K.C. Carlson, archaeologist and assistant anthropology professor at Augustana University, has spent the last several years in the Southwest region of the United States researching the intersections between Native American communities, tourism and sustainability.
Last summer, Carlson traveled to Arizona to research the relationship between national parks and tribal lands, as well as to examine how the national parks had been impacted by the 2018 government shutdown. On her trip, Carlson met Alberta Henry, a member of the Navajo Nation whose family is developing Big Hogan Enterprises, a bed and breakfast that offers rustic camping and the opportunity for dialogue on indigenous issues.
Henry wanted to expand Big Hogan and needed an archaeologist to survey the land her family has owned for three generations. Carlson and Henry connected, and with the help of a sustainability grant, Carlson took a team of Augustana students on a spring break trip to survey all 50 acres of Henry’s allotment. There, the group discovered a trove of archaeological sites.
“Most surveys on normal landscapes have maybe three or four sites,” Carlson said. “On 50 acres, we ran into at least 12 sites.”
The sites include a 6,000-year-old archaic rock art panel, 500- to 800-year-old pottery, the footprints of 100-year-old sweat lodges and hogans, and an expannsive lithic scatter — a river of arrowhead remains. “Six thousand years of archaeology is just sitting there on the surface,” Carlson said.
Carlson’s time at Big Hogan has led to broader research on how Native American communities interact with tourism.
“Tourism is often detrimental to local communities. Spending time visiting Big Hogan I started to think there is an intersection here between archaeology, tourism, and supporting local communities sustainably. When you work with tribal communities and give them the control over tourism of their ancestral sites, the sites can be protected and Native communities can benefit from the visitation.”
In the future, Carlson said she’ll take students back to the Southwest where they’ll stay on Henry’s land, check out the archaeological sites there and visit other sites like the Grand Canyon. Carlson will also be involved in the new environmental studies major. She’s working to incorporate some of the current anthropology classes and is excited for students to be thinking environmentally.
“I think the major provides huge opportunities for young people to be thinking along those lines in all of their fields. The reality is, we can’t move forward if we’re not going to do it sustainably.”