Obviously some symbols represent humans or animals but most of the time, the real meaning is unknown. Petroglyphs are symbols pecked into the rock. Pictographs are actually painted on the rock. In Utah, we have both types of rock art. Archaeologists also study the materials left behind by the European settlers in Utah.
Archaeology is a science that studies all cultures, present and past.
Some archaeologists specialize in underwater shipwrecks while some specialize in military forts, battlefields from the Civil War, pioneer sites, and recently, archaeologists have started to become more interested in remains from WWII and WWII era plane wrecks, buildings, military fields, and battlefields. The marsh system around the Great Salt Lake provided great resources in terms of food, usable plants, and fresh water. Human groups in the Great Basin often times would focus their culture on the marsh systems. Marsh systems allowed people in some parts of Utah to live in year-round settlements adjacent to the marshes. It is illegal to collect artifacts from sites on Federal or State lands.