Ancient Indian villages revealed in Utah By Paul Foy
The half-buried houses don’t have the grandeur of New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon or Colorado’s Mesa Verde, where overhanging cliffs shelter stacked stone houses. But they are remarkable in that they hold a treasure of information about the Fremont culture that has been untouched by looters.
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Irresistable allure of Utah’s ‘little jewel’ of archaeology By Deborah Frazier
Ancient, granary-rich Indian villages attract some bad seeds, too.
Archaeologists estimate that thousands of Fremont Indian villages are preserved on Wilcox’s land, along with pit houses, weapons, pottery, tools and human remains. And while the Book Cliffs stone-pit houses lack the flash and grandeur of some of the Southwest’s other big monuments, their pristine condition promises scientists an unspoiled view of ancient life.
“This isn’t as spectacular as Mesa Verde’s cliff houses and ruins. But this is a little jewel,” said Kevin Jones, Utah’s state archaeologist.
As the state of Utah takes over his 4,200-acre ranch located 130 miles southeast of Great Salt Lake, Wilcox worries about thieves.
“I knew that, when it became public, it would become like all the other canyons around here, where the looters take everything,” said Waldo, 74, who sold the ranch for $2.5 million.
On Wednesday, he learned looting has already begun since June 25, when news of the archaeological treasure became public – along with word of the sale.
For years, Wilcox warded off would-be thieves with a sharp eye, a shotgun and heavy gates. …
The artifacts can explain much about the lives of the Fremont, who lived in the canyon from A.D. 900 to A.D. 1250. Archaeologists also hope to learn about the Fremont’s predecessors, who may have arrived as early as 4,500 years ago.
In nooks with rock overhangs, artwork, painted with native plants or pecked into the stone, is abundant. Snakes dance, as do tiny trapezoidal figures adorned with necklaces and apronlike skirts. Also visible are bear paws, horned sheep, antelope and other animals.
Above the valley floor, sometimes as high as 1,000 feet, are multichambered grain storage bins of stone and mortar. Jones said rock slabs were cut by the Fremont and fit over the top to seal the bins. He said several of the granaries surveyed still contain corncobs with seeds.
Within the ranch are probably thousands of Fremont villages of multiple pit houses, rock-walled structures dug into the ground and covered with tree stems and grass to keep out the rain, that were able to house five to 25 people, Jones said.
“We’ve documented about 225 sites, and it’s just scratching the surface,” Jones said. “There are hundreds of other sites.”
Tribes say Range Creek decisions exclude them By Greg Lavine and Elizabeth Neff
Archaeologists quietly spent the past two years exploring a remarkable and secret community of Fremont Indian sites in eastern Utah’s Range Creek. Now, some American Indian groups say they were too quiet and secret. …
The three Utah tribes that have claimed Fremont ancestry are the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians, the Paiute Indian Tribe and the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation. The other tribes are the Northwestern Band of Shoshone, based in Idaho; in Arizona, the Hopi Tribe and the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians of the Kaibab Indian Reservation; and four Pueblo bands from New Mexico.