This week our archaeology crew included the BLM state archeologist, Byron Loosle, and archaeologists Alysse Sowards (Vernal), Katie Hill (Texas), and Mark Estes (Nevada). We set up our base camp at the Wilcox Ranch, and on Tuesday backpacked into a remote wilderness area high above the canyon floor. We climbed about 1800 feet to the top cliff face on a large sandstone ridge and found isolated ceramics, a Fremont rock art site on a 50-foot high cliff face, and a Fremont camp site with charcoal deposits, a Cottonwood triangular point, debitage, and ceramic sherds on a ledge with boulders and pinyon and juniper trees. The petroglyph panel included two animals and four anthropomorphs, or human-forms with the classic trapezoidal bodies and helmet heads. Several of these were depicted with masks or face paint, and one was wearing a two-horned headdress, again typical of Fremont art. This panel likely dates to approximately AD 1000.
We camped that night under the stars and a full moon on a small ridge with a spectacular view of the canyon, and the next morning hiked out across a series of ledges just above Waldo's "Fortress" site, a pithouse village with the remains of five structures. We found several sets of isolated ceramics and two more archaeological sites-- a Fremont granary with an intact wood timber, and another Fremont site with lithic tools, a Uintah side-notch point, debitage and Fremont and Anasazi ceramics. Both were about 1000 years old and probably contemporaneous with both the "Fortress" and the sites we recorded the day before. We recorded these sites before heading back down to the base camp.
These sites appear to be consistent with other sites we have recorded in Range Creek since 2002, and support the hypothesis that the Fremont of Range Creek placed storage granaries and some habitation sites in defensive positions around AD 1000, probably in response to raids or theft from other Fremont farmers.
The next day was wet and rainy, and we recorded two sites lower in the canyon. One was probably an Archaic camp, approximately three to five thousand years old with a charcoal stain, a basin-shaped metate, a hammerstone, a chopping tool and several lithic flakes. The other was a Fremont slab-lined cist or pit feature with a scatter of about a hundred ceramic and lithic artifacts on and around a low ridgetop.
Friday we were scheduled to leave Range Creek, but DWR officers Mike Milburn and Alan Green warned us about the wet, slick, muddy road, so we stayed an extra night to let it dry out. We left on Saturday, and had a long drive as we waited for some sections to dry out before attempting them, and in some places crew members took a slow ride on the back bumper of Katie's truck to get up slippery, muddy hills. Near the end of the road, at a particularly steep section above the Book Cliffs, we encountered a woman in a pickup truck who had slid off the road sideways and had one wheel hanging out over the edge. She was very stuck, and had been for hours. We could not get past her, and my crew and a passing bear hunter on an ATV tried to help her out. Since we could not move, we set up a cabin tent and camped in a nice spot with a good view. We made dinner, roasted marshmallows, made Jiffy Pop and told ghost stories, and the next day, after several hours of working, DWR officer Alan Green and my crew were able to get her out of her predicament and on her way. Finally we were able to head for home.
We camped that night under the stars and a full moon on a small ridge with a spectacular view of the canyon, and the next morning hiked out across a series of ledges just above Waldo's "Fortress" site, a pithouse village with the remains of five structures. We found several sets of isolated ceramics and two more archaeological sites-- a Fremont granary with an intact wood timber, and another Fremont site with lithic tools, a Uintah side-notch point, debitage and Fremont and Anasazi ceramics. Both were about 1000 years old and probably contemporaneous with both the "Fortress" and the sites we recorded the day before. We recorded these sites before heading back down to the base camp.
These sites appear to be consistent with other sites we have recorded in Range Creek since 2002, and support the hypothesis that the Fremont of Range Creek placed storage granaries and some habitation sites in defensive positions around AD 1000, probably in response to raids or theft from other Fremont farmers.The next day was wet and rainy, and we recorded two sites lower in the canyon. One was probably an Archaic camp, approximately three to five thousand years old with a charcoal stain, a basin-shaped metate, a hammerstone, a chopping tool and several lithic flakes. The other was a Fremont slab-lined cist or pit feature with a scatter of about a hundred ceramic and lithic artifacts on and around a low ridgetop.
Friday we were scheduled to leave Range Creek, but DWR officers Mike Milburn and Alan Green warned us about the wet, slick, muddy road, so we stayed an extra night to let it dry out. We left on Saturday, and had a long drive as we waited for some sections to dry out before attempting them, and in some places crew members took a slow ride on the back bumper of Katie's truck to get up slippery, muddy hills. Near the end of the road, at a particularly steep section above the Book Cliffs, we encountered a woman in a pickup truck who had slid off the road sideways and had one wheel hanging out over the edge. She was very stuck, and had been for hours. We could not get past her, and my crew and a passing bear hunter on an ATV tried to help her out. Since we could not move, we set up a cabin tent and camped in a nice spot with a good view. We made dinner, roasted marshmallows, made Jiffy Pop and told ghost stories, and the next day, after several hours of working, DWR officer Alan Green and my crew were able to get her out of her predicament and on her way. Finally we were able to head for home.
