Utz tablets program to be held Aug. 18 at Van Meter State Park cultural center

Vincent Barrows, of the Cahokia Archaeological Society, will present a program about the "Utz Tablets" at the American Indian Cultural Center in Van Meter State Park on Saturday, Aug. 18, at 10 a.m.

The program is free and open to the public.

Barrows has conducted research into these enigmatic American Indian tablets, first unearthed in the Van Meter area in 1936 by local farmer Jim Utz, for more than five years.

Connotations of astronomy and mythology on the tablet forms will be discussed. Barrows will also describe cultural connections with the symbolism found at the Cahokia Mounds east of St. Louis.

The discovery of the tablets in Saline County took place just four years after the establishment of Van Meter State Park. Further investigation revealed the site to have been a Missouria Indian village.

Designated the Utz Site, it is now a National Historic Landmark.