Northwest College Anthropology Department

A BROAD ANTHROPOLOGY CURRICULUM awaits you at Northwest College. In our courses, you will learn about the cultures of Mesoamerica such as the Maya and Aztecs, discover the complex behavior of primates like chimpanzees, study the archaeology of Wyoming and the American Southwest, examine the worldwide cultural diversity of living people, and explore the fossils and artifacts of our earliest human ancestors. Our curriculum includes courses on and off campus. The on-campus curriculum contains all the courses typical of an anthropology curriculum in its first two years. Our off-campus courses offer students exciting anthropological adventures. Some courses have taken students down a river in southern Utah to explore prehistoric cliff dwelling sites and others have allowed students the opportunity to conduct archaeological excavations here in Wyoming.

QUETZALCOATL “Feathered Snake”. One of the major deities of the Aztec, Toltecs, and other Middle American peoples. He is the creator sky-god and wise legislator. He organized the original cosmos and participated in the creation and destruction of various world periods. Quetzalcoatl ruled the fifth world cycle and created the humans of that cycle. The story goes that he descended to Mictlan, the underworld, and gathered the bones of the human beings of the previous epochs. Upon his return, he sprinkled his own blood upon these bones and fashioned thus the humans of the new era. He is also a god of the wind (the wind-god Ehecatl is one of his forms), as well as a water-god and fertility-god.

The tail feathers of a male Quetzal were once used as money as far north as New Mexico and as far south as the Andes. Because of their value as money, it was forbidden by the Mayans to kill a Quetzal.