  How much traffic can those fragile resources take before they begin to deteriorate so much that preserving them means prohibiting people from seeing them?  The Ajanta Caves recently decided to close four caves to protect them.  While this affects the ability to educate the public, we think it was the right decision.  These sacred sites are too precious to watch them fade into the dust. 

People of the Earth Days, June 27-29, 2014

Hi All, This should be a fun summer event. We’ll be leading a tour to the Legend Rock Petroglyph site–ancient rock carvings–just outside of Thermopolis, Wyoming, where we will talk about prehistoric cultures in Wyoming’s Bighorn Basin. The scenery is gorgeous and at the end of June the wildflowers should be in full bloom. We’ll also be conducting a short writer’s conference, “Heroes, Villains, and Plots,” and we’ll leading a tour to look at the buffalo in Hot Springs State Park to talk about the history, habits, and conservation of North American bison. Many of the events associated with PEOPLE OF THE EARTH DAYS are free, but some do have a cost, to pay for bus drivers, equipment rentals, etc. We’re donating our time for this event. Also, the tour of the Wyoming Dinosaur Center, and geological tour with biologist Greg Willson is not to be missed! The Big Horn Basin has some of the oldest primates in the world, as well as a rich dinosaur heritage. It will be a fun learning experience for both adults and children! For more information: Thermopolis Chamber of Commerce, 877-864-3192, or www.thermopolischamber.org. We hope we see you there. Mike and Kathy

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