Beehive History, Volume 3, 1977 by Utah Historical Society

-BEEHIVE ? HISTORY L

Melvin T. Smith

Director Stanford J. Layton Coordinator of Publications and Research

Miriam B. Murphy Beehive History Editor On a Dig in Southeastern Utah ...... Kay Sargenf Dr. Douglass and the Talking Tree-Rings........ DaphneOverstreet Clues to the Early Prehistory of Utah ........James H. Madsen, Jr. This Natural Clock Tells Time in Centuries .......Miriam 8. Murphy The Remarkable Cattai I ...................Thomas J, Zeidler Why Do They Call It Jerky?. . . . . . . . . . . . . What Does an Archaeologist Do? .....................Janet G.Butler Herschel C. Smith, Amateur Archaeologist. . . . . . Thomas J. Zeidler Common Utah Projectile Points ........ Geologic Time Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pictures from the Past ...................Miriam B. Murphy Dinosaur Skeletal Preparation. . . . . . . . . .

David B. Madsen State Archaeologist and Consulting Editor homas J. Zeidler Assistant Editor Janet G. Butler Assistan f Editor

James L. Dy)cmanandThwnasd.Xdh emavatlng at Westwater Ruin.

Photographsam from tha u t a h ~ t d g l a i o r i & l Soc~etycdlectlons unfess cr&iit@athewiw.

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3 8

18 20 21

22 25 26 27

28 32

FIG. 1. VIEW OF WESTWATER RUIN FROM ACROSSTHE CANYON. IN 1977THE NORTH HALF (SEE ARROW) OF THE SHELTER WAS EXCAVATED.

On a Dig in Southeastern Utah -

HERE'S A GLIMPSE OF HOW ARCHAEOLOGISTS WORK THE THINGSTHEY F1ND AND WHAT THOSE THINGS MEAN BY KAY SARGE NT

Westwater Ruin is located in southeastern Utah some three miles southwest of Blanding, San Juan County.The ruin lies in a large alcove or niche in the west wall of Westwater Canyon, a tributary of Cottonwood Wash. The alcove is about 20 meters above the canyon floor. Tlle cavelike room measures 15 meters wide by 30 meters long and is approximately7 meters high. Although ths is an arid to semiarid place, the vegetation in the immediate area is fairly plentiful. Various shrubs, cottonwood, scrub oak, juniper, and pinion grow in the vicinity. Westwater Creek has a more or less permanent supply of water. This must have been quite an attraction to the Anasazi, the aboriginal inhabitants of the area. (See fig. 1 .) T b Anasazi occupied south and southeastern Utah and nearby portions of Colorado

and Arizona. [See fig. 2.) Westwater Ruin, also known as Five Kiva House, lies within the geographic area once occupied by the Mesa Verde Anasazi. From field observations. archaeologists think that there are at least two compp nenis at Westwater Ruin. The firs? represents an eady period of Anasazi development. Basketmaker IIUPueblo I. The second component represents a later phase of Anasazi development called Pueblo 111. A Pueblo I1 component may also be present. Perhaps a quick explanation of some of the terms used here is in order. Site refers to a location or focus of prehistoric activity; the place where stone chippings were left from the manufacture of hunting tools. the remains of a campsite, the ruins of a dwelling or storage stmcture. When we say that two components

FIG. 2. MAP SHOWS THE APPROXIMATE LOCATION OF WESTWATER RUIN AND THE EXTENT OF THE ANASAZI CULTURE IN UTAH. THEANASAZI ALSO OCCUPIED NEARBY PARTS OF ARIZONA AND COLORADO.

are present, it means that the site was occupied by two different sets of people - either of different cultural groups or of different time periods. At Westwater Ruin occupation was by peoples of two or more different time periods of the same culture. The culture in question, the Anasazi, was based primarily on agricultural activity. Cultivated plants included corn. squash, and beans. The development of the Anasazi Culture is divided into a number of periods. Archaeole gists define a period by changes in the artifact inventory (tools, pottery, and other material goods used), subsistence (whether hunting, the gathering of wild plants, or farming was the main source of food), and changes in the archtectural style of structures. The Anasazi are also divided geographically. Westwater Ruin. for example, lies in the area occupied by the Mesa Verde Anasazi. In different geographic areas differences in pottery and architectural styles are found. Through its various periods, the Anasazi Culture has existed from about 2,000 years ago to the present. Modern Pueblo Indians are the descendants of the Anasazi. Archaeologists can determine who lived at Westwater Ruin and when they lived there by examining the kinds of pottery found and by studying the architectural details of their struchres. To answer the qumiions who? and whn? scientists compare information from Westwater Ruin with the known chronology

[sequence through time) of Anasazi development. Although much is already known about the Anasazi. the information from Westwater Ruin and other sites will help to define tlw Anasazi Culture and its development more clearly. So. we can see that archaeology relies a great deal on fitting facts (such as types of pottery, other artifacts, details of building canstruction, and dates of occupation) from a site like Westwater Ruin into an overall pattern of information from many similar sites. That is why archaeologists like to work at sites that have not been disturbed by pothunters and other vandals. Then the order and relationships of the artifacts and other information remain intact. The careful notes taken by the archaeologist during an excavation or dig preserve the information for any other scientists who may want to study it. Exploring expeditions have visited the area of the Mesa Verde Anasazi since the mid1800s.But no one knows when Westwater Ruin was first visited by non-Indians. Newspaper remains with a date of 1918 have been found at the site. In 1936 dendrochronological (tree-ring] dates were determined for two wood poles removed from Westwater Ruin by W. S. Stallings. The tree rings gave a date of A.D. 1243. well within Pueblo LlI times. More than 30 years

FIG. 3. INSIDETHE ALCOVE, LOOKING NORTH.

FIELD WORKERS ARE EXAMINING ARTIFACTS RECOVERED FROM SCREENING SOIL, ONLY THOSE DEWSITS FOUND INTACT OR UNDISTURBED BY LOOTERS WERE SCREENED.

later, in 1967,the Utah Museum of Natural History photographed and mapped Westwater

Ruin, The Antiquities Section, Utah Division of State History, began its excavations at Westwater Ruin in mid-July1977 at the request of the Navajo Development Council. The most urgent reason for excavating Westwater Ruin was the continuing destruction of the site. Because Westwater is close to the town of Blanding and has a road leading directly to it, pothunters have made the site a favorite target of their illegal activity. Nevertheless. the Navajos and the state archaeologists wanted to see if any information could still be salvaged. The northern half of the site was excavated in the summer and fall of 1977.(See figs. 3 and 4). As excavation began. the archaeologisls saw the extent of the damage done by vandab. Recent visitors had scratched and painted names and dates on the shelter walls. Material foreign to the Anasazi - paper, tin cans. gum wrappers, cartridge shells - was found everywhere. Thls must be one of the most vandalized archaeological sites in the state. As a result, the archaeologists found many artifacts out of context. That is, the looters with their digging had shdted artifacts from their original location in a particular soil level. Artifacts found out of context have little scientific value. The archaeologists dug their first test trench into the midden (refuse heap] that sepa-

FIG. 5. PHOTOGRAPH AT TOP CLEARLY DEMON-

STRATES THE RELATIONSHIP OFTHE TWO COMWNENTS. ARROW A POtNTS TO LEVELOF ORIGIN OF LATER COMPONENT, ARROW B TO MASONRY WALL OF LATER COMPONENT, AND ARROW C TO CLAY FLOOR OF AN EARLIER STRUCTURE.

FIG. 6. TAKING ACCURATE NOTES IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PARTS OF FIELD ARCHAEOLOGY.

FIG. 4. STRUCTURES IN NORTHERN HALF OF WESTWATER RUIN. NOTE ROCK SHELF IN UPPER LEFT OF PHOTO; THIS ONCE CONTAINED MASONRY STRUCTURES TOO.

rates the south and north halves of the site. A test trench is dug to determine site sbaljgraphy -what soil layers are present and which components are associated with them. Next, the test hench was extended to the north and to the outside of the central stone masonry structures. This was done to determine the level of o w - which soil layer was on the surface when the structures were built. The archaeologists soon found that there were earlier structures beneath the visible stone and mortar constructions. These earlier. hutlike jacales were made of wood posts. dried mud and clay. and juniper bark. The posts were set into the sand-

FIG. 7. ONE OF THE KlVAS AFTER EXCAVATION, SHOWING AIR CIRCULATION SYSTEM. LONG VENT

SHAFT, ARROW A, BROUGHT IN FAESH AIR FROM OUTSIDE. AIR HIT DEFLECTOR, ARROW B, AND SO MOVED IN BOTH Dl RECTIONS AROUN D ROOM. DEFLECTOR ALSO PROTECTED FIRE HEARTH, ARROW C, FROM DRAFT.

stone bedrock. Several postholes a

themselves were lined with clay and 7.1

Among t h ~pottery found were various plain gray, corrugated gray,and black-on-white items. A few plain white, red-on-bIack, and red-on-orange the& or fragments were also

unearthed. is a circular dwelling, partly is thought to have had reli Several smaller. semirectan add-ons to the kivas - were also All three kivas contained clay-ri hearths, deflectors, vent shafts, plastered walls. (See fig. 7.)' The Anasazi who built floors into the sloping bedro living surface. They made the walls

From these finds the archaeologists cob cluded that these Anasazi depended basically on agriculture. However, they also used wild plants, especially as a source of fiber for textiles. The presence of a large amount of bird

smaller structures were m rocks and more mortar, form appearance. The clay.

pots [see fig. lo), wo shaped wooden pla spectacular artifacts, were found. The ar and woven textil

amount of stone chipping debris.

THE EXCAVATION TRENCHES.

feathers - including many from turkeys indicates that these Anasazi probably raised turkeys. From the lack of bones at Westwater Ruin, it appears that the hunting of animals contributed little to the diet of the people who lived there. Although several impressive artifacts were found. we must remember that in mast cases these were items accidently missed by pothunters. As a result, some artifacts are of uncertain origin. Their value to archaeologists is less than if the items had been found in context with the other artifacts of the people who made and used them. When the excavation of Westwater Ruin is complete and all the artifacts have been analyzed in a laboratory, archaeologists will be able to teU us more about the life of the Anasazi who lived in t h i s shelta near Blanding, Utah, centuries ago. ~ a Sargent . is an archaeologist with of State History and padcipated in Westwater Ruin.

the Utah bivislon the excavation of

FIG. 10. ONE OF SEVEFqnL CORRUGATED POTS

FOUND DURING EXCAVATION. SOIL SAMPLES FROM INSIDE THE POT WILL UNDERGO POLLEN ANALYSISTO DETERMINE WHAT IT ONCE

CONTAINED. THE STYLE OF THE POT W l l l WHAT CULTURE AND TIME PERIOD IT REPRESENTS.

Dr. Douglass and the Talking Tree-Rings HIS CALENDAR OF WOOD IS USEDTO D A f E ANCIENT INDIAN SITES IN THE SOUTHWEST BY DAPHNE OVERSTREET

If his ideas were right, then one could "read" the messages written about weather during the life of the trees. Trees,then, living in a particular geographical area, were capable of providq a long calendar of rainfall, one ring for each year, that predated any written records kept by man. These ideas that bubbled in the mind of 34-year-old Douglass were the foundation of a new science he was about to pioneer. Later he called the science dendrochronalogy, which means "tree time" in Greek. What he did not know then was that his idea of building a tree-ring calendar would eventually be used for reasons other than studying the weather. His new method would

In the summer of 1901, during a trip by

buckboard through northern Arizona, Dr. Andrew E. Douglass began to hear the trees "talking." It was just a hunch at first - an idea he had that the pines and firs he was passing through might be like living books, jotting down records of how they passed the time. A tree's job is to grow, Douglass reasoned. And in the Southwest the most important event in a tree's life is the amount of rain that falls. Since the pines and firs put on one layer of growth each year, Dr.Douglass speculated that in wet years, this growth Iayer, ortree-ring, should be much wider than a ring put down during a year of drought.

DR. WUGLASS IN HIS OFFICE AT THE LABORATORY OF TREE-RING RESEARCH, UNIVERSIT'r u i ARIZONA,

IN THE LATE 1840s. PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF THE LABORATORY OF TREE-RING RESEARCH. 8

be used by archaeologists to date ruins and prehistoric events all over the world, but

the American Museum of Natural History asked a question on behalf of archaeologists

most notably in the American Southwest.

that opened up a new field in dendroehrs

Dr. Douglass wag a relative newcomer to the West in 1901, when the trees began to speak to him. He was born in Vermont in 1867 and later studied astronomy in Connecticut. When he graduated from college in 1890, he joined a graup of Harvard astron* mers on an expedition to Peru. There they studied Mars from a lofty peak high in the Andes for three years. It was after the Peruvian adventure that Douglass came to Arizona at the request of the famous traveler and financier Percival Lowell, who wanted to establish an observatory. Lowell selected the "cool pine oasis" of Flagstaff, Arizona, for the observatory and put Douglass in charge as soon as it was built. For seven years Douglass researched diligently under the white dome. But his own interests about sun spots and their effect on weather caused him to look outside the observatory for answers and information. This interest and curiosity Ied him to consider the "talkative pines," as he called them, and the stories they could tell about the years of rain and drought. In 1902 Douglass ran for probate judge of Coconino County. He set off in a buckboard to campaign in the small towns and lumber camps. During his trips through the wilderness he would often stop, tie up the horses, and examine the ring patterns of a felled tree in the forest. News of his interest in bee-rings spread through the logging camps, and lumberjacks saved choice stumps for the scientist. In each camp a group of men knotted around Douglass and listened to him explain what he saw in the specimens. The election was a landslide in favor of Douglass and he was later reelected. For the next few years, when he w a s not busy in the courtroom, he could be seen at the Arizona Lumber and Timber Company in Flagstaff, his nose pressed against a log and a hand

nology. Was it possible to build a tree-ring calendar to find out the occupation dates of prehistoric ruins? he asked Douglass. Though archaeologists in the Southwest knew a great deal about the ancient Indians who lived in placed like Mesa Verde and Pueblo Bonito, the tribes left no written language and no calendars. The archaeologists faced a dilemma. They had truckloads of pottery and prehistoric tools, but they could not determine the occupation dates of the southwestern ruins. The archaeologists strongly suspected Douglass was more interested in sun spots than the age of old ruins, but they asked him to help them find an answer. He accepted the challenge and six years later the Southwest had the most precisely dated prehistory of any area in the world. Douglass began by telling the archaeol* gists that he would have to know more than what living trees could tell if he was going to build a long calendar, or chronology. Specimens from living trees usually pushed the calendar back only a few hundred years, but the ruins were much older than that. "When we reach the earliest date which the oldest weather recording tree can tell us about, it becomes necessary to search for roof beams that have been cut and used by man before the now living trees took up the story," Douglass explained. After the beam samples were collected, Douglass said the ring series from the beam

lens to his eye. Then in 1906 Douglass joined the faculty of the University of Arizona in Tucson where he taught and did research for 55 years. There he pursued his two interests in a laboratory where astronomical instruments and treering specimens sat side by side. It was in 1923 that Dr. Clark Wissler of

WIDE AND NARROW RINGS IN THIS DOUGLAS FIR SPECIMEN HELP DENDROCHRONOLOGISTS UNDERSTAND PAST WEATHER PATTERNS OR BUILD A CHRONOLOGY FOR DATING RUINS. PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF THE LABORATORY FOR TREE-RING RESEARCH.

ce, and btatakin.

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extracting every bit of information it held. Then after dinner he was sure of the answer. He sat at a small table lit by a hanging gas lamp. Four archaeologists clustered around

him. "I think we have it," he said c a M y . Then with characteristic dignity he related the exact occupation dates of the 40 major southwestern ruins. His work was a milestone in archaeology. Not only had he turned time back on a grand scale, but he had built an unbroken weather record 1,200years long. To this day Douglass's tree-ring system is used to date the ruins left by ancient people. The University of Arizona established a tree-ring laboratory in 1937 where Douglass served as director until 1960 when he retired at the age of 92. It is the one facility of its kind in the world dedicated only to tree-ring studies. Today Douglass's work is carried an by a small group of scientists and researchers who are developing new techniques to understand and interpret better the language of trees.

1930

1920

1910

Though beering information is still being used to date historic and archaeological structures, scientists have been developing new uses. Today tree-rings are used to date geological events in watershed and hydrological studies, in forestry and botany, and of course for information about climate. Shortly before his death, Dr. Douglass wrote in a letter to a friend, "I believe I have found the cause that profoundly affects droughts and floods. I feel confident that it will be possible to predict these generations ahead, but there are some very complex details that will take immense calculations." Douglass died before his finaI breakthrough. It is for the next generation of scientists to build on his tree-ring work. The study of tree-rings is still quite new, and there are many discoveries and applications yet to be found. What else can trees telI us? In what new ways can we use tree-ring information? The challenge is yours. Ms. Overstreet is associated with the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona. Tucson.

19031890

THE RING PATTERNS MATCH AND OVERLAP BACK INTO TIME

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was cut whlle still living

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Specimens taken from ruins, when matched

I CHART SHOWS HOW ATREE-RING CALENDAR C A N BE MADE BY OVERLAPPING OLDER AND OLDER WOE SPECIMENS. BASED ON STALLINGS AND JENNINGS.

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Clues to the Early Prehistory of Utah

PALEONTOLOGISTS READ THE ROCKS ALMOST AS EASILY AS YOU READ YOUR BOOKS BY JAMES H MADSEN. JR

THE EARLIEST RECORD

The title "clues to the early prehistory of Utah" may be read in different ways. To the archaeologist it suggests human activity and the discoverv of associated artifacts dating back from about 200 to 15.000 years ago. But to the paleontologist it brings to mind the fossil remains of the plants and animals that inhabited Utah during the last 600 million years - long before the first human habitation. The full story of such a n immense span of time would be much too long for this magazine. So, let's omit the first three-fourths of the earth's history and begin our storv a mere one billion vears ago. Little organic evidence can be found to reconstruct the life of Prec a m b r i a n times, because those organisms had no hard parts to be preserved as fossils. Hnwever. a formation that outcrops in Big Cottonwood Canyon east of Salt Lake City the Cottonwood Tillite - does provide an

SKULL AND MANDIBLE OF THE DINOSAUR ALLOSAURUS FRAGILIS, BASED ON A DRAWING BY SANDIE KESLER.

important clue to Utah's climate a billion years ago. At least part of Utah was covered by glacial ice during the end of the Precambrian period. How can we tell? The record of the rocks can be read as easily as the pages of a book by the paleontologist or geologist who uses one of the most basic, important, and logical concepts in the earth sciences: the p m t is the key to the past. This phrase means that when we compare the results of modern glaciation with the record in the rocks of Big Cottonwood Canyon, for example, we can conclude that the same causes produced identical results. Another important principle i n understanding the record of the rocks is the law of superposition. This law states that the oldest formations were deposited first and. therefore. are on the bottom of the stack. Later deposition of sedimentary units or strata are each one on top of the other. The latest. or

most recent. is on the very top - providing, of course. that the layers have not been disturbed by faulting or folding.

THE APPEARANCE OF FOSSILS In Big Cottonwood Canyon the rocks overlying those of glacial origin record more changes over the next several hundred million years. There we see e monotonous sequence of drabcolored limestones and quartzites that indicates a transition in deposition and environment from an emergent land surface covered with glaciers (very cold and lacking fossils of any kind) to a shallow inland sea with a few recognizable fossils. A period of more or less continuous deposition in which the greater part of western Utah was rapidly subsiding is indicated by the limestones. This sinking allowed flooding by shallow marine seas, an episode that was more or less continuous for the next 150 f million

years. The fossiliferous gray and buff limestones are the lithified (changed to stone) products of the lirney ooze deposited on the bottom of such an ocean. Much of Utah was covered by one of western America's great oceans for millions of years. Reference has been made to an ocean. and limestone is definitely a very good d u e . but what else? A closer look at the rock outcrops often reveals a variety of fossils that become noticeably more complex from the bottom to the top of a thick rock sequence. Near t h e bottom are trilobites (see fig. 11. Those remnants of past life are commonly found in t h e limestones of western Utah. They provide an excellent clue to the paleontologist about the depth and, most importantly. the age of the sediments around them. which in this case are approximately 500 million years old. A little farther u p in the stack of limestones deposited some 400 million years ago you can find the shell-like remains of Utah's f i r s t fish w i t h tongue-twister names like Cepholaspis, Protuspis. and how about this one - CardipeItis (see fig. 21. Farther up yet in the pile of liillestones one may see other signs of change. Remember the law of superposition? The limestones begin giving way to shale. meaning that the oceans are either withdrawing, becoming shallow, or a combination of the two. One of the best places to

FIG. 2. DORSAL SHIELDS OF PRIMITIVE DEVONIAN FISH FROM THE LAKESIDE MOUNTAINS WEST OF GREAT SALT LAKE: ABOVE, CARDIPEL TIS: BELOW, PROTASPIS.

t-lti. 3. FUSSIL PLANTS FRVM THE MISSISSIPPIAN SHALES WEST OF UTAH LAKE.

view the evidence of this change is west of Utah Lake. There, in several clay quarries, are beautifully preserved remains of Mississip pian plants that are approximately 300 million years old (see fig. 31. The fossil leaves tell us that a land area was near and the water shallow. Although the fossil and rock record can be read fairly well in the rocks within a distance of 25 miles from Salt Lake and Utah valleys, there are specific localities in Utah that have a more complete and clearer record - but back to our story. Following a relatively brief period of emergence, Utah goes under water again, and the rocks once more record the evidence of past life in a marine environment with animals such as brachiopods and cephalopods. The trilobites are quite rare in this part of the record. Evidence is strong that more successful forms may have outhunted or outcompeted them for the necessities of life.

THE FIRST DYING TIME Finally, this lengthy episode of many oceans is marked by great changes in the rocks, most dramaticalIy illustrated by their color. The gray limestones give way to buffs, yellows, oranges, and shades of red. In terms of radical differences in life forms this may

be called the end of one of several great dying times. The trilobites are gone, all extinct. Many kinds of brachiopods are gone, extinct too, and only a relatively few familiar ones survive. Most of the brachiopods were replaced by similar forms, their cousins the pelecypods, the more successful animals that we commonly call clams. Why were some animals more successful than others? Let's take a closer look at the cause and effect of very close competition. Brachiopods and pelecypods are fairly similar as far as environmental needs are concerned. They are both bivalves and have similar food and oxygen requirements. But there are two significant differences. First, the shells of the brachiopod are opened and closed by two complex sets of muscles. But the shells of the pelecypod are closed by a single set of adductor muscles and opened automatically by an elastic pad when those muscles are relaxed - a remarkable conservation of energy. Second, the feeding apparatus of the brachiopod is relatively complex and sensitive. In contrast, that of the pelecypod is simple and less sensitive to chemical and other contaminants. The case seems

straightforward, although oversimplified here: all things being environmentally equal, the pelecypod had a clear edge in surviving

matic change took place that produced what one geologist calls the "great sandpile." During this span of time huge accumulations of wind-blown sand were deposited in eastern and southern Utah. They make up many of the scenic rock formations seen in Canyonlands and Arches National Parks.

THE DINOSAURS APPFAR

4. - OF A PELECY WD{LEFT) AND A BRACHIOPOD (R1GHT).

or competing successfully against the brachi* pod when things got tough. Back to the main story. Where the rocks are reddish they indicate an emergent Utah with, perhaps, only restricted, shallow water areas. Good examples of these red rocks some 200 million years of age are seen in the mouth of Parleys Car~yurior1 the east side of Salt Lake Valley and in many other scenic areas of Utah. Although there are no really good organic remains of ancient life in these sediments there is the next best thing - trace fossils. Trace fossils are the tracks and trails of former Utah residents. Such traces are really quite common in Utah all through our state's rock record. Some of the oldest are thought to have been made by trilobites (fig. 1). Others from the red beds mentioned above were made by amphibians and early dinosaurs and their crocodilian cousins (fig. 5). Those of numerous, later dinosaurs that ambled about in Carbon and Emery counties (fig.6) are locally well known to residents and visitors in eastcentral Utah. In fact, a world's record track that measured 48 inches in length was collected from one of the many coal mines in Carbon and Emery counties and is now on exhibit in a museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. An accurate cast of this giant footprint may be seen in the Utah Museum of Natural History (fig. 7) at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, a good place to see exhibits of Utah's other "very senior" citizens. Foilowing the deposition of the red beds there was a brief interlude when another shallow marine sea invaded Utah once more. It then withdrew suddenly as a dramatic cli-

In the next few pages of Utah's rock-record is one of the most dramatic sequences in the whole story - the dinosaur chapter. There are few places in the entire world where this part of geologic time is as well illustrated. Much of the eastern half of Utah was a playground for dinosaurs. A brief part of their life and times is well documented in the rocks

CALLED PTEROSAURS.

FIG. 6. REWILE TRACK FROM NEAR DEVIL'SSLIDE

of Dinosaur National Monument east of Vernal, Uintah County, and south of Price in Emery County at the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry. Following this first dinosaur episode the marine seas invaded Utah one last time, leaving the remains of familiar forms such as fossil clams, oysters, and sharks' teeth, not to mention the coiled shells of cephalopods (fig. 8). The shelled cephalopods are survived by modern counterparts such as the pearly nautilus, the octopus, and the squid. Finally, with numerous fluctuations, the oceans withdrew from the region for the last time. Then the great thicknesses of vegetation began accumulating that would become the coal of today. A second group of dinosaurs might have been seen frolicking in east-central Utah not suspecting that they, as many other groups of the past, were about to make their last appearance on the Utah scene. Although these last gigantic saurian residents of Utah left few bones, their tracks are common in the coal mines of east-central Utah They walked across the vast thicknesses of vegetation leaving footprints that were rapidly filled with sand and clay that continued to accumulate to great depths. In time the vegetation was changed to coal by the great pressures and temperatures generated at depth. The sand was changed to sandstone and the clays to shale. Today, as miners remove the coal they expose the tracks which often ornament the ceiling or back of the coal mines.

THE SECOND DYING TIME The accumulation of vegetation that was to become coal, the last withdrawal of the great oceans, and the rumbling that signaled the onset of a time of mountain building and severe climate change.- these three events heraIded another great dying time that would remove all of the dinosaurs from the scene forever. The period of mountain building and climate change that erased the dinosaurs once and for all was followed by worldwide changes to seasonality that could best be tolerated by endotherms (warm-blooded animals). So it was that the furry animals we call mammals and the feathered ones we call birds became the dominant, land-living, vertebrate animals.

As mammals became more widespread and diverse there was another invasion of the land by a body of water. This time the water was fresh, however, forming an immense lake that almost surrounded the young Uinta Mountains. The fossil record of the Green River lake system is as perfectly preserved as could ever be expected with such diverse fossils as bird tracks, many kinds of fish, bird feathers and bones, flowers, leaves, turtles, numerous mammals, lizard skins, mollusks, and crocodilians. This period represented the last, well-documented chapter as far as fossils are concerned. Even though the sedimentary record continues right up to the present, no more exceptionally significant fossil accumulations have been found in Utah.

FIG. 7. DINOSAURTRACK FROM AN EMERY COAL

MINE.

THE LAST CHAPTER

Still, one last chapter was recorded, Being the last, it is most easily read in the bands of sand and gravel that rim the Utah and Salt Lake valleys as we11 as many of the Great Basin valleys to the west.These are the beach and near-shore deposits of ancient Lake Bonneville, a remnant of which survives now as North America's only inland salt sea, Great Salt Lake. This was the last, and therefore the most recent, time of great change, a time when glaciers capped the Uinta Mountains canyons to the east of Salt Lake. North Arnerica was in a real deep freeze, and the animals of this region suffered one last dying time. Familiar forms like deer, coyote, bobcat, cougar, porcupine, ground squirrel, skunk, weasel, and bison survived. The saber-tooth cat, ground sloth, horse, camel, and mammoth could not tolerate the change from an

CEPHALOPOO GULCH EAST OF THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH-

FIG.^.

FOSSIL BIRD SOLDIERS SUMMIT.

TRACE FROM NEAR%'-=

arctic climate to one that is comfortable to us who now survive in temperate North

I I I I

America. What of the fossil record that we have read? What is to become of the fossils that illusbate each page? If the fossils are taken away it will be as if the pictures are cut out of our book. If the pictures are gone, who can understand the pages? Who will want to read the pages? As we witness the continuing destruction of well-known fossil beds in Utah, we wonder how much longer they will last. Whose grandchildren will be able to hike the trails of Utah and see trilobites, bird tracks, fossil fish, dinosaur bones, and petrified wood? I think my gandchiidren will still be able to see some of these clues to Utah's prehistory, How about yours? Mr. Madsen is the state paleontolopist of Utah.

<p i.

THE C-14 IN ALL PLANTS AND ANIMALS GIVES CLUES TO THE DATE OF ANCIENT f INDS . .'a> ;

;*-,iA4 :

5 s&,: :tLAll living things contain radioactive carbL:%;

-'-

>on 14 (C-14). Because they do, scientists can animal remains from an archaeological site and tell about how manv years ago people lived there. This natural clock is "wound up'' by cosmic ray neutrons that bombard the earth's lpper atmosphere, changing nitrogen 14 tr carbon 14 (N-14f n = C-14).This radioactive isotope of carbon easily combines with test plant and

r' y;:*+,.

oxygen to form carbon dioxide. In that form. the C-14 enters all organisms as part of themL7:; normal oxygen-exchange process of all l.5, living plants and animals. As long as a per-*$; son, a tree, a deer, or any other plant or ani-' * ma1 is alive, it continues to receive a steady,, supply of C-14. When a plant or animal dies, oxygen-?;; exchange stops, and no more Cr14 is absorbe&$si

1 the

almosphere, Then, the natural clock

begins to "run down." The C-14 begins to decay. In 5.570 years the plant or animal will

have lost onehalf of its C-14. That is why 5,570 years is called the half-life of C-14. As GI4 decays it is changed back to nitm gm 14 and in the process emits or releases a beta particle. By measuring the number of beta particles being released, scientists can tel! about how long ago the plant or aairnal

died. If a tree were cut down today, ea,ch gram of waad from that tree would release about 15 beta particles every minute. In 5,570 years a gram of wood fr6m that same tree would release about 7 $ beta particles .per minute. In another 5,570 years (or half-life]the number of beta particlei released would be about 3 %. The best-plant or animal remains t.o%wf far age by radiocarbon dating are charcoal, wood, bone, shell, and horn. Archae~llogists usually find one or more of rhose materials

at a prehistoric site. Samples are carefnlly

selected and handled to avoid contamination. Then they 'are sent to special laboratories equipped with sensitive and accurate radiocarbon counters that can measure beta radi Zion from plants and animals that have been dead for as long as 5[1,900 years. When testing is completed, the archaeolagist will have a fairly good idea of how long ago. a prehistoric hunter killed a deer for his dinner ox when a tree was cut down to use -as a beam for a dwelling or when the hunter himself died. Knowing whkn iin event took place is just as'importaM as knowing what the event was and why it'bappened.No one will ever write a history book without dates in it. Archaeolagists, too, need dates ta fell the story of the prehistoric peoples who lived in what is now

The Remarkable Cattail FOOD AND SHELTER FOR PREHISTORIC MAN POSSIBLE ENERGY SOURCE FOR TOMORROW

BY THOMAS J. ZEIDLER

It is known as flag, reed mace, and Typha latifolia. but its common name is cattail. It can be found in marshes and by shallow lakes and skeambeds throughout Utah. Most people, if they think about cattails at all, consider them a s something to hide in or wade through while duck hunting. American Indians, however, have recognized cattails as an important food plant for centuries. This is not as odd as it seems if we remember that both corn and potatoes were strange and exotic plants to the first Europeans who came to this hemisphere. Yet, today both are common fare on dinner tables. In the spring young cattail shoots can be cut from the rootstmks and. after pulling off outer leaves. can be eaten raw or in salads. If the shoots are longer than one or one and a half feet, they can be boiled for about a halfhour and eaten with butter and salt. When the flower stalks appear later in the season, they can be removed fromtheir sheaths and boiled. They can then be eaten like ears of corn. When more ripened, the pollen-producing flowers can be removed by hand to make muffins, cookies, and pancakes (see below for pancake recipe). If the flowers are roasted in an oven at 350 degrees F. (175 degrees C,) until completely dry, they can be stored in a dry, closed container. The Paiute Indians gathered baskets of pollen in the summer to make a breadlike food they cooked in a "cattail dutch oven." They first laid green cattail leaves on a bed of hot coals.Then they made cakes by mixing the cattail pollen with water and put the cakes on the leaves. More green leaves went on the cakes, and these leaves were covered with hot coals. Fall is the best time for harvesting the rootstock of the cattail. After the outer peel is Te-

moved, the core can be baked or boiled, If the cores are dried, they can be ground with a mano and metate to make flour. One scientist

ARTIST: BRENT SHAW FOSTER

has figured that one acre of cattads could produce two and a half tons of flour! Rodents, especially muskrats, thnve on cattails and were often happed and eaten by Indians. In fact, the Gosiute word for cattails To imp means "rodent plant." The Gosiutes gathered the ripe spikes of the cattail and burned off the bristles, thus freeing and roasting the seedlike fruits. Archaeologists found that the cattail was an important food source for ancient Indians as well. The excavation of Backhoe Village near Richfield. Utah has shownthat the gathering of wild plants, especially cattails, was more important than hunting or agricuiture as a food source for the Sevier Indians who lived there more than one thousand years ago.

The cattail was also used for purposes nfood.Thecattail"dawn"co~ldbe

the spikes and used far padding in blankets and pillows. The Paiute Indians used twisted cattail leaves to make rope for building small boats and duck decoys. They also used cattails for matting to cover their willow-frame houses. Cattail leaves were especially favored because their flat surface sheds water like shingles. Today, scientists at the University of Mitamn orr

sota are studying cattails as a possible source of energy. A team of botanists and mechanical engineers found that processed cattails pr& duced a solid charred substance, a liquid like heavy oil, and a gas. It is hoped that these can be harnessed and converted into energy. It is even possible that someday in the future we may be heating our houses with the same plant that the Paiutes used to cover theirs.

The following recipe appears in Edible NativePlanEsoftheR~M0untaiolsbyH.D.

Harrington: Cattail Pancakes cups

pollen (or

2 cups wheat flour 4 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt

% cup evaporated milk CUPSWater

syrup

drippings Beat eggs, add milk, water, and syrup. Mix and add dry ingredients, beating until mixture is creamy. Add bacon drippings. Fry in a hot greased pan over the campfire. Makes about 20 cakes.

What Does an Archaeologist Do? THIS CAREER OFFERS VARIETY AND CHALLENGESTHAT MAY APPEAL TO YOU BY JANETG BUTLER

Archaeology! The word evokes images of Egyptian tombs full of mummies and priceless gold jewelry. Or skin divers bringing up ancient treasures from sunken ships. Or a simple Bedouin shepherd stumbling across caves containing the precious Dead Sea Scrolls. Right? Partly. It all has to do with the definition of archaeology and with the person who is practicing it.

And an archaeologist, although he may be adventurous, is primarily a scientist more concerned with careful digging and accurate records than with making newspaper headlines. One part of the job of this scientist of the past is to find artifacts made by men of earlier times. Another is to record these items in their context - the order in which they are found and the other objects around them at the time. And. finally, the archaeologist must study all the artifacts and try to understand the type of life lived by the people who made them. If you are interested in the past. or in people of societies other than your own, or in sciences like geology, botany, and zoology - then, archaeology may be the career for you. To become an archaeologist you must be a well-rounded and educated person. You need to have a good understanding of history and of the area of the world you are studving, the natural environment, dating methods, even photographv and artwork. Your office mav be anywhere from a dustv desert to the mountains of Peru. So. vou must be versatile and able to live in uncomfortable surroundings. Are vou still interested? Then let's find out how to become a professional.

An archaeologist is, first of all. a scientist. His (or her) subject is the study of past human life and activities as determined from artifacts. objects made by man or natural objects modified by man for his use. So. Egyptian tombs and Dead Sea Scrolls are worthv of archaeological studv. But these are spectacular finds. Most archaeologists will never uncover a n y thing that valuable. Everyday work, especially in thls country. usuallv uncovers pieces of pottery or arrowheads, often few and far between.

JRTON

Archaeology is part of the field of anthropology. the study of man in general. Anthropology, in turn, is one of the social sciences. Take as many courses as you can in high school in the social sciences. Learn about people. If you are lucky. your hgh school may offer a course in anthropology - take it. The 22

HIGH SCHOOL VOLUNTEERS HELPED WITH THE SALVAGE DIG CONDUCTED BY THE STATE ARCHAEOLOGIST AT BACKHOE VILLAGE NEAR RICHFIELD. OPPORTUNITIES LIKE THIS HELP STUDENTS DECIDE ON FUTURE CAREERS.

peoples of the past were closely involved with their natural environment. So. learn about geology. botany. zoology. even ecology, if you can. All this background will give you a head start in college. Most colleges or universities offer a bachelor of arts or a bachelor of science degree in anthropologv. When vou earn this you will have taken courses in the social sciences,anthropology. archaeology, languages, and the earth sciences. But you can't stop now. Professional archaeologists need their master's degrees and probably their doctoral degrees as well. As early as ~ossiblein your career, decide on your specialty and choose your schools accordingly. You may be interested in a particular area of the world like the Middle East or the American Southwest. Or, you may choose a special field such as salvage archaeology or modern archaeology. Each college or university

has professors who have specialized in an area or field of archaeology-follow their footsteps. The faculties of some schools include specialists from many different fields, from linguistics to history. Choosing a school like that, which also has a good anthropology department, will greatly broaden your background.Apply for as many scholarships and fellowships as you can. starting in high school. The more honors you win the better quality university you cap hope to attend. Often, through your university, you will be able to attend field schools during the summer. Go on excavations or digs if you can. See what being an archaeologist is all about firsthand. Occasionally, high school students may participate in the summer digs. But take your jeans this is a working vacation. When you have graduated with a doctoral degree naming you a professional scientist, where will you work? Some archaeologists 23

. .RTt.. .- - . - - E WEIGHED TO ONE. TENTH OF A GRAM ON A METTLER ELECTRONIC BALANCE.

'PRO4 FUTILE POINTS ARE SORTED BY T V p . LARGE BLACK M I N T AT 'IDP W&S.MADE BY AN

-8UREMEl.

. .

PART THE COMPLETE DESCRIPTION OF ARTIFAG rs.

~ A WZLE W - WREFW PIECEUTaGETMERAND

Herschel C. Smith Amateur Archaeologist I

ARTIST: BRENT SHAW FOSTER

THIS ENGINEER DEVOTED YEARSTO STUDYING AND PRESERVING PREHISTORY FOR ALL OF US BY THOMAS J. ZEIDLER

Amateur archaeology has become a popular hobby as more people begin to appreciate our American Indian heritage. Unfortunately, this interest has often resulted in looters, armed with picks and shovels, destroying archaeological sites in a frenzied search for arrowheads and pottery. You do not need a college degree in archaeology to be interested in Utah's ancient past, but there is a right way and a wrong way to be an amateur archaeologist. The life of Herschel C. Smith illustrates the right way, for Smith was an amateur par excellence. Herschel Smith was born on March 27, 1907, in Lehi, Utah. He graduated from the University of Utah in 1930 with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering, Then he moved to Montana where he worked for the U.S. Geological Survey. He also did graduate study at the Montana School of Mining. In between his job and school, Herschel worked as a re-

lief pilot for National Parks Airlines [now called Western Airlines). While surveying the Green River Gap for the Geological Survey, he became interested in archaeology and Pleistocene geology the history of the earth during the last 2.5 million years. For most of his life Herschel made his living as a construction engineer in San Francisco and Los Angeles. After serving in the Civil Engineer Corps of the U.S. Navy during World War 11, he founded the H. C. Smith Corporation and the Encon Corporation. These companies did construction work around the world. In later years he specialized in work for the Department of Defense. Although Smith's background was that of an engineer-industrialist, he understood how fragile and beautiful our country's prehistory is. He knew that it should be carefully studied and preserved. Herschel was fascinated, as most of us

are. by the beauty of ancient arrowheads and pottery. But he knew that where and how these artifacts are found [their context) is extremely important to understanding the life of America's prehistoric peoples. Only scientific excavations can accurately determine the ways ancient peoples lived, got their food. provided themselves with shelter, and conducted their religious ceremonies. So, Herschel Smith the amateur joined and even organized scientific expeditions instead of becoming a "Humpty-Dump ty archaeologist" - someone who collects or digs on his own. With Humpty-Dumpty archaeology you can never put all the pieces of the past together again to see what they really mean. Smith's great interest in early man even took him to Africa where he worked with the famous archaeologist and physical anthropologist Louis Leakey. An excellent pilot, Herschel liked to play an occasional practical joke on his archaeologist friends. As one of them wrote: "You never knew when your field camp would tremble and shake as a Piper Aztec roared over a tent level with Hersch at the controls . . .to land neatly on the playa."

In the early 1960s.Smith's organizational ability enabled him to bring together individuals, labor unions, and private industry at Tule Springs near Las Vegas. Nevada. He was able to talk the U.S. Air Force into lifting restrictions on a bombing range there so that archaeologists could do research before the site was destroyed. Known as Pinewater Cave,this site proved to have been occupied by Indians for 9,000 years. Herschel was not like many amateurs whose activities destroy our cultural heritage. He "was one of those rare individuals whose great interest in a subject inspired others to greater efforts; yet he did not intrude in areas for which he was not bained, relying on specialists in these fields to carry out their work." Herschel C. Smith - member of the Explorers Club, geologist, miner. pilot. and engineer - would have agreed that the motto "take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints" should be applied by everyone to our archaeological and paleontological heritage. Mr.Zeidler is associate editor of Antiquities Section Selected Papers.

Geologic Time Scale

Mammals reach their maximum diversity

Dinosaurs c o r i t i m abwn; dant #kenvanish First birds; dinosaurs b-

(approximately 80 % of the history of life)

3 billion years ago

PETROGLYPH PANEL IN NINE MILECANYON,CARBON COUNTY,DEPICTSA SPECTACULAR HUNTING SCENE.

Pictures from the Past PREHISTORiC INDIAN ROCK ART PUZZLES AND DELIGHTS VIEWERS BY MIRIAM B. MURPHY

Utah could be called one of the great outdoor art galleries of the world. The Indians who lived here centuries ago painted and pecked thousands of human and animal figures, designs, and symbols on rock surfaces throughout the state. How did they do this? And why? The first question is much easier to answer than the second. There are two main kinds of prehistoric Indian rock art: petroglyphs [rock engravings] and pictographs (rock paintings]. Different materials were used to make the two kinds. Petroglyphs are designs that are pecked

which he was going to peck or scratch his design. Or, he may also have pounded a stone chisel with a stone hammer to cut or carve his design into the stone. Very often the Indian artist chose a rock surface covered with desert varnish as a place to make his peboglyphs. Desert varnish looks like a dark stain or patch on the stone. Actually, it is caused by the oxidation of minerals, such as iron or manganese, over many years. The desert varnish made an excellent background for petroglyphs. When the artist pecked or carved on it, the lighter

or scratched or carved in stone, To make

rock underneath would show through, makm

these rock engravings, the artist needed a sharp piece of stone harder than the rock on

ing the design stand out by creating a lightdark contrast.

PETROGLYPH NEAR MOAB REPRESENTS A MASTODON.

Since pictographs are paintings, they required different artistic materials - paints and a brush o r brush substitute. Basic paint colors came from common minerals. Iron oxides produced reds and yellows. Copper .. ores gave greens and blues. Black came from manganese, roasted graphite, or charcoal. Chalky deposits, gypsum, or kaolin gave white. Red was the most easily found and most commonly used color. When the earth colors had been found and very finely ground in stone mortars, the artist mixed them with a binder such as animal or vegetable oil, blood, or egg white.

WARRIOR WITH A SHIELD, ABOVE, AT DEFIANCE HOUSE, SAN JUAN COUNTY. BELOW, STYLIZED HUMAN FIGURE (ANTHROWMORPH) CONFRONTS SNAKELIKE CREATURElN BUCKHORN WASH, EMERY COUNTY. LEFT: HOLY GHOST PANEL FROM THE GREAT GALLERY, WAYNE COUNTY. LARGEST FIGURES ARE SEVEN FEET TALL.

CHESTER-MUDI: REE iTROGtYPH$, E a r n ;W NTY IC FIGURESANDA RAINBOW ARRANGEMENT OF LINE

NTHROPOI

Dinosaur Skeletal Preparation AlIosaurs were carnivorous dinosaurs of the late Jurassic period 145-150 million years ago. They averaged thirty feet in length and ten to twelve feet in height. Allosaurs were the most common carnivorous dinosaurs in Utah if not in North America, and there are those who would make it the state fossil.

HIND LEG BONES OF ALLOSAURUS IN SITU AT DiNOSAUR NATIONAL MONUMENT.

MISCELLANEOUS BOMES BEING PREPARED FOR A MUSEUM EXHIBIT. THE SMALL SKULL IS OF CAWPTOSAURUS, THE LARGE OF ALLOSAURUS.

FOAM PADS PLACED BETWEEN DINOSAUR VERTEBRAE TO SIMULATE CARTILAGE.

RECONSTRUCTEDALLOSAURUS AT UENO PARK, TOKYO, JAPAN.