Friday, July 13, 2007

Sunwatch Indian Village and Archaeological Park


Last week we went to the Sunwatch Indian Village and Archaeological Park in Dayton. http://www.sunwatch.org/ You can watch a video on the park here. (scroll down to find Sunwatch) It is a National (pre) Historic Landmark.


We watched a movie about the park's history and learned about the people that lived there 800 years ago. In the gallery, Georgia was especially interested in the diorama of the village.

Outside we walked around the reconstructed village and learned more about how the Fort Ancient people lived. We saw storage pits, a canoe, native garden and prairie typical of the time period, stockade, astronomical alignments in the center of the village, original tombstones, and five lath and daub structures with grass thatch roofs, which we were able to enter.
Inside we saw the table/beds lining the interior, the fire pit for cooking, furs, and dried food.
Georgia pretended to sleep on one of the prehistoric beds. (not too comfy)
On our way back through the prairie we spotted a bug that we did not recognize.
We still have not figured out what it is, so if you have an idea please let us know. It looks similar to an Ailanthus Webworm Moth (Atteva punctella), but its body appeared more like that of a caterpillar than of folded wings.
After our tour of Sunwatch, we visited the exhibit upstairs called EarthWorks: Virtual Explorations of the Ancient Ohio Valley. You can check out the link below for more information. http://sunwatch.boonshoftmuseum.org/EarthWorks.html

No comments: