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Examiner Grand Canyon archaeologist Ian Hough reported to a crowd of local archaeologists, Grand Canyon hikers and enthusiasts that his team was surprised by artifacts and features recently unearthed at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. 
"What you see at the surface is not what you get underneath," said Hough in his presentation Extreme Cultural Landscapes: New Archeological Research in Grand Canyon National Park. He shared that recent archeological projects at Grand Canyon National Park reveal interesting patterns of human use of the resources in this dynamic environment. The projects were at nine sites which represent three distinct cultural periods.The Furnace Flats Project saw archaeologists accessing the site by river rafts. The purpose of the project was to mitigate erosion caused by rising water and visitor impact. Ancient homes built in A.D. 1075-1200 have been filled with blowing sands and covered by silt from flood waters over the past 800 years. Archaeologists started with only hints of a wall outline in a sand dune. They were surprised to find well-preserved walls, flagstone floors, a ventilator shaft, fire hearth and complete cooking vessel after excavating a portion of the site. Open trough metates - stone corn-grinding tools - are evidence of a complex agricultural community. Wooden beams buried for a thousand years help carbon date the site. Furnace Flats is on the north side of the Colorado River between Basalt and Unkar Creeks. An ancient path connects the area with Basalt Canyon. The Three-Mile Rest Stop is another site which revealed surprises for Grand Canyon Park archaeologists. Located on the Bright Angel Trail, Grand Canyon hikers can trek right by this Late Archaic (1460-780 B.C.) site. This was a seasonal food gathering and processing camp. The roasting pits show use from Archaic times to near historic times. Grand Canyon hikers may be surprised to learn that evidence of roasting pits proves that the Bright Angel trail is an ancient travel corridor that continues on to present day. Through the ages, people developed a wide range of social and cultural strategies at Grand Canyon, from small-scale foraging and hunting to socially complex farming.
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