New immersion center to test if we’re ‘all a little bit of Indiana Jones sometimes’

Ann Headrick has a theory.

The former Arkansas City teacher and Etzanoa Conservancy board member thinks most everyone is at least a little bit interested in archeology.

“Aren’t we all a little bit of Indiana Jones sometimes?”

The new Etzanoa Immersion Center just east of Arkansas City will put that to the test.

For about a decade, the conservancy has been trying to promote and learn more about the lost Wichita tribe settlement near Arkansas City, which Spanish explorers called Etzanoa, or “the Great Settlement.”

Wichita State University archeologists and students have spent a lot of time digging there, and media outlets have covered what the digs have unearthed and what the findings mean.

Now, people in Kansas and beyond can visit the new center and have more of a first-person experience through what the center is calling a virtual-reality adventure in addition to settlement site tours, outdoor trails, dig opportunities, a theater and a replica of a Wichita tribal grass house that they can visit.

“The conservancy has always had a dream to have a place where people can come,” Headrick said. “Last year, we just decided we’re gonna get ’er done.”

Through grants and donations, the center now is opening on June 6th.

“That is going to be a great draw for people to see something come to life,” Headrick said. “It’s not just a museum where you walk through.”

‘Where we want to be’

Last year, the conservancy was offered some property to purchase on the east side of the Walnut River just east of Arkansas City.

“It is exactly where we want to be,” Headrick said. “Where we knew these things happened.”

There was a ranch house on the property that has been completely revamped and made handicapped accessible.

As you walk into the center’s welcome area, there’s a huge wall with a screen showing a vision of what the settlement looked like.

“It’s pretty impressive,” Headrick said.

Then, there’s a community room featuring a collection of artifacts from the Etzanoa settlement along with displays showing what food, agriculture and life was like there.

Another room has a theater with shows on the settlement, and then a virtual-reality room will allow guests to immerse themselves in the culture even more.

Visitors will be seated and given headsets for an approximately 8-minute experience where they can feel like they’re at the settlement when the Spanish came looking for gold.

They’ll experience a brief skirmish between the Spaniards and a local tribe.

For some shots, visitors can turn their heads and have 360-degree views of the settlement.

“It is pretty awesome,” Headrick said.

On busy days, visitors will be asked to sign up for time slots for the virtual-reality experience.

There also will be a discovery room with a replica of some rock carvings that date back to the settlement. They exist nearby on private property, but since visitors can’t go there, they’ll be invited to view and touch the replica rock.

In addition, there will be a copy of what’s known as the Miguel map, a map of Etzanoa that for a long time no one could quite place where it reflected because it was drawn with east at the top instead of the more customary north.

Headrick said the whole idea of the center is to have “some things where people can actually see and touch and experience what we found.”

As a former teacher, she said, “I just know when you get people and kids doing something, they remember it a lot more. That sensory learning is something most people don’t forget.”

Just like the 1600s

Outside the center on its grounds, a member of the Wichita tribe from Oklahoma is building a grass house that is a replica of what the Wichita would have lived in at the settlement.

“He’s building it just like it was built in the 1600s,” Headrick said.

The center also will offer tours for visitors and field trips for schools.

Headrick said so many people, even residents of Arkansas City, don’t know about Etzanoa.

“That always has kind of blown my mind.”

She said she wants people to realize it’s a lost settlement, and a significant one.

“We’re finding evidence that it was a lot bigger than what people thought.”

Headrick said Etzanoa likely was bigger than the present-day Arkansas City.

She said she also wants people to know the story of the complex, successful society.

“We’ve been really working hard to get this going and make it something wonderful for our own community and . . . just to tell the story — the important story.”