Exhibits currently on display at the Northern Arizona Museum (MNA) in Flagstaff show various locations in Glen Canyon before Lake Powell filled up in the 1960s and when MNA’s team of archaeologists returned in 2015. shows what some of those places looked like.
Many of the photographs show visitors, livestock and how flooding of the reservoir affected archeology and geology.
One person who documented the site before the Glen Canyon Dam was completed was Jean Foster. According to the exhibition’s introductory text panel, “When Jean Foster rafted Glen Canyon in 1952, she wasn’t just gazing at dramatic red rocks. It was documenting the sites of the MNA: Foster made 11 voyages of Glen Canyon between 1952 and 1957, documenting over 200 sites.”
In 1957, the U.S. Reclamation Service began the Upper Colorado Territory Salvage Project, commonly referred to as the Glen Canyon Project, to continue the archaeological record that would be submerged within ten years. The agency hired archaeologists from the MNA for this project, and from 1957 until 1962 he made films and photographs of some 2,000 sites.
From 2015 to 2021, MNA archaeologists returned to many sites to document them for the agency and the National Park Service.
During research from 1957 to 1962, travel in the Glen Canyon region was by boat, truck, on foot, and sometimes by horse. Fewer horses and more boats in 2015. The team evaluated 500 sites.
The most common damage found in the survey was from graffiti and people disturbing the structure. Some of the sites that NPS thought had been destroyed were actually in good shape, but were more vulnerable because they were underwater.
Visitors to the Glen Canyon exhibit will feel nostalgic and realize just how rich the area is in archaeological history. The exhibition will be on display until August 2023.
The Northern Arizona Museum (3101 N. Fort Valley Road, Flagstaff) offers temporary and permanent exhibits on art, archaeology, Native American history and culture, dinosaurs, and more. The museum also hosts talks, festivals, camps, and other special events. For more information, check online at musnaz.org or call 928-774-5213.
