I had a blast this week taking a quick trip to southwestern Colorado. Our fifth grade students took their annual trip to the Crow Canyon Archeological Center near Cortez. There, students engaged in experiential learning as they studied who used to be called the Anasazi and are now called the Ancestral Puebloan peoples.

 

While at Crow Canyon, they worked with archeologists to learn about this academic discipline. The staff at Crow Canyon dispels the “Indiana Jones iconography” of archeologist as treasure hunter and constructs an understanding of how scholars look at artifacts to understand past cultures and civilizations. They put students in mock digs, take them through rebuilt Puebloan structures and pithouses, and let them throw atlatls and shoot bows and arrows. This hands-on learning makes a powerful impression. Along the way, the students visit the towers of Hovenweep and the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde.

 

What is great about studying the Ancestral Puebloans is that there are few firm answers as to why they lived in the Four Corners area, why they constructed their homes the way they did, and why they left the Four Corners region. Students are taught the theories, but they also get to engage in a great debate. In many ways, their hypotheses about the buildings and mysteries of the Ancestral Puebloans are as valid as any scholar’s. It was fun to watch them speculate on why the Ancestral Puebloans at Hovenweep built towers at the bottom of a canyon. Was it for protection? Was it a lookout? Was it for astronomical observations?

One of the coolest things about the trip was to see the excitement and enthusiasm of our students. As the parent of fifth grade twins, I am biased, but this is a great group of students. Crow Canyon is a positive, culminating Lower School experience, and the trip has historically been a rite of passage for our fifth grade. I look forward to picking my girls up later today at the bus. I expect them to be tired and full of stories.