Students travel to the Wanapum Heritage Center hosts 25th Archeology Days

Leighton Boyd helps a student shoot an atlatl spear during the 25th annual archaeology days.
NANCE BESTON/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD

Students from schools around Grant County listen to an opening presentation for the Wanapum and Grant PUD’s Archeology Days.

Two students wait as a student looks through a viewfinder at the Wanapum Heritage Center.

Umatilla Tribe Language Program member Thomas Morning Owl tells the story of the grasshopper and the ant to students at the Wanapum Heritage Center.

Grant PUD does a lineman test for students, showing the dangers of flying a kite near electrical lines.

This year, for the first time the Archeology Days at the Wanapum Heritage Center gave students “passport books” to get stamps at all of the various stations set up.

Two students dig to find bones and artifacts on the first day of the Archeology Days hosted at the Wanapum Heritage Center.

Wenas Mammoth Foundation brought fossils of a Wenas mammoth for students to look at during the Archaeology days event at the Wanapum Heritage Center.

Yakama Nation Fisheries brought a Pacific Lamprey for students to peek at.

During the archeology days at the Wanapum Heritage Center, there were demonstrations on how a hide is processed.

There were various color and activity books for students to do at the Archeology days hosted by the Wanapum Heritage Center.

by NANCE BESTON
Staff Writer | October 16, 2024 2:20 AM

The Wanapum Heritage Center hosted its 25th annual Archeology Day events Oct. 9 and 10. The first day of the event was dedicated to students with various schools attending including Wahluke School District, Yakama Nation Tribal School, Toppenish Pre-school, Connell Elementary, home-schooled students from various towns and several others.

The archeology days are in recognition of Washington State Archaeology Month, the Wanapum paired with Grant Public Utility District to provide opportunities for both children and adults to come face-to-face with the Wampum way of life and encourage people to engage in STEM activities and conversations.

“We're out here for our STEM outreach, part of our program where we want to see future scientists, future scientists and cultural resources, or archeologists, to get the word out, to let them say you can get into STEM,” Cultural Specialist at the Yakama Nation Environmental Restoration Waste Management Josephine Buck said.

There were an abundant number of activities and displays for students to engage with including art of dam building, Wanapum canoes, a wenas mammoth display, a Grant PUD lineman presentation, atlatl spear throwing, digging for “bones,” fish and wildlife displays, hide tanning, displays of modern and ancient Wanapum items.

“The people, the Wanapum who invited us, that's why it's important,” Lloyd Barkley, a Yakima Nation Tribal Member and volunteer at the event said. “It's important to them. It's important to me.”

There were also stories from Umatilla Tribe Language Program member Thomas Morning Owl was telling the students stories for his third year in a row. His first story of the afternoon had two main characters, a grasshopper who like to dance, sing to himself and show off his fancy outfits and the ant who worked all the time to ensure he and his family had food. As winter hit, the grasshopper had no food stored away and asked the ant for help who had been working all summer.

“Oh, go and dance. Go dance. Go on. Go dance. You'll get full,” Morning Owl said. “You didn't have no time to gather your food. You always try to dance and sing around. Go do that. Go do that. Then you'll be happy. Be happy. Just leave us alone, because we have, we have to feed all of our kids. We have to feed all of our family, we're all in the wintertime.”

Morning Owl concluded that this was an example of the two types of people the students could be, a grasshopper who dances and parties and neglects responsibilities or the ant who works all the time and is prepared for anything.

“So remember, be an ant when you're at school. Always do your work,” Morning Owl said. “Don't ever be don't ever be lazy and want to be out there in the playground and run around outside, because there's a time to do that? But then what you're doing when you're in school, you're learning, you're putting away food, you're putting food away in your mind, so that way, when you get older, you'll know how to do all the things you need to do.”

Morning Owl explained that this story has been in the Umatilla Tribe for generations and Disney made a reiteration of it called the “Bug’s Life.”

“They're great and it's a good opportunity for them to just experience something and just be a part of what's going on here, too, because it's a learning experience that perhaps they don't have the opportunity to really engage with,” Morning Owl said. “I'm glad that they're here.”