Wyoming is putting its deep time on center stage. On Monday, Governor Mark Gordon officially proclaimed September as Wyoming Archaeology Awareness Month, a statewide nod to 13,000 years of people, places, and artifacts that tell the story of the High Plains.
“This state was a major corridor for the immigrant trails,” said State Archaeologist Dr. Spencer Pelton. “A lot of archaeology is tied up with the fur trade, the immigrant trails, the early freight roads across the state — a really interesting record in and of itself.”
While wagons and trading posts make for great campfire stories, Pelton notes most of Wyoming’s archaeological record is even older — dominated by hunter-gatherer lifeways, from bison jumps to mammoth kill sites that speak to Ice Age survival.
This year’s Archaeology Month poster leans into that theme with a tiny showstopper: a sewing needle carved from red fox bone, found just outside Douglas. It’s less than two centimeters long — small enough to lose between your fingers, big enough to rewrite wardrobes.
“We have really great evidence for people sewing clothing — probably complex garments like parkas and pants — the kind of things you’d need to withstand Ice Age conditions in Wyoming 13,000 years ago,” Pelton said.
The proclamation brought together researchers, history buffs, and community members to celebrate a cultural heritage that connects Wyomingites past, present, and future.
“People all across the state are fascinated by this stuff,” Pelton added. “It’s a great privilege to represent this record on a public stage.”
Want to get hands-on? Circle September 13: the Wyoming Archaeological Fair pops up at the Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site in Laramie — a chance to meet archaeologists, see artifacts, and geek out over everything from lithics to living history.
Archaeology Month runs all September. Expect talks, tours, and plenty of reminders that the ground beneath your boots has stories to tell.
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