Cowboys and Cave Dwellers: Basketmaker Archaeology of Utah's Grand Gulch

by Fred M. Blackburn, Ray A. Williamson

The tortuous canyon country of southeastern Utah conceals thousands of archaeological sites, ancient homes of the ancestors of today's Southwest Indian peoples. Late in the nineteenth century, adventurous cowboy-archaeologists made the first forays into the canyons in search of the material remains of these prehistoric cultures. Rancher Richard Wetherill (best known as the "discoverer" of Mesa Verde's Cliff Palace) and his brothers; entrepreneurs Charles McLoyd and Charles Cary Graham; and numerous other adventurers, scholars, preachers, and businessmen mounted expeditions into the area now known as Grand Gulch. With varying degrees of scientific rigor, they mapped and dug the canyon's rich archaeological sites, removing large numbers of artifacts and burial goods to exhibit or sell back home-whether "home" was Durango, Chicago, New York, or Helsinki. During a trip in the winter of 1893-94, Richard Wetherill unearthed convincing proof that a previously unrecognized group of people had lived in Grand Gulch before the so-called Anasazi, or Cliff Dwellers. Wetherill named these people the "Basket Makers" and inaugurated a new era of understanding of the region's prehistoric past. Almost one hundred years later, the modern-day adventure that became known as the Wetherill-Grand Gulch Research Project began. Intrigued by the poorly documented history of the Gulch, a group of avocational archaeologists launched a grassroots effort to recover that history and locate the many artifacts that had been extracted from southeastern Utah's arid soil. The Gulch, they found, contained its own invaluable clues in the form of dated signatures left on canyon walls by the Wetherills and others as they made their way from site to site. An effort to track the original explorers in the Gulch ultimately led the team to Chicago's Field Museum and the American Museum of Natural History in New York. In this book, Fred M. Blackburn and Ray A. Williamson tell the two intertwined stories of the early archaeological expeditions into Grand Gulch and the Wetherill-Grand Gulch Research Project. In the process, they describe what we now know about Basketmaker culture and present a stirring plea for the preservation of our nation's priceless archaeological heritage. Lavishly illustrated with color and black-and-white photographs.

Genres: Archaeology, History

200 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1997

Reviews

[Ike Rakiecki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book discussed early work conducted by archaeologists and Wetherill family members in southeastern Utah. The Wetherill family were ranchers and the first non-natives to see Mesa Verde in the late 19th century. The description of the Grand Gulch and the Mesa Verde area was very effective. The writer made me wish I could be hiking in the areas he described as I was reading the book. I haven't read much about the Basketmaker eras of the Ancestral Puebloan culture and it served as a good primer on the topic.

[Lorraine McCleary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book with great photos of a group of lay people who set out to investigate through museum archives and traveling to sites in Grand Gulch, Utah to find where late 1800's Puebloan artifacts actually came. These artifacts were dug up by scrupulose and not so scrupulose people who dug up the sites in Grand Gulch and sold them to museums and private collection, losing the integrity of the site and even its location.

[litost · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative & well-written.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Written by a local Southwest Utah native, the book focuses on Cedar Mesa's Grand Gulch, a system of canyons west of Blanding, UT, first explored by the Wetherill brothers, discoverers of Mesa Verda ruins. Richard Wetherill and his brothers have been much maligned by modern archaeologists, who accuse them of systematically looting the treasures of the four corners region, with llittle observance of proper digging techniques. Nevertheless, based on his stratigraphic observations, Richard Wetherill correctly identified existence of an earlier culture of basket making ancients that predated the Anasazi in Grand Gulch. This book is the author's detective hunt to re-trace an early Whetherill expedition through the Grand Gulch. Part detective story and all archaeology this book is one of my favorites."

[Kazia Trujillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a FASCINATING testament to the dedication and professionalism of many archeologist.
An interesting study into reverse archeology using old photographs and original essays.
This is a very readable account of the discovery of the Basketmaker people or for anyone interested in the subject of archeology.

[Kirk Astroth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read and wonderful photos and illustrations. As Ed Abbey wrote: "God bless America. Let's save some of it."