Posted on 12/25/2007 3:12:31 PM PST by blam
Ancient petroglyphs lie amidst suburban sprawl
By BRANDON LOOMIS
Salt Lake Tribune
2007-12-24 00:00:00
ST. GEORGE, Utah -- An ancient 40-ton jungle gym of sorts, the massive burnt umber boulder anchors a neighborhood park and beckons suburban kids to clamber over its mysterious Anasazi etchings.
And climb aboard they do, sometimes even attempting to scratch their own marks before the adults run them off, neighbors say. Archaeologists typically warn against even smudging natural skin oils on the chiseled drawings or the rock's natural mineral glaze so they won't slowly melt away.
"I've climbed on it," acknowledged Melissa Cornwall, whose in-laws live next to backyard-sized Petroglyph Park in the city's Bloomington subdivision, near the meeting place of southern Utah's Great Basin and the Mojave Desert.
Odd as it sounds to don't-touch-the-art purists, in much of archaeology-rich Utah such a park is about the best that pre-Columbian buffs can hope for. The state's fastest-growing cities are gobbling up millennium-old rock art.
"This is our past. It's like our library," said Dorena Martineau, cultural resources director for the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah. Homebuilders long have surrounded or even dynamited the desert boulders that tell the old tales. Martineau's late father photographed and interpreted countless rocks before two Washington County dams flooded the area.
Now housing developers are capitalizing on and marketing petroglyph parks that give subdivisions a distinction but inevitably suck some of the soul out of sacred landscapes. It's a trend that many who love the panels of blocky stick people, bighorns and virtual space creatures believe is the only hope in a state lacking historic protections on private lands.
Having sprawled, with 137 percent population growth since 1990, St. George has Utah's most endangered rock art. But Anasazi and Fremont Indian petroglyphs and pigment-brushed pictographs are sprinkled generously across even northern Utah's sage-studded hills.
So generously, Utah State Archaeologist Kevin Jones said, that there's no good way of knowing how many have been destroyed or chipped off for living-room collections during the state's continuing population boom.
Nonetheless, Jones sees hope in the new vogue of ancient neighborhood lawn ornaments. When landowners cut trails around these boulders and erect signs demanding the respect they deserve, people respond.
It's a conspicuously cross-generational connection, where a 6-inch humanoid appears to be climbing a rope across a sun-baked sandstone edifice that is ringed by a St. George cul-de-sac.
Jones is especially excited about a Kanab developer's plans, which incorporate not just rock art but an excavated pithouse, clay pots and other relics from more than 1,000 years of Anasazi occupation before it became a cattle ranch.
Doug McFadden, a retired U.S. Bureau of Land Management archaeologist who has dug backhoe trenches through the red soils that surround the town, but he said this chance to excavate on private land is unique. The planned subdivision is on the west bank of Kanab Creek, and was claimed as private land more than a century ago for the same reason that the Anasazis lived and farmed there for so long: water.
The result is an exceptionally rich window into Anasazi life. McFadden is working for developer Milo McCowan, who has directed him to find the least-disturbing sites for roads and homes. Ultimately he plans to dedicate a museum exhibiting the culture that abruptly fizzled from the state around A.D. 1200.
The neighborhood preservation trend is creeping northward. Salt Lake County, with its 1 million residents, long ago paved over most of its ancient curios, State Archaeologist Jones said. But the west side of Utah Lake, which is the Wasatch Front's new growth monster, has a chance to keep history alive.
"I look at it as a real special amenity that not many places have," he said. "Whether or not that sells more houses, I'm not sure."
The Utah Rock Art Research Association, a band of amateur researchers, hopes the preservation movement spreads down a 20-mile stretch of petroglyphs along the hayfields west of the lake.
The state frequently sells off archaeologically important school trust lands to developers, she said. State trust officials have a mandate to earn money for the schools, but should encourage developers to save what's there, she said.
Petroglyph National Monument interpretation chief Diane Sowder said Utahns will add value -- both intrinsically and in property assessments -- by preserving their neighborhood heritage. But even setting aside thousands of acres, as Congress and Albuquerque did at her New Mexico park in 1990, has its trade-offs. It draws people.
"A tribal leader said, 'You've ruined it for us,' " Sowder said of the monument's creation. "Of course, we think we're protecting resources. But he meant he's less likely to use it as a sacred place.
"On the other hand, he wouldn't want it bulldozed."
Brandon Loomis can be reached at bloomis(at)sltrib.com
GGG Ping.
I think Anasazi stuff is really cool. The Southwest Indian Foundation does tours of ancient sites and modern Navajo and Pueblo settlements. I’d love to go on one some day.
SEE!!! I told you!! It was an outdated lie detector that got me fired from the Blockbuster.
I never took that trashbag full of old popcorn.
If I build a house, it is called the "American Dream"; if you build a house, it is "suburban sprawl"...
Was photography a part of the traditional native culture in this area? If not, they shouldn't get to use it and complain about modern life...
bmflr
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According to Intrade, the winner of the December 12th GOP debate was... Duncan Hunter.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1938773/posts
Why the smart money is on Duncan Hunter
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1926032/posts
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Thanks Blam. |
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Visited the Monument in Applejerky, not long afer it was created.
Seen several (and photos of many more) at ‘secret’ (often on private ranch land) in NM.
Valley of Fire StatePark, out side of Lost Wages, NV is jaw droppingly full of them.
Lots of them to be found in & around Arches N.P. & the greater Moab, UT area; dinosaur tracks there, too.
If you get into the northern & central NV deserts & hike at all, you may well find some...we have. Ditto the hinterlands of UT, though we never got to the Saint George, area except for food & lodging.
A few other places, too, most of which BLM or USFS or locals may or may not be willing to share the locations with you.
Locate; look; photograph; eyes on, hands off; share location only with those you KNOW have the same policy...especially about sharing.
Thanks!
Rancher unveils Indian site kept secret for years
Associated Press | June 24, 2004 | PAUL FOY
Posted on 06/24/2004 10:04:48 PM EDT by Dog Gone
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1159715/posts
Archaeologists Reveal Utah Canyon Filled With Ancient Settlements
AP | June 30, 2004
Posted on 06/30/2004 11:44:46 PM EDT by nuconvert
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1163480/posts
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