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Show Kent Day digs the LYNDIA OOG GRAHAM LAYTON Trying to figure out Kent Day, director of the Layton Heritage Museum, is much like trying to work your way through one of the digs he has helped to excavate. Exploring his personality, if he would allow such a study, would be an endless task full of surprises. ' from doing wjork. Battles with bureaucracy todk their toll but not enough that Day could stay away from museums and on-si- Review correspondent Day has a weathered and tanned face, wears leather sandals and a denim jacket, and listens to classical music throughout the afternoon as he works at the muse- -. urn he has been so instrumental in creating. He says he is a gentleman farmer from west Layton but has dug through the soil of archeological sites throughout the Western world. , Easy and free with a hearty , laugh, Day said his first archeological job was digging out a latrine used the year before on his first site and the most recent was unearthing the outhouse foundation of the Dawson Hollow School in Layton for the Kaysville-Layto- n Historical Society last summer, What he doesnt like to say is that between the two outhouses exlie years of education, perience!, and teaching that make Days association with the museum one bf the most valuable treasures the museum possesses. Day was born and raised in Layton and atended local schools, graduating from Davis High. In 1962 he received his bachelors degree in anthropology from the University of Utah followed by a doctbrate in anthropology from Harvard University in 1971 1 In the 60s and 70s he was a field director and field assistant at several archeological sites in North and South America. Between 1971 and 1978, he was assistant curator of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada, a complex that could house the Layton Heritage Museum inside its main foyer. So considering his background, what is Kent Day doing back in Layton? Just what he says, it seems. He farms and he directs i on-si- te 'It's tough to develop rapidly, but it will continue to grow. The more we invest, the more people will be interested in the museum and the more they will support it; it's a spinoff digs altogether. Day said he first wanted to leave the Layton ares as a youth for more exotic placi s and greener fields, to meet di Ferent people and see different t lings, and he certainly reached tSat goal. While he has workes on many survey and excavatpn teams throughout the Western United States! he has done tishare of travel o work on sites; in South Americ a such as Tikal, Guatemala; Se bal, Guatemala; Chan Chan, eru; Lambayeque Valley, Peru aijd others. Ironically, one of the sites Day reported as most interesting was a site neajr Wendover, Nev., where he helpfed excavate a cave while still a student in college. n He skid tests showed ithe site to be one of the oldest inhabited spots in the state; however, artifacts found were not much different that the most recent prehistoric deposits, even though there would have time span, inbeen a 10,000-yehad the inhabitants dicating maintained essentially the same lifestyle all those years. radio-carbo- ar ing opportunities including positions at Harvard University and at Trent University in Canada. It was while he was teaching in Canada that he became the assistant curator at the Royal Ontario te Museum. After Canada, Day moved on to New Mexico where he was vice president of the Quivira Research and field director of the Quemado Archaeological Project in Quemado, N.M. He returned to Layton following the deaths of his parents, to take over the family farm and raise a little grain and some beans. Soon he also traded a study of ancient cultures for the more recent past of the Davis ICenter Kent Day Layton Heritage Museum curator The Great Basin was not the easiest place to develop, he said. They had no wheel, no metal, no domesticated animals, and no human burial sites. The excavations in South America also interested Day and he participated in several. The site at Chan Chan, Peru is the largest archeological site in South America, he said, with walls of adobe brick preserved by the desert atmosphere since 1,000 30-fo- ot A.D. Day said he enjoyed the associations he had, both with fellow workers and with the local natives, while he worked in South America. He also enjoyed the While in Peru he lived in a larger home and had live-i- n servants to help with the cooking and housekeeping. County area. He became associated with the Layton Heritage Museum in 1981 when it was nothing more than We definitely were not out grubbing in the locusts and sandstorms, he quipped. We werent just eating beans and dried com. Eventually, what Day called the bureaucracy was taking up more and more of his time. Dealing with local governments for permission to work at the various digs, getting money transferred from the states, postal strikes, and other problems became a real balancing act to keep things operating, an unfinished building plagued with money problems. There were no display cases, no office equipment, and no storage facilites in the museum. The heating system was only partly functional, the lighting system was incomplete, the walls needed a second coat of paint and there were very few items for display. But the museum was a dream coming true for the community. he said. When Day was back in the states, he had a variety of teach ? A w W. I 'M "V ill multi-buildi- the museum work. He admits to a little "burn-ou- t For years, museum committee members had been raising funds to get a museum and finally had. borrowed money from the city to get the building opened. A major boost for the museum came when the final payment was paid to the city and that payment, was turned back to the museum to be used for capital expenditures for the museum including a reception desk and display panels. The donation of money by the city and the acquisition of a director with Days background were two real boosts for the mu seum board. Goals were set for the next five years and displays were planned. The first goal, that of getting four permanent display cases, has almost been realized. The cases are nearly finished and soon will be moved to the museum. One case will deal with geology and geography, another with prehistory and ethnology, a third with mountain men and early settlers, and the fourth with the early history of Kaysville and Layton. Day said all of the cases will rely heavily on the use of maps, charts, photos and short texts and some material objects to illustrate the subjects covered in the cases IPs tough to develop rapidly, he said, but it will continue to grow. The more we invest, the more people will be interested in the museum and the more they will support it; its a spinoff, he said. So the museums future is planned and at least somewhat assured, but what of Days fu- ture? A crinkled grin is about all the answer youll get from Day oa that question. It may depend on how deep the family roots run into the family farm or how cold the winters get; Day isnt sure. He said he became interested in archeology to delve into the study of humans in the past, how they dealt with their environment and how they dealt with each if Layton and the Herare lucky, observMuseum itage ing the same things about the phases of Laytons history and his future in a growing community will keep Day home for a while. other.-Perhaps- ft , 8 Z iMi! : f 1 1' Staff photos by Robert Regan Pensive or enthusiastic, Kent Day, Layton Heritage Museum curator, is expressive about history and its preservation. j i ft I., , m td |