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Archaeological and Paleoethnobotanical Investigations in Salts Cave, Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Patty Jo Watson  and
Richard A. Yarnell
Patty Jo Watson
Affiliation:
Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
Richard A. Yarnell
Affiliation:
Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
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Abstract

Reconnaissance, surface collecting, and test excavation were carried on in Salts Cave in August, 1963, by a joint Illinois State Museum-Cave Research Foundation expedition in cooperation with the National Park Service. Various analyses and secondary investigations have continued since then. The main upper passages of the cave were extensively visited during the last millennium B.C. by a prehistoric people who are probably to be assigned to the Early Woodland culture grouping. They were exploiting the mineral resources of the cave, primarily sulfate crystalline deposits, at least one of which is cathartic. Some individuals penetrated nearly two miles into the cave, using cane torches. Quantities of prehistoric, dried human feces are available and are yielding important dietary information. The people were apparently cultivating some plant species, including sunflower (Heliarn thus annus) and two members of the classic tropical horticultural complex, squash and gourd (Cucurbita pepo and Lagenarid siceraria). There is as yet no evidence that they grew or used maize (Zea mays).

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 31 , Issue 6 , October 1966 , pp. 842 - 849
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1966

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