Flint Knapping Demonstrations at Pecos NHP – May 26 & 27

Step back in time with Ron Fields on May 26th and 27th.  Ron, who is the park archaeologist at Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, will demonstrate the techniques involved in manufacturing stone tools and the use of these tools in manufacturing Phragmites compound arrows that would have been in use among the inhabitants of Pecos Pueblo as well as the Apache and other Native American groups that live and lived in the American Southwest. Drop by the park visitor center between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Memorial Day Weekend to learn more about this artful tradition.

Flint knapping

Ron first discovered his passion for archaeology when at the age of nine he was blackberry picking with his family in Ohio and he discovered a stone ax. After that he has been on a life long journey discovering as much as he can about our ancestors. In his forty-year quest he has worked as a Site Interpreter, Field Archaeologist, and Environmental Scientist. He has worked at SunWatch Archaeological Park, Mesa Verde, Petroglyph National Monument, and is now at Salinas Pueblo Missions. He has worked in New Mexico, Missouri, Wyoming, Texas, and California performing contract archaeology. He received his Master’s in Anthropology at the University of New Mexico and is in the PhD Program at the same institution. His area of interest is prehistoric technology and especially atlatl/dart and bow/arrow technologies in North America. His quest is to answer when and how fast the dart-to-arrow transition occurred in the American Southwest.

For more information, contact Pecos NHP at (505) 757-7241.

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