Literary Las Vegas

Heidi Roberts, founder and president of the Las Vegas based archaeology company HRA Inc., tapped her 30-plus years in the field to write the novel "The Archaeological Adventures of I.V. Jones," a fictionalized story that gives readers a window into the world of Utah archaeological study in the '70s.

For more information about the book, visit hraarchaeology.com.

Excerpt from
"The Archeological Adventures of I.V. Jones"

The masonry techniques and pottery styles showed that the pueblos' occupants had cultural ties to Chaco Canyon in New Mexico. I had heard that these towers could be found in strategic locations up and down the area's mesas and canyons. Their function is unknown, but archaeologists speculate that they were signal towers.

The last pueblo we visited contained over fifty rooms, half of them badly vandalized. Craters where vandals had searched for artifacts riddled the partially buried rooms. Soil that had blown or washed into the abandoned rooms had been churned and rendered scientifically meaningless. Pots that had lain on the floor when the pueblo was abandoned were probably now sitting on someone's bookshelves. My thoughts turned to Ben, and I wondered if this was one of the sites he had looted.

The weather stayed clear and warm through the weekend, but Monday we woke to heavy clouds that threatened rain.