Explore New Mexico’s Ancient Past During International Archaeology Day

October 9th, 2017

(Santa Fe, NM)  Learn about New Mexico’s fascinating 12,000-year cultural heritage through hands-on activities and demonstrations during International Archaeology Day, Saturday, October 21 at the Center for New Mexico Archaeology. Doors open from 10:00AM-5:00PM on to New Mexicans interested in digging deep into the past.

Come throw an atlatl (spear-thrower), shoot bows and arrows, make Yucca fiber-string, watch pottery firings, learn about coil basketry, and talk with archaeologists. While on campus, make time to check out the new Points Through Time exhibition.

Tour the Center for New Mexico Archaeology -- the storage facility for New Mexico’s archaeological collections as well as working research laboratories for the Office of Archaeological studies.  Meet the archaeologists behind the excavation at the Palace of the Governors, the Civic Center, Railyard, Santa Fe County Courthouse, and many other locations throughout the state.

Projectile points are one of the most iconic images of archaeology in the American Southwest. This exhibition focuses on some of the projectile points that are commonly found here in New Mexico from Paleoindian times (13,500 years ago), through the Archaic, and into Puebloan times (1,260 to 110 years ago) as well as some of the exotic points that have come to New Mexico from California and Texas. The exhibit discusses how archaeologists classify points, why they change through time, and how illegal collection of points can impact the archaeological record.

This exhibit opens on International Archaeology Day, at the Center for New Mexico Archaeology (7 Old Cochiti Road). After that, the exhibit is open to the public Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed on holidays.

About the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture: http://miaclab.org/

As the 19th century closed, one of the Southwest’s major "attractions" was its vibrant Native American cultures. In response to unsystematic collecting by Eastern museums, anthropologist Edgar Lee Hewett founded the Museum of New Mexico in 1909 with a mission to collect and preserve Southwest Native American material culture. Several years later, in 1927, John D. Rockefeller founded the renowned Laboratory of Anthropology with a mission to study the Southwest’s indigenous cultures. In 1947 the two institutions merged, bringing together the most inclusive and systematically acquired collection of New Mexican and Southwestern anthropological artifacts in the country.  The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture is a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs. Hours: 10 am to 5 pm daily, May through October; closed Mondays November through April, closed Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s. 710 Camino Lejo off Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, NM 87504, Phone: (505) 476-1269. Events, news releases and images about activities at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture and other in divisions of the Department of Cultural Affairs can be accessed at media.newmexicoculture.org.