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Show Utah proves rich in ancient Indian lore, report indicates . Many years ago, long before the white man set foot upon Utah soil, primitive peoples of the San Juan, Paria, Virgin and Kanab River valleys began to raise corn on the alluvial fans left by the flowing streams. Thus began the prehistoric Indian culture known as the "Anasazi," which is Navajo for "the ancients." Little is known about the origin of the Anasazi Anas-azi people. Exactly where they came from remains the subject of controversy to this day. Some archaeologists believe these primitive people were descendents of Old World hunters hunt-ers who crossed the ice-bound Bering Strait from Siberia to inhabit North America. Others believe they are descendents of earlier nomadic races that came from South America. Whatever their origin, the Anasazi populations rose to prominence about1 1200 A.D. and then mysteriously disappeared disap-peared from the Utah scene, leaving lasting marks on the landscape . . . marks which . have become popular tourist attractions in modern times. The Beehive State's rich Indian In-dian lore, including ancient ruins, museums and artifacts, and pictographs and petro-glyphs petro-glyphs are being featured in this week's "See Utah" promotion promo-tion to encourage Utahns to become better acquainted with the prehistoric era of the state. The best and most extensive Indian ruins in Utah are centered cen-tered in the southern part of the state, the focal point of the late Pueblo periods of the Anasazi An-asazi culture. Hovenweep Na- tional Monument, in the remote canyon country north of the San Juan River by the Utah-Colorado Utah-Colorado border is one such -ite. It was set aside by presidential presi-dential proclamation in 1923 to protect a group of ancient buildings, perhaps the remnants of a prehistoric Indian village. Other Indian ruins are also widespread along the Colorado River and its tributaries, although al-though many of these are in remote, re-mote, isolated areas reached only by the ardent hiker or river runner. Archaeologists and anthro- I pologists from the University of Utah, working on a contract with the government, are currently cur-rently excavating Indian ruins in the Lake Powell area to learn as much as they can about the primitive people who lived there. These studies will be completed before water backs up behind Glen Canyon Dam to cover the sites. Another important site excavated exca-vated by the University of Utah and other colleges was the Coombs Ranch site near the town of Boulder, Garfield County. Here archaeologists uncovered un-covered one of the largest, open-air, ancient Pueblo villages vil-lages in Utah. Indian writings, called petro-glyphs petro-glyphs and pictographs, are also wide-spread in Utah. Just about every area of the state has its share of these ancient hieroglyphics. Petroglyphs were chipped, pecked or scratched on rock surfaces, while pictographs picto-graphs were painted on with red, white and even green or blue pigments, though the latter lat-ter two are rare. Most of the Indian writings feature mysterious myster-ious looking human figures, animals an-imals and strange undeciphered symbols. Tourists visiting Indian ruins or writings on public domain should be cautioned that it is against federal law to dig in them, disturb them or mar them in any way. The Federal Antiquities Act protects all archaeological ar-chaeological materials on government gov-ernment land. The major museums in the state where visitors can inspect in-spect Indian artifacts are the Temple Square Museum and the University of Utah Museum Mus-eum of Anthropology in Salt Lake City, Prehistoric Museum Mus-eum in Price, Fieldhouse of Natural History in Vernal, Pa-hute Pa-hute Indian Museum in Cedar City, Moab Museum in Moab, Avery Museum in Richfield, Leo Thorne Museum in Vernal, Chamber of Commerce in Kanab, Kan-ab, and exhibits at many of Utah's National Parks and Monuments. Spanish is the favorite foreign for-eign language of public school students according to the U.S. Office of Education. A new report re-port says that Latin is in second place and French third. |