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Show •( Kt } if Tfie Parfc Record C-6 Wed/Thurs/Fri, September 22-24, 2004 Canyon holds ancient secrets Obie Award Winner for uThe Vagina Monologues'7 f Winner of the "Freedom of Expression Award," Sundance Author of the soon-to-debut "The Good Body" A N EVENING WITH Activist, playwright and performer... ft". EVE ENSLER OCTOBER 2 (AP) The newly discovered ruins of an ancient civilization in this remote eastern Utah canyon could reveal secrets about the Fremont people, descendants of the continent's original paleoindians who showed up before the time of Christ to settle much of present-day Utah. Archaeologists estimate as many as 250 households occupied this canyon over a span of centuries ending about 750 years ago. rllicy left half-buried stonc-and-morUir houses, cob houses and granary caches, and painted colorful trapezoidal figures with spiky hair styles on canyon walls. "Its like finding a Van Gogh in your grandmother's attic," said Utah state archaeologist Kevin Jones. The Fremont, named after a Spanish explorer who never met them, remain a poorly understood collection of widely scattered archaic groups. Yet they represent a tenuous link to the earliest inhabitants of North America, who are believed to have arrived by way of the Bering Strait more than 10.000 years ago. As a culture, the Fremont were distinguished by their style of basket weaving, animal-claw moccasins and dual survival strategy of farming and hunting. 'llicir everyday tools and gray pottery were- different from the farming-dependent Anasazi south of the Colorado River _ even as they shared a similar fate. Both cultures packed up and left about the same time for reasons not fully explained the conventional explanation of drought is coming under question. What became of the Fremont and Anasazi also is a mystery. The earliest traces of Fremont life show up three centuries before the birth of Christ, but they disappeared around A.D. 1250. This unlooted canyon - turned over by a rancher who kept it secret for more than half a century - could have been one of their final strongholds. It could reveal why the Fremont were driven out of Utah and possibly left in isolated pockets to die off. More recently, makeshift sites found in northwest Colorado suggest to archaeologists they were forced into exile from their homelands by Numic-speaking Ule, Pauite and Shoshone tribes. Utah's Indian leaders take exception to thai, believing the Fremont are their ancestors who were absorbed into their more modern tribes. "'Hie sacred belief is that we are all related," said Mel Brewster. an archaeologist and historic preservation officer for Utah's tiny Goshute tribe of Skull Valley. significance of Range Creek under Already, archaeologists in Range wraps until news reports surfaced Creek have documented about 300 about the land transfer in June. sites - pit houses, granaries and Despite the publicity. Range rock art panels - but they've sur- Creek over the summer had only veyed only about 5 percent of the one suspected case of looting - two. canyon drainage and expect its knife blades flagged on the ground upper reaches and side canyons to are missing - and few random visiyield evidence of hunting and gath- tors outside of organized tours. ering, of slone tools and wild plant Springer said. foods. 'Hie ranch is a two-hour, axleRange Creek differs from other, breaking crawl over rock-strewn better-known ancient sites in Utah, roads - 34 jarring miles from the Arizona or Colorado Ixxause it has nearest unbroken pavement, which been left virtually untouched by happens to be the most remote looters, with the ground still littered stretch o( U.S. Route 6, a highway in places with arrowheads, heads that traces the 50-mile crescent of and pottery shards. the nearly impenetrable Hook Cliffs. But the scenery of Range Creek Up this road, where Wilcox says is more spectacular than the ruins, two head of cattle were lost over the which consist mostly of stubby side, the road plunges 1,500 feet into remains of pit houses. "You could Range ('reek. stand right on it and not know it," To safeguard the canyon, the said Corinne Springer, an archaeolo- Utah Department of Natural gist and Range ('reek's new caretak- Resources is rushing to adopt an er. interim management plan that will Still, this researchers canyon restrict hunting, prohibit camping offers a glimpse o\ the full ^efferves- and require visitors on foot or horsecence" o( Fremont life and a rare back to get permits and guides. On opportunity to witness "so many Wednesday I he Utah Legislature places where people lived and appropriated $152,000 for regular worked and farmed and gol ground patrols and aircraft surveilresources," Jones said. lance over the winier. Among recent finds are a paddleSo far, the canyon's subtle charms like wood shovel; a rare bundle of tell two talcs: traces of larger villages arrow shafts, found wedged in a just off the canyon bottom and canyon wall; a perfectly preserved defensive retreats as high as 900 feet beehive-shaped granary with a cap atop pinnacle and mesa tops. Jones stone, still a third full wilh piles of said. parched wild grass seed and corn; On low canyon terraces the and a pair of human remains from Fremont lived more sensibly, keepsurrounding federal land. ing watch on crops that produced a 'Ilie remains were covered with gritty diet of corn, squash and wild dirt and left in place. grass seeds, liiey could also keep "My dad told me we owned the watch for game, and judging by the land, but not the dead people," said animal waste bone left around pit Waldo Wilcox, 74. who kept out- houses, they were proficient siders at bay with a s^ate that went up hunters, favoring bighorn sheep. in 1947. Earlier this year his 4.200Archaeologists believe more caracre ranch was turned over to state bon-dating will show the Fremont ownership. Wilcox moved to Green retreated to the higher positions River and retired. toward the end of their tenure here. A few weeks ago Wilcox showed suggesting they were feeling pressome American Indian leaders how sure from other tribes moving he kept the ancient sites undisturbed through their territory. "so I won't take the blame 20 years The Fremont would have used from now." Among items taken by ladders, ropes or cords to reach other, previous landowners from the some of their granaries, set at imposcanyon are unfired clay figurines, sible heights "where you risk life usually impressed with facsimiles oi and limb getting to them," said Utah hair bobs and jewelry journalist and archaeologist Jerry Until recently. Range Creek was Spangler. Many cliffside caches arc all but unknown. An expedition inaccessible today except by use of from Harvard's Peabody Museum modern climbing gear and haven't made a stop in 1929, but visited only been visited. a lew sites lx:fore calling it a day. 'Die Fremont may have been Only in the pas! three summers have expert climbers, but at other sites in archaeologists and graduate stu- Utah some of their skeletons exhibdents quietly conducted a labor- ited the trauma of falling injuries. intensive survey. 'Ilicy kepi the full Jones said. 435 - 655 - 3114 Show starts at 7 : 3 ^ P- m * Tickets start at $15The Eccles Center is located at 17$O Kearns Blvd., Park City THE Ceorfc S. ML Doloroi Dori ECCLES CENTER for the Performing Art* Generously sponsored by: CentC Partners and Phoenix Gallery, Jennifer & Bernie Wein, Susan Pear/stine, Jim & Geralyn Dreyfous, Linda Selig Blonsley ~ The Grant Shoppe Also coining to The Eccles... ' 'The President's Own" United States Marine Band - Oct. 20, 2004 Bruce Wood Dance Company - Oct. 22-23, 2004 Forbidden Hollywood - Nov. 26&27,20Q4 i Jane Monheit - Dec. 4, 2004 Leahy - Dec. 18, 2004 Line 1 -Dec. 30 & 3 1 , 2004 Marc Cohn - Feb. 19, 2005 Los Lobos - Mar. 12, 2005 A Rainforest Odyssey - Apr. 15 & 16, • ,• I / 2605 the burning man issue, at all your favorite hangouts September 23. Sue Monk Kidd - Apr. 23, 2005 j . Sweet Honey in the Rock - May 1, 20|05 (Documentary Film- Apr. 30, 2005) NOTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW. EVERYTHING YOU CAN'T RESIST. |
