The National Association of Interpretation has given Fremont Indian State Park its first-place award for outstanding achievement in the museum-gallery exhibit category, state officials said.
"We felt very honored just to be allowed to submit a nomination for consideration, let alone being honored with the first-place award," said Gordon Topham, superintendent of the park about 24 miles southwest of Richfield, just off I-70.The museum provides a video program introducing visitors to the ancient civilization, showing how pottery was made, corn was grown and other subjects related to the Fremont Indians, among the earliest inhabitants of Utah, said Tish Poulson, Natural Resources Department spokeswoman.
A miniature replica of a Fremont pithouse and artifacts uncovered during construction of I-70 through Clear Creek Canyon also are displayed in the museum, Poulson said.
In addition, visitors can walk along three trails depicting the Fremont culture through pictographs and petroglyphs, she said. Pictographs are picturelike symbols representing ideas, while petroglyphs are prehistoric rock carvings.
Poulson said the National Association of Interpretation is an organization involved in sharing natural and cultural information.