Blog

Archived Content

What’s in a Name: Rock Imagery

You may have noticed that we at the State Historic Preservation Office, refer to “rock imagery” when discussing prehistoric/Indigenous petroglyphs, pictographs, and other culturally meaningful markings on stone. For many...
Last updated: March 18, 2026

Utah’s Prehistory in Artifacts

Written by Erin Haycock Editor’s note: The artifacts you are about to see have all been looted, or stolen. Looting is the illegal removal of archaeological materials from archaeological sites....
Last updated: March 18, 2026

Preserving and Studying Utah’s Mining Heritage

No excerpt...
Last updated: March 18, 2026

Archaeological Site Etiquette

               If you’ve hiked, biked, rafted, or traveled anywhere in Utah, chances are you’ve found ancient ruins and artifacts, also called “archaeological sites”. An archaeological site is anything left by...
Last updated: March 18, 2026

Utah’s Biggest Earthquake In History: And you don’t even probably know about it!

Christopher W. Merritt, Ph.D., State Historic Preservation Officer With trembles strong enough to shake “the dignity out of all judicial procedures,” [i] at Salt Lake City’s courts, the 6.6 magnitude...
Last updated: March 18, 2026

Exploring the History and Archaeology of the Great Salt Lake’s Gunnison Island

by Arie Leefang, Archaeology Records Manager Among the collection of Great Salt Lake Islands, perhaps there is none more prized to visit than the elusive Gunnison Island. Found in the...
Last updated: March 18, 2026