Fieldtrip: Celebration Park

Ryan's fourth grade class went on their first field trip Wednesday

to Celebration Park.

The landscape is covered with huge basalt melon gravel deposits that
were deposited by the Bonneville Flood. To date, they have
documented over 5000 petroglyphs in the park, dating from 100 to 10,000
years old.

These have always intrigued me...I can't imagine

the amount of time it would have taken to carve

the designs into stone.

Ryan's class gathered around the petroglyphs.

The second session centered around the Atlatl range.

This was an ancient weapon used by the nomadic Indians that

inhabited the area long ago. The weapon consists of two parts:

the piece of carved wood showed above and a long spear.

If you throw a spear by hand, holding onto the middle of it, the

portion of the spear from your hand back acts as drag on the force

created from your throw. With this tool, the force is applied to the end of the spear, creating much more force, speed and distance.

This was, of course, the kids' favorite part!

The instructor made it a bit more interesting by promising

$1 to whomever hit the target.

The targets...it's hard to see but there are mammoths in the

middle of the bulls-eye.

The kids lined up...practicing how to hold and throw the weapon.

Ryan is fourth from the left.

And throw!

The distance to the targets was quite a ways, but with the

extra force, many of the kids (including Ryan) were able

to throw the spear up and over the haybales.

Loaded!

Ryan got pretty close several times.

Now it's time for the adults.

Practicing...

(I may have missed a few of the instructions while I

was over to the side taking photos. Oops!)

It was quite awkward at first.

There's a small tip at the back end of the wooden piece and then a groove on the front

end. The end of the spear fits over the tip and then rests in the groove at the front.

You hold the wooden piece parallel to the ground as you move your arm back and the forwards.

When you get to the very end of the movement, you have to flick your wrist down. That is what

creates the force to move the spear. Oh, and don't throw the wooden piece!

All ready....

Can you believe that I actually hit the target?!

I don't know who was more excited...me or Ryan.

(I think he just wanted the $1)

Me and Ryan, with an extra head sneaking in the back.

The beautiful Snake River

We saw quite a few of these.

Much better than snakes!

I cannot remember what this was called, but it's similar to a teepee.

The Indians that lived here were nomadic and didn't have horses.

Therefore, carrying around animal skins, used on a teepee, would be

too difficult. So, they discovered that they could make the same basic teepee form, but cover it with branches and brush. Can you imagine

how cold these would be in the winter?

This bridge was built in 1897 to carry ore from Silver City to Nampa.

It's called the Guffey Railroad Bridge. However, after they finished the

bridge, they discovered that the hills were too steep for a steam engine.

They decided instead, to use an electric engine. By the time they had it finished, there wasn't

much gold being found in the area. It was used, instead, to move supplies and lifestock.

It was abandoned in the middle of the 1900s and then purchased for $1

to a group of people who decided to develop this park.

On the way up to the bridge, we came across this huge boulder hollowed out

by erosion. It's thought that the natives might have used it as a fire enclosure when

the weather was not condusive to fires. There are a lot of rabbits in the area, so it's been dubbed the "bunny oven."

The view from the bridge, looking away from the park.

During the war, the airplane pilots were practicing

taking out bridges. One of them decided to shoot at this bridge a few times.

Sure am glad it's sturdy!

The last portion of the presentation had to do with the Lifeways of the Snake

River Plain's Indians. The kids were taught about how they made weapons, what they ate, how they hunted. It was very interesting. One thing that struck home with the kids a bit was

when it was explained that everything the Indians ate was ground down by

a rock and mortar. The rocks that were used were just a bit harder than a human tooth.

When the food was ground, the rock would also get ground down and

ended up in the food. Since the rock was harder than the teeth, each and every bite taken by

the Indians would grind their teeth down until, at around age 16, their teeth were even with their gumline. Disease soon set in...the kids were amazed to hear that, at age 10,

they would be half-way through their lifespan.

~~~

This was a very interesting and educational fieldtrip.

Gotta love this state and the rich history we have!