Hell Gap gears up for dedication

GOSHEN COUNTY – Following several years of preparation, the Hell Gap Archaeological site in Goshen County has been designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell made the announcement, which included 24 U.S. locations, on Jan. 11. The formal dedication will be Saturday, July 22, at the site northeast of Guernsey.
Jewell said the designation ensures future generations have the ability to learn from the past while preserving and protecting the historic value of the properties and the more than 2,500 other landmarks nationwide.
The other designations included sites related to early development and expansion of the United States, the civil rights movement and Black culture; American Indian culture, architecture and archaeological sites across the nation.
If not already so recognized, properties designated as National Historic Landmarks are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Marcel Kornfeld, professor of archaeology at the University of Wyoming, who leads efforts at the site, said Hell Gap provides unique opportunities to learn about early Americans.
“It is totally unique,” Kornfeld said during a Goshen County Historical Society meeting this spring. “It is a very rich area for research.”

A local resident discovered indications of the site in the 1950s. But it wasn’t until the 1960s, when research teams were dispatched from the Harvard University Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in Cambridge, Mass., that exploration of the small valley really began.
The official description accompanying the designation refers to the site as 48GO305, or more commonly identified as the “Hell Gap Paleoindian Site” located in Goshen County, Wyo.
It continues: (The site) contains evidence of repeated occupations by nine Paleoindian cultural complexes in well-stratified deposits. To date, no other excavated Paleoindian site in North America contains a record that includes all of the cultural complexes known on the Plains spanning from between 13,000 and 8,500 years ago. Since its discovery and initial investigation, 48GO305 has been associated with cutting edge research in the field of Paleoindian archeology.
“No other site has such a record” of continued occupations over the centuries, Kornfeld explained. “It appears to have been where hunters processed their game. It was not a kill site.”
The Wyoming Archaeological Foundation obtained the property in the 1990s, hired a property manager, and moved in an office/lab building, before adding a shelter over the main excavation in 2000.
Kornfeld has conducted summer field schools, giving students and others interested in research, an opportunity to study the site first hand.
The 2017 field school is underway. The first session runs June 24-July 3, followed by another July 8-17, and concludes July 22-31.
For more information on visiting or participating in the field school, contact Kornfeld at (307) 766-3548, or anpro1@uwyo.edu. A reply may not be immediate because cell phone service and internet access does not exist at the site. Kornfeld returns to Guernsey and/or Laramie a few times during each session to make calls and answer emails.
The dedication ceremony will be held July 22 in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Wyoming Archaeological Society. This will include the unveiling of the NHL monument, which will be placed on the cement base that was poured the week of June 26. The monument will include plaques with the names of the initial donors of the property.
The ribbon cutting and dedication will begin at 11 a.m. followed by lunch for those who make reservations by June 30 at
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hell-gap-national-historic-landmark-dedication-tickets-35347260608
The Hell Gap site is about 12 miles north of the junction of U.S. Highway 26 and Wyoming Highway 270, east of Guernsey, and east of the railroad overpass. Drive three miles north on 270 to graveled Whalen Canyon Road. Turn right for about eight miles, where the camp and headquarters building are on the left (west) side of the road.