Saving the Past for the Future, Lesson Plan 3 for Castle Rock Pueblo: A Trip Through Time

CASTLE ROCK PUEBLO: A TRIP THROUGH TIME
Lesson Plan Three: Saving the Past for the Future

Concepts
Archaeology, preservation of archaeological sites, archaeological ethics

Skills
Inference, cooperation, questioning, graphing

Time Required
1 hour

Materials

Copies of Saddlehorn Hamlet photographs
Rulers
Graph paper
Access to Castle Rock Pueblo: A Trip Through Time on the Crow Canyon Web site (https://www.crowcanyon.org/castlerocktrip)

Vocabulary
Site, cliff dwelling, stewardship, preservation

Background
Saddlehorn Hamlet is a small ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) cliff dwelling, which is located less than a mile from Castle Rock Pueblo. It is situated along a well-marked and popular trail used by hikers, mountain bikers, and horseback riders. The impact of visitors to Saddlehorn Hamlet can be observed through a series of photographs taken between 1990 and 1999.

This lesson uses Saddlehorn Hamlet as a contemporary example of site destruction. Students will track the decreasing height of an ancient wall to understand the fragile nature of archaeological sites and the importance of site stewardship.

Procedure
1. Print out Figures 1 through 5.
    Figure 1 (example showing the stone)
    Figure 2 (1990)
    Figure 3 (1996)
    Figure 4 (1998)
    Figure 5 (1999)

2. Locate the distinct stone which juts into the doorway from the left and is visible in all four photographs. (See the stone in the example, Figure 1, Saddlehorn 1990. This stone will be used as a reference point to measure changes in the wall below. Highlight this stone in each photo for your students if you think they will have trouble identifying it.

3. Demonstrate to the class how to draw a vertical line from the outer tip of the protruding rock to the bottom of the wall, bisecting the stones that are stacked in the wall below the ancient doorway. Instruct the students to draw this line in all four pictures.

4. Ask the students to count the number of rocks bisected by the line in each photograph and record this number. It may be a good idea to number the rocks to guarantee consistency in each photo.

Closure
Discuss with the students the impact visitation is having on this pueblo. Why is this part of the wall particularly vulnerable? Why is it being damaged so quickly? If the damage the students were able to track happened during the last ten years, approximately how long until this section of wall is gone forever? What will happen then?

What can people do when visiting a site to prevent the damage that happened to Saddlehorn Hamlet? What can a student do to help save the site? What can the class do?

Evaluation
Wall calculations and class discussion.

Extensions
1. Educators may wish to use the simple data from this activity in a graphing lesson. It would be simple to convert the year the data was collected and the number of stones into a basic graph or chart with an x and y axis. This might also help students predict the life of that section of wall.

2. Saddlehorn Hamlet is a hike of less than one mile from the road along a clear and moderately difficult trail. Students could monitor the condition of the site. The class can investigate volunteering at a site through the Bureau of Land Management.

3. Students may wish to develop protocols for visiting archaeological sites. They can research information about how to treat archaeological sites and conduct site stewardship. The Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, local archaeological societies, and other archaeological organizations are excellent resources. For other resources on archaeological preservation, go to Crow Canyon's Web site and visit the Colorado Heritage Education Resource Guide. Once the class has conducted research about site preservation, they can draft archaeological preservation guidelines, create posters for their school, and give presentations for other classes.

Visit the Learning Center at www.crowcanyon.org