USU Museum of Anthropology Features Utah Humanities Council Speaker

Utah State University’s Museum of Anthropology presents another Utah Humanities Council speaker at its next “Saturdays at the Museum” activity.

Joel Janetski is the featured guest Saturday, June 4, at the museum, presenting “Archaeology and the Early Human History of Utah.”

Janetski, the 2010 recipient of the Great Basin Anthropological Conference Founders Lifetime Achievement, will discuss Utah’s earliest inhabitants as they moved from hunter/gatherer lifeways to an agriculture lifestyle and how archaeologists use their skills to retell Utah’s unique history.

At the museum, two Great Basin exhibit tours on ancient Utah lifeways will be offered at 11 a.m. and again at 3 p.m. Following the tours, guests can try their hand at atlatl (spear) throwing. Rock art and cordage bracelet activities are available throughout the day.

“Utah has such a long and fascinating early history,” said Melissa Allen, Saturdays program coordinator. “We are very excited to offer the community an opportunity to understand how ancient people used and moved about the Utah landscape through time.”

Community members, as well as Utah State students, can visit the museum during its operating hours, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.    Funding for the Saturday events is provided by a grant from the United States Institute of Museum and Library Services. More information about the IMLS is available online (www.imls.gov).

The USU Museum of Anthropology is on the USU campus in the south turret of the historic Old Main building, Room 252. Admission is free. For Saturday activities, free parking is available in the adjacent lot, south of the building.

For more information about this event, call museum staff at (435) 797-7545 or visit the museum website (anthromuseum.usu.edu).

The Museum of Anthropology is part of the Anthropology Program at USU and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.