RANGE CREEK CANYON, Utah (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. They left half-buried
stone-and-mortar houses, cob houses and granary caches, and painted colorful
trapezoidal figures with spiky hair styles on canyon walls.
"It's 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.
Their 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 Ute, Pauite and Shoshone tribes.
Utah's Indian leaders take exception to that, believing the Fremont
are their ancestors who were absorbed into their more modern tribes. "The
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.
Already, archaeologists in Range Creek have documented about 300
sites -- pit houses, granaries and rock art panels -- but they've surveyed
only about 5 percent of the canyon drainage and expect its upper reaches and
side canyons to yield evidence of hunting and gathering, of stone tools and
wild plant foods.
Range Creek differs from other, better-known ancient sites in Utah,
Arizona or Colorado because it has been left virtually untouched by looters,
with the ground still littered in places with arrowheads, beads and pottery
shards.
But the scenery of Range Creek is more spectacular than the ruins,
which consist mostly of stubby remains of pit houses. "You could stand right
on it and not know it," said Corinne Springer, an archaeologist and Range
Creek's new caretaker.
Still, this researcher's canyon offers a glimpse of the full
"effervescence" of Fremont life and a rare opportunity to witness "so many
places where people lived and worked and farmed and got resources," Jones
said.
Among recent finds are a paddle-like wood shovel; a rare bundle of
arrow shafts, found wedged in a canyon wall; a perfectly preserved
beehive-shaped granary with a cap stone, still a third full with piles of
parched wild grass seed and corn; and a pair of human remains from
surrounding federal land.
The remains were covered with dirt and left in place.
"My dad told me we owned the land, but not the dead people," said
Waldo Wilcox, 74, who kept outsiders at bay with a gate that went up in
1947. Earlier this year his 4,200-acre ranch was turned over to state
ownership. Wilcox moved to Green River and retired.
A few weeks ago Wilcox showed some American Indian leaders how he kept
the ancient sites undisturbed "so I won't take the blame 20 years from now."
Among items taken by other, previous landowners from the canyon are unfired
clay figurines, usually impressed with facsimiles of hair bobs and jewelry.
Until recently, Range Creek was all but unknown. An expedition from
Harvard's Peabody Museum made a stop in 1929, but visited only a few sites
before calling it a day. Only in the past three summers have archaeologists
and graduate students quietly conducted a labor-intensive survey. They kept
the full significance of Range Creek under wraps until news reports surfaced
about the land transfer in June.
Despite the publicity, Range Creek over the summer had only one
suspected case of looting -- two knife blades flagged on the ground are
missing -- and few random visitors outside of organized tours, Springer
said.
The ranch is a two-hour, axle-breaking crawl over rock-strewn roads --
34 jarring miles from the nearest unbroken pavement, which happens to be the
most remote stretch of U.S. Route 6, a highway that traces the 50-mile
crescent of the nearly impenetrable Book Cliffs.
Up this road, where Wilcox says two head of cattle were lost over the
side, the road plunges 1,500 feet into Range Creek.
To safeguard the canyon, the Utah Department of Natural Resources is
rushing to adopt an interim management plan that will restrict hunting,
prohibit camping and require visitors on foot or horseback to get permits
and guides. On Wednesday the Utah Legislature appropriated $152,000 for
regular ground patrols and aircraft surveillance over the winter.
So far, the canyon's subtle charms tell two tales: traces of larger
villages just off the canyon bottom and defensive retreats as high as 900
feet atop pinnacle and mesa tops, Jones said.
On low canyon terraces the Fremont lived more sensibly, keeping watch
on crops that produced a gritty diet of corn, squash and wild grass seeds.
They could also keep watch for game, and judging by the animal waste bone
left around pit houses, they were proficient hunters, favoring bighorn
sheep.
Archaeologists believe more carbon-dating will show the Fremont
retreated to the higher positions toward the end of their tenure here,
suggesting they were feeling pressure from other tribes moving through their
territory.
The Fremont would have used ladders, ropes or cords to reach some of
their granaries, set at impossible heights "where you risk life and limb
getting to them," said Utah journalist and archaeologist Jerry Spangler.
Many cliffside caches are inaccessible today except by use of modern
climbing gear and haven't been visited.
The Fremont may have been expert climbers, but at other sites in Utah
some of their skeletons exhibited the trauma of falling injuries, Jones
said.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)