Ute Knowledge
by AwA
This article originally appeared in the Summer 2024 issue of Art with Altitude.
“Remember who you are,” says Alen Naranjo, a Ute elder, to Ute youth. These wise words are in a video that is part of the Ute Knowledge: Colorado’s Original Science, Technology, Engineering and Math exhibit opening at the Tread of Pioneers Museum on June 20, 2024. “We are thrilled to host this exhibit from History Colorado,” said Tread of Pioneers Museum Executive Director Candice Bannister. “We are continually seeking the best ways to share the history and culture of the Ute tribes, the first inhabitants of the Yampa Valley, and are grateful to the three Ute tribes and History Colorado for their efforts to create this exhibit.”
The Ute people are Colorado’s longest continuous residents. “Utes were Mountain People. They adapted themselves to the mountains so that everything that they did was there, and there’s where we’ve been, and we’ve been here for a long time,” said Clifford Duncan of the Ute Indian Tribe.
The Ute people thrived in Colorado through their deep understanding of and connection to the Colorado landscape and environment. The Ute STEM project explores the integration of Western science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and Ute traditional ecological knowledge. “There were Ute scientists before there were scientists. And Ute astronomers before there was astronomy!” said Garrett Briggs of the Southern Ute Tribe.
The project includes field work, programs, exhibits and films, and builds on over 20 years of collaboration between the three Ute Indian Tribes, scientists, History Colorado, and will be on loan to the Tread of Pioneers Museum. The project started in 2016 and was funded by the National Science Foundation. Nine short films highlight collaborative field work to study Ute shelters, ethnobotany and rock art in 2017 and 2018. The exhibit also includes maps of Ute homelands, historic and contemporary photos, and quotes from Ute elders and youth.
The exhibit will especially appeal to children and families as you can explore hands-on activities ike engineering a stick shelter, creating a beadwork pattern, testing woven materials, and matching plants with their uses, to see how Ute people solved problems in the past and still do today. The exhibit connects with the education kit, also called “Ute Knowledge,” that the Tread of Pioneers Museum received from History Colorado over five years ago. The museum’s educator uses the hands-on history and science kit in classrooms, camps, and at the museum, to engage students and youth with learning and activities that connect them to the three Ute tribes.
“With two different sides, you hear two different stories. Our elders have been taught this way, and they know this way. Then the scientists are really smart and book people. Putting those two together equals a really strong story and facts,” said Jazmin Carmenoros, a Southern Ute participant in Ute STEM summer fieldwork.
Ute Knowledge has been featured at the Southern Ute Cultural Center, Kwayigut Community Academy Towaoc, Summit County Historical Society, Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory Visitor Center, Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum and more.
Visit the Tread of Pioneers Museum to learn how traditional Ute knowledge and cutting-edge science can work together. “It’s cool to see how technology works with all these old artifacts,” said Mo Av Naranjo in one of the exhibit’s films.
Elevate the Arts: Visit the Tread of Pioneers Museum, 800 Oak St. in Steamboat Springs, to see the Ute Knowledge Exhibit from June 20, 2024 until May 2025 and explore their permanent exhibit, American Indian Arts and Technology. AwA
