Anasazi, Archeology, Atlatls and Atty

The Story of Indian Writings
By Jordon Shinn

ON THE EAST RIDGE of North Ponil Canyon, scrounging upward through thick scrub oak, four men clad in red shirts, workpants and pith helmets reach the face of a sandstone ledge in search of petroglyphs--ancient etchings in the rock. There is no path and vague directions, only determination and curiosity, as we follow the ledge south.
Turning a bend in the raw, pink sandstone, we find a cave, dug out from underneath the ledge--a shadowy gouge in the ridge. I crouch inside. Someone lived here, once. Against the back wall I see timid scribbling--graffiti, or “Scout-glyphs.” Just past the cave, we find what we came looking for: the documented “KOA” petroglyph and some large concentric circles--circles within circles.
More than 160 documented petroglyphs depict the life of the Anasazi people who lived here nearly 1,000 years ago. They carved rivers and mountains, elk, people, dwellings, the god of corn and the thunderbird--things that defined them, things they worshiped. Later their predecessors, the Apache, etched horses.
“It represented something culturally significant to them,” said Camp Director Anna Unruh. “Significant” enough to devote weeks or even months to carving a single image into the sandstone, and with primitive tools--other rocks. “It’s kind of why people nowadays write books, do paintings [or] any other work of art. It was the same thing for them, only they had a different medium,” Unruh said.
Despite the best guesses and knowledge of the Anasazi, the actual meanings and dates of the petroglyphs are not known. “The only one we can get a rough date on is the panel typically known as ‘sputnik,’--[900 AD],” Unruh said. “And that’s only because of the pit house dwelling that happens to match up with it.”
A series of concentric circles, sputnik resembles a pit-house--a circular dwelling dug into the earth with several levels, supported by wooden beams. A single hole in the thatched roof served as the chimney and main entrance. In the center circle of sputnik is a triangular figure, and outside the ‘glyph is an inverted-triangle figure. On the east ridge, sputnik looks out over the valley, facing an excavated pit-house. Sputnik is thought to depict the dwelling. Discovered in the ‘60s, the pit-house revealed a female skeleton in the inner circle and a male skeleton outside the dwelling. At the time of excavation, the-pit house was carbon-dated to roughly 900 AD, according to the staff.
Since 1941, excavations have been a part of the program at Indian Writings. After 70 years, it is the longest running program at Philmont. And the program has gone full-circle. Today instead of excavating pit houses, slab houses and homesteads, Scouts are finding less groundbreaking artifacts of civilization, namely trash--remnants of Philmont’s early days. Collectively, the staff has located nine “middens,” or trash sites containing cologne bottles, aluminum foil and tuna cans, from the early days of IW program.
“While some people think its pretty lame and just trash, it’s 50-year-old trash that has managed to survive despite us burying it in a dang pit,” Unruh said. By definition, an artifact is any found object at least 50 years old. “Now that it’s artifacts, it’s pretty cool because it’s history of Philmont,” Unruh said.

Four “test trenches” five meters across comprise the excavation sites along the river’s west bank. Scouts use rusted trowels, buckets, screens and brushes to dig and sift down ten centimeters at a time, about the length of an index finger.
“In each grid … it’s not consistent entirely though. We re-teach the Scouts every time it’s a new crew,” said Program Counselor Lucas Loury. “So we’re starting from scratch every two hours and going down layer by layer, shoveling, filling buckets and then sifting.”
Loury has worked on a dig in the Mediterranean, excavating a Byzantine cathedral. He said the most important tools are the screens. “Probably 85-95 percent of the things they find come through the screen.” And considering the tools and heavy use, “We don’t have to be real careful, we’re not trying to move pottery,” Loury said.
Besides a petroglyph tour and excavations, a new addition to the program this summer is “atlatl” throwing. An ancient hunting weapon, the atlatl is comprised of a long “dart,” set on one end of a stick, which acts as a lever. The stick is gripped on the opposite end and swung forward, overhand, launching the dart downrange. This ancient weapon was used to take down turkey, deer, elk, buffalo and even mammoth. IW first experimented with the atlatl in 2007, but this summer’s staff has actual kits. Each dart, 4 to 7 feet long, is tipped with real hunting points. In a shade-less field on the north end of camp, pairs of Scouts compete for either distance or accuracy, aiming at a target 30 yards away, under the ruthless sun.
Besides the unique program, “I-Dub’s” five Program Counselors, an Archeologist, Camp Director and three Conservation staff hailing from eight states is what make this camp one of the best on the ranch this summer. Displaying the camp’s diversity, hung over the cabin’s railing are the colorful state flags each staff member represents, including Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Ohio, Michigan, Maryland, Kansas, Iowa and Illinois. And not to be forgotten is the newest staff member, 11-week old Addy, a gray-stripped kitten from Ponil. Named after the “atlatl,” Addy lounges socially on the porch picnic table, catching the occasional moth.
To enhance the historical experience of IW, each member wears beige pith helmets. “We decided it would add to the ambiance of Indian Writings,” Unruh said. “They’re a stereotype associate with archeology. You look at any good old film, even ‘Abbott Gaustello and the Mummy,’ and you will see a pith helmet.”
They are also functional.
“They’re surprisingly useful though,” said P.C. Daniel Bennett, two-time IW staffer. “They keep the sun off, they keep the rain off, they protect you from hail a little bit. You can use them to block [a] dust storm or scrub oak or whatever happens to be headed for your face.”
Despite looking legit, the staff strives to deliver the most authentic and exciting educational program on the ranch.
At one dig site, a group of Scouts sifts moistened dirt through a grate, searching for artifacts. As the clumps of soil filter through the metal mesh, a small, tooled object appears. One Scout shouts and leaps in excitement, his arms raised in a classic Rocky pose. He found something, possibly an arrowhead. Many such artifacts found over throughout IW’s history can be viewed at the museum, located next to the main cabin.
“The atlatls are an easy sell,” Unruh said. “But when we get someone exited about the dig and the petroglyph tour, that’s really something meaningful.”