The Dirt on Archaeology: The San Rafael Swell Archaeological Project

I am recording Archaic-age Barrier Canyon Style rock art, lithic scatters and quarries, and other sites the San Rafael Swell, continuing the project started in 2008 and 2009. Some sites just need additional information about rock art panels or archaeological components, others have not been documented yet and are being mapped with a Trimble gps and recorded using IMACS. Days are hot, but beautiful, with occasional pockets of water in the sandstone.

I am investigating the relationship between local Archaic/Barrier Canyon sites and the Fremont of the San Rafael area, the use of local lithic sources for making stone tools, and how use of the landscape changed over time. Most of the sites investigated so far appear to date from about 5000 to 3000 years ago, and are likely associated with the same Archaic hunter-gatherers who made the galleries of beautiful hematite figures at the more famous sites such as Buckhorn Wash, Head of Sinbad, and Horseshoe Canyon.

Other sites include Fremont villages overlooking the Muddy River or Ivie Creek. Some of these have already been vandalized or previously excavated, and now we are documenting relationships to other sites. Still other sites are simply large scatters of lithic artifacts that were used over and over again by Archaic hunters throughout the last 5000 years, or earlier, and may have also been used by later Fremont farmers and Ute hunters.

One site appears to be a processing site for seeds, and probably represents the activities of a group of women, out harvesting, winnowing and preparing wild grains such as Indian rice-grass along a small water channel on the edge of the reef.

I am looking for 3-6 volunteers to help out in the field on Thursday and Friday, September 16/17, camping out overnight on the Swell. For more information, email me at renee.barlow@ceu.edu or call 435-613-5290 and leave a message with your phone number and the best time to reach you.