Cowboys and Cave Dwellers: Basketmaker Archaeology in Utah's Grand Gulch [Paperback]

Fred M. Blackburn (Author), Ray A. Williamson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 1997

The tortuous canyon country of southeastern Utah conceals thousands of archaeological sites, ancient homes of the ancestors of today's Southwest Indian peoples. Late in the nineteenth century, adventurous cowboy-archaeologists made the first forays into the canyons in search of the material remains of these prehistoric cultures. Rancher Richard Wetherill (best known as the discoverer of Mesa Verde's Cliff Palace) and his brothers; entrepreneurs Charles McLoyd and Charles Cary Graham; and numerous other adventurers, scholars, preachers, and businessmen mounted expeditions into the area now known as Grand Gulch. With varying degrees of scientific rigor, they mapped and dug the canyon's rich archaeological sites, removing large numbers of artifacts and burial goods to exhibit or sell back home-whether home was Durango, Chicago, New York, or Helsinki. During a trip in the winter of 1893-94, Richard Wetherill unearthed convincing proof that a previously unrecognized group of people had lived in Grand Gulch before the so-called Anasazi, or Cliff Dwellers. Wetherill named these people the Basket Makers and inaugurated a new era of understanding of the region's prehistoric past. Almost one hundred years later, the modern-day adventure that became known as the Wetherill-Grand Gulch Research Project began. Intrigued by the poorly documented history of the Gulch, a group of avocational archaeologists launched a grassroots effort to recover that history and locate the many artifacts that had been extracted from southeastern Utah's arid soil. The Gulch, they found, contained its own invaluable clues in the form of dated signatures left on canyon walls by the Wetherills and others as they made their way from site to site. An effort to track the original explorers in the Gulch ultimately led the team to Chicago's Field Museum and the American Museum of Natural History in New York. In this book, Fred M. Blackburn and Ray A. Williamson tell the two intertwined stories of the early archaeological expeditions into Grand Gulch and the Wetherill-Grand Gulch Research Project. In the process, they describe what we now know about Basketmaker culture and present a stirring plea for the preservation of our nation's priceless archaeological heritage. Lavishly illustrated with color and black-and-white photographs.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Using historical accounts and authoritative biographies, the authors … present a lively, readable, and clear summary of the history of archaeology of [Utah's Grand Gulch area]… [W]ith its wonderful and numerous photographs and well-illustrated tables, [this book] is one any scholar of the Southwest would appreciate. --Stefanie Beninato, New Mexico Historical Review Vol. 73, no. 1 (January 1998)

About the Author

Fred M. Blackburn, a natural historian, educator, and environmental and cultural interpreter, was a key member of the Wetherill-Grand Gulch Research Project. Ray A. Williamson is a scientist and writer who studies the astronomical lore and ritual practices of the Navajo and Pueblo Indians.

Product Details

• Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: School of American Research Press (March 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0933452470
• ISBN-13: 978-0933452473
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 7.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #72,522 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Detective story on finding "lost" archaeological collection, October 25, 1997

By 

Charlotte Wolter "Charlotte Wolter" (Santa Monica, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cowboys and Cave Dwellers: Basketmaker Archaeology in Utah's Grand Gulch (Paperback)

Undoubtedly the popular book of the year in Southwest archaeology, "Cowboys and Cave Dwellers" tells how a group of talented and dedicated "amateurs" found the missing links between nearly forgotten collections of artifacts stored in museum basements and their original sites in Utah's spectacular Grand Gulch. In the process they unearthed valuable information about the people called Basketmakers, the first farmers of the Colorado Plateau. The first explorers and untrained archaeologists who dug sites in Grand Gulch removed thousands of artifacts, often taking little care to record their locations. By carefully matching old photographs, diaries, newspaper articles and the signatures those adventurers carved on the canyon walls, the authors of this book, the members of the Wetherill-Grand Gulch Research Project, were able to locate many of the caves and cliff dwelling where the treasures were originally found. They solved one of the most puzzling mysteries of Southeastern Utah archaeology: the location of long lost Cave 7, where Mesa Verde discoverer Richard Whetherill dug up dozens of skeletons that seemed to show evidence of a massacre. A good story with extensive historial and archaeological background and beautifully illustrated, this book is essential for anyone interested in Southwest archaeology. A good companion piece is William Ferguson's "The Anasazi of Mesa Verde and the Four Corners Region," which gives a broader view of the entire Mesa Verde-San Juan region.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vindication for Wetherills, October 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Cowboys and Cave Dwellers: Basketmaker Archaeology in Utah's Grand Gulch (Paperback)

I appreciated this book, not just for the fantastic illustrations and stories, but for improving the reputation of the Wetherills, long considered no-good cowboy pot hunters. A great companion to this books is In Search of the Old Ones by David Roberts, in which Fred Blackburn features largely as a revolutionary who shapes Roberts' thinking about the mess each generation of southwestern archeologists passes on to the next.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book, February 10, 2008

By 

Seth J. Frantzman (Jerusalem, Israel) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cowboys and Cave Dwellers: Basketmaker Archaeology in Utah's Grand Gulch (Paperback)

Grand Gulch country is some of the best in the Southwest. A unique canyon that winds its way down to the San Juan river it also boasts an amazing array of cave sites of ancient Native American dwellings. Some are larger than others, containing houses and artifacts. Many have been harmed by exposure to people. Nevertheless because many are far up into the cliffs they have been well preserved. This book tells the tale of a numerb of items taken from the caves that then became useless to archeology because people did not know from whence they came. THe story examines the history of the attempt to reconnect them to their origins and thus help archeology understand the history of the American SOuthwest. It is both the history of early American archeology and this unique canyon and its off-shoots. A wonderful book.

Seth J. Frantzman