Stones, Bones, and Petroglyphs: Digging into Southwest Archaeology

The author and photographer of Bats, Bugs and Biodiversity follow another group of school kids on a very special field trip. This time a group from Hannibal, Missouri, studies the ancient people of the Southwestern desert. These ancient Puebloan people, sometimes known as the Anasazi, built their stone dwellings in the canyon walls of the Four Corners area. The kids learn about Anasazi food, games, hunting skills, and culture and help to excavate a village site in one of the canyons. A visit to Mesa Verde, with its 600 cliff dwellings, caps the week of learning how archaeology can help us find out more about a Native American culture.