Near Wapiti in Park County, Wyoming — The American West (Mountains)

Touch the Past

Photographed by McGhiever, June 26, 2023

1. Touch the Past Marker

Inscription. This "living room floor" of the Pagoda Creek archaeological site was perfectly preserved. More than 4,000 artifacts of chipped stone flakes, tools, and bone fragments were found where they had lain for nearly 3,000 years. The site was buried when flood waters covered the site and sealed the artifacts under a lens of silt.

Most of the bone found belonged to mountain sheep, probably killed in winter. This determination was based upon aging of the teeth in the jawbones recovered here. All of the skull parts found were from ewes and lambs. Even today it is common to find "nursery herds" wintering in the North Fork Valley until April.

Sheep Jaw Bone

Big Horn Sheep Ram's Horn

Erected by United States Forest Service.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Animals • Anthropology & Archaeology • Indigenous Peoples and Communities.

Location. 44° 27.804′ N, 109° 35.027′ W. Marker is near Wapiti, Wyoming, in Park County. It is on North Fork Highway west of County Route 414, on the left when traveling west. Marker is at an unmarked wayside

Paid Advertisement

Click or scan to see
this page online

on a slight rise on the south side of the highway. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Cody WY 82414, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in the Bighorn Basin

and in Greater Yellowstone.

It is also in the American Mountain West

and in the Lewis & Clark Corridor.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Rocky Mountains,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Other nearby markers. At least 7 other markers are within 9 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Solving the Prehistoric Puzzle (here, next to this marker); Protection Proves Profitable (approx. 2.9 miles away); Is This Forest Healthy? (approx. 2.9 miles away); Shoshone National Forest (approx. 2.9 miles away); A Burning Need (approx. 2.9 miles away); Absaroka Volcanic Field (approx. 6.1 miles away); Home for Ten Thousand Years (approx. 8.9 miles away).

Touch the Past marker (right) at a wayside overlooking the North Fork Canyon image. Click for full size.

Photographed by McGhiever, June 26, 2023

2. Touch the Past marker (right) at a wayside overlooking the North Fork Canyon

Credits. This page was last revised on July 18, 2023. It was originally submitted on July 17, 2023, by McGhiever of Minneapolis, Minnesota. This page has been viewed 214 times since then and 32 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on July 17, 2023, by McGhiever of Minneapolis, Minnesota. • Andrew Ruppenstein was the editor who published this page.