Posted on 06/26/2004 12:25:31 PM PDT by forsnax5
SALT LAKE CITY - For more than 50 years, rancher Waldo Wilcox kept most outsiders off his land and the secret under wraps: a string of ancient Indian settlements so remarkably well-preserved that arrowheads and beads are still lying out in the open.
Archaeologists are calling it one of the most spectacular finds in the West.
Hidden deep inside Utah's nearly inaccessible Book Cliffs region, 130 miles from Salt Lake City, the prehistoric villages run for 12 miles and include hundreds of rock art panels, cliffside granaries, stone houses built halfway underground, rock shelters, and the mummified remains of long-ago inhabitants.
The site was occupied for at least 3,000 years until it was abandoned more than 1,000 years ago, when the Fremont people mysteriously vanished.
What sets this ancient site apart from other, better-known ones in Utah, Arizona or Colorado is that it has been left virtually untouched by looters, with the ground still littered with arrowheads, arrow shafts, beads and pottery shards in places.
"It was just like walking into a different world," said Utah state archaeologist Kevin Jones, who was overcome on his first visit in 2002.
Wilcox, 74, said: "It's like being the first white man in there, the way I kept it. There's no place like it left."
(Excerpt) Read more at theworldlink.com ...
Blam...you might be interested in this.
FMCDH(BITS)
Read later.
Yep!
Stone age Musical Injun Turnstiles
I certainly hope that the new owners are going to guard this site. When I think of how places like Chaco Canyon were treated by pot stealers and amateur archeologists.
Lots of good reading about Chaco Canyon and the Anasazi legends of the Great Gambler. Some archeologists believe Chaco Canyon (especially the Pueblo Bonito area) was one of the first Indian gaming casinos. The Hopi, Zuni,and Navajo peoples won't allow casino gambling on their lands due to the legends of an evil man spirit sometimes called Noqoilpi or "He-Who-Wins-You-Over."
Some Southwestern legends tell of people from that era living in hidden places then dropping everything (baskets, beads, pots) to flee from the Great Gambler and his thugs.
One of my Navajo friends tells me a casino referendum vote is coming up, so it may not be long before that tribe breaks its ancient taboo against gambling. Well, Noqoilpi did say after he lost a major bet and got thrown back up into the stars that he would return some day.
Go here for the Navajo legend: http://americanindian.ucr.edu/discussions/gaming/articles/ict-dine.html
I ordered that book last night after I read your post about it on the other thread. Wow! I can't wait to read it.
Hey, want to know something kinda funny? Back in the 1920's, there was a popular Japanese silent film star named Sessue Hayakawa. (You might remember him in his later years as the actor who played Colonel Saito in "Bridge Over the River Kwai.")
When he was young, Hayakawa usually played the sexy "Oriental" heavy, but occasionally he would play a Mexican Bandit or American Indian! An independent Native American filmaking couple, James Young Deer and his wife, actress "Princess" Red Wing, made a 1923 film called "Chaco Canyon" that was based on the Noqoilpi legend.
In "Chaco Canyon," Hayakawa portrayed the evil Noqoilpi who returns in 1923 to run a speakeasy and casino in the canyon. He is defeated by a beautiful white cowgirl, her dashing archeologist boyfriend and a cute little Navajo boy who tricks Noqoilpi back into the stars.
Some of the 1920's National Geographic Chaco Canyon Expedition members and local Navajo, Zuni, and Hopi Indians were used as extras in the film.
Unfortunately, this film could not find a distributor and was shown primarily on Indian Reservations or during special "race" showings at movie theatres for minority audiences. It was supposed to have been well done for its time.
Amazing. Hope you enjoy the book. She makes a compelling case.
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