Geologist dates Native American rock art
A USU professor is applying geological techniques to solve an archeological problem.
Joel Pederson, associate professor of geology at USU, gave a presentation dealing with techniques used to date a particular type of Native American rock art found in Southern Utah Saturday at the USU Museum of Anthropology.
“The work that I have done … is trying to figure out how old certain famous type of rock art is,” Pederson said. “The technical part that I’m going to talk about are some of the fun things that we’re trying to do here to actually figure out how old some of this stuff is, which is really difficult to do.”
The presentation was about Barrier-style rock art, referring to nearby Barrier Creek. While samples of this style are found throughout Southern Utah, the Great Gallery, a section of Horseshoe Canyon that is part of Canyonlands National Park, contains some of the most famous samples of this unique style, he said.
So far, anthropologists have not been able to figure out how old it is, Pederson said.
“I am trying to apply geology to archaeological problems,” Pederson said.
He said he believes that by figuring out when the section of the sandstone wall on which the art is found on was uncovered by erosion, he may be able to place time limits that would help narrow down how old the rock art style is.
A technique used for this is called luminescence dating, which can be used to tell when quartz sand grains were last exposed to sunlight, said Melissa Jackson, a geo-archaeology student who works at USU’s luminescence lab on Pederson’s project.
Pederson said he believes he has ruled out one of three hypotheses that would date Barrier-style of rock art as the oldest type in North America, but he said it will take another two years before he could write a paper to present any results from this work.
The purpose of these Saturday events are to get people from the community to come to the museum, said Katie Kirkham, member of the museum staff who helped organize this particular event. She is a geology student who is also pursuing a minor in anthropology.
Carol Nielson of Logan and her three children attended the event, and said they enjoyed the part of the event when they learned to make rock art. Nielson said she has been bringing her children to these events for quite a while now.
“I like the activities they have,” she said.
About 46 people attended the 11 a.m. event. Most of these were families with children.
Pederson’s second presentation at 1 p.m. was attended by about 20 people. This audience seemed to be mostly older people that asked more questions than the morning group, Kirkham said. These presentations were part of the Saturday at the Museum series, which are student-run events, Kirkham said.
Mary Kay Gabriel, the museum curator, said the work the students do running the events benefits both the museum and the students’ individual coursework. She said students from any discipline can work through the museum to earn a certificate on muscum work.
The museum is funded by grants from the Utah Humanities Society and Office of Museum Services, she said.
Pederson said USU is one of the few places where one can get a degree in geo-archaeology. While the degree is a subdivision in archaeology and geology, there are approximately four institutions that offer this degree, but knowledge of the degree is rather obscure, he said.
–jprodriguez78@gmail.com