Edge of the cedars museum

In the small town of Blanding, Utah is this world renowned museum- a MUST SEE if you are in this area! The museum has a partially excavated pueblo:

They have a ladder that allows you to go down into the pueblo:

Through a vent at the top of the fireplace, fresh air is drawn in, forcing the smoke out the central hole- very ingenious:

To preserve the rest of the pueblo, and to honor the request of the Native Americans of the Pueblo tribe, they are not going to excavate the rest of the pueblo- it is better preserved under ground! When they started doing some repairs on this they used cement, and they found that it damaged the rocks, so they have developed a better mortar to make any necessary repairs.

The museum has an amazing collection of artifacts- over 4000 items! Here are some of them:

This macaw feather sash is about 1100 years old- and somehow the colors are still vibrant!

The museum tells the stories of how some of the artifacts were found and also about the illegal sales of artifacts- so much history is lost by people not knowing what to do if they find something or by people wanting to make money by illegally selling artifacts! Here is a cool pot that was found by people who did the right thing:

If you are ever out and about and find something that might be an artifact, leave it where it is, note the location, and report it to the nearest park (national or state) so that they can arrange for archaeologists to excavate the item properly. that way they can preserve the item PLUS all the history surrounding it in the location, soil, other items, etc.

We were very surprised by this museum, and are super glad we found it!