Jesse Jennings, Danger Cave, 1949:
Jesse Jennings, University of Utah Professor of Anthropology, began a path-breaking excavation of Danger Cave – a large, relatively shallow opening in the mountains just northeast of Wendover – in 1949.  In that dig, he broke new ground in research methods and reporting, and he determined that groups had occupied the cave as early as 11,000 years ago, making it the oldest site known to be occupied in Utah.

As he analyzed the complex stratigraphy, Jennings developed a new model describing human adaptation in the Great Basin.  His study also became one of the first to demonstrate the accuracy of radiocarbon dating.  As a result of his work, archaeologists worldwide know about the Utah cave.  Archaeologists from the Antiquities Section of the Utah State Historical Society continue excavation and stabilization efforts at the cave.