Richard Adams
Richard Adams has spent years doing high altitude archaeology and research.
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Soapstone Bowl
1000 years ago, mountain-adapted people hunted bighorn sheep, dug abundant root crops, harvested whitebark pine nuts, and constructed small villages at over 10,700 feet elevation in the Wind River Mountains. They used bowls carved out of rock, such as these that are on display at the Museum of the Mountain Man.
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Spring Thaw Party March 5
Sublette County Historical Society annual meeting
February 26, 2009
The Sublette County Historical Society will hold their annual Spring Thaw Party on Thursday, March 5 at the Museum of the Mountain Man. There will be a brief presentation of the annual report, regular business, and introduction of the new exhibits for the season. Refreshments will be served. There will be a special selection of wine, beer and cheese for tasting. Chocolate and non-alcoholic beverages will also be served.
The special program will be a presentation by Richard Adams, project director for the Office of the Wyoming State Archaeologist. The public is welcome to attend. The program is entitled, "Life at 10,700 feet: Late Prehistoric Alpine Archaeology in The Wind River Range, Wyoming." For more than 1000 years, Shoshone Indians spent their summers at high altitudes in the mountains of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. These mountain-adapted people hunted bighorn sheep, dug abundant root crops, harvested whitebark pine nuts, and constructed small villages at altitudes that few people today visit, let alone live.
Richard Adams has spent years doing high altitude archaeology and research. He will give a slide show using vivid images, ethnographic analogy, and re-creation of a prehistorically correct cuisine to argue that the high mountains were the preferred summertime destination, rather than places to be avoided. Adams has worked on archaeological projects in every one of Wyoming’s 23 counties and is proud to have worked on many of George Frison’s excavations in Wyoming and Colorado. His research interests are in prehistoric soapstone use and high altitude archaeology. For the past nine summers he has taken students and volunteers on archaeological surveys in the Teton, Wind River, and Absaroka mountains. The Forest Service, National Park Service and Wyoming State government have recently awarded him grants for high altitude research.
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