Archaeology provides much historic information and is a significant part of Wyoming’s cultural heritage. September marks the 25th anniversary of Wyoming Archaeology Awareness Month. Focusing this month on the land and its peoples, WyoHistory.org features a new article on grazing the public range as well as highlighting a few of our previous pieces about archaeological sites throughout the state.

In addition, as September marks the beginning of school terms, we invite teachers and students to enhance their classroom experiences by visiting our education pages and using the tools provided there to dig into Wyoming’s history. 

Taylor Grazing Act

Passed in 1934, the Taylor Grazing Act regulated the public range around a system of grazing leases after 50 years of dispute over what to do with public lands in Wyoming and the West. The Bureau of Land Management manages most of the state’s federal lands today. Read more in historian and retired BLM archaeologist Russel L. Tanner’s article  “Leasing the Public Range: The Taylor Grazing Act and the BLM at http://www.wyohistory.org/essays/leasing-public-range-taylor-grazing-act-and-blm.

Archaeology Awareness Month and Laramie Fair

Wyoming Archaeology Awareness Month (WAAM) is celebrated annually in September. This year marks the 25th anniversary of WAAM, which includes statewide activities and programs to help educate the public about archaeology and its importance in the state. Learn more and see the award-winning selection of historic posters at http://wyoshpo.state.wy.us/aamonth/.

For hands-on family fun, attend the upcoming Archaeology Fair scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 12, 2015, at the Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site in Laramie, Wyo. Activities are free and open to the public and include performances by the Wind River Dancers as well as flint-knapping, atlatl throwing, pottery making, and rock art demonstrations. Copy and paste this url into your search engine to download the poster for the fair: http://wyoshpo.state.wy.us/pdf/archaeologyfairflyer2-2015.pdf.

Before you go, be sure to check out WyoHistory.org’s articles that feature archaeological topics like Vore Buffalo Jump, Legend Rock and Medicine Wheeland more at http://www.wyohistory.org/topics/prehistory. 

Education packages

September and the beginning of school days once again presents a great opportunity for teachers and students to use the education packages offered on WyoHistory.org to learn more about the Oregon, Mormon Pioneer and California Trails and the Indian Wars. There are teacher toolkits, articles, videos, lesson plans, quizzes and photo galleries to enhance the experience.

The Oregon, Mormon Pioneer and California trails all cross Wyoming in the central and most popular corridor of the transcontinental migration of the 1840s, 1850s and 1860s. The trails followed the North Platte and Sweetwater rivers west to South Pass, after which they divided into various routes bound for Oregon, Utah or California. As many as half a million people may have traveled this corridor in the 19th century.

Click on the links to learn more about the trails and sites like Fort Laramie, Register Cliff, Oregon Trail Ruts, Fort Caspar and Reshaw’s Bridge and for more information, visit http://www.wyohistory.org/education/oregon-trail.

During the Indian Wars of the 1860s and 1870s, all sides fought to control the land, travel safely, and protect their families and their futures. Click the links to learn more about the conflicts and the significance of sites like Fort Fetterman, Fort Reno and Cantonment Reno, Fort Phil Kearny, the Wagon Box Fight and Connor Battlefield and for more information, visit http://www.wyohistory.org/education/indian-wars.

For more general information about these packages, visit our Education Page at
http://www.wyohistory.org/education.