Meet the Students: Randi Martin

Archaeology Week Kick-Off

                                  Randi at Archaeology Week Booth Display 2013

On May 4^th, Candice Cravins and I attended the opening day of Archaeology Week at the Rio Grande Station in Salt Lake City. It was truly incredible to see the amazing booths that other museums set up. There were activities all around for adults and children alike. Rock painting, Fremont Figurine sculptures, sand drawing, scavenger hunts, corn grinding, and so on and so forth. Families in attendance had a good time learning about the archaeology projects going on in Utah. They also enjoyed live demonstrations of projectile point creation or eat a fresh “Indian Taco” – which were delicious! The Forest Service had a booth dedicated to teaching the populace about hiking in Utah as well as safety while out in the wilderness.

                                 Candice at Archaeology Week Booth Display

Over all, the experience was wonderful. We brought along the Great Basin Teaching Trunk and set out our selected artifacts, children’s books, and figures for visitors to examine. We brought along some coloring pages for children to take home with them as well. We received a great response from the guests, and they all had questions about our display, our location, and our programs. I feel that this event generated new publicity for USUMOA and put our name out to parties that otherwise wouldn’t have known we existed.

                                                                Grinding Corn

                                                                   Rock Painting

                                                                  Archaeology Week

 

New Utah Humanities Council Grant for Bilingual Docent Program

Today the USU Museum of Anthropology was awarded a Utah Humanities Council grant for a new Bilingual Docent Program. Starting this fall, USU students will provide English and Spanish language Anthropology programs both in the museum and in venues throughout Cache Valley! We are excited to develop this program which will provide greater access to museum content through community outreach. The new program will also provide additional opportunities for USU students to gain valuable training in museum education and program management.

Thank you Utah Humanities Council!

Meet the Students: Kevin Price

American Fork, Utah Holi Color Festival 2013!

The Holi Color Festival has been called the largest Hindu festival in the western hemisphere. The Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple located in a rural part of American Fork, Utah is a perfect setting for the large temple dedicated to the Hindu deity, Krishna. The Temple is used once a year for the celebration of Holi, or as it has come to be known—The Color Festival. This year the Holi Color Festival ushered in spring as it always does, with a huge burst of color and music.

The word ‘Holi’ originated from ‘Holika’ sister of Hiranyakashipu. The festival of Holi is originates in Hindu religion with the story of Vaishnavism, Hiranyakashipu, the great king of demons. Hiranyakashipu was granted a boon by Brahma, which made it almost impossible for him to be killed. He was granted the boon following a long penance, after which he demanded that he not be killed “during day or night; inside the home or outside, not on earth or in the sky; neither by a man nor an animal; neither by astra nor by shastra.” Consequently, Hiranyakashipu grew arrogant and attacked the Heavens and the Earth. He demanded that people stop worshiping gods and start worshiping him.

Hiranyakashipu’s own son, Prahlada, was a devotee of Vishnu. In spite of several threats from Hiranyakashipu, Prahlada continued to worship Vishnu. Subsequently, Prahlada was poisoned by Hiranyakashipu, but the poison turned to nectar in his mouth. He was ordered to be trampled by elephants yet remained unharmed. He was put in a room with hungry, poisonous snakes and survived. All of Hiranyakashipu’s attempts to kill his son failed. Finally, he ordered young Prahlada to sit on a pyre in the lap of Holika, Hiranyakashipu’s demoness sister, who also could not die. Prahlada readily accepted his father’s orders, and prayed to Lord Vishnu to keep him safe. When the fire started, everyone watched in amazement as Holika burnt to death, while Prahlada survived unharmed. The salvation of Prahlada and burning of Holika is celebrated as Holi.

In Mathura, where Krishna grew up, the Holi festival was celebrated for sixteen days in commemoration of the divine love of Prahladha for Krishna. The festivities officially usher in spring, the celebrated season of love. Holi is of particular significance in the Braj region of India, which includes locations traditionally connected to Krishna: Mathura, Vrindavan, Nandagaon, and Barsana.

This culturally rich celebration of love, life, unity, spring, and the promise of a bright new season of life is a great was to spend the afternoon. Music is ever present in the back ground and a wonderful mixed aroma of the perfumed chalk and the delicious vegetarian meals that are prepared right outside the temple fill the air with a sense of universal unity and happiness. Those who come to participate in Holi can purchase bags of colored and perfumed chalk dust that are thrown into the air. The chalk then falls to the ground covering everyone and everything in beautiful pink, green, yellow, blue, orange, and purple. The Holi color festival is a great cultural experience available right here in Utah. I urge everyone to attend at least once in their life time.

 

Meet the Students: Reigan Ware

Preview of the Mummies of the World Exhibit

At The Leonardo Museum in Salt Lake City, UT

When I was 14 I was obsessed with mummies. I loved learning about ancient Egypt and Egyptian mummies. As I grew, I enjoyed researching topics associated with mummies and the mummification process. I’ve always wanted to travel to Egypt because I thought mummies existed only in Egypt. Through my research, I learned that mummification occurred all around the world.

On February 15^th, 2013, a group of museum assistants and I had an opportunity to travel to The Leonardo, a museum in Salt Lake City, UT, to see the Mummies of the World exhibit. The experience was incredible. Before entering the exhibit, we were shown a short movie that explained mummy etiquette and provided a brief explanation of the various ways in which mummification occurs. Then, we entered the actual exhibit.

For the exhibit, mummies from all over the world were brought together to create a near comprehensive group of mummies from different cultures and mummification processes. We were able to walk around the nicely arranged exhibit where each mummy lay in a glass display case. Each had a story to tell. Informative text, placed next to each mummy, explained their general health, how they died, and customs surrounding their mummification and burial. Additional information provided a glimpse of how scientists found this information.

My favorite mummy was a Peruvian woman. She had tattoos on the left side of her bottom lip and two on her chest. It was also interesting to analyze how my own perceptions of mummies changed as I moved through the exhibit. I came to the realization that these mummies were once living, breathing individuals like me. I appreciated the rare opportunity I had to see the Mummies of the World Exhibit while at The Leonardo.

To plan your visit and for more information about Mummies of the World or The Leonardo, visit: (http://www.mummiesoftheworld.com/).

Reigan Ware is a student at Utah State University majoring in Anthropology with an emphasis in Museum Studies. She loves museums and hopes to have a career working in museums She enjoys learning about different cultures and educating others about the importance of preserving the past.

Meet the Students: Candice Cravins

I joined the M.S. program in cultural Resource Management (CRM) Archaeology at Utah State University in fall 2011, eager to begin what I had anticipated as an exciting two years full of new experiences and coursework.  Unfulfilled by my previous experiences in another graduate program, I decided on a fresh start in a completely new place – Utah State’s career-focused, practical, and yet still academically rigorous program appealed to me. Upon arrival, however, I struggled to find my place among the other graduate students and faculty, whose interests were sometimes quite different than my own. I realized then that I could create my own personalized experience that would allow me to showcase my unique talents in formal education (I spent two years teaching elementary school in California) and Archaeology – and I found the perfect venue in the Museum of Anthropology.

Public outreach and education comprise essential components of contemporary cultural resource management, as archaeologists hold both legal and ethical obligations to present knowledge to the public and our peers in a way that promotes understanding, respect, and appreciation of a shared heritage. Archaeologists are increasingly being asked to justify the meaning and importance of their work to the public, and I think the museum provides the perfect medium to assist in the promotion of an Archaeology that is both relevant and engaging.

I chose to emphasize museum work in my master’s program because it provides me with the experience I need to effectively engage with and educate the public – valuable professional skills that are often “glossed over” in master’s programs and throughout the CRM world. Working in a museum is also just plain fun – it is a great way to meet new people, build professional networks, and work on exciting collaborative projects with other students. Throughout my two years at the Museum of Anthropology, I have gained experience in curation, educational programming, and public relations. Currently, I am working on redeveloping the Museum’s six teaching trunks, which provide humanities-focused, hands-on learning activities to our wonderful patrons. The experience has been truly rewarding, and is one way I can make a real difference by sharing my love for teaching and Archaeology with others.

Meet the Students: Britt McNamara

Edge of the Cedars Museum in Blanding, Utah

Within the first few months that I arrived at Utah State University for my master’s in cultural resource management (public archaeology), I was surprised and a bit appalled that no where in my classes were we discussing how to engage the public in the work we do in their name.  The thought festered in my head until one morning over the summer break I received an e-mail advertising a position for an education intern at the prehistoric pueblo museum the Edge of the Cedars in Blanding, Utah.  The internship was advertised to run from March through May 2012-right in the middle of the semester.  However, I was determined to follow my ideals rather than what was practical and applied for the position.

The museum director at Edge of the Cedars Museum tasked me with the “simple” job of researching, designing and implementing exhibits and hand-on activities for the newly constructed – and completely empty – Archaeology Activity Center in time for the beginning of May when local school groups visit the museum.  I had no budget, but could use whatever I found in the museum’s jumble room and teaching collection.  It was an exhilarating experience.  I spent my next few months in a flurry of reading, sketching, writing, cutting, gluing, and pinning.  The end result was 8 hands-on activities ranging from potsherd classification to research design, 4 small exhibit cases, a gallery guide, and a teacher’s guide.  The students and their teachers were thrilled.  So was everyone else that came to the museum that May.

At the end of my internship, the museum director approached me and asked me to come back to Edge of the Cedars this past fall to continue working on the Archaeology Activity Area.  I readily agreed and created another set of activities and exhibits.  One activity designed around calculating how much corn a Puebloan family ate in a year caught the attention of one of the professors at USU’s Blanding campus and he asked me to present a workshop with him on how to use museums for place-based learning.  My internship at Edge of the Cedars not only gave me real experience in museum education and an extensive network in the Four Corners region; it taught me that working in museum education is something I love.

Meet the Students: Randi Martin (Jamaica)

Zooarchaeology Field School in Jamaica

In December 2012, I was given the amazing opportunity to participate in a field school, which just so happened to be located in the lovely city of Bluefields, Jamaica. We were there to assist the city in the restoration of the dying reef that lies within the protected bay. The city wanted to know what a healthy reef was supposed to look like, what kind of animals lived there, and if it was possible to restore it to the way it was before being over-fished by the local fishermen. As we looked out into the bay, what’s left of the reef was visible poking up out of the shallow water. A healthy reef would be colorful and vibrant, but this was white and sickly looking. We could see the ocean’s waves crashing over the top of the reef, as if trying to erase the damage that had been done.

We spent the first week sorting and cleaning material that was dug up in previous years from a “dump site,” or what we might call a garbage pit. In this pit there were various animal and fish bones, and shells from both marine and terrestrial life. Dr. David Byers told us that these remains were over 1,000 years old! So we sat in a giant gazebo on the beach, cleaning the dirt from the remains with dirty tooth brushes, all the while learning about the different animals that once called the island home.

The next week, Dr. Byers acquired twenty-eight fish specimens, caught earlier that day by city’s fishermen. Among them were cow fish, doctor fish, parrot fish, squirrel fish, mullet fish, red grouper, and a porcupine fish. We had to remove the flesh from the bones to create Utah’s very first comparative collection of Tropical Fish. The smell was horrendous, but we worked diligently. Picking, scraping, boiling, soaking…the process was a long one. Finally we were rewarded with the beautiful off-white bones of some truly amazing and unique specimens.

I don’t want to leave anyone with the impression that all we did was work; that is certainly not true. We had a Christmas celebration with the locals that included much drinking and frivolity, as well as a reggae concert. We also visited a local tourist hotspot called Negril, where we shopped for souvenirs, went to a fabulous white-sandy beach and went cliff-jumping at Rick’s Bar and Grill. After a long-day’s work, we would go swimming, shell hunting, bar-hopping and, of course, we had some seriously fabulous authentic cuisine. I would recommend this as a must-have adventure for anyone interested in anthropology and archaeology.

Randi and Casey cleaning and sorting

The group