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Children from Poarch Band of Creek Indians Visit South for Art and Archaeology Day

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Posted on July 13, 2016

Alice Jackson

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Almost 200 school children from the Poarch Band of Creek Indians learned about archaeology, art and music this week from faculty and graduate students and toured museum exhibits during Art and Archaeology Day on the University of South Alabama campus.

Monday鈥檚 day-long camp resulted from a partnership between the University and the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, which sponsors the Native 棉花糖直播n Studies Program in the department of sociology, anthropology and social work. The campers were split into small groups that rotated through their classes.

鈥淲e want to increase their interest in art, archaeology and music while also ensuring they are having a good time,鈥� said Dr. Phil Carr, Chief Calvin McGhee Endowed Professor of Native 棉花糖直播n Studies. 鈥淔or some of them, this is their first visit to a college campus, and we want them to learn new things and to feel comfortable on a college campus.鈥�

Carr, who usually lectures inside a classroom to students seated at desks or around tables, changed his routine on Monday, directing his 7-year-old students to sit on the floor around his chair. Then, he began explaining about the earliest tools used by prehistoric man, including how they learned to break rocks to make sharp implements for cutting meat and animal skins.

鈥淲e solve many of our problems by using tools, but our ancestors first had to solve the problem of not having strong enough teeth or nails to do some things,鈥� Carr said. 鈥淓ventually, they learned to split rocks to create cutting tools.鈥�

To demonstrate, Carr used a small rock to strike a large piece of obsidian rock, breaking off a sharp section. Then, directing two children to hold some leather, he used the piece of obsidian to slowly slice through the leather. Building on the demonstration, Carr gradually led his audience to understand how larger and better rock implements were developed until, finally, rocks were used to whittle out trees for canoes.

A small voice came from the group. 鈥淭hen, they put the canoes on trucks?鈥�

Carr, fighting back a smile, said, 鈥淣o, there weren鈥檛 any trucks or cars in those days, so they put the canoes into the water and floated to other areas where they traded rocks or the tools they鈥檇 made. In the earliest days, they actually traded for rocks if the rocks they needed weren鈥檛 in their area.鈥�

鈥淭his has been my favorite class, except for maybe where we were feeling the bear fur in the other place,鈥� said student Kolby Rayborn.

鈥淢y favorite was the chief!鈥� declared Kylie Langham.

The 鈥渙ther place鈥� was the Archaeology Museum, where students toured exhibits of prehistoric Alabama, including Moundville, and up to modern-day life. The museum, which is open to the public, includes numerous artifacts dug from archaeological sites in Mobile and around the area.

Before the tour, Candice Cravins, education curator, prepared the students for what they wouldn鈥檛 see in the museum.

鈥淭here are no dinosaurs, no whips and no crystal skulls in this museum,鈥� she said. 鈥淢any of you think of archaeology as being like the Indiana Jones movies, but this is a real archaeology museum.鈥�

In the museum鈥檚 lobby, students sat at tables where they learned how archaeologists do assessments of found objects. Each student was given several objects and told to draw them, determine what they were made of, what they could have been used for and who could have owned them.

鈥淭his is a wonderful day for these students,鈥� said Donna Koehrsen, one of the camp鈥檚 counselors. 鈥淟ater in the week, they鈥檒l visit Moundville, so they will use what they have learned here.鈥�

Inside the Terrace Room of the USA Student Center, another group followed directions from College of Education Associate Professor Dr.  Paige Vitulli and several graduate students on how to make various artworks they could take home. Some students did freehand painting while others tried their talents with block printings.

And inside the rehearsal room of the Laidlaw Performing Arts Center, Associate Professor of Music Dr. Jeannette Fresne taught them how to put movement and words to a story.

鈥淲e hope this is just the beginning of what we and Dr. Karla Martin, who is director of cultural programs for the tribe, can come up with for the students,鈥� said Carr. 鈥淲e hope to do more programs like this one, and we are looking forward to taking some of our professors to the reservation for programs in the future.鈥�

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