Images of America: Nevada's Lost City by Dena M. Sedar
Nevada's Lost City was buried under the sands of the Mojave Desert until its existence was reported to Gov. James Scrugham by brothers John and Fay Perkins from Overton, Nevada. Excavations of the archaeological ruins began in 1924, when archaeologist Mark Raymond Harrington identified the ruins as Ancestral Puebloan (more commonly known as Anasazi), a significant archaeological discovery in Southwestern archaeology. Harrington named the world-famous sites Pueblo Grande de Nevada, but the media dubbed them the Lost City, and the name stuck. Excavation continued into the 1930s, when the National Park Service took over the excavation of the sites using young men employed by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The CCC boys not only helped to excavate but they also built the Lost City Museeum, and institution devoted to highlighting the archaeological wonders of the Lost City.
Dena M. Sedar is the curator and archaeologist at the Lost City Museum, a state museum located in Overton, Nevada, that is now part of the Nevada Department of Tourism and Cultrual Affairs. Sedar first became fascinated with the archaeology of the Ancestral Puebloans after a trip to Mesa Verde national Park as a child and she loves sharing that fascination with the public today. The images in this book were drawn from institutions connected to the exploration of the Lost City.
The Images of America series celebrates the history of neightborhoods, towns, and cities across the country. Using archival photographs, each title presents the distinctive stories from the past that shape the characer of the community today. Arcadia is proud to play a part in the preservation of local heritage making history available to all.