boatman's quarterly review - Grand Canyon River Guides

Excavation work began in May 2007 when mna and
grca archeologists excavated two masonry rooms at a
site below the Little Colorado River. Last September and
October, crews excavated three structures exposed in
arroyo cuts in a site known as Furnace Flats. At the
conclusion of their work, archeologists backfilled, planted
vegetation, and recontoured the areas to remove all
evidence of the archeological excavation. To continue to
protect the highly erosive and fragile nature of the
Furnace Flats area, it remains closed to all visitation.
To meet the National Park Service’s preservation
mandate, backfilling, transplanting vegetation, and other
stabilization measures following excavation will continue
to be an integral part of all future work. Reburying a site
after excavation is not a typical archeological practice,
but is necessary in Grand Canyon to protect the sites
from future degradation that would occur if these fragile
structures were left exposed.
Outreach and interpretation of the sites is a critical
component of the grca and mna excavation project.
Approximately 800 individuals on commercial, noncommercial,
and research trips toured the excavations in
2007. Grand Canyon National Park will continue to
invite river trip participants to visit sites while excavation
work is ongoing. Excavation trips are planned for
spring and fall 2008 and 2009. Lees Ferry rangers will
inform trip leaders at the launch when excavations are
in progress, and a grca interpreter will provide tours.
Visits during the excavations are only a small part of the
anticipated interpretive and educational efforts. Grca
and mna plan future publications, exhibits, and other
interpretive media. Currently, a multimedia slideshow
from one of the Furnace Flats excavation trips is available
online at www.dawnkishphotography.com/
GrandArchaeology/. An exhibit featuring the
photographs of the excavations by Flagstaff photographer
Dawn Kish will be in the Branniger Chase Hallway
Archaeologists backfilling after excavation.
Photo courtesy of Lisa Leap, NPS photo.
at the Museum of Northern Arizona from March 1
through July 2008. This exhibit is sponsored by Grand
Canyon Association, Grand Canyon National Park, and
the Museum of Northern Arizona.
After the completion of the project, artifacts,
photographs and video documentation will be permanently
curated in the Grand Canyon National Park
Museum Collection. The findings will be incorporated
in future exhibits and public educational efforts at grca,
mna and various tribal visitor centers.
Balsom concluded, “The opportunity to excavate
these sites in the Colorado River corridor is very
exciting, and this research will almost certainly reveal
new information about the human history and prehistory
of Grand Canyon We think that the educational and
interpretive components of this project really show what
Grand Canyon National Park is trying to achieve. We
work to preserve the Park’s resources while giving opportunities
to the public to experience them, whether it is
via on-site tours to river trip participants while the excavations
are in progress, or by planning future museum
exhibits.”
Allyson Mathis and Lisa Leap
Grand Canyon National Park
Book Review
Grand Obsession: Harvey Butchart and the Exploration of
Grand Canyon, by Elias Butler and Tom Myers; Puma
Press; 2007; 455 pages; $19.95.
You could read every book out there on the one
and only Grand Canyon and you are still likely to
come away empty and unable to humanly grasp the
immensity or the character of that incredible and vast
work of nature.
One exception. Read this newest book on the Grand
Canyon and Harvey Butchart (1907–2002)—a man
whose love of the canyon meant he hiked, climbed,
floated and bushwhacked some 12,000 pioneering miles
below the rim during 42 years. Then, through accounts of
his adventures, you may be able to at least temporarily
clutch that vast landscape in your mind.
This book required fifteen years of research and is
woven into a masterful work about the human side of the
Grand Canyon, as well as some physical features.
There’s a lot written about the Colorado River exploration
of the Grand Canyon, but this new book focuses
on the hiking and climbing aspect of it. And who better
to pinpoint than Butchart, who is believed to have hiked
more in the canyon than any other known person.
boatman’s quarterly review page 9