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As we drove along in the van, trying to take notes on the bumpy road, Jamie shared with us that finding artifacts and features help us to connect activities and what the day-to-day life of the Fremont might have looked like. (An artifact is a manmade thing that is transportable and a feature is something manmade that is not transportable.) Further down the road, we learned what constitutes a “site”, it was amazing to learn how many people thrived and sometimes struggled to survive in this canyon. (A single site is determined by the measurement of 15 meters. So, if there is a location where two features or artifacts are located more than 15 meters apart, they designate two different sites. There are currently over 500 known sites in Range Creek. In the first 4 days they surveyed they located 40-50!
By dating the artifacts, archaeologists have learned that some of the oldest sites used by these ancestral people are located on the valley floor. During this time, they thrived, food and water were abundant. Things like obsidian (stronger than chert) originating from Millard County and Malad, Idaho was found more frequently in the apex of these people. The more recent sites are located up higher in places very difficult/impossible to access. Based on artifacts found and not found in these locations life must have been more difficult during this time perhaps due to fewer resources and more competition for those resources.
We all have people who teach us or sometimes we learn from the past. Some “tricks of the trade”. In their grayware pottery, you may notice little black dots. Those black dots are crushed basalt which helps keep it from shattering in the heat. Another “trick” is the method of building a granary, they begin with a sandstone base, then add Juniper bark followed by an adobe floor. Why the juniper? The fragrant bark disguises the smell of the other items that may be inside. Many plants were for medicinal purposes, tobacco and food. Pine nuts are high in lipids. Some plants like rabbit brush and grease wood could be used to make digging sticks.
At the Wilcox Ranch, now serving as the Range Creek Field Station, we learned more about the cowboys and early settlers. It was amazing to hear about all the different settlers who made this canyon their home. Some, like the notorious cattle baron Preston Nutter, who also has history in Desolation Canyon and Nine Mile Canyon. The Downards, and Ben Morris who also spent time upstream at Rock Creek Ranch spent time here. And of course, the outlaws like Flat Nose George Curry. We really began to see that like these canyons, although so remote, those who lived/passed through here were very interconnected.
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