UA’s Moundville Park Resumes Saturday in the Park Programs

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama’s Moundville Archaeological Park resumes its Saturday in the Park program later this month.

Saturday in the Park is a series of demonstrations and presentations related to Native Americans, archaeology, natural history, sustainable gardening and more. Most programs, which run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., have a hands-on activity for children.

“Visitors can learn something new while enjoying one of the most breathtaking archaeological sites in the country,” said Betsy Irwin, interim director of Moundville Archaeological Park. “Many of the topics directly relate to the recently renovated exhibits in the Jones Museum or the archaeology, flora and fauna of the park. Children always enjoy making and taking a little something home with them.”

Upcoming Saturday in the Park topics

Feb. 28: Past Time Pastimes

Betsy Irwin displays items like those used long ago and discusses ways earlier people entertained their youngsters. Children can try their hand at stickball, rabbit sticks and Indian football. They can even make their own set of game pieces to take home with them.

March 7: Southeastern Indian Shell Carving

Dan Townsend (Muscogee) grew up in the Keys but now lives and works in Tallahassee, Florida. His work is in collections throughout the world – including Thailand, Denmark, South Africa, China, Russia, New Guinea, Australia, Borneo and Vietnam. Pieces he has created are in use by a number of tribal communities as instruments in ceremonial teachings.

Townsend was among a select number of Native American artists invited to display their work at the opening of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. He has also served as an artist-in-residence at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Townsend’s exquisitely carved gorgets (pendants), medicine cups and earrings are created from lightning whelk shell, gold or black mother-of-pearl, melon shell and abalone. Many of his designs are inspired by shell carvings found at ceremonial sites around the Southeast.

“The more I study and practice this kind of art, the more I understand it and the more adept I feel at interpretation,” he said. “After working with them a long time, you begin to understand the symbols are really a written language, a medicine language, the breath of the creator.”

Townsend will display his work, discussing the meanings of the designs he carves with visitors. Children can string a shell to make a necklace of their own.

March 28: Pots and Potters

One of the best at what she does, Tamara Beane (Cherokee) has studied some of the finest pottery in archaeological collections all over the Southeast. In addition to her contemporary work, which has roots in the Cherokee culture, Beane replicates different Native American ceramic traditions from various places and prehistoric and historic time periods.

She has played a major part in revitalizing pottery making, both in traditional and contemporary formats, among the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. In addition to displaying her work, Beane will perform an out-of-door pottery firing in a manner as ancient as some of the pottery she reproduces.

Children can play with clay, trying out different tools that would have been used by prehistoric and historic Native Americans

April 4: Fibers and Feathers

Mary Smith (Muscogee) is one of the multi-talented artists that worked on Jones Museum exhibit renovations. Smith makes large mats similar to the ones displayed in the museum. She is also accomplished in featherwork. She was the artist who feathered the cape worn by the Chief of Moundville in the museum’s renovated exhibits.

She is a master basket and mat weaver who researched and rediscovered an ancient method used by Muscogees (and other Southeastern Indian peoples) to finish their baskets using “a double false braided rim.” Her works have won numerous awards and are in private collections and the permanent collections of several museums in Oklahoma.

Smith returns to Alabama to work with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians in their efforts to revitalize many of the Southeastern Indian arts, which have been lost to them. Visiting children can make their own miniature basket under Smith’s guidance.

April 11: Cherokee Weaving and Textiles

Prior to European contact, Cherokee people wove textiles without the aid of spinning wheels or large looms. Early Cherokee sashes, nets and other open weave fabrics were very similar to those made by the prehistoric people at Moundville Archaeological Park.

Catherine “Cat” Sloan (Cherokee) discusses how Euro-Americans intentionally introduced the spinning wheel and loom to change the division of labor among the Cherokee and other Southeastern Indian tribes.

Sloan displays a wide variety of textiles made using different weaving methods. Children can learn how to twine their own small bag.

April 18: Archaeology Horizons

The Moundville park’s educational office is proud to have its own archaeologist, Amanda Morrow. Also an accomplished artist, Morrow received her Master of Arts in archaeology from Georgia Southern University. She will discuss the principles of archaeology, displaying artifacts and reproductions indicative of Alabama.

Visitors are welcome to bring their own artifacts that they wish to have identified. Children’s activities include piecing back together broken pottery, matching pottery designs with the tools possibly used to create them and making a shell bead necklace.

April 25: Natural Fibers

Park education staff will set up and display how different types of plants were used to make cordage, (better known as thread, string and/or rope) or were processed to make other things including slings, baskets, bags, nets and mats. Children can make their own fiber friendship bracelet.

May 2: Mother Earth and the Three Sisters Garden Day

The park’s Americorps Volunteer in Service to America, Kenric Minges, volunteers and education staff host a day of fun in the garden. Visitors learn that Native Americans traditionally inter-planted corn, beans and squash, the “Three Sisters,” developing one of the earliest methods of sustainable agriculture. Other plants harvested and/or grown and used by Southeastern Indians, many of which we now consider “weeds,” are included as part of a garden tour.

“Black drink,” a traditional tea made from yaupon holly, as well as a trail mix featuring nuts and berries indigenous to North America, will be available for visitors to sample. Children get to decorate a miniature gourd flower pot, then plant a sunflower in it as a gift for Mother’s Day.

May 9: Ancient Pottery and Cooking

Using handmade pots and a “barbacoa,” Chip Wente shows visitors what cooking was like at Moundville during its heyday. Formerly an Americorps Volunteer in Service to America at Moundville Archaeological Park, Wente now lives in Livingston, where he received his master’s in history.

He demonstrates ancient cooking techniques at events around Alabama, including the Moundville Native American Festival, Fort Toulouse Frontier Days and the Oakville Indian Festival. Venison, hominy and other foods, including the three sisters (corn, beans and squash), will be prepared over an open fire.

He also displays and sells his pottery and shell work to interested visitors.

May 16: Medicinal and Plants Hike

Darryl Patton has often been called a “Walking Encyclopedia of Plants” by those fortunate enough to have been on one of his intensive plant hikes. With a vast knowledge of the edible and medicinal qualities of the plants found in the Deep South, Patton has an easy-going way of introducing plants in an understandable way.

Hikes will be scheduled several times during the day for visitors to join. By the time they finish one of his plant hikes, visitors will be amazed at the number of useful plants they can find right in their own back yards.

Patton is the author of “Mountain Medicine, The Herbal Remedies of Tommie Bass,” which was published by Natural Reader Press. He has appeared on Alabama Public Television, the Comedy Channel and served as a consultant on an episode of Man vs. Wild. He has been featured in many newspaper and magazine articles relating to the uses of medicinal plants and is in demand nationally as a speaker on alternative medicine.

He has lectured in such diverse places as Las Vegas, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta. Patton will have his book for sale and will be available for autographs. For more information, visit his website at http://thesouthernherbalist.com/bio.html.

May 23: Ancient Hunting and Fishing

Retired U.S. Marine and weapons expert Bill Skinner displays and discusses an assortment of implements used by the Southeastern Indians for hunting and fishing. Visitors can throw an atlatl, a spear thrower used prior to the invention of the bow and arrow, or Choctaw rabbit sticks – one of the first “weapons” young boys were allowed to use.

Blowguns, the bow and arrow, various types of fishing equipment and stone tools are some of the items visitors can see and learn how they were used. Children can make and try out their own sling made from natural fibers.

Moundville’s Saturday in the Park is a series of programs featured during the spring, early summer and fall. The programs are free with paid park admission. Admission is $6 for students (through college age with student ID) and $8 for adults. Moundville Archaeological Park is located 13 miles south of Exit 71-A off of Interstate 20/59.