Saturday, May 18, 2013

Danger Cave Wendover, Utah May 14, 2013

                 Danger Cave with fencing

Location and Information: Danger Cave (originally Hands and Knees Cave) is located outside of Wendover, Utah, in western Utah. To get to the cave take the Boneville Speeway Exit off of I-80. Follow dirt roads going west toward Wendover. The cave has a metal gate on it now so visitor will need to inquire about tours through the state of Utah.

Danger Cave is an important archaelogical site for the Great Basin.  Because it is a dry cave artifacts have been preserved for 1000s of years. During the years of 1949-1953 Jesse Jennings and his team from the University of Utah uncovered a large amount of artifacts from the Desert Archaic people who lived in Utah 8000 to 2000 years ago. Items recovered include leather, basketry, wooden artifacts and bones from many wild animals. Within the layers of soil, archaeologists have even found evidence of campfires lit 6000 years ago. Many of these artifacts are on display at the University of Utah. The cave has a low temperature all year long making it a great place to escape the desert sun.

Sadly this cave has a history of vandalism. For decades residents of Utah and Nevada were able to wonder into the cave freely. Most visitors treated the cave with respect however, a small number dug into the ground ruining precious artifacts and some people even spray painted on the walls. The BLM created the iron gate to keep vandals out. Make sure to respect our natural heritage or more sites such as this will be fenced off. (Information from Utah State Parks Brochure).

                Closer look at the cave. If you look closely you can see the vandalism I talked about

                                  Tags from the archaeological dig; showing the different layers in the soil.

         Looking back toward the front of the cave. Visitors need to climb down a ladder into the space.

                           Jesse Jennings and his team working in the cave.
                         

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