Anasazi State Park Museum is a state park and

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

in Southern

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, United States, featuring the ruins of an ancient

Anasazi The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as the Anasazi, were an ancient Native American culture that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, a ...

village referred to as the Coombs Village Site.

Park facilities

Established as a Utah state park in 1960, the Anasazi State Park Museum is open year-round, and features a

visitor center A visitor center or centre (see American and British English spelling differences), visitor information center, tourist information center, is a physical location that provides tourist information to visitors. Types of visitor center A visi ...

, a

with examples of Anasazi

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...

and other artifacts, a museum store, an

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theatres, the number of auditoria (or auditoriums) is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoria can be found in entertainment venues, community ...

, and picnic areas. There is no

camping Camping is an outdoor activity involving overnight stays away from home, either without shelter or using basic shelter such as a tent, or a recreational vehicle. Typically, participants leave developed areas to spend time outdoors in more na ...

. It is located in Boulder, Utah, at the edge of Boulder Mountain. The park is focused around the reconstructed

ruins Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...

of an ancient Anasazi

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

, referred to as the Coombs Village Site, which is located directly behind the museum. There is a self-guided

trail A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. ...

visitors can take through the village with interpretive signs explaining the various features of the village and the

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...

of the people who once lived there.

Archaeological Coombs Site

The Coombs Site is the site of one of the largest Anasazi communities known to have existed west of the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...

. The name ''Anasazi'', Navajo for "Ancient Enemies," or "Enemies of Our Ancestors" is sometimes used to describe the Pueblo culture that existed in the Four Corners area from about 1 AD to 1300 AD. However, many contemporary people of Pueblo descent eschew this word due to its negative etymology. This village is believed to have been occupied from 1160 AD to 1235 AD. As many as 250 people lived there. The village is largely unexcavated, though there was a brief excavation during 1958 and 1959 conducted by the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

as part of the Glen Canyon Dam Project. During that excavation,

archeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

s uncovered thousands of artifacts and discovered a community of about 90 rooms divided into two separate one-story apartment complexes. An L-shaped building has been reconstructed and can be entered into by visitors. The cluster featured open shelters for working in the shade, storage pits, and adobe pit houses large enough for five or six residents. Altogether, about 100 structures have been found. Evidence, such as singed structural building supports, suggests that the town was abandoned after a village-wide fire. There was also a serious drought occurring in the region during that time that may have also been a factor.

References

External links

Anasazi State Park Museum
{{authority control Archaeological museums in Utah Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Utah Landmarks in Utah Museums in Garfield County, Utah Native American history of Utah Native American museums in Utah Oasisamerica cultures Protected areas established in 1960 Protected areas of Garfield County, Utah Puebloan buildings and structures Ruins in the United States State parks of Utah 1960 establishments in Utah National Register of Historic Places in Garfield County, Utah

Park facilities

Archaeological Coombs Site

See also

References

External links