The Archaeology of Range Creek Canyon
Channel: Utah State Historic Preservation Office
Date: 22/10/2020

Range Creek Canyon is located in the West Tavaputs Plateau in east central Utah. The terrain is rough spanning a wide range of variability in elevation. The creek starts at Bruin Point at 10,000 ft and drains into the Green River at 4,200 ft. The Range Creek Field Station was established in 2009 for the protection and research of the amazing archaeological record preserved there.  It is managed by the Natural History Museum of Utah. The field station consists of approximately 3,000 acres of land along 13 miles of road from north gate to south gate. It is surrounded by 50,000 acres of wilderness land managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Over 500 archaeological sites have been recorded in Range Creek Canyon. The sites are very well preserved because the area was private property for many years and access by visitors was limited. The sites date primarily to the Fremont occupation of the canyon, about 1,000 years ago. Archaeological sites include open residential, rock shelters, artifact scatters, rock art, and food storage sites (granaries, cists, and tool caches).