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<< Text Pages >> Range Creek - Ancient Village or Settlement in United States in The Southwest

Submitted by bat400 on Tuesday, 28 July 2009  Page Views: 10674

Multi-periodSite Name: Range Creek
Country: United States Region: The Southwest Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Price, Utah
Latitude: 39.421000N  Longitude: 110.202W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
 4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
 no data Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
 2 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
 4

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Ancient Village or Settlement in Emery County, Utah.
Rancher Waldo Wilcox realized his remote canyon home was a unique treasure, a living museum. Instead of exploiting the ancient artifacts himself, he closed off the canyon with fences at both ends and told no one about the things he had seen - for fifty years.
This amazing valley was home to people of the Freemont Culture around 600 to 1300AD. They lived in the same time frame as the Ancient Puebloans (Anasazi), but farther north in what is now known as the Great Basin in Utah.

In 2001 Wilcox approached sportsmen and legislators about opening the land in such a way that archaeologists and the public could see the sites, but like him, leave them in place. A complex usage plan was put into place as an interim step.

Originally the Freemont were thought to be less advanced than the Ancient Puebloans because they did not build large apartment style building complexes. However, more recent finds, including those here, show the Freemont to have a varied and complex set of technologies for making a living and detailed artistic sense. There are multiple village sites with the remains of pit houses with stone walls and timber supported roofs, storage vaults hidden in alcoves among nearly inaccessible cliffs, petrogylphs, burials, and discarded artifacts of daily life. Finds include building sites, stone tools of all types, baskets, pottery, figurines, grinding stones, leather shoes, twine, bits of cloth, and food remains. Archaeologists have GPS mapped over 300 separate sites within the 12 mile long canyon.

Called "the biggest archaeology story of 2004" when the secret public buyout leaked to the press, the story of the Range Creek finds was featured in the National Geographic Magazine August 2006 issue and a short film on the Archaeology Channel.
Currently the fences are still in place, the southern end of the area is off limits to visitors, and the Natural History Museum of Utah manages the site with a permit system allowing only 28 people per day into the area - on foot or horseback only - no camping - no camp fires. There is no visible interpretation and no guidebook. State rangers seem very happy that a sizable percentage of visitors leave disappointed because the site isn't spectacular and showy like the large building complexes of Canyon de Chelly and Mesa Verde. A few local guide services have applied for permits to take small groups into the canyon. This is probably the best method for a layman to get the most out of a visit to Range Creek.

Wilcox feared he made a wrong decision; that archaeologists will cart off the finds to museums and "hippies" will dig up the burials. Archaeologists feared that use by tourists will damage the sites and Indians promoting their religious views will cloud the meaning of the finds. Utah Indian groups were livid that they were not included in the initial planning and offended by the clinical interpretation of the Freemont culture. Hunters, fishermen, and hikers wanted to visit an area their tax money purchased and maintains.

Note: The location provided is general for the entire site, n ot for any specific feature.

[Information from David Roberts, "Guardian of a Ghost World", National Geographic Magazine, August 2006, Utah Division of Wildlife websites, and The Archaeology Channel website, among other sources.]

Note: 'Time Team America' at Range Creek. Episode aired 29 July 2009. See comment.
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"Range Creek" | Login/Create an Account | 6 News and Comments
  
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Scientific American Frontiers film on Range Creek by bat400 on Tuesday, 22 January 2013
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The PBS television show's item on Range Creek can be seen on YouTube: here.

Thanks to Dragonsinger for the link.
[ Reply to This ]

Range Creek on US Television by bat400 on Tuesday, 28 July 2009
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The Public Broadcasting System's 'Time Team America' visits (and excavates) at Range Creek, Utah. The show's website offers a preview of the episode that premiers 29 July 2009. After the first air date, the show may be viewed on-line.
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Re: Range Creek by Andy B on Saturday, 10 February 2007
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Fascinating, thanks!
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Ancient Flute Found at Range Creek, Utah by bat400 on Friday, 09 February 2007
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Submitted to the Portal by coldrum.

"A chance discovery by a Utah Division of Wildlife Resources conservation officer has led to a relic of the past in Range Creek.
The artifact will be displayed near the famous Pilling Figurines at the College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum in Price.

“'I saw there was a granary or habitation site on a cliff so I hiked up to it and was trying to get around on a small ledge that led to it,' explained Alan Green on Dec. 16.

"Green, other DWR personnel, archaeologists, museum representatives and a Ute Indian tribal councilman drove to the site of the discovery on Saturday.

“'I crawled around one narrow outcropping and looked at the ledge and decided to turn back. As I turned around, there it was, lodged in a crack in the rock right in front of me. I had passed it and hadn’t seen it, but it sure was obvious as I turned to go back,' continued Green.

"The object the DWR officer had spotted was an ancient 27-inch long flute. When Green reported the discovery to his superiors and fellow officers, a group of DWR personnel went to the site to decide what to do about the flute.

"The initial discovery took place in late fall. While the flute may have been lodged in the rocks for up to a thousand years, officials were concerned about what could happen to the relic during the winter or in the next couple of months until seasonal snows closed the canyon. "

More on the removal of the artifact and the efforts to respect such items and their makers with traditional ceremony can be found in the story at the Price, Utah Sun Advocate.

[ Reply to This ]

Prickly Prehistoric Protector Protests for Preservation by bat400 on Wednesday, 31 January 2007
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(Electra Draper, Denver Post Staff Writer, 27 Jan 2007)

"Waldo Wilcox has strong opinions on how his former 4,200-acre ranch in Range Creek Canyon should be treated. It holds scores of artifacts from the Fremont civilization...

Wilcox is the celebrity curmudgeon of eastern Utah - a man who sold his remote 4,200-acre spread to the state in 2001 for $2.5 million and revealed to the world a treasure trove of hundreds of largely undisturbed ancient Indian sites.

But the outspoken rancher has become something of a nuisance to the new stewards, as he freely expresses his concerns over their management, vandalism by others, artifact removal, dusty roads and dried-out fields...

Archaeologist Jerry Spangler, working with the University of Utah research team, said there have been two documented cases of missing artifacts and two of ground disturbance - one a full-blown looter's hole in the middle of a pit house.

The objects removed by the state - a tiny percentage of those found - were either so unusual they warranted laboratory analysis or were at risk of theft, Spangler said.

Wilcox was hailed as a great preservationist for guarding against looters and never digging up the remnants of the Fremonts, contemporaries of the Anasazi who also had largely left the area by about A.D. 1300."

But the blunt-spoken retired rancher also can make scientists, tribal representatives and bureaucrats grimace as he peppering his critisms with with labels like "squaw" and "hippie."

Still, Wilcox admits he's impossible to please: "I'm like anyone who sells out. ... They could gold-plate the place and I wouldn't be happy with what they done."

http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_5103109



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Re: Range Creek by bat400 on Friday, 22 September 2006
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As you might have guessed, I've never visited Range Creek. But Utah contains some of the most scenic canyonlands anywhere in the United States. I was taken through this area (including nearby Price and Green River) when I was a child. I'd love to go back and visit Range Creek.
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