Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum is a
state park and
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...
of
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
, USA, located in
Blanding.
It is an
Ancestral Puebloan
The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as the Anasazi, were an ancient Native American culture that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, an ...
archaeological site, a museum, and an archaeological
repository
Repository may refer to:
Archives and online databases
* Content repository, a database with an associated set of data management tools, allowing application-independent access to the content
* Disciplinary repository (or subject repository), an ...
. Cowboys from the nearby town of
Bluff
Bluff or The Bluff may refer to:
Places Australia
* Bluff, Queensland, Australia, a town
* The Bluff, Queensland (Ipswich), a rural locality in the city of Ipswich
* The Bluff, Queensland (Toowoomba Region), a rural locality
* Bluff River (New ...
camped there in the late 19th century and called the site Edge of the Cedars because it sits on the edge of a natural boundary, separating a heavily forested region and a treeless landscape to the south. Cedar is a term locals use for the
Utah juniper tree.
Because of its archaeological significance, the site was designated a State Historical Monument in 1970 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Edge of Cedars Indian Ruin in 1971. In 1974, the Utah
Navajo Development Council donated the site to the Division of Utah State Parks and Recreation. Shortly thereafter the Utah Legislature enabled the establishment of Edge of the Cedars State Park as a museum of Indian history and culture. The museum opened in 1978. The archaeological repository was completed in 1994. Today, the facility serves as the primary repository for archaeological materials excavated from public lands in southeast Utah, and includes archives and a research library.
References
External links
Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum
Archaeological museums in Utah
Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Utah
Museums in San Juan County, Utah
Native American museums in Utah
Protected areas established in 1974
Protected areas of San Juan County, Utah
State parks of Utah
1974 establishments in Utah
National Register of Historic Places in San Juan County, Utah
{{Utah-museum-stub