Sixteen hundred years ago, Eagle Mountain may have been a thriving village. The Fremont Indians who lived there at the time left about a dozen clues: petroglyphs carved in stone.

For centuries the rocks have endured baking heat and frigid cold. Now Eagle Mountain and a developer are working to ensure they can endure a booming population of modern neighbors.

More than 400 homes are slated to be built around and even on the land in north Eagle Mountain where the petroglyphs lie. Sage Communities, which owns the land and the petroglyphs, is preparing to consolidate the glyphs in 2009 by moving some outlying stones. The developer will then open a petroglyph park which, though privately owned, would provide free access for the public, said Ryan Kent of Sage Communities.

“Some of these things look like scribbles and some look like they are symbolic, like animals and hunting,” Kent said. “One looks like the sun, another looks like a bird, another like an antelope or deer.”

The plan to create a petroglyph park, while supported by the city and even required by city code, has a few Council members here wondering whether more can be done to ensure the stones are not vandalized or outright stolen. City code requires developers to keep ownership of any undeveloped open space.

The problem lies in the private ownership of the petroglyphs. Glyphs on public land are protected by harsher penalties, while glyphs that are stolen from or vandalized on private property may be treated as just property rather than ancient and irreplaceable cultural artifacts.

“If they are just sitting on private property without any kind of status allowing us to protect or prosecute, it’s hard to say what could happen to them in the future,” said Eagle Mountain city attorney Jerry Kinghorn in a recent meeting.

Councilman David Lifferth said the city should consider changing its code “to make sure that the petroglyphs can be protected.”

Now, the city and Sage Communities are negotiating a deal that may allow the city to have an easement over the petroglyph park, meaning the petroglyphs could potentially come under state and federal protections while the developer would retain ownership.

Sage Communities has been before the city as recently as Tuesday seeking various required approvals. Kinghorn has urged the city to act now, during the approvals process, because this is the time when the city will have the most influence over the developer.

In addition to negotiating a joint tenancy of the land, Kent said state officials have visited the site to photograph and document the glyphs, as have officials of the State Trust Lands, which owns neighboring property. And later this month, officials from the National Park Service will come to visit the site and offer suggestions for protecting the rock art. The Utah Rock Art Research Association has also been asked to provide advice.

State experts who have examined the stones said they believe they were done by Fremont Indians between 1,400 and 1,600 years ago, Kent said.

The development now plans to put a rustic two-plank fence around the petroglyph park and create a trail with interpretive signs for visitors coming to see glyphs, Kent said. This work could be done as early as summer 2009.

“When we talk about protecting the petroglyphs, that is kind of a big word for me and I don’t really know what that means, other than that we don’t want them damaged or graffitied or anything,” said Kent. “We are throwing around some ideas.”

Generally, the stones on which the glyphs are inscribed are too large to simply take away, Kent said. And while some may believe the glyphs are best protected if no one knows about them, a second school of thought — the school the developers are subscribing to — is to let everyone know about them, relying on residents and visitors and the homeowners association to keep an eye on them while allowing the public to access them.

The stones should be seen, Kent said.

“It is a humbling feeling when you are there and you try to put yourself in the year 400 and try to figure out why they are there,” Kent said.