See also
- Franktown Cave, a nearby archaeological site
- List of prehistoric sites in Colorado
The Cherry Creek Rockshelter is an archaeological site in central Colorado, located within modern-day Castlewood Canyon State Park near Franktown, Colorado. Current research indicates that it was used by Native American inhabitants beginning in the Archaic period. The site is situated on the Palmer Divide, which allowed for a unique prehistoric environment that contributed to an abundance of food and water sources, as well as lithic materials for tool-making. These factors, combined with the structure and situation of the shelter itself, made the site a particularly attractive environment for prehistoric peoples to settle in. Archaeological study of the site began in 1955, with the most current original research concluding in 2002.
The park and archaeological site are located within the northern reaches of the Black Forest, a relatively isolated area of montane forest surrounded by drier grasslands. This forest is nurtured by the increase in elevation provided by the Palmer Divide, which allows for a higher amount of precipitation than is typical for central Colorado. The site is situated on the western bank of Cherry Creek, a tributary of the South Platte River that flows north through the park. With its maximum exposure to the south, the shelter is in an ideal position to shield inhabitants from cold northern winds while allowing for abundant solar radiation to warm the site. [1]
This area of Colorado has historically had a diverse ecosystem, with sources of abundant food, water, shelter, and lithic materials for stone tool manufacture. Such factors encouraged human settlement of the area.
This region experienced a notable diversity of floral and faunal species similar to those of the nearby Rocky Mountain foothills, but with a zonation of larger plants that differentiates the ecosystem of the Palmer Divide from similar environments. Prehistoric animal species included bison, antelope, deer, rabbits, and other animals that would have provided an abundant and diverse food source for native peoples. Nearby water sources included not only Cherry Creek, but also fresh water springs that occurred within the rockshelter and which contributed to the development of the site (Tchakirides 16-18).
The sedimentation of the area directly contributed to the formation of the rockshelter. The bedrock is composed of Denver and Dawson formations, deposited in the late Cretaceous to Paleogene, and overlaid with Castle Rock conglomerate. The Castle Rock conglomerate is harder than the relatively soft Denver and Dawson formations. Groundwater moving between these two major layers erodes the lower, softer formations and leaves the harder Castle Rock conglomerate behind. Where these layers form outcrops, the same groundwater erosion may produce natural caves as seen in the Cherry Creek rockshelter. [2]
There is little direct evidence of Paleoindian use of the rockshelter. However, there is abundant evidence of human use from the Archaic period onward. During the Archaic, climates were beginning to shift from cool and wet to hotter, drier conditions. Such a shift in climate necessitated a shift in human behavior. This include changes in subsistence behavior with an increased focus on plant resources and a more sedentary lifestyle. [3]
This rockshelter would have been would have been a prime location for prehistoric occupation in every season but summer, thanks to its southern exposure that provided protection from harsh northern winds. The area also was abundant with floral and faunal resources, and a water source, Cherry Creek, was accessible as well, and the rockshelter itself had a fresh water spring. Outcrops in the area provided ample material for stone tools. [4]
There is not any evidence for Paleoindian occupation at the Cherry Creek Canyon Rockshelter, although at the time the deepest horizons in the rockshelter had yet to be tested sufficiently [5] so there is still a possibility that these prehistoric people utilized the site. There is also a general lack of preservation in terms of organic remains and a shortage of well-defined stratigraphy which has made archaeology, and distinction between different occupational periods, difficult.
A large number of lithics, both debitage as well as projectile points, were discovered during Thompson's archaeological work at the site, suggesting that this rockshelter was a place of intense lithic production. He also excavated ground stones from some of the lower levels of the site, and ceramic sherds from the first four levels of his trench. Thompson concluded that the first four levels represented a Woodland phase occupation dated to about AD 500. [6] He also concluded that the projectile points in the first four levels of his excavation were different from those in the bottom levels which further represented different occupations in different time periods.
This rockshelter represents the use of different areas for different tasks, as concluded by the discovery of hearths in Test Unit Three, and large amounts of lithic debitage in Test Unit One. There is also evidence of storage at the site, suggesting long term occupation, and continuous use of the site. Tchakirides' research at the site exemplifies that an intense occupation, at least during the Late Archaic/Early Ceramic transitional period, took place in the Cherry Creek Rockshelter. People during this time were enjoying a more sedentary lifestyle, and the longevity at the rockshelter supports this theory.
The first formal excavation done at the rockshelter was in 1955 and 1956 by Gerald Thompson, a University of Denver student. He excavated a 12x29 rectangular trench to the back of the rockshelter, with twelve arbitrary levels six inches deep (Tchakirides 26). From the records Thompson made, it appears that the rockshelter was utilized for a long period of time, but because of the minimal chronological evidence he provides, the total duration is unclear. [7] What is important about his research is that he provides significant information to include in the prehistoric history of the area.
The most current research on the rockshelter began in the fall of 2000 when Tiffany Tchakirides, another University of Denver master's student, began her thesis research at the site. She conducted ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys in the rockshelter to attempt to identify undisturbed sediments at the site, the presence of which would mean an opportunity for further research. [8] The hope was that the trench Thompson dug in the 1950s would be visible in the analysis of the data, but instead they discovered other intrusive events
In the spring of 2001 another GPR survey was done, this time with a different system in the hopes that the data produced could be used to plan future excavations. [9] The first goal was to locate the trench Thompson had dug during his research in the rockshelter, then to locate sediments that remained undisturbed, and finally to excavate test units to recover data and integrate it with what Thompson had already written about. Tchakirides was able to identify several features in the radar profiles during her analysis, such as possible hearths, a bedrock ledge, and areas of a roof fall. [10] The hope was that some of the features would have artifacts still in situ and after intensive analysis, five features were selected to be included in future excavations.
In the summer of 2001, excavations began at the rockshelter. Four test units were excavated in a period of two weeks. Test Unit One was placed in order to explore the bedrock ledge seen in the GPR data. They discovered a cache of lithic material that had been placed in the shelter for future tool work. [11] Test Unit Two contained pothunter's pits and a portion of the original Thompson's trench. Test Unit Four was placed away from the original trench, where the hearths and other features identified in the GPR data were thought to be located. What they found was an ancient living surface, and they were not only able to correlate it with Thompson's data, but to date it to the Late Archaic and Early Ceramic periods.
In an attempt to clarify what was exposed in Test Unit Two, Test Unit Six was chosen to excavate. Unfortunately, Test Unit Six excavations revealed disturbed stratigraphy similar to Test Unit Two, so Test Unit Seven had to be excavated as well. Thompson's trench was then located and the team was finally able to place their newer ideas into the previous framework created by Thompson for the site. [12] 1805 lithic pieces were excavated and statistical analysis was performed on the flakes to determine use area location during the most intense occupation period in the rockshelter. [13] This, and the hearths in Test Unit Three, led the team to determine the spatial segregation of the rockshelter into various activity areas. [14] The lithic artifacts found in Test Unit Three also demonstrated the different stages of production in stone tool making; for example, Test Unit Three lithics were determined to be of a later stage than Test Unit Four. [15]
In conclusion, using all available data, it can be said that the Cherry Creek Canyon Rockshelter experienced intense occupation at least during the Late Archaic and Early Ceramic transition, and that the site was divided into activity areas that contained features like hearths and storage areas. [16] Data from other sites suggests a similar pattern of sedentary living and intense occupation. Future research on unexcavated units, especially further back into the rockshelter, can only lead to discoveries about the occupation of the site, possibly during other time periods.
The Stanfield-Worley Bluff Shelter, located on private property in Colbert County in northwestern Alabama, United States, is one of the most important prehistoric sites excavated in the state due to the archeological evidence deposited by the Paleo-Indians who once occupied the rock shelter. Lying in Sanderson Cove along a tributary of Cane Creek approximately seven miles (11 km) south of the Tennessee Valley, the shelter and the high bluffs of the surrounding valley provided a well-protected environment for the Native American occupants.
The Mooney site is a precontact Native American archaeological site on the Red River Levee in Norman County, Minnesota. It is a multicomponent site consisting of remains from both the Archaic and Woodland traditions. No diagnostic Archaic artifacts were found. However, animal remains and lithic materials recovered from one meter below the Woodland artifacts returned a carbon 14 date that provided the basis for the Archaic classification. The Woodland tradition is defined by a vertical scatter of materials, dated to about 1000 using thermoluminescence methods. Many animal bones were found at the site, reflecting a great emphasis on a wide range of hunting activity that focused on bison. Artifacts such as local and exotic lithic materials were found, as well as a wide variety of pottery and other ceramic remains. Much of the pottery followed the Sandy Lake model; however, some artifacts were placed in a new class of artisanship known as Red River Ware.
The LoDaisKa site is a prominent archaeological site in the U.S. state of Colorado, located within a rockshelter near Morrison. The rockshelter was first inhabited by people of the Archaic through the Middle Ceramic period, generally spanning 3000 BC to 1000 AD.
The Normandy Archaeological Project was a rescue excavation designed to preserve the archaeological history of the area before it became submerged by the construction of the Normandy Reservoir Dam through funding from the Tennessee Valley Authority. After the construction of the dam, historic information about that area could not be accessed, so prior to the construction of the dam, as much research as possible had to be done on the area. This salvage effort was conducted in the Duck River Valley area, of middle Tennessee from March 1971 until the summer of 1975, prior to the completion of the dam in 1976. The fieldwork was done mainly by researchers from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, under contract to the Tennessee Valley Authority Contract and National Park. The dam creating the Normandy Reservoir was built on the Duck River at mile marker 248.6 in Coffee and Bedford County, Tennessee, named after the town of Normandy, Tennessee. The two nearest cities are Manchester and Tullahoma.
Dust Cave is a Paleoindian archaeology site located in northern Alabama. It is in the Highland Rim in the limestone bluffs that overlook Coffee Slough, a tributary of the Tennessee River. The site was occupied during the Pleistocene and early Holocene eras. 1LU496, another name for Dust Cave, was occupied seasonally for 7,000 years. The cave was discovered in 1984 by Dr. Richard Cobb and initially excavated in 1989 under Dr. Boyce Driskell from the University of Alabama.
Franktown Cave is located 25 miles (40 km) south of Denver, Colorado on the north edge of the Palmer Divide. It is the largest rock shelter documented on the Palmer Divide, which contains artifacts from many prehistoric cultures. Prehistoric hunter-gatherers occupied Franktown Cave intermittently for 8,000 years beginning about 6400 BC The site held remarkable lithic and ceramic artifacts, but it is better known for its perishable artifacts, including animal hides, wood, fiber and corn. Material goods were produced for their comfort, task-simplification and religious celebration. There is evidence of the site being a campsite or dwelling as recently as AD 1725.
The Magic Mountain site is an Archaic and Woodland village site in Jefferson County, Colorado dating from 4999 BC to 1000 AD. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
The Trinchera Cave Archeological District (5LA9555) is an archaeological site in Las Animas County, Colorado with artifacts primarily dating from 1000 BC to AD 1749, although there were some Archaic period artifacts found. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001 and is located on State Trust Lands.
The Mill Branch archaeological site is located in Warren County, Georgia west of Augusta and south of Thomson. It is located in the Brier Creek watershed. A reservoir was deemed necessary to assist in kaolin processing during times of drought. For this project to commence, a permit was needed from the Corps of Engineers, which required a cultural resource impact study to first be done. J.M. Huber Corporation contracted Southeastern Archaeological Services to do an initial survey of the area in 1988 with additional data recovery in 1990. J.M Huber Corporation determined that two sites surveyed by Southeastern Archaeological Services, specifically 9WR4 and 9WR11, could not be avoided or preserved. Huber no longer owns this property. These two sites were excavated between April 23 and May 31, 1990. The field report, Archaeological Investigations at Mill Branch Sites 9WR4 and 9WR11 Warren County, Georgia, was published in 1995 and compiled by R. Jerald Ledbetter.
Sisyphus Shelter is an archaeological site that was uncovered in Colorado when the Colorado Department of Highways was working on I-70. The excavation of this site became a joint project between the Colorado Department of Highways and the Bureau of Land Management. Fieldwork on the site was completed in 1980. Archaeologists John Gooding and Wm. Lane Shields as well as many others completed the excavation and prepared a comprehensive site report. Over the course of the fieldwork on Sisyphus Shelter, twenty-six features of human origin were discovered as well as numerous stone artifacts and two perishable items. The artifacts appeared to be all Late Archaic in origin. Dating indicated a range of occupations from modern times to 4400 B.P. being the oldest sample. Gooding and Shields (1985) suggest that the occupations of the shelter were not consistent and affected by seasonal changes.
Shawnee-Minisink Site is a prehistoric archaeological site located in Smithfield Township, Monroe County, Pennsylvania in the upper Delaware Valley. It was the site of a Paleoindian camp site. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
Buur Heybe, which translates to "The Hill of the Potter's Sand", is a late Pleistocene and Holocene archaeological complex located in the largest granite inselberg in the inter-riverine region of the southern Bay province of Somalia approximately 180 km northwest of the capital Mogadishu. Buur Heybe has a longstanding history of archaeological research dating back to the 1930s when Paolo Graziosi carried out the first professional archaeological excavation in Somalia in the rockshelter site of Gogoshiis Qabe in Buur Heybe. Further excavations by J. Desmond Clark in the 1950s and later by the Buur Ecological and Archaeological Project (BEAP) led by Steven Brandt in the 1980s have made Buur Heybe one of the best dated and closely studied archaeological sites in Somalia.
Bradford House II is a prehistoric rockshelter, 24 kilometres (15 mi) southwest of Denver. It is situated on land owned by the Ken-Caryl Ranch Master Association. It was excavated in the summer and fall of 1973 by the Denver Chapter of the Colorado Archaeological Society. The excavations found several cultural features and recovered thousands of chipped stone artifacts, dozens of ground stone artifacts, a few ceramic sherds, bone tools, and faunal remains. The site was used by prehistoric groups during the Middle and Late Archaic periods, as well as the Early Woodland, and Middle Woodland periods. This is a span of 4,500 years. Bradford House II is located in the Ken-Caryl Valley. The Front Range foothills to the west and the Lyons and Dakota hogbacks to the east frame the valley. An abundance of archaeological sites, attests to the valley's attraction for the earliest inhabitants of the area. They frequented the area for its abundant resources, including shelter under the many bedrock monoliths scattered across the valley, lithic materials for chipped stone tools, and edible plants and animals. West of the valley, the arkosic sandstones of the Pennsylvanian Fountain formation lie unconformably upon uplifted Precambrian metamorphic rocks of the Front Range. Although mostly covered by recent to pre-Wisconsin alluvium, the Fountain formation forms southwest facing escarpments, or monoliths, with undercut shelters or caves, many of which were inhabited by prehistoric peoples. The elevation of the site is approximately 1878 m (6160 ft.) above mean sea level. Elevations surrounding the site range from about 1828 m (6000 ft.) in the Dutch Creek water gap to 1992 m (6536 ft.) on the highest point of the Dakota hogback ridge. The valley has a sunny, mild, and semiarid climate that has neither the extreme cold of the higher elevations to the west nor the hot summer afternoons of the eastern plains. A south-facing rock shelter like Bradford House II absorbs a great deal of solar radiation, further mitigating the winter cold. Precipitation is moderate, averaging 15 to 18 inches, and winter snows melt quickly with frequent down slope (chinook) winds. The valley consists of various grasses and forbs. The surrounding hogbacks and foothills support a pine-Douglas fir vegetation community. The recovery of floral materials from Bradford House II and other archaeological sites in the valley indicates that local plants such as sunflower, wild plum, acorn, and chokecherry were gathered and used by prehistoric peoples. Many animals, including elk, mule deer, and occasional Big Horn sheep, as well as a variety of carnivores, rabbits, rodents, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish are found in the hogbacks and foothills. Unworked animal, mostly mammal, bone was found in abundance in the Archaic and Early Ceramic levels. Mule deer dominates the assemblage, followed by elk, bison, and rabbit, with little change in dietary preferences from the earlier to later time periods. Several bone tools and antler flakers were recovered from all cultural levels in the site.
The Schilling Archeological District is a prehistoric Native American archaeological site on private property on Lower Grey Cloud Island in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, United States. It consists of a habitation site and mound group with artifacts that date from the Early Woodland Period to the Late Prehistoric Period. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 for having state-level significance in the theme of archaeology. It was nominated for its rare Early Woodland component, Middle Mississippian cultural influences, and potential to show climatic adaptations over time.
The South Flats earthwork enclosure is one of less than 10 intact earthworks, located in Western Michigan alongside the Muskegon River, it was originally discovered and excavated by George Quimby, the earthwork itself is about 25 to 30 meters in diameter near a bluff with an overview of the Muskegon. Excavations and surveys suggest and attribute, possibly, an Algonkian speaking small-scale society to the formation of the site. Archaeologists are yet to grasp a full understanding of the South Flats and other similar earthworks spread across the state of Michigan dated between AD 1350–1650.
The Booker Site is an archeological site in Sny Bottom of the Mississippi Valley. The investigations for this site began during August and September 1990 by the Contract Archaeology Program of the Center for American Archaeology. Excavations for this site began in 1993 in Pike County, Illinois.
The Two Dogs Site is a lithic quarry site located in Person County, North Carolina. This prehistoric archaeological site dates to the Middle Archaic and Woodland Periods, and it is classified as a lithic quarry site due to the presence of thousands of lithic artifacts found there. Located in the Carolina Slate Belt, the stone materials present at Two Dogs provided prehistoric peoples with openly accessible lithic resources, predominantly for tool-making, as they passed through the site between other, more residential areas. Two Dogs was excavated from 2004-2005 following shovel testing at the beginning of the decade. The lithic materials found at the Two Dogs Site were subjected to petrographic analysis, and isotopes were geochemically tested to confirm the origins of the stone artifacts. The Two Dogs site has been determined to be neither residential or agricultural; rather, this site was exclusively an area where people from nearby sedentary civilizations could access their necessary lithic resources.
Nasera Rockshelter is an archaeological site located in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area within Ngorongoro District of Arusha Region in northern Tanzania, and it has evidence of Middle Stone Age and Later Stone Age occupations in the Late Pleistocene to early Holocene, and ceramic-bearing Holocene occupations attributed to Kansyore, Nderit, and Savanna Pastoral Neolithic traditions. It was first excavated by Louis Leakey in 1932. A second series of excavations by Michael Mehlman in 1975 and 1976 led to the first comprehensive published study of the shelter, its stratigraphy and chronology, and its abundant material culture, including stone tools, faunal remains, and pottery. Recent work has sought to better understand chronology, lithic technology, mobility and demography, and site formation processes at Nasera Rockshelter. Nasera Rockshelter is considered a key site in eastern Africa for understanding the Middle Stone Age to Later Stone Age transition, and also for the study of the spread of livestock herding during the Pastoral Neolithic. Its chronology and archaeological sequence have been compared to those of other key sites in the region such as Mumba Rockshelter, Kisese II Rockshelter, Panga ya Saidi, and Enkapune ya Muto.
The Mlambalasi Rock Shelter is a historic site located in Iringa District of Iringa Region in southern Tanzania, 50 km away from Iringa City. Excavations in 2006 and 2010 by the Iringa Region Archaeological Project uncovered artifactual deposits from the Later Stone Age (LSA), the Iron Age, and the historic periods, as well as external artifacts from the Middle Stone Age (MSA). Direct dating on Achatina shell and ostrich eggshell beads indicates that the oldest human burials at Mlambalasi are from the terminal Pleistocene. Mlambalasi is characterized by interment LSA and Iron Age periods, as well as by cycles of use and abandonment.
Mochena Borago is a rockshelter and archaeological site situated on the western slope of Mount Damota, nearest to the town of Wolaita Sodo in Ethiopia, located in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region. The site is well-dated, with 59 radiocarbon dates, which gives it one of the most secure chronologies among Late Pleistocene sites in the Horn of Africa and Eastern Africa. It is one of only a few African sites found with intact deposits dating to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 outside of South Africa, and was potentially a refugium for hunter-gatherering peoples during the cold and arid period of MIS 4. This makes it an important research site for testing the "refugium theory," which states that over the past 70,000 years, during cold, arid conditions, like those of the Last Glacial Maximum and MIS 4, humans sought refuge in the mountains of the southwest Ethiopian Highlands, which received higher rainfall, making them more habitable than the surrounding areas. Research at Mochena Borago is helping to reconstruct human behavior during the Late Pleistocene, and the paleoenvironment that Homosapiens would have inhabited at this time in the Horn of Africa.