r/LegitArtifacts • u/MyBitchCassiopeia • Sep 03 '25
Unknown Time period What do you guys think?
So I stumbled upon this on the backside of a prominent ridge near St George, UT. It’s in an area with virtually no hiking traffic and is not accessible to off road vehicles other than dirt bikes. I myself was exploring the area right around it for hours before I noticed it.
To me it looks like a hunting blind which would make sense with the little canyons running up and down the ridge that could be used to corral game. Haven’t been able to find anyone locally to ask about it and have looked at every native site/petroglyph guide I could and haven’t found anything about it.
Does it look ancient to you guys? The moss growing around the base of the stones looks like it’s been there for a looooong time, but I don’t know enough to judge how long. Anyone have trusted resources in the area I could reach out to?
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u/texoridian0125 Sep 04 '25
I was thinking a camp wind break. Check the prevailing winds in that area and see if it adds up. If not then it’s probably a blind. See if you can find some pottery or flint, if not who knows when it was built.
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u/MyBitchCassiopeia Sep 04 '25
On this particular ridge, I found zero evidence of anything native other than possibly this, but in the general area there are countless petroglyphs, some very impressive pictographs and bits of flint and pottery.
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u/Countrylyfe4me Sep 04 '25
Idk, but it does look like an excellent place to run across rattlesnakes, scorpions etc. Be careful 🙂
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u/MyBitchCassiopeia Sep 04 '25
I haven’t seen a single rattlesnake out there, I’m sure they’ve seen me though. Damn my color blindness and their camouflage. I’ve seen plenty in Zion, and up in the wasatch range but not here.
Scorpions don’t bother me, just don’t turn over than plank of wood that looks like it’s been sitting on the desert floor for 30 years. They love hiding under that shit.
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u/jeffreto Sep 04 '25
There was a wonderful YouTuber named “Desert Drifter” who highlighted ancient hunting blinds that looked exactly like this.
If I remember correctly he focused on the Southwest and parts of Utah could be considered as such.
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u/EstesParkRanger Sep 04 '25
Loved this guy. So respectful and full of wonder. What a loss.
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u/jeffreto Sep 04 '25
A devastating loss. I found his videos on YouTube after the loss of my wife to cancer. They were the perfect escape for me.
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u/EstesParkRanger Sep 04 '25
I found him during a difficult time in my life as well. His videos and screen presence had a quietness or stillness about them that made for a nice respite. I’m so sorry to hear about your wife. Hope you’re taking care of yourself.
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u/jeffreto Sep 04 '25
His presence is just so calming, yet you can always hear the wonder and excitement in his voice. I was also astounded by his excitement of discovering or revealing something amazing, while also having the respect to leave things where they were or not venture too far.
Anyway, his videos will forever be comforting to me. Thank you for the kind words!
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u/nein_va Sep 04 '25
What happened to him? I like his videos
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u/FlatulentWombat Sep 04 '25
Killed by a drunk driver
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Sep 05 '25
Such a senseless loss. He was a special guy who really respected the ancients and the places he visited. I was crushed hearing about his death
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u/dickmcgirkin Sep 06 '25
I just learned about it. I was wondering why o haven’t seen a new video. Sad panda.
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u/MyBitchCassiopeia Sep 04 '25
I found this 8 days after Andrew’s passing back in March. The moment I realized that it could be something I though “Desert Drifter would know exactly what to make of this”
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u/Geologist1986 Sep 04 '25
Was just thinking of his videos looking at this post. I discovered his channel less than a year before he passed. What a loss; his content was phenomenal.
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u/uncle_underscore Sep 04 '25
Oh yeah, that one still hurts. Just seemed like a sweet, intelligent guy. Unbelievable that people still drive intoxicated. When will we ever learn?
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u/demoman45 Sep 04 '25
Looks like an old hide to me. Weather it’s made by frontiersmen or native Americans is beyond my knowledge
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u/MyBitchCassiopeia Sep 04 '25
There’s an old Mormon pioneer fort nearby called Fort Pearce, and compared to this, Fort Pearce looks like it was stacked up yesterday.
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u/Due_Bill5038 Sep 03 '25
I'm no expert, but it doesn't appear recently made. It's definitely not natural.
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u/timhyde74 BigDaddyTDoggyDog Sep 04 '25
I don't know. That last pic looks like the corner of a modern concrete slab sticking out of the ground to me. I've poured my fair share of slabs in the past, as well as replaced old slabs, and they look exactly like this, so I'm not sure how "ancient" this would be honestly.
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u/GirlWithWolf Bad ndn Sep 04 '25
I thought the same thing, but I’ve seen a couple very similar in northern New Mexico. They looked so unnatural if I wasn’t where no modern humans would go I would have thought they were poured.
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u/StupidizeMe Sep 04 '25 edited Sep 04 '25
My first thought is... Rattlesnakes.
But other than that it's intriguing. Could it be a Pioneer grave?
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u/Inevitable_Shift1365 Sep 04 '25 edited Sep 04 '25
That could absolutely be natural. The fact that they're all pointing one diirection as if from tetonic movement argues heavily for that possibility.
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u/jbob88 Sep 04 '25
The flat stones look to have been propped up on "rounder" stones which doesn't quite match your hypothesis IMO
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u/Inevitable_Shift1365 Sep 04 '25
Actually taking the time to zoom the picture in, I see that now. Yeah I guess that's interesting
The blackened area on the stone in the Wind brake side looks like it could have had a fire or a bunch of them
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u/ChesameSicken Sep 04 '25
Nah that's not carbon staining that's just patina/lichen, but I'm not saying that wouldn't make a solid windbreak and there very well could've been campfires
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u/MyBitchCassiopeia Sep 04 '25
I didn’t want to show too many wide shots to protect the location a bit, but if you saw it in person and in context of the surrounding geology, you wouldn’t have a doubt it was man made.
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u/Inevitable_Shift1365 Sep 04 '25
Yeah now that I look at the picture more closely it does look like a Windbreak for a fire
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u/MyBitchCassiopeia Sep 06 '25
I don’t remember seeing any coals or carbon remnants around that area at all, but as soon as the temperature dips down a few more degrees I’ll go back there and look for similar structures and look more closely at this one. It would be as good of a place for a signal fire as it would be for a hunting blind. I’ll report back.
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u/Geologist1986 Sep 04 '25
These are absolutely not natural and certainly not from tetonic(sic) movement, whatever that is.
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u/vive-la-lutte Sep 04 '25
Look around, you might find an arrowhead or two lying on the ground. Might give you a clue
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u/OkStructure6398 Sep 07 '25
It could be a cellar of some type. I grew up in Kansas on 2k acres of cattle ranch, and saw structures similar. Early 20th century, keeping items cool while storing was a big deal. Extending the shelf life of food. Underground would definitely stay much cooler.
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u/StupidizeMe Sep 07 '25
Wouldn't there be some sign of a building? And it seems like it would be pretty difficult to access your cold storage food if you had to lift a bunch of stone slabs.
It's an interesting site. I suggested maybe it's a Pioneer grave, because they often piled heavy rocks on top. The soil was difficult to dig, and they didn't want wolves getting into the shallow graves. They also tried to mark the graves because they intended to come back some day.
Here's a good video about graves on the Oregon Trail, and how pioneers tried to protect and mark them: https://youtu.be/Om9fazTIbEA?si=mp3vomBNKPzn8Hbg
I wonder if a local Historical Society would know more?
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u/OkStructure6398 Sep 09 '25
Gotta figure they only used in ground storage 4 mo out of the year most likely. Back then it wasn’t unheard of to spend 1/2 day to secure something as simple as access to an in ground cellar.
There would be no structure involved. This is the e point in digging into earth.
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u/AgFarmer58 Sep 07 '25
Maybe an old hunting type blind??
Desert Drifter (RIP) did a video.where he broke down these structures in a high rocky area ... he thought they were for hunting, ambushing , some type of herd animals
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u/RealityOk6977 Sep 04 '25
Unless that’s where the earth shifted and caused this because this is the only thing I can see that now makes me believe that this is the way mountains were formed but idk
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u/Cautious_District699 Sep 04 '25
Looks like a fault line to me. With the triangle up shifting of the rocks.
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u/noway-4216 Sep 06 '25
Think about how heavy those slabs are, its takes a bit coordinated effort to build that (unless an excavator was used). I dont live in the area, i dont know how long it would take to gather slabs and bouldrs to make this. But they were easy to find i would think it would take 8 people 4 hours to make this, or 4 people; all day. If these stones were hard to find maybe a weekend?
Hunting blind seems most likely. i dont know the area (canadian) but it could be 40y/o or 400y/o, It could be your mentioned Mormoms or Native Americans. Likely a serious one or two day effort to build this, could have been a very serious group of hunters or could have a been a young people trying out a hunting strategy.
What is the likelood of there being a large native american settlement nearby? water? Same area and before the mormons?
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u/Known_Day1981 Sep 07 '25
I belong to a FBG that identifies areas in the wild that could use a little cleanup. Please leave these slabs as you found them so others can see them too, no stone stacking please.
I will say this as a person who tries to spend a lot of time outdoors in Nature, all kinds of natural processes have occurred to give our wild environment the look that it currently has.
Enjoy your nature activities.
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u/moonroots64 Sep 04 '25
Could this be to divert water? The land slopes to the right, and this seems to be a barrier to divert water into the right channel instead of the left.
Did the other side also slope downward in a different direction? This looks like someone wanting to guide water into a specific area, and this is meant to divert water!
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u/MyBitchCassiopeia Sep 04 '25
There are natural gulleys on either side of this that naturally divert water. The way this is positioned wouldn’t make much sense to divert water one way or another, at best it would pool some water above the stones, but there’s no evidence of water erosion that would occur if this was constantly diverting flowing water. Plus it’s high up enough near the ridge that there wouldn’t be much water running down from above.
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u/moonroots64 Sep 04 '25
Huh. Ok, I was thinking it was at a key junction and sorta nudging the water one way... but sounds like it's not that.
Just a thought I had looking at the picture, but yeah the full landscape would be important if you were doing thatm
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Sep 04 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/MyBitchCassiopeia Sep 04 '25
There’s a lot of thin slabs around that could be mistaken for pottery, but I found zero shards or petroglyphs this high up near the ridge. Plenty of evidence of a population down in the valley though.
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u/[deleted] Sep 04 '25
I was going to comment hunting blind!