A Good Reason To RV Arizona

March Connects With The Past

For the entire month of March 2007, the ASP State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) is coordinating activities throughout the state for its annual celebration of Arizona Archaeology and Heritage Awareness Month. 

These events will focus on current efforts to preserve our past by protecting our fragile and non-renewable cultural resources.  Museums, historical societies, tribes, agencies, parks, and archaeology organizations will be hosting events across the state; many of the events are planned in Arizona State Parks as part of their interpretive programs.

Proclaimed by the Governor each year, this celebration will feature prehistoric and historic site tours, exhibits, hikes, open houses, lectures, demonstrations and other activities throughout Arizona.  A free statewide listing of events is available in the Arizona State Parks offices at (602) 542-4174, or by visiting the ASP Web site and downloading the document (www.azstateparks.com).

Ken Travous, executive director of Arizona State Parks, states that "The Arizona State Parks' Board is a strong advocate of combining education with entertainment to reach both adults and children.  Arizona Archaeology and Heritage Awareness Month is an example of just such a combination that teaches responsible stewardship of our cultural resources."

The featured event for the month is the Arizona Archaeology Expo.  The Expo will offer many educational attractions for archaeology and history buffs and will be held at Yuma Crossing State Historic Park, Yuma, on March 16 and 17.  

Both days are open to the public and the event is free.  The Expo provides a special opportunity for visitors to learn more about why it is important to preserve archaeological sites and historic places, what archaeologists, historians, and tribal members do in their jobs, and about the prehistory and history of Arizona. 

Both days will feature workshops, archaeology hands-on activities, craft demonstrations, and other fun and educational events.  Special displays and booths by archaeological and historical organizations, museums, Native American tribes, Hispanic groups, state and federal agencies, and others will allow you to participate as an archaeologist might in their research today, or make crafts that teach how prehistoric Native Americans and other early inhabitants survived in the Southwest, or play historic period games. 

Living history re-enactors, storytellers, Native American demonstrators and entertainers, and hands-on activities will help make the past come alive!  In addition, tours of prehistoric and historic archaeological sites in the Colorado River Valley area will be featured; some of these sites are not normally open to the public.

Free raffles featuring prizes of archaeology education-related items will occur throughout both days and local ethnic foods will be available for purchase. The Expo will give visitors new insights into Arizona's many prehistoric, historic, and contemporary cultures, and will help instill a sense of stewardship for our state's nonrenewable heritage resources.