Field Trip February

Field Trip!

I am now officially able to say that we lived through Field Trip February.  Some of you may have noticed field trips mentioned a few times on my FaceBook page, or on the museum’s page if you follow the Museum.  Now that the chaos is over I can take a minute and reflect on an interesting program.

One of the problems with Imperial County is that there aren’t many places for schools to take kids on field trips.  In January, a teacher from McCabe Elementary in El Centro talked to Jessica about bringing all of McCabe’s 4^th graders out to the museum for a field trip.  There was no way we were going to be able to handle all the kids at once so we worked out a plan where each class of 30 kids would come out to the museum on a different Wednesday in February instead.  Then of course, we had to figure out what we were going to do with the kids.  None of us are education experts, especially when it comes to younger kids.  We don’t know what they are learning in school, what is ‘age-appropriate’, etc.  So we were going with what we thought the kids would be interested in seeing and doing while at the same time hoping they might learn something from us, even if it was just that the museum was cool and they should make their parents bring them back on a Saturday.  I think the end result has been better than any of us were expecting.  I've had three kids so far tell me they want to work here when they grow up.

We start the kids off with a short talk about Imperial Valley and its’ history.  How there used to be an ocean here, then there was Lake Cahuilla, then climate change dried up Lake Cahuilla and left us with the Salton Sea instead.  How climate change effected the people who lived here, and how you knew the kinds of animals that were hunted here because of the change in the tools and projectile points we find in our collections here.  They lose interest in this before we do, but then they perk up when we bring out the toolbox.  First they get to see shell fossils and pass those around, as proof that there really was an ocean here.  Then Neal opens one drawer of the tool box and pulls out a hammer, asks the kids what it is (they all get that one) and where they think it is from.  The answer is Home Depot because Neal loves Home Depot, and the next question of course is, where did people get hammers thousands of years ago when there was no Home Depot?  The answer is: the land all around them was the original Home Depot.  Neal pulls out of the second drawer a hammerstone and asks the kids what it is. The answer, inevitabley, is: “a rock”. True, but it’s also a 6,000 year old hammer. They get to pass that around and get a feel for how it fits into their hands.  This process is repeated with a knife.  Our cool obsidian knife acts as the original knife and the kids are always ssuitabley impressed with it.  Neal shows them a giant chunk of obsidian we have and gives them a rundown on how the Native Americans might have made the chunk of obsidian into the knife they see, courtesy of a hammer and antler to help chip the point to its’ desired shape and point.  Then the same thing with a screwdriver.

Modern tools, from Home Depot

Ancient tools, from the desert

           

We give them a brief tour of the museum and divide them into 3 groups.  We debated a lot about what to do with them and finally settled on three activities.  The first one, for us, is a no-brainer.  Coiled clay.  It’s something we’re really good at, becoming known for, and kids love clay.  The second activity we decided on is to have some boxes of rocks, both polished and not, for them to look at, try to match the rock to pictures in books, look at sand and rocks under a microscope, etc.  They also get to see some of our collection of projectile points (arrowheads to the lay person).  Jessica always jokes that this is the filler station between the two cool activities, although kids love rocks so I don’t know about that. 

Projectile points, newly discovered

The third station is my station: hiking in the desert.  We usually walk up to the ridge behind the museum and go to the geoglyph on our land, although if the wind’s too high or we get short on time I just walk them around in the wash.  I show them Ocotillo cactus, brittle bush, and creosote, and talk a little about what it is and what it does.  The creosote is always a big hit because I pour a little water from my water bottle on it and let the kids smell it.  Creosote smells great after the rain and they think it is cool to be able to water the creosote and get the same effect.  At least one kid always asks if they can pour water on the creosote and try it themselves, like I’ve got a trick water bottle and they need to double check me.  I have them look for quartz, hold it up to the sun and explain how quartz is the only rock that sunlight can shine through and moss will grow underneath it.  Usually at least one of the kids can find a piece with moss on the other side so they know I’m not making it up.  I have them pick up rocks and look for ones tham would make good tools, and they get into it.  Usually the geoglyph itself is kind of anticlimactic when they’ve been playing with rocks the whole way.  I think it’s kind of funny how they always feel they have to show me every rock they find, and I have to approve of the rocks.  Sometimes just because it’s pretty, but sometimes they do ask if it would make a good tool and what it would do.  I think it’s kind of cool how much they enjoy it, and the hike makes them want to get outside more and explore their area, hike more, or learn more about rocks and plants.  It always blows their minds when I tell them that I’m from New Orleans, a place where there are no rocks!  Hard to imagine when they’re surrounded by them!

Outside picnic

The field trips have been pilot programs and we’re trying to hire someone with an education background who actually knows school curriculum and can adjust the programs to fit different grades.  But I think we’ve done pretty well on our own to start.  It’s made me remember when I was doing Care Cadets at the LA/SPCA every summer, teaching kids only a little older than these about volunteering at the shelter, working with animals, training dogs.  I always loved that and thought that was the kind of thing I would want to do as a career.  I could totally seen myself as the education co-ordinator for the LA/SPCA when I went off to school.  I loved working with the kids, even when they were being exasperating. I loved talking to people of all ages about how to take care of animals, spaying and neutering their pets, and all sorts of things.  It’s funny, because I always think of myself as not being very good with people and not liking kids.  But then I get in these situations and it’s great.  Maybe I don’t know myself as well as I think, or I’m now remembering parts of myself and what I used to enjoy.  Either way, as crazy as the field trips have made February, I’m really glad to have been a part of it. 

Oyster Shell Beds

Wind and water patterns left in rock

Saturday afternoon a new person joined our team: Neal and Jessica’s friend Melanie came out to work with us for a few weeks to kickstart our olla collection program.  So on Sunday we all piled into the Jeep and headed out into the Yuha to go off-roading and show her some of the awesome sites.  Neal wanted to drive out and find the oyster shell beds that he’d heard about but never seen.

That’s right readers, oyster shell beds.  What are oysters doing in the desert you ask? Well as we’ve been telling the kids in all the field trips we’ve done this month, this entire area used to be ocean.  That’s why you can find shark’s teeth, shells, and oysters fossilized out here in the desert today.  You can also find areas of fossilized ocean floor.  Amazing what stays over time isn’t it?

Fossilized muscle

When we first got out at the location the map claimed were the oyster beds some of us weren’t that impressed.  Neal and Jessica had been hoping to find large fossils like we have in the museum.  Mel and I were pretty happy with it.  We were seeing amazing ground formations from the water currents or shores, Mel started finding little fossilized mussels, and I found pieces of purple glass. Before about 1929 clear glass had something in it (I think it was magnesium but my science friends can tell me if I’m wrong) that over time and exposure to the sun turned the glass purple.  We have a great lantern slide image with dozens of pieces of purple glass.

Piece of purple glass

Mel and Jessica decided to climb up a tempting hill and Neal and I decided to drive the Jeep around to the other side of the hill and pick them up.  That turned out to be a really great decision because not only did we see a hawk carrying off a large lizard (or maybe a snake, it was a little far away to be sure) but on the other side of the hill we found some great oyster beds where there were still whole fossilized oysters. There were enough to satisfy even Neal and Jessica’s expectations. 

Fossilized Oysters

Fossilized Oyster

We did a little exploring and off-roading, saw some great parts of the Yuha Desert and some mountains that Neal said were actually part of the San Andreas fault. On the way back into town we found an area called the Crucifiction thorn reserve, which was roped off as one of the only 2 or 3 places in the country where Crucifiction thorn grows naturally.  It’s surrounded by barbed wire, which we all found a little ironic.  All in all, I think this may have been my favorite trip out so far.

Crucifiction Thorn

Desert Field School

Coyote Mountains 

Monday we spent the day exploring the Yuha Desert with Steve Lucas, an archaeologist and member of the Kumeyaay (the local Native American tribe).  He was showing us some of the geoglyphs that can be found in the Yuha and explaining some of their significance to the Kumeyaay.  It was a beautiful day, we learned a lot and had a great time.

Off roading in our Jeep we found some of the ancient trails made by the Kumeyaay over time (perhaps centuries), as they traveled from place to place depending on the changing seasons.  While there were plenty of other off road wheel tracks from vehicles, there were a few places where we could find the wider tracks made by tanks during World War II.  This area was where Patton and his troops trained for the deserts of North Africa and we’ve found several artifacts in our collection but this was the first time we’d seen tank tracks.

Off-roading and World War II tank tracks

Geoglyphs are earthen art made by Native Americans by tamping down the earth in a particular pattern.  Here, most of those geoglyphs illustrate Kumeyaay legends: the creation of the world, good and evil coming to mankind, etc.  Cairns and other rock formations are joined with the geoglyphs to recreate star patterns or mountain ranges or act as spirit breaks.  One pattern we saw shows the Milky Way and Pleiades constellation.  I was very interested in this idea since most of what I know about cairns and earthen/stone formations and spirit breaks comes from the Celtic tradition, which focuses on myths and crossing worlds, but does not try to recreate the land or stars.  There’s probably a thesis topic in that thought somewhere, but I’ll leave that to someone else to try.

The geoglyphs we looked at were all fenced off as the government’s way of managing and protecting them.  Only one had a sign to tell you what you were looking at, and that sign was more focused on explaining that geoglyphs are damaged by motorcycles and off-roaders and so are fenced off.  It left us wondering: is that the best way to protect the sacred geoglyphs?  Should they be kept secret as the best way to preserve them or talked about, maybe even used by the Kumeyaay again?  Is there a point in saving them if they are no longer in use? After all, isn’t the point of something being sacred that it is used/visited and continues to connect people to their ancestors and religion?  If you fence them off, should you put up more signs to educate the people who see them as a way of helping to promote respect and knowledge of the local peoples? 

Square geoglyph, possibly showing boundary lines

At the Yuha geoglyph another question came up: the question of erosion.  The earth is taking back the land the geoglyph was formed on, and eventually between wind wiping away the patterns and erosion crumbling the earth itself, the geoglyph will be gone.  What do you do about that?  Anything?  Nothing?  Who decides?  The land is managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the federal government.  Do they decide?  Do the Kumeyaay? 

Fossilized clay from the ancient ocean bed, today the Yuha Desert

One of the interesting things about the Yuha is that you can pass huge areas of ancient clay beds that remind you the whole area used to be an ocean.  It’s hard to imagine as you look around today how different the area looked millions of years ago.  I learn different things about the land, the plants, and the rocks every time I’m out in the desert with someone.  Hopefully some of it sticks so that the next time I’m out I can read the story of the desert a little bit more.  As someone who grew up in New Orleans, a land of no rocks, I’ve developed a whole new appreciation for them.  While I can’t read them as well as Jessica and most of the other people here, I hope I’m developing an eye for the rocks and the trails and the stories they have to tell me.  There’s no telling what I’ll learn next.  And that’s a great part of the adventure.

Yuha Desert on the other side of the Yuha Geoglyph