TIME TEAM AMERICA
Prepared an Archaeology Series, which aired on TV in the summer of 2009.
The photo shown was taken at Range Creek, UT
This is one of the few truly pristine archeological sites. This is because until recently, the area was privately owned. The state of Utah purchased the area and has limited access.
Range Creek is an archeologist’s fantasy, but looking at the picture I would have to decline any offer of being part of the team. YIKES! In fact, I don’t want to investigate anything that requires climbing.
I am not sure that I would have ever wanted to climb around on jagged rocks. But then, I never thought I would have volunteered to go the the geographic South Pole, which I did. Ah! Those were the days—now I am thrilled that I can still feel the excitement of discovery but can do it by watching videos online, or on TV.
FYI: I saw pictographs on a rock once, so I have a tiny taste of the excitement that archeologists experience at Range Creek.
If you have the opportunity to visit Range Creek, don’t expect to find easily accessible or impressive large-scale ruins like in other sites. Mostly what it offers is pit villages barely noticeable to the untrained eye, pictographs, and granaries built on inaccessible cliff walls.
One thing that makes Range Creek so valuable is the fact that there’s no hurry to excavate before the bulldozers come through. If you visit, PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB any artifacts! Once disturbed, that area loses its ability to tell archeologists the stories of the Freemonts who lived in the area nearly 1,000 years ago.