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| A window to our past... |
October 10, 2003 |
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Legislation Gives Public, Researchers, Better Access To History
| Kids Korner! | 
A Bunch of Garbage: Sometimes, Anthropologists like the ones who study Chaco Canyon get down and dirty. Learn what garbarge can reveal.
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Heather introduced legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives this week that will give more than 1.5 million ancient Chaco Culture artifacts a new and permanent home. Heather`s legislation will authorize federal funds to complete the construction of the Hibben Center for Archeological Research at the University of New Mexico (UNM).
 The legislation, which mirrors a Domenici bill in the Senate, is co-sponsored by New Mexico Representatives Steve Pearce and Tom Udall.
"Places like Chaco fascinate us,” says Heather. “These artifacts—every pot, every shard, every rug or ancient piece of clothing—are pieces of a puzzle about ancient Puebloan culture. There is much we don`t know about life in Chaco Canyon-life which included monumental public and ceremonial buildings, engineering projects, astronomy, artistic achievements, and distinctive architecture.
 Heather and her kids recently had a close-up look at Chaco Canyon Artifacts. Dr. Wendy Bustard, left, is the Musuem Curator for Chaco Culture National Historic Park. Photo taken by Patrick Reilly, 12, a sixth-grader at Cleveland Elementary School.
Says Heather, "It`s important to give researchers reliable access to properly preserved artifacts. I hope our delegation`s efforts in Congress will help UNM and the National Park Service in their work to preserve and study an important part of New Mexico`s past.”
“Chaco has always been a training ground for anthropologists,” says Dr. Wendy Bustard, the Chaco Culture Historical Park Museum Curator. “UNM is an important partner in working with the National Park Service to preserve, protect, and study the artifacts recovered from the area. We appreciate this show of support by Congresswoman Heather Wilson.”
A WINDOW TO OUR PAST: This wall at Chaco`s Pueblo Del Arroyo is more than a thousand years old.
The bill authorizes an expenditure of up to $1.7 million to finish construction of the Hibben Center. Once completed, the entire second floor and three quarters of the third floor will house the National Park Service`s Chaco collection-a collection currently housed in cramped quarters around the UNM campus. Only a handful of items are kept at the park itself, which by design remains a “primitive” national park with little infrastructure.
THE HISTORY BEHIND THE HISTORY
In 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt founded the Chaco Canyon Culture National Historical Park in northwest New Mexico to preserve the extensive prehistoric pueblo ruins in Chaco Canyon. From 1907 to 1949, the University owned the land within the Park boundaries, until it deeded the land to the federal government.
Since 1971, the National Park Service, through memoranda of understanding and cooperative agreements with the University of New Mexico, has maintained a research museum collection and archive at the university. Both the Park Service and UNM have large, significant archaeological research collections stored at the university in multiple, inadequate, inaccessible and cramped repositories. Insufficient storage at the UNM makes research on and management, preservation, and conservation of the archaeological research collections difficult.
A PHOTO PHUTURE?
Twelve-year-old Patrick Reilly joined Heather and others for a tour of UNM`s Chaco collection. Patrick job-shadowed an Albuquerque Journal photographer, learning the tricks of the trade.
The photos here were snapped by Patrick, who says he might someday take up photography as a career.
Patrick is active in the Boy Scouts and plays roller hockey.
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