April 20, 2005. Timely through June 25, 2005.
For more information, call 1-800-422-8975, ext. 130. Media photo provided below.

Cortez, Colorado
Are you ready to immerse yourself in the archaeology of the Mesa Verde region? Would you like to personally explore ancient Pueblo sites that have been the focus of some of the most significant archaeological research ever conducted in the northern Southwest? If your answer to these questions is "yes," then join Crow Canyon Archaeological Center's top notch research team for a week that will take you through 20 years of Crow Canyon's research history during our popular program—The Excavated Past.

From Sunday, August 21, through Saturday, August 27, join Dr. Ricky Lightfoot, president and CEO of Crow Canyon and the project director at the Duckfoot site; Dr. Mark Varien, director of research and project director at Woods Canyon Pueblo; Kristin Kuckleman, project director at Castle Rock Pueblo, Yellow Jacket Pueblo, and Goodman Point; Scott Ortman, director of the research laboratory; and Susan Ryan, project director at the Albert Porter Pueblo and assistant project director at Shields Pueblo, for an exciting week visiting many of the sites investigated by Crow Canyon over the past two decades. This is your chance to visit the actual archaeological excavation sites with the archaeologists who led the recovery of the artifacts that tell the story of the ancient peoples that occupied this region.

Since 1983, Crow Canyon participants have been excavating alongside professional archaeologists, generating new insights into the ancestral Pueblo peoples who inhabited the vast archaeological region surrounding spectacular Mesa Verde National Park. During this program you will tour numerous sites—Duckfoot, Sand Canyon, Castle Rock, Yellow Jacket, and Albert Porter to name a few. Conducted by the Crow Canyon archaeologists who actually conducted the excavations and published the research results, you will learn about the development of large villages over time and the extent of Chacoan influence in the Mesa Verde region. Through this tour program, you will also come to understand the role that conflict may have played in the depopulation of the area, as well as the connection between the Pueblo people who lived in the Mesa Verde region from A.D. 600 to 1300 and those who live in Arizona and New Mexico today.

Through informal dialog and evening programs, Crow Canyon researchers will share with you their special areas of interest—from community development over time and space, to violence, migration, and the use of metaphor in painted pottery designs. Each day will bring a new exploration.

Crow Canyon is located in the archaeological heartland of the American Southwest, near Mesa Verde National Park. Housing for this week-long exploration will be in Navajo-style hogans on the Center's 170-acre campus. The cost of the program is $1,095 and includes Crow Canyon tuition, all meals, lodging on Crow Canyon's campus in log-style hogans, and local transportation after arrival in Cortez.

Crow Canyon is a not-for-profit organization offering excavation, workshop, and travel programs in the greater Southwest and throughout the world.

The photo below may be used by the media to accompany this press release. No other use is authorized. Photographer credit and copyright notice is required.

Exploring ancient Pueblo sites with Crow Canyon archaeologists. Photo by Moria Robinson. Copyright © 2003 Crow Canyon Archaeological Center.