Rancher unveils Indian site kept secret for years

Associated Press ^ | June 24, 2004 | PAUL FOY

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[Rebelbase]

"the ground still littered with arrowheads, arrow shafts, beads and pottery shards in places."

My grandfather told my mother of similar places he would picnic at with his family in the 19teens. They considered that stuff trash at that point in time.

[Coyoteman]

Yeh, let the government jerks carry away all the best pieces to some university. No one will ever see these artifacts. They'll just sit in a drawer somewhere to rot away. Other artifacts will be stolen by government/university jerks and sold on the black market.

Sorry, that's not the way real archaeologists work. Don't believe me? Send me a private post and I'll be happy to share 35 years of experience with you.

[RightWhale]

Did these little people walk all the way across the desolate Bering Strait land bridge and then across Alaska all the way down to Utah? It's not easy walking across that kind of terrain.

[notpoliticallycorewrecked]

I know of an area that part of the Grand Canyon that is a forbidden area because it is tribal land. A teacher that my son had was privileged enough to enter it, to do some fossil research. The research was to complete his PhD. To enter that are the team had to get permission from the NPS, the BLM, the BIA and the Indian tribe itself. It took them months to get all of the paperwork approved for them to enter that area. That area had never been seem by a white men.

To actually enter the area, the trip involved a 4 wheel drive adventure, rafting and backpacking. I'm not sure but, I believe that he had to meet with or have a guide from the tribe.

[Lancey Howard]

BUMP!

[Serb5150]

Something tells me you'd be interested in this, and have probably already been in the area.

[TXnMA]

If you guys are really getting into this archeology stuff, you will enjoy our website, Texas Beyond History -- a joint project of the Texas Archeological Society and Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, et al.

Yep, here in Texas, we officially spell it "archeology" (without the "ae" diphthong...)

TXnMA
Texas Archeological Steward

[txhurl]

Oh, LUST.

Let's go.

[B4Ranch]

ping

[blam]

"If you guys are really getting into this archaeology stuff, you will enjoy our website, Texas Beyond History "

Ah, we cover Texas too.

Skeletal Remains May Be 11,000 Years Old (Lake Jackson, Texas)

[txhurl]

Let's remind our whale friend of the humongous giant hyenas that stalked the Bering Strait.. I'll have to hunt for the thread, it was a couple years ago.

[Cold Heart]

On the other hand, there are museums putting artifacts in storage so junior high kids can show how they intreprate history by displaying their art.

[MARTIAL MONK]

There are thousands of lesser sites scattered throughout the southwest. Anywhere there was water there were Indians at one time or another. The wildfires, particularly the Kendrick Mountain fire, are exposing an incredible number of small sites.

Once, while elk hunting in a driving snowstorm I topped a ridge and noticed several rock circles highlighted by the blowing snow. I rode up the canyon and there were dozens of the circles plus some larger rectangular outlines. Had I not been horseback or if the snow had not accented them I would never have seen them. There were still piles of flint and botched arrowheads where they had sat and chipped them out hundreds of years ago.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

PING.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Thanks for the ping. I think this Wilcox guy is a decent man...

This will be an interesting story to follow. :0)

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Maybe we'll be able to see some pictures next week. That would be cool.

[glock rocks]

The area up around Wellington and Myton is just thick with Fremont rock drawings. I've visited ranches in the area where you could just sit and ponder hundreds of petroglyphs all day. Here's a pic from Nine Mile Canyon in the area...

Here's an excellent picture tour of Nine Mile and driving instructions... pretty inhospitable desert country, but an amazing cruise.

[rustbucket]

Many years ago when I was young, there were potsherds all over the ground at places in Mesa Verde, Bandelier, Chaco, etc. They are long gone now, either surface collected by the parks to preserve them for study or taken by tourists. My parents would strap canvas water bags onto the outside of the car (which made for cool water to drink and water to fill the car when it boiled over) and off we'd go every summer visiting those places.

Ten years ago my wife and I backpacked into a Utah wilderness area and saw the same sorts of things I saw as a boy -- corn cobs, hemp rope, potsherds lying freely. You can still find them if you get off the beaten path. Three years ago my son and I used a GPS to hike off trail across a large Utah mesa and found an arrowhead and lots of potsherds spread across the ground. We left them where they'd been lying for centuries.

Marvelous story about the rancher and his ruin-covered land. I've never done much in the Book Cliffs except ride up dusty dirt roads and look out for rattlesnakes.

[Chad Fairbanks]

I hope so. This is awesome.