Press Release
PRICE, Utah— Student and adult volunteers have been camping and digging in the dirt for the past five weekends to learn more about the Fremont people who lived in Nine Mile Canyon hundreds of years ago. The sixth and final fall weekend of excavations concluded last week, and 70 volunteers have participated. In addition to excavating a Fremont pit structure alongside professional archaeologists, volunteers have toured nearby rock art sites and listened to guest speakers from a variety of local and state archaeology, rock art and historical organizations.
Multiple Utah high schools have participated in the project, including nearby Carbon High school, which offered 10th, 11th and 12th grade students the opportunity to participate. Many students had never visited the canyon prior to the field weekend, and stated that they were amazed at the beauty and the rich cultural history of the area.
“I wish every student had the opportunity to experience something like this,” said Carbon High School social studies teacher Katherine Debry. “This was an amazing experience for myself and especially my students. These type of field experiences are lacking from students’ education today,” she remarked, adding, “There are more opportunities where I live than I originally thought to experience the history of the area.”
The excavation project, a partnership between the Bureau of Land Management Price Field Office, Arizona State University and several archaeological partners, aims to engage the community through STEM and history education and also through the enjoyment of public lands via outdoor recreation and tourism. To add a multimedia dimension to the project and to share the excavation with those who cannot participate in person, local painter Steven Lee Adams and photographer/videographer Ryan Moreau are documenting the site and the volunteer events. Artifacts unearthed from the excavation will be incorporated into displays at the Prehistoric Museum in Price and a community event to share the archaeological findings.
Those who are interested in exploring the project can join the Facebook page “Nine Mile Canyon Archaeology Volunteering” and see the efforts on the site. Past volunteers are sharing their stories and pictures with fellow volunteers and the public.
This excavation project began in 2016 as a collaboration between Utah archaeologists and scholars. Federal, non-profit, academic and private entities converged with a common goal of engaging the community in our shared cultural history. Through this cooperative conservation stewardship effort, both visitors and volunteers will have the opportunity to learn more about the rich archaeological resources on Utah’s public lands.
