TLA and Hunt Oil Join to Preserve a Rare Acrhaeological Site In Book Cliffs
26-May-2004
STATE OF UTAH
SCHOOL & INSTITUTIONAL
TRUST LANDS ADMINISTRATION
675 EAST 500 SOUTH, SUITE 500
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 84102
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
TRUST LANDS ADMINISTRATION AND HUNT OIL JOIN TO PRESERVE A RARE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE IN BOOK CLIFFS
A rare type of archaeological site has been located, investigated and mitigated through the combined efforts of the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration and Hunt Oil Company. The location is a "wickiup" - a temporary log and brush hut used by Native Americans west of the Rocky Mountains. This one is situated in a remote location in Carbon County.
The wickiup site was discovered by archaeologists from Utah State University while surveying the area for cultural resources prior to the sale of a square-mile school trust section in the Book Cliffs of eastern Carbon County. USU was conducting the survey for the Trust Lands Administration, which typically conducts such surveys prior to sale or development of a piece of trust land. The site was considered so important that the agency asked USU Professor of Anthropology Steve Simms to fully investigate the site before sale of the land at public auction.
According to Simms, wickiup sites are "important because they offer a more complete window into the organization of forager camps and help archaeologists better evaluate older sites where only non-perishable stone artifacts survive the ravages of time. By studying the artifact patterns and remains on a site where a wickiup was known to exist, we can better understand which of the tens of thousands of older, less well-preserved sites once had wickiups and were thus places where people stayed for longer periods of time as opposed to more short-term camps or special-use sites," Simms adds.
This in turn will provide archaeologists with a better understanding of how Native American people lived in a given area and how that area compares to other areas in the West during the (approximately) 9,000 years before Europeans settled and took control of North America.
"Archaeology is all about patterns" adds Kenny Wintch, lead staff archaeologist for the Trust Lands Administration, "and the more detailed and complete the patterns available to you, the more you are able to understand how people were living in a particular region at a given point in time and how things changed through time in that region. But not all patterns are created equal; and just like a jigsaw puzzle, putting certain pieces into place speeds completion of the overall puzzle."
In addition to USU's investigation of this site, the Trust Lands Administration placed restrictive covenants on the site area which requires the buyer of the property - in this case Hunt Oil Company - and any subsequent owners to protect the site area into perpetuity. The agency uses such covenants when one or more archaeological sites in a sale parcel contain information that, like the wickiup, can answer important questions when studied scientifically. This allows private purchasers to assist in the process of preserving worthy archaeological sites for future research, an endeavor largely borne by federal and state agencies thus far.
The costs of the investigations at the wickiup site were split equally between Hunt Oil and the Trust Lands Administration. Thomas E. Muerer, Senior Vice-President of Hunt Oil, indicated that the protection of this site is consistent with the company's desire to be a responsible land steward and respect archaeological finds of this nature. According to Muerer, "Hunt Oil is pleased to join with Trust Lands in following the appropriate protocol to preserve significant cultural sites such as this."
Hunt Oil is the owner of the prestigious Preston Nutter Ranch in Carbon County, which is contiguous to the parcel where the wickiup site is located.
The School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration is an independent state agency which manages 3.5 million acres of Utah trust lands for the benefit of Utah=s schools and other public institutions.
For more information contact:
Dave Hebertson 801-538-5102
NormaLee McMichael 801-538-5105