Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “UPAN Blog”
By Allison Aakre, Manti-La Sal National Forest, Shanna Diederichs, Woods Canyon Archaeological Consultants, and Donald C. Irwin, Manti-La Sal National Forest Introduction The landscape of Southeast Utah, with its deep canyons, mesas, and mountains, is unsurpassed in its beauty and remoteness. The spectacular “cliff dwellings” hidden in this landscape are …
Written by Cory Jensen, NRHP Coordinator and Chris Merritt, Utah SHPO Many Utahs and tourists do not know the depth and breadth of Utah’s architectural history, and the preserved building treasures you can find around the State. Besides the over 1200 buildings individually listed on the National Register of Historic …
Every year Project Discovery, the Nine Mile Canyon Coalition, the Bureau of Land Management, the Utah SHPO and many, many others have gathered in Nine Mile Canyon for a day-long celebration of archaeological stewardship… and this year will be our biggest event yet! We’re hosting a virtual event to keep …
Since at least the 1860s, entrepreneurs used the ample water supply found at the confluence of Little Cottonwood and Maybird and Hogum Creeks for industrial purposes, whether timber mills or the generation of hydroelectric energy. The area in and around the current boundary of 42SL102 contains the remains of the …
We have all experienced our own “hunkering down” during this pandemic year of 2020. Some 60 years ago, other Utahns were preparing to hunker down, but for a very different reason—a potential nuclear war. During the early years of the Cold War, many American families created underground bomb shelters fitted …
Written by Christopher W. Merritt, Ph.D., Utah State Historic Preservation Officer Over 900 soldiers from the Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery branches of the United States Army descended on Strawberry Valley in August of 1888 to engage in the first large-scale joint training exercises west of the Mississippi River. Typically, each …
Written by Christopher W. Merritt, Ph.D., State Historic Preservation Officer You can see the knife-like scar in the foothills near the brightly shining white “U” near the University of Utah from Interstate 15, though few recognize what it is and that is not natural but 19th century limestone quarries! Others …
Written by Chase Roberts Utah Division of State History and Christopher W. Merritt Utah State Historic Preservation Officer If you ask most Utahns where Daggett County is, and you might get some puzzled looks, or a reference to “That’s right near Flaming Gorge, right?”. But this tucked away county in northeastern …
We have a guest blog from the Utah Rock Art Research Association (URARA) this week! If you haven’t already heard of this organization, they are a fantastic group of people who are passionate about rock imagery! Utah Rock Art Research Association, (URARA) has replaced it’s monthly on the ground field …
You may have noticed that we at UPAN and in the wider State Historic Preservation Office, we refer to “rock imagery” when discussing prehistoric/Indigenous petroglyphs, pictographs, and other culturally meaningful markings on stone. For many years “rock art” has been the preferred term used by archaeologists and other Western-educated scholars… …
Written by Erin Haycock Editor’s note: The artifacts you are about to see have all been looted, or stolen. Looting is the illegal removal of archaeological materials from archaeological sites. Not only is this illegal, but it strips artifacts of their scientific value and it debases their cultural value to …
Benjamin C. Pykles, Historic Sites Curator Church History Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints “Hawaiians in the Utah desert! What?” This was my initial reaction when I first heard about Iosepa, a historic settlement in Skull Valley, Tooele County, established by Pacific Islander converts to The Church …