POSTPONED – Field Trip: Memories in the Landscape: Bluff and Cedar Mesas and Bears Ears National Monument

Memories in the Landscape: Bluff and Cedar Mesas and Bears Ears National Monument

DATES POSTPONED

Cost per person:
Double Occupancy: $1,900 (Includes a $100 non-refundable tax-deductible donation to SAR)
Single Occupancy: $2,400 (Includes a $100 non-refundable tax-deductible donation to SAR)

Field trip limited to 15 participants.
Priority is given to Galisteo members and up.

Join the School for Advanced Research on a special trip to Bears Ears. This area in southeastern Utah contains thousands of sacred cultural sites and important areas of spiritual significance for many tribes. Ancestors of tribal groups gathered here for thousands of years leaving traces of their spiritual beliefs on rock surfaces. Many Native people continue to hunt, gather medicinal herbs, and conduct ceremonies in the Bears Ears as their ancestors have done for centuries. The sites are remote but not inaccessible. We will be joined by Christopher Lewis (Zuni) and Austin Qootsyamptewa (Hopi), who will talk about their origin myths and connections to this place. Our journey will be led by Dr. Carol Patterson, rock art expert on southwestern cultures. We will see a number of Basketmaker II through Pueblo III, Ute and Navajo, Zuni, Hopi, and Keresan rock art, as well as visits to the Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum and Hovenweep and National Bridges National Monuments

Bears Ears National Monument is an area that has recently been reduced by 85% from its original designation as a protected park, and is on the Conservation Watch list, along with Notre-Dame in Paris. It is one of 20 endangered sites named to the 2020 Watch list of World Monuments.

There are thousands of petroglyph and pictograph panels on the walls of remote canyons. Some of these images are dated as far back as 12,000 BP, but most are around 700 years old. There are more than 10,000 archeological and cultural sites documented in the region. Today the surrounding area adjacent to the Bears Ears is occupied by the Dine’ (Navajo), and Ute Mountain Ute, who hold this land to be scared. In addition the Bears Ears is held sacred by the Hopi and Zuni tribes as well as by other tribal nations

We will stay in the new section of the Desert Rose Inn for the entire trip, so you can unpack your bags and relax. Meals will be in Bluff, except for two picnic lunches. We are driving in a comfortable bus with a microphone, and plenty of room for luggage. The weather should be mild.

Study Leader:

Carol B. Patterson, PhD, a Colorado native, has a BA from the University of New Mexico, an MA from Columbia Pacific University, and her PhD in rock art from James Cook University, Australia. She was an adjunct professor of cultural anthropology at Metropolitan State College in Denver, and Colorado Mesa University at the Montrose and Grand Junction campuses. She was employed as a G11 field archaeologist at the Uncompahgre Field Office of the BLM in Colorado for 5 years. Her company of 15 years, Urraca Archaeological Services, specializes in rock art documentation and reevaluation projects. Carol has published several books and journal articles including On the Trail of Spider Woman, Ancient City Press, Santa Fe, 1997 and Petroglyphs of Western Colorado and the Northern Ute Indian Reservation as Interpreted by Clifford Duncan, American Philosophical Society Press, 2016, her most recent. Through her work in the Bears Ears National Monument, she has produced three articles on the Keres, Zuni and Hopi petroglyphs, in the international publication “Expressions” Vol. 22, 25, and 26.  She resides in Bluff, Utah.

Activity Level: Moderate. Lots of walking, with a few steeper inclines/declines.

Includes: Transportation in air-conditioned mini coach; water and snacks; room for 4 nights; guides, entry fees, and gratuities. Meals will be provided unless otherwise noted on the itinerary. Itinerary to be announced.