European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 5, 1980, Darmstadt, Hesse Hidden Cave s clues to ancient f a by John Noble Wilford new York times k guano Miner named my Reilly showed Upin Fallon nov. Back in the 1930s and was heard to complain about working in n Cave Southeast of town hidden Cave. It would be much easier digging the Bat droppings he said if it were not for All that Indian was the beginning of a revealing archaeological discovery n rare glimpse into the lives of people who a least 7,000 years ago occupied the shores of great lakes that once covered much of what is now the arid great Basin of Nevada and Western Utah. No one knows where they came from or wha happened to them. No one is sure if they lived by the lakes year in year out or if they were nomadic. But hidden Caie it seems was where of Ihetu Sandi of Yean they stored Bun Linja weapons fishing nets and Bow tools implements of their culture. There Lwy remained hurled under sediment or stored by the dry environment and undisturbed by Man or the elements. Moreover the artefacts were not the garbage of a Pas culture the broken and worn out fragments usually found in a Rheological Sites but unused materials Al aside for future few archaeologists did some digging in 1940 and 1951, but apparently failed to appreciate the Cave s full potential. Sow making a More intensive search the past two Summers an american museum of natural history team of Urc ecologists and students has mined enough evidence to draw the first sketchy picture of Lakeside life among the so called desert archaic people. No More primitive people were Ever studied said or. David Hurst Thomas chairman of the museum anthropology department and Leader of the expedition. This is not a value judgment. It s simply that their technology was primitive without ceramics or metallurgy and their social organization was elemental nothing beyond the extended Thomas spoke the scientists and students were Busy with their tedious Dusty work. Some were members of the museum staff and geologists with the desert re search Institute of Iii University of Nevada at Reno others were College students of anthropology or archaeology getting the feel of Field work and academic besides the american museum and the University of Nevada sponsors of the project include the Bureau of land management and the Nevada state historic preservation office. Crouching the worker entered to Ion narrow opening to the Cave to Din and Label the Dep Sedi ments distinct geologic record going Back to thelast Lee am amt Caruer and with trowels to scrape Way the dirt in search of artefacts. The Cave situated on the slopes of Meetza Mountain overlooking the parched la Honan Valley is about 160 feet deep 120 feet wide and no More than 25 feel High. It u lighted and ventilated by a diesel Generator chugging any outside. ,. To look what 1 found Aid Lua Roe u University of new Mexico anthropology student holding up a piece of by twisted Marsh Reed. Fragment of a Basket or mat Ting. She wore a game mask Over her now and mount Protection against the Ever present Dutt. She to sitting i a Tho dust it to a even More intriguing due very a drawing of life near Cave when lakes covered what is now arid great Basin of Nevada. Fish net embedded in the Wall of her dig. It took two More Days of careful digging to reveal thai it was Only Small fragment of a net across the Cave two geologists Jay Quade and Robert Clerico of the desert research Institute stood in a deep Trench examining and tagging the exposed Urata. These Are the Basalt Bedrock at the Bottom a layer of Graveland Coral Lite Limestone called Tufa from when the ancient Lake Waters lapped into the Cave probably 12,000to 15,000 years ago layer of Day and then More Tufa several thousand of years of dirt that blew into the Cave a layer or volcanic Ash from the eruption thai formed Crater Lake in Oregon 6,900 years ago More dirt mid dem of organic deposits from Pas human occupation of the Cave another volcanic Ash layer 1,200 Yean old an then More distinct layers of dirt. Or. Jonathan Davis of the desert research Institute the chief project geologist said we re interested in time and the order in which things happened. The injuring in this place it remarkably Plain and Well preserved because it is a Cave and has been protected from erosion we Hope to learn what the climate Las been doing Over the Ages and How the environment changed and How that affected the people who lived in the stratum of Clay Quad mid they bad found boots of the extinct North american boric and canal nearly All of the artefacts have been uncovered in the layers above the 6,900-year-Oldtolonic Ash. The middens for example Date Back 3,500 to 4,500 Yean with a More exact time expected to be established through radiocarbon dating of the organic samples. The soil gives no evidence that the modern indians who arrived in the area around 1300, Ever used the Cave. The people digging inside the Cave alternate work wit partners outside. As soon As they til up s bucket of dirt carefully identified by level and location they haul it outto the Sere Eners who lift rocks and artefact from the Din with a Large band held Wood framed every bucket yields something Small mammal Bones Bird and fish Bones Twig Obsidian Spear Points and pieces of Spear shafts fragments of baskets an twine Fiah and Rabbit nets shells pendants made from the Horn of Bighorn sheep Bone Ali whistles fashioned out of Bird Bone Juniper Berry necklaces a few human a the and quids wads of fibrous chewing matter with the impressions of human Teeth Marks still found a saved and catalogued at a Tempo Rary Laboratory set up in Mobile Home on a farm near Fallon. The expedition members live in Lents either at the Cave site or behind the Little charcoal was found Thomaj said indicating thai lie Cave was not used primarily for were there Many Stone Chip to suggest that the Spear Points were manufactured there further proof that tic Caw wan t acne. Font pones Tram of 4 b the an Tail to pm providing tints to be ancient . By Iso lating and identifying the Pollon. Or. Peter j. Meh ringer jr., a professor of anthropology and geology at Washington state University determine that Sagebrush and Pine were dominant vegetation in the Arta at the end of the ice arc followed by rom Nood cattails and other Marsh Punu. He also found considerable amounts of cd Yastrum fresh water algae that confirm other evidence of a Lake in the Region when people were using the Cave. A study of animal Bones by or. Donald k. Gays in University of Washington anthropologist indicates that rodents and other Small mammals were plentiful during the Jake period. Rock Art near the illustrates the people Hunting Antelope with Spears. Many of the Spear Point were made of Obsidian Adark volcanic Glass that probably came from Oregon and California an analytical technique known As a Ray Dif fraction is being used to identify its source. Aba Lone Shell used in necklaces suggests that the Lakeside people either travelled to or had same communication with people an the Pacific coast from these fragments of evidence Arctic geologists Are beginning to form the following description of the Waythe ancient Lakeside people lived at the end of the ice age and for several thousand years. Lake Lahonta covered the Basin out beyond the Cave. It was the major body of water in the Western great Basin As Lake Bonneville was to the cast a few Small lakes in Nevada and great sail Lake in Utah Are All that remains. At times Lake Lahonta Rose to the Cave s level but usually in water line was much Lakeside people probably the women harvested Ca Laib for food and tule a Marsh Sedge for making baskets matting and handbags. The men waded out wit their fishing nets and probably snared waterfowl. They hunted Smalt animals with nets and Large animals Wili Spears. They had no the people wore anything it was probably Short Sagebrush skirts. They must have lived in Brush Wick ups or under Rock outcroppings. Life must have been hard although they seemed to Nave some time for diversions such As Rock carving perhaps while waiting for game and playing tuna on Bird Bone we titles and creating Sim ple necklaces. Their heyday at least around the hidden Cave site appears to have been 2,500 to 3,500 years ago. Earlier studies of the ancient Peop to hied in the High desert cast of half in at Alec left shelter ear Austin ner., hate provided additional True hat the people were not organized to tribe but travelled and hunted 1m extended family group a Oak a Wottman their cell Dow and other relates. The relationship Between the Upland and Lakeside peo ple Tun not been determined Thorn said but it is Possi ble they ire the same. They say have lived in tic Uplands part of the year and gone to the lakes at other Lime. The stars and stripes 15
