NHMU Outreach Event with NPS

Today, a few of the Education Rangers and I went down to Cedar City for an outreach event held at the Zion Bank. This event was in partnership with the Natural History Museum of Utah. It was focused on reaching the community of southern Utah. This is particularly important because it was focused on indigenous history in the area. The theme of this event was “woven through time”, so we decided to display pieces of basketry from our archives here at Zion. We had some basket pieces and sandals on display and spoke briefly about the practices of basket and sandal weaving. We carefully noted that, although we don’t know every step or plant used to make these items, this was and still is a very important and useful practice among many Southern Piute bands here in Southern Utah. We showed photos of a plant called 3-leaf sumac and another called coyote willow. Those are two plants that may have been used to make baskets. A woody shrub seemed to be the most used. Another plant, called Yuca, was used to make cordage. This cord, as we discovered during some research, was made from the yuca stems. It was then boiled to soften and peeled to release the long fibrous strands inside. It was then rolled against your leg to create that winding cord. For reference, it is similar to twine. This is a long, tedious process, but it teaches us the determination and creativity of the craftsmanship used to make many items we find in our archives. All our archival pieces were cleared by our archaeologist to be shown to the public. The one condition or restriction is that if the item was found at a burial place, it could not be displayed, and, of course, photos taken by the public were not allowed. Here is a photo of me at this event. Overall, it was a great outreach event that the National Park Service and I were grateful to participate in.

**I ask that this photo not be shared publicly, and if so, it can be cropped due to the nature of the items on this table.**