The San Juan Basin Archaeological Society invites the public to a presentation in the Lyceum at the Center of Southwest Studies and on Zoom on Wednesday, February 14 at 7:00 pm. At 6:30 we will have social time, then after a brief business meeting, Dr. Bonnie Clark, Curator for Archaeology of the University of Denver Museum of Anthropology, will present "Finding Solace in the Soil: The Archaeology of Gardens and Gardeners at Colorado's Japanese American Incarceration Camp.'. For log-in information go to SJBAS.ORG.

During World War II, Americans of Japanese ancestry were removed from their homes and placed into confinement camps throughout the western US. This presentation overviews the methods and results of six seasons of landscape archaeology at one of those sites—Amache—located in southeastern Colorado. The site contains an incredibly well-preserved record of how the people incarcerated there transformed a hostile landscape through strategy and skill. By integrating a program of historical research, community engagement, and intensive garden archaeology, the University of Denver Amache project is expanding the view of what incarceree gardens are, how they were created, and their import, both to those who made them and us today.

Dr. Bonnie Clark is committed to using tangible history - objects, sites, and landscape - to broaden understanding of our diverse past. She began her career as a professional archaeologist and now serves as Professor in the Anthropology Dept. at the U of Denver (DU), as well as the Curator for Archaeology of the DU Museum of Anthropology. She is the author or editor of numerous publications including "Finding Solace in Soil: An Archaeology of Gardens and Gardeners at Amache:" and "On the Edge of Purgatory: An Archaeology of Place in Hispanic Colorado." Dr. Clark leads the DU Amache Project, a community collaboration committee to researching, preserving and interpreting the physical history of Amache, Colorado's WWII -era Japanese American internment camp. That work has been highlighted in numerous venues, including Archeology and American Archaeology magazines. In 2011, Dr. Clark's work was recognized by her peers with DU's Teacher/Scholar of the year award.