Each of the clearly separated strata at the site are being meticulously dug in 2 cm levels, all items being left in place, mapped, photographed, and cataloged individually. Excavations are concentrating on the uppermost sediments which rest on top of massive roof fall debris. Artifacts are sometimes abundant and well preserved. Post settlement alluvium (run-off from fields above the shelter) have capped the prehistoric sediments and kept them safe from recent disturbance. Excavation
Excavations below the Red Horn composition revealed a paint spill, a portion of a broken and very thin (Effigy Mound) pottery vessel and debris resulting from sanding of the wall. Immediately above this stratum is a series of irregularly shaped, repeated small burnings. Light from these fires illuminated the Red Horn composition.
Culture History The artifacts recovered indicate occupations beginning in Late Archaic times (Unnamed Phase @ 1500-1100 B.C.; Durst Phase @ 900-500 B.C.), followed by Early Late Middle Woodland (Millville Phase @ A.D. 250-350), Late Middle Woodland (Weaver-like Late Millville Phase @ A.D. 350-700), Early Effigy Mound (Eastman Phase @ A.D. 700-1000), early Oneota (McKern Phase @ A.D. 100-1100),(Unnamed Late Effigy Mound Phase @ A.D. 1000-1200), Late Woodland (Kekoskee Phase @ A.D. 800-1300), and Developmental Oneota (Blue Earth (?) Phase @ A.D. 1100-1300).
Sediment Analysis drawing ©1993 William Gartner William Gartner analyzed the sediments at the site for his Master's Thesis in Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1993). Most of the sediments provide instructive information on the source and mechanisms of deposition in the shelter and relate their local events to regional sediment and climatic episodes.However, more than 20 cubic meters of sediments in the shelter were identified in his analysis as being fabricated; they are man-made dirts. Micromorphology analysis indicates that these preposterous materials were made and laid down periodically in shallow increments beginning around A.D. 350 (or earlier). These repetitive events ceased around A,D, 1000 (or slightly later). We are calling these dirts ANTHROSEDS.
They are made of ashes from (coniferous) trees, ashes from grasses, "cooked" and powdered limestone (exotic - nearest source 4 km away), with minor admixtures of crushed clamshells (exotic - nearest source 15 km away), and crushed bone. Excavations at the site have revealed an earth oven where the limestone was "cooked".
Debris from the painting of the Red Horn composition is associated with the uppermost of these anthroseds, indicating that the artists were also making the anthroseds.
Structures More than 100 feature numbers have already been assigned and the vast majority of these are hearths. Clearly, fires played a major role in the activities that took place in this rockshelter in prehistoric times.In addition, a large number of postmolds have been identified in the southeast corner of the shelter, near the paintings. More posts are discovered each field season, so it is difficult to determine what sorts of structures they define. We are inclined to interpret them as widely-spaced legs of a series of platforms that had been periodically rebuilt. Whatever they define, the posts and the structures are clearly associated with the repetitive deposition of the anthroseds and therefore seem to be part of the pattern of special activities performed at the site between A.D. 350 and 1000.Prospects After 13 field seasons, it is now clear that as many as 16 more such expeditions will be required to complete the task that we have begun. Digging under the destroyed paintings is depressing, but the work must continue.©1997 Robert Salzer
