Uncovering history — Utah Prehistory Week offers a chance to tour archaeological site near prison

DRAPER — The wind blows across the land, ruffling the sage and rabbit brush. In the distance you can see the modern world — in fact you are surrounded by it: homes, cars, railroad tracks, freeway.

Closer by is the gully where the Jordan River runs through, coaxing greener vegetation to its banks.

But this one stretch of land is mostly dry and dusty, filled with what many people would consider poor soil and useless ground cover. Archaeologist Andy Yentsch is not one of them. Yentsch walks this land with a great deal of knowledge and affection. He stops to pick up a quartzite flake, chipped off in the making of an atlatl. He notices rocks that are fire-cracked — heated in campfires so many times they eventually explode. He lifts a piece of a metate and finds part of a mano. They would have been used to grind flour, perhaps from cattail seed.

They are all beyond old — they are ancient.

To discover the world they were part of — a world before words and books, very much a stone age — you must learn to read the language of the land. It is a language Yentsch speaks eloquently.

"To the outward eye, this place looks unimpressive," he says. "But I am so amped up about this site. It's the oldest dated site in the Salt Lake Valley at this time."

The site, called the Prison Dig because of its proximity to the penitentiary, was actually discovered in 1991, during construction of the Bangerter Highway. A brief cultural survey done at that time revealed significant enough findings that the highway was rerouted. In 1993, more subsurface testing was done, and crews hit a fire pit some 72 centimeters below the surface. Charcoal in that pit was radiocarbon dated to 3,040 years before present. "That would place it at roughly about 1100 B.C.," says Yentsch.

In 1998, the site was declared protected open space by the state Legislature, and set aside from any development. But it took until now before further excavations were made.

Yentsch was brought in last October to oversee a one-year project. Actual digging at the site started last month and will continue through June.

Tours and explanations of the Prison Dig are being featured during Utah Prehistory Week, May 5-12. Other events include tours of Danger and Jukebox Caves in the West Desert and activities and lectures for the whole family.

Yentsch is excited to have a chance to share what is going on at the Prison Dig.