Page 41 - 2007 DT 12 Issues

I n T h i s I s s u e !

Featured Article
Lost City Museum/St. Thomas........1
Special
Quiz.................................................7

Departments
News & Notes..................................2
June 2007 Programs & Hikes...........................4
Desk Schedule................................6
Bulletin Board................................8

Lost City Museum mesa on the other bank of the river pottery have been found relating to
which are now on the other side of that particular period. The growing of
and St. Thomas Lake Mead. A marquee at the entrance crops necessitated the building of stor-

to the museum told us, briefly, who the age rooms and these were attached to
by H. Dan Wray people were who had settled in the area the sub-surface living quarters by the
and made these homes. How did they Puebloans. The Mexicans had modi-
hortly before 8 a.m. on February get there? fied the wild grass, called “teosinte,”
15, some 20 volunteers and staff Indian legend has it that a vast ice some 2,000 years ago and developed
Sof the Interpretive Association sheet barred their way south. Raven corn from it, and now the Puebloans
assembled at the Speedway Casino. tried to break it with his beak, but only were growing it along with beans and
Once carpooling arrangements had cracks appeared. Urged on by Coyote, other crops. This change from a mainly
been completed, we set off promptly he tried and tried until the ice broke meat diet meant a reduction in salt
for Overton and St Thomas. The and the people ran through. intake and salt was mined to compen-
weather was ideal and the traffic sate for this. There were four
relatively light on Interstate 15 and we such mines some 30 miles
soon seemed to be at the turnoff for north of Overton. The beans
Overton and the Lost City Museum. were hard and needed to be
We were surprised how rapidly soaked, so pottery making
Logandale was growing and noted, in became an important part of
particular, the impressive large houses. the culture.
Equally impressive were the pit house Puebloan society was
and the re-constructed pueblo at the sophisticated and there is evi-
Lost City Museum at Overton. Many dence that, by the 1100s, they
people think that Lost City refers were trading jewelry and
to habitations inundated following pottery over a wide region.
the construction of the Hoover Dam Lost City Museum It was as well that trip lead-
in the 1930s. Although a few of the ers Carol and Carleton had
archaeological sites were eventually There is evidence of habitation allowed ample time at the Museum,
covered by the rising waters of Lake dating back many thousands of years. as it is crammed with intriguing arti-
Mead, the Lost City actually refers These early settlers were mainly hunt- facts, not least of which are the incised
to the Pueblo Grande de Nevada that ers and it was in relatively recent times stones or “Portable Rock Art.” Each
stretched along the Virgin and Muddy that more permanent habitations were stone carried different incisions finely
river valleys which now merge into the built and that crops were raised. etched into the stone. What was their
lake at the north end. The Museum was The People of the early Anasazi purpose? We asked the Museum staff
built to exhibit a collection of artifacts period, which runs from approximate- and they could only hazard a guess.
excavated from the ruins of those lost ly 200 AD, have been called the “Basket
pueblos that were stretched along the Makers,” as very few examples of
Lost City, continued on page 6