Mr. Chris Coder

The September lecture series kicks off with Grand Canyon author, Chris Coder.

The goal of the Canyon Country Community Lecture Series is to take the rich interpretive themes of Grand Canyon National Park and the region directly to enthusiasts in nearby communities.Speakers include authorities on the rich natural and cultural history of Grand Canyon and the Colorado Plateau.

Chris Coder - Grand Canyon Lectures
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Chris Coder
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Presented by Chris Coder, author of An Introduction to Grand Canyon Prehistory.
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Chris Coder specializes in field survey, geomorphology and Apache ethnohistory.He spent seven years working on the River Corridor Project in Grand Canyon National Park and has been the Tribal Archeologist for the Yavapai-Apache Nation in Camp Verde since 1997.Chris lives outside Flagstaff with his wife and daughters.

Chris Coder, Yavapai Apache Nation archeologist and Travis Bone, Coconino-Red Rock Ranger District archeologist will respond to questions from a presentation moderator.
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Mr. Bone and Mr. Coder will be available after their presentation for questions, and refreshments will be served.

Chris Coder will outline their history and the relationships they had with other tribes in the area as well as clarifying their political and cultural situation as it exists in the Upper Verde Valley today.

WHEN: Wednesday, April 19, 2006, 7:00 p.m. WHERE: Cline Library, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona Chris Coder specializes in field survey, geomorphology and Apache ethnohistory.He spent seven years working on the River Corridor Project in Grand Canyon National Park and has been the Tribal Archeologist for the Yavapai-Apache Nation in Camp Verde since 1997.Chris lives outside Flagstaff with his wife and daughters.

Presented by Chris Coder
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Chris Coder will outline their history and the relationships they had with other tribes in the area as well as clarifying their political and cultural situation as it exists in the Upper Verde Valley today.

Chris Coder specializes in field survey, geomorphology and Apache ethnohistory.He spent seven years working on the River Corridor Project in Grand Canyon National Park and has been the Tribal Archeologist for the Yavapai-Apache Nation in Camp Verde since 1997.

Chris Coder, the Nation's archeologist, has been working on gathering and locating ancestral relics for the Yavapai and Apache.And although the Federal Government passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act in 1990, making it possible for tribes to ask for the remains of their dead as well as important relics to be returned, Coder said the task is still difficult because of all the red tape involved.

"Before tribes can ask for the return of their relics, they must prove the cultural or spiritual importance of the relics to their tribe," Coder said.
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Coder has discovered that most of the Yavapai-Apache's important relics are owned by private collectors.Because of this he has turned to the Internet.
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But Coder said, to master such an art takes many hours of work, or even generations.Even the most skilled Pai Pai Indians of Baja California cannot make a basket like the ancestral Yavapai or Apache.

To demonstrate his words, Coder holds an old and new basket together.The quality is obvious.Apache baskets are woven with finer strands.There are at least 12 stitches per inch on an Apache basket.For Papago, Pima or modern baskets, the weave is much looser.

"The Apache split their willow or cottonwood strands into three pieces while newer baskets are strands split in half or used as whole," Coder said.
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"Many of the artists were anonymous then," Coder said."They didn't associate a name with their art.They would walk to town and sell their baskets for $2 or $3 to tourists.Because of this, it is hard to determine which Apache baskets are from the Tonto Apache compared with the White River or San Carlos Apache."

To add to the difficulty came shared styles.With tribal intermarriage, Coder said that baskets made after 1890 are often similar because people began copying one another.Despite the similarities, the Nation has decided to buy baskets representing all cultures because of their historical significance.

"Basketmaking predates pottery," Coder said.
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Coder did say that special art events will be held at the Cultural Center and on occasion relics will be open for public view.