Join Crow Canyon for a 1-3 week adventure in this exclusive hands-on introduction to archaeology. Help our team of professional archaeologists at a working excavation site and learn to sort and identify artifacts in our laboratory. At our pithouse and pueblo learning centers, you can try your hand at spear-throwing with an atlatl, making fire with a bow & spindle, and playing traditional American Indian games. Top off the week with a special all-day tour of nearby Mesa Verde National Park! Learn about the different periods of occupation of the ancestral Pueblo Indians and gain a new appreciation for culture, anthropology, archaeology, environmental stewardship, human interaction with the environment, research, scientific methodology, and cultural preservation. Come and get your hands dirty on our 170-acre campus located in the Four Corners Region of the American Southwest in Cortez, Colorado.

Middle school students must be at least 12 years of age; high school students must be at least 14 years of age. Some scholarships are available.

Crow Canyon’s experiential education adventures have won the Society for American Archaeology Award for Excellence in Public Education and the Colorado Historical Society Stephen H. Hart Award for Leadership in Educational Programming. Crow Canyon was named among 10 best adventure camps for kids by USA Today in 2015.

Three camps are available for teens each summer:
Middle School Archaeology Camp, One week
High School Archaeology Camp, One week
High School Field School, Three weeks

High School Field School students become part of our research team, working with our archaeologists on the Northern Chaco Outliers Project. Through this in-depth summer enrichment program for teens, you can earn credit and gain experience that will look great on a college application or a resume.