Museum’s “Telluride Unearthed” lecture series starts December 1

30 Nov Museum’s “Telluride Unearthed” lecture series starts December 1

[click “Play” to listen to Dr. Mark Varien speak about Crow Canyon]

The Telluride Historical Museum, 201 West Gregory Avenue, has arranged an early holiday treat for the community. “Telluride Unearthed” is a series of lectures about way back when, when cultures lived sustainably without benefit of Al Gore, solar panels, or The New Community Coalition because, well,  that was the way it was. There were no movies thousands of  millennia ago either, so no popcorn with butter. But there was corn and lots of it, which is part of what archaeologist Mark Varien will talk about, when the vice president of programs at the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, opens “Telluride Unearthed” with insights about “Life is Movement: Pueblo Indians of the Mesa Verde Region.”

Crow Canyon is an internationally renowned institute whose mission is to increase knowledge of the human experience through archaeological research, education programs, and collaboration with American Indians. Mark received his B. A. in Archaeological Studies (1976) and his M. A. in Anthropology (1984) from the University of Texas at Austin. He was awarded a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Arizona State University (1997). Varien joined the staff at Crow Canyon in 1987, where he served as a research archaeologist (1987−1997) and director of research (1997−2007) before becoming the vice president of programs.  His recent research publications include the edited volumes Seeking the Center Place: Archaeology and Ancient Communities in the Mesa Verde Region (2002, University of Utah Press) and The Social Construction of Communities: Agency, Structure, and Identity in the Prehispanic Southwest (2008, AltaMira Press).