For Release: Immediate
Contact: Tessy Shirakawa
Phone: 970-529-4628

Flintknapping Workshop in Mesa Verde: July 2007

The making of stone tools for hunting, sewing, processing game and other purposes is an art and technology that has served people since prehistoric times. Tools and weapons were an essential item of prehistoric indigenous people. The Mesa Verde Institute will host a workshop on flintknapping, an art that continues to fascinate curious minds on July 13-15, 2007 .

Held in picturesque Morefield Campground, Mesa Verde National Park , this workshop will focus on reconstructing the technological process required to construct the artifacts made by inhabitants of the Four Corners region centuries ago. It will also explore how these stone tool technologies shaped the societies, lifestyles, and people that used them.

Taught by esteemed flintknapper Greg Nunn, this workshop will include:

• Twelve formal hours of flintknapping and stone tool instruction (as well as countless hours of informal discussion)

• Park ranger tours of an 800 year-old cliff dwelling, the park archeological museum, and hiking trails

• Catered barbeque dinner at your campsite

• A campsite for Friday and Saturday nights (but bring your own camping gear, including a tent!)

During the course of the workshop, participants will create their own stone tools from rough rocks, just as the Ancestral Puebloans did in Mesa Verde centuries ago. Participants also will receive their own personal, traditional tool kit for use in the workshop and to take home.

Instructor Greg Nunn has been flintknapping since 1986, shaping a wide variety of beautiful stones and, while appreciating them all, is partial to the high quality variety of brown, gray, and tan flints. His specialty is edge-to-edge pressure flaking, a rarely practiced, labor intensive process, but it has its rewards. Not only does Greg enjoy making these items, he also likes to use them. Mr. Nunn has processed numerous deer, elk, fish, and two wild Bison using stone knife blades.

Inaugurated in 2006, the Mesa Verde Institute was established to offer visitors an expanded and in-depth experience in Mesa Verde National Park . Through single and multi-day seminars, workshops, educational hikes, lectures, and special programs, visitors of all ages may engage in enhanced educational and interpretive opportunities and gain a new, behind-the-scenes understanding of Mesa Verde and the Four Corners region. In this spirit, the Institute is dedicated to sharing Mesa Verde with the world.

The workshop is limited to 12 participants. The workshop will begin at 6:30 PM on Friday and end on Sunday afternoon. For a complete workshop schedule and registration, please visit the Mesa Verde Institute website, www.mesaverdeinstitute.org. For information about the course content, contact instructor Greg Nunn at (435) 259-8607 or gregn@citlink.net.

~ NPS ~