End of a Chapter

I officially stepped down today as the Director and driving force of the Clovis Site and Museum (a.k.a. Blackwater Draw National Historic Landmark). It was with mixed feelings that I decided it was time to move on from what has really been my life’s work and the focus of my professional thought for most of twenty years.  I was thrilled and honored to officially open with our new exhibit focusing on the 85 years of work at the Clovis site as well as the broader material cultures of the Southern High Plains.

Happily, I was joined by former Director John Montgomery, Curator Jenna Domeischel, ENMU President Steve Gamble, and Jim Warnica (Jim has been affiliated with the Clovis site for 80 years!).

With over 160 people in attendance throughout the day, we were nearly run off our feet.  The local preschool thought it would be a great idea to “drop in” with 25 pre-Kindergarten-age kid’s while we were still opening up!  It was a litmus test for sure.

I would like to personally thank our student staff for the great help they provided today and during the months leading up to the opening: Tawnya Waggle, Rogun Hamm, Patricia Byers (not present today), Malikah Rashid, and Stacey Bennett, whose many concepts and designs are present in the new displays.

I hope my affiliation with the Clovis site does not end here but has created a new chapter in this vast resource with so much still to give.

~GT Crawford

Save

Save

Breaking News About Paleoindians at Clovis!!!

The Portales Daily News October 1, 1936:

Portales Daily News.  Note that there was no word for what we refer to as the “Clovis” cultural group yet…

Click HERE for the pdf, with bonus Coronado article OR link below:

Click to access pdn1936.pdf

Back to the beginning…Clovis

It’s great to see that people come to see what we built.

Babs' Getaways

Ever since we asked ourselves “Who were the first Texans? and where did they come from? We followed the amazing Steve Baird down the rabbit hole that led us to studying the immigration of the giant Mammoths and Mastodons…and the people who hunted and followed them into the North American continent centuries ago. We heard of the Clovis people and the weapons they crafted from chert.  All of this led to the development of SaveWaterTexas’ DIGGING UP HISTORY program for use in 4th and 7th grade classrooms.

Today, Alex and I visited the refurbished Blackwater Draw Museum at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, NM. The new gallery provides a showcase for the archaeological work that has been done at the Clovis site over the past 85 years. According to the facility’s brochure, the archaeological finds within the landmark are traced back to prehistoric activities that occurred around an ancient lake and…

View original post 155 more words

Visit Cahokia

This should be on the “bucket list” of anyone interested in America before the Europeans.  It is an enormous prehistoric city across the river from present-day St. Louis.  Even though much has been lost through carelessness, development, and the ravages of time, there is still much to see, do, and learn from this remarkable place.

Here’s an older video from the Interpretive Center that gives a nice overview.  I can’t wait to get back to Cahokia.  New mysteries are discovered every year.

Student Research Posters, Part 2

This gallery contains 10 photos.

Originally posted on the Virtual Curation Laboratory:
This past Wednesday, Virginia Commonwealth University’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (VCU UROP) sponsored an undergraduate research poster symposium.  Among those presenting at the VCU UROP symposium were students in my Visualizing and Exhibiting…

Student Research Posters, Part 1

Originally posted on the Virtual Curation Laboratory:
by Bernard K. Means This past Wednesday, Virginia Commonwealth University’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (VCU UROP) sponsored an undergraduate research poster symposium.  Among those presenting at the VCU UROP symposium were students in…