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BLANDING, Utah (AP) -- Archaeology teams are scrambling to record what is left of ancient cultures that once thrived in southern Utah before an increasing number of tourists passing through the area inadvertently harm historical artifacts.
The teams are surveying parts of Comb and Butler washes on Bureau of Land Management property near Blanding to record what is left of ancient cultures that once thrived in this inhospitable region.
"There's a particular need to get the stuff inventoried before it disappears any more than it already has," said Winston Hurst, a private archaeologist in charge of the BLM-funded survey work. "A huge amount of it has disappeared."
As more hikers pass through, bits of the past walk away, too.
Hurst said most people are not intentionally erasing the past, but some visitors pocket a colorful pottery shard or an arrowhead. These pieces of the past, which could tell of the desert's former inhabitants, now are hopelessly out of context, decorating desks and bookshelves.
"We are frantically trying to document what is left while it's left," he said.
Sandra Coambs, an archaeology technician, said what looks like a pebble sometimes turns out to be a flake of rock broken off as an ancient toolmaker formed a stone knife or a projectile point.
Though these flakes cover the ground, they say little to archaeologists. It is the pottery shards and arrowheads that tell the story.
The lack of distinctive artifacts makes their work more difficult. Scattered stone flakes from an ancient work site are now just a glorified trash pit.
Not all artifacts carry equal scientific value.
"Oh look, an old pair of underwear," mused Coambs as she walked by a heap of gray fabric near some bullet-ridden Budweiser beer cans in Comb Wash.
It is these recent nomadic visitors that concern the BLM. During an archaeology conference in Bluff a few years ago, a BLM official targeted the well-visited Comb and Butler washes for survey work. BLM officials contracted with the University of Colorado, Boulder. The Colorado school, with archaeologist Cathy Cameron as the principal investigator, hired Hurst to conduct the field work.
Cameron, who has been involved in Colorado Plateau archaeology for years, said the work will help determine how best to manage the land.
"Because this area gets so much impact, you can't really protect sites until you know they're out there," she said.
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Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
