The Rockshelters Of The Vernal Area: Re-Examining The Leo C. Thorne Perishable Collection In The Uintah Basin

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Innovation and Population Dynamics in Drylands" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In the early 1930s, a local photographer, named Leo C. Thorne, documented twelve rockshelters in the Ashley-Dry Fork and Steinaker Draw area northwest of Vernal, Utah. Thorne amassed a substantial artifact collection from these and other local sites around the Uintah Basin, now displayed at the Uintah County Heritage Museum (UCHM) in Vernal, Utah. The need to re-evaluate and document these rockshelters is driven by UCHM's ongoing NAGPRA compliance, conducted in collaboration with Utah State University. My research into the Thorne Collection offers new insights, specifically addressing critical knowledge gaps about early maize agriculture in the northern Uintah Basin. By re-evaluating historical site forms, archival newspaper articles, field notes, and journals, alongside a comprehensive analysis of the artifacts and un-curated photograph collection, this study adds valuable data to the regional archaeological record. This work reconnects artifacts with their original sites and adds critical data to the space-time context of legacy collections. Beyond contextualizing the past, the initiative advances archaeological methods, re-evaluates overlooked legacy collections, and deepens our understanding of the Uintah Fremont as a cultural entity in the archaeological landscape of the Uintah Basin and Colorado Plateau.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Innovation and Population Dynamics in Drylands

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 53307