Caves and Culture

10,000 Years of Ohio History

Linda B Spurlock, Olaf H. Prufer, Thomas R. Pigott

• Publisher: The Kent State University Press
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781631010606
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Physical Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

A collection of the last forty years of research on Ohio's caves and rockshelters

Caves and Culture seeks to address a number of important problems, specifically the use of rockshelters by humans through time and transcontinental continuities. It presents new and updated, unreported research from such Ohio caves and rockshelters as Stow Rockshelter (Stow), Peters Cave (Ross County), Hendricks Cave (Wyandotte County), and Chesser Cave (Athens), among others.

Caves and Culture is primarily focused on the archaeological research of Dr. Olaf H. Prufer and his associates as they investigated and explored caves in Ohio since 1964. Spurlock and her co-editors report, sometimes reclaim, and frequently reinterpret data that will be useful to the understanding of Ohio archaeology for decades to come. Anyone with interest in local or regional (Midwestern or midcontinental) prehistory will appreciate this exploration into Ohio's history.

CHAPTER 1

The Caves and Rockshelters of Ohio in Retrospect

Robert N. Converse

ABSTRACT

Robert N. Converse, former president of the Ohio Archaeological Society and long-time editor of its journal, has been involved in field archaeology and publication for more than half a century. His knowledge of often arcane data is unique, frequently beyond professional access. This paper gives a measured overview of some of his knowledge of caves and rockshelters in the Ohio area.

INTRODUCTION

The Ohio area is dotted with countless overhangs and rockshelters that show signs of human habitation. Hundreds of rockshelters can be found in the rugged eastern and southeastern unglaciated portions of Ohio—roughly south and east of the Wisconsin glacial advance. Such features are concentrated in Fairfield, Jackson, Vinton, and Hocking counties (Mills 1912), although numerous similar formations occur over the entire southeastern Ohio area. The best known of these features is Ash Cave in Hocking County, which is owned by the State of Ohio and is a popular tourist attraction (Andrews 1877).

Most of the rockshelters and overhangs are not true caves; they occur in the sandstones and conglomerates that lie south and east of the glacial limits in the Appalachian foothills. They were created by the erosive action of streams that have cut through the deposits of underlying sandstone and conglomerate.

True caves are usually found in the limestones and dolomites of the glaciated areas in central, western, and northwestern Ohio and perhaps should be more properly termed caverns. They are the result of surface water percolating through fissures and crevices, thus dissolving the underlying rock. In some areas extensive underground passages occur, but few caverns have yielded any significant signs of human habitation (e.g., Pedde and Prufer 2001). Despite the distinction between rockshelters and overhangs in southeastern Ohio and caves or caverns in the glaciated areas of the state, there are, nevertheless, a number of rockshelters in these glaciated regions. They typically are located in the sandstone deposits of the Sharon Conglomerate of northeastern Ohio (Prufer et al. 1989).

Perhaps the best example of rockshelters in limestone areas is the substantial Clifton Gorge of the Little Miami River between Yellow Springs and Clifton in Miami County. The Markley Rockshelter (Converse 1982) is situated in a similar but smaller valley created by a stream tributary to the Little Miami and connected to Clifton Gorge. Near Dublin, Ohio, an example of an incompetent archaeological operation was the find of 25 alleged Hopewellian dog skeletons (Baby and Potter 1964) in a system of very small limestone caverns on the Scioto River. The animal remains were identified by Robert M. Goslin of the Ohio Historical Society. The identification of these canids as Hopewellian is totally inappropriate, since they were not found in any meaningful cultural association. The only indicator of human activities was the find of a human cranium, which on exceedingly dubious metric data R. S. Baby claimed to be a Hopewell skull. Apart from using debatable craniometrics, the association with Hopewell was based on the excavation of the Wright-Holder Earthworks of presumed, but unproven, Hopewellian affiliation. This site is a considerable distance from the caves.

Next to burial mounds, rockshelters have been the most disturbed archaeological features in the state. Few of these natural shelters have escaped some kind of depredation. For more than a century they have been the targets of antiquarians, relic collectors, thrill seekers, well-meaning but misguided amateur archaeologists, owners with commercial aspirations, the curious general public, looters—and in more than one instance troops of Boy Scouts. The most easily accessible sites were and still are often vandalized, and some are replete with historic graffiti, not to mention trash from recent picnics and hunting activities. They have been used as cattle pens, winter livestock shelters, pigsties, whiskey distilleries, and dwellings for destitute families, recluses, and hermits (Carskadden and Morton 1982). Kettle Hill Cave in Fairfield County was once notorious as a nineteenth-century hideaway for horse thieves (Shetrone 1929). Ash Cave in Hocking County, which takes its name from the profusion of ashes within its confines, may have been the site of Civil War–era manufacturing operations that attempted to extract saltpeter and nitrate from the ash.

One of Ohio’s most important sites, Canter’s Cave in Jackson County, was excavated by its owner in 1925 with the idea of making it into a tourist attraction. The collection of archaeological materials removed by Mr. Canter contained numerous examples of cloth, animal skin, twining, netting, basketry, sandals, and many fragments of leather and cord. This important collection was subsequently given to the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society (now Ohio Historical Society), but apart from a few pages it was never adequately reported (Shetrone 1929). Another important site was Kettle Hill Cave in Fairfield County. This shelter covers 5,495 square feet and is one of the largest in the state. In 1927 it was excavated by a troop of Boy Scouts led by Robert M. Goslin. The scouts found several burials, one of which was “mummified,” as well as numerous perishable objects such as a unique feather ornament, basketry, and woven sandals (Shetrone 1929). Robert M. Goslin (1905–1964) never had a formal education, but he became a factotum at the Ohio Historical Society dealing with archaeology, zoology, and botany. He made many mistakes in these areas (Murphy 1975:310–11). It was typical until very recently that the Ohio Historical Society employed numerous people with minimal academic qualifications. In 1964 Goslin, with his son, died in a fishing accident in Alum Creek, near Columbus, Ohio.

From partially reported shelters such as these, it is obvious that the information they once contained could have been crucial. These sites have furnished archaeological data that could not normally have been obtained from open sites: the dry condition of many rockshelters allows for the occasional preservation of cordage, basketry, seeds, wood, and other perishables that are rare in most archaeological contexts. Charcoal for radiocarbon dating from prehistoric rock fireplaces is usually well protected.

Most of these shelters, if not vandalized, were excavated with only minimal expertise. In the case of Kettle Hill, some documentation of Goslin’s activities has survived in a recent biographical sketch (Moseley 2000). Reprinted in this article (Moseley 2000:30) is a stunning 1927 photograph of Robert and John Goslin posing with the excavated remains of the “mummified” burial of a fourteen-year-old female. One glance at this photograph and its caption testifies to the extremely poor excavation techniques of the Boy Scouts. From a biological point of view, it is unclear how a gender can be assigned to a presumed fourteen-year-old, possibly mummified, human body. Kettle Hill Cave also contained petroglyphs; two of these are illustrated by White and Moseley (2000:51–52). It may be doubted that the first of these pictographs is authentic. The second one, on stylistic grounds, may be real. James L. Murphy has most competently discussed many rockshelters in the Appalachian regions of Ohio. In regard to Kettle Hill he notes that the “saddest aspect of the Kettle Hill excavations is that the material was rarely segregated according to feature or even excavation unit. Consequently it is impossible to be certain that any two artifacts were contemporaneous” (Murphy 1975:311). The same comment applies to other badly looted major rockshelters such as Ash Cave and Canter’s Cave (Shetrone 1929).

There is a long but sporadic history of cave and rockshelter explorations in Ohio. Unfortunately, this history is not adequately reflected in the literature since the records of such excavations and reporting in Ohio have been piecemeal and incomplete, to say the least. Reference to such records as there are necessitates the search of countless old newspaper accounts, museum documents, pamphlets, and numerous obscure publications that are out of print or inaccessible to most serious investigators. Quite often these references are little more than off-hand observations by the curious public or by untrained casual excavators. Much of this material is apocryphal. Century-old museum collections from these sites are often missing or otherwise unavailable for study.

Although through time many rockshelters and caves have been “dug” by rank amateurs and avocationalists, very few of these localities have been properly documented, let alone formally reported. Since relatively few nonprofessionals have the necessary expertise (or the time) required to conduct careful archaeological excavations or, for that matter, the ability to analyze the materials recovered, in most cases such operations have resulted in the loss of irretrievable information. Most of this work amounts to little more than pillaging.

Over the years, collections from caves and rockshelters—including charcoal, faunal remains, projectile points, debitage, ceramics, textiles, and other archaeological materials—have been discarded or traded on the antiquities market, even though many of these items, clearly of inestimable archaeological importance, had no intrinsic value for collectors. Whatever, if anything, was left ended up, and still ends up, boxed in basements or garages; provenience and excavation notes are long forgotten. I once wrote a report on the Markley Shelter in Greene County (Converse 1982), one of the scarce southwestern Ohio overhangs. This report was based on two visits to the site and examination of a small collection of artifacts water-screened from the shelter by the now-deceased excavator. Ironically, the amateurs are not alone in failing to report their excavations; a number of professionals have also failed to publish their findings.

Many nonprofessionals have conducted rockshelter excavations that can stand up to the most rigorous professional scrutiny; they also have reported their work. Among others, Wayne Mortine and Douglas Randles of Newcomerstown have completed and published several notable projects (1994; also see Carskadden and Morton 1996:378). Such accounts and others have greatly added to the archaeological picture in eastern Ohio. Gary Felumlee of Zanesville excavated the Knight Hollow Rockshelter (1983) in Muskingum County; he not only salvaged a disturbed site but also retrieved, analyzed, and published the previously unreported materials removed by those who initially had looted the site. Although much of the original pillaged material has apparently been lost (this includes faunal remains), Felumlee conducted a remarkable salvage operation that he combined with the older extant materials into a coherent paper. This is an instance of excellent avocational archaeology and reporting. The most interesting aspect of this material, albeit essentially unstratified, is that it is congruent with the data repeatedly reported in this volume: Middle Woodland remains are quantitatively the least significant in the total assemblage. They consist of several Hopewell projectile points, six Hopewell bladelets, and a single simple-stamped rim, probably affiliated with the local version of what Prufer had defined as Turner Simple Stamped (Prufer 1968) of presumed southeastern United States derivation. The remaining material, although of uncertain intrasite provenience, demonstrates that Late Prehistoric remains, especially ceramics, are most common. Early Woodland ceramics are dramatically represented by a flat-bottomed early vessel (Felumlee 1983:fig. 12) and a variety of Archaic stone artifacts.

Jeff Carskadden and James Morton have done important work in the Muskingum Valley of east-central Ohio. Their publication of the Adamsville pictographs (Carskadden and Morton 1982) is interesting. Although the writers suspected the drawings might be modern, they appear to be authentic and should prompt a closer examination of all such sites for similar features. Evidence of cupstones and polissoirs has been reported at several sites by amateurs (Long 1983).

Perhaps one of the most significant excavations of rockshelters in the Midwest was the Modoc site on the Mississippi River in western Illinois (Fowler 1959). Several similar localities were radiocarbon dated and provided new insights into the economies and lifestyles of Archaic peoples (De Jarnette et al. 1962). For example, successive layers of occupation at Modoc revealed a rich record of occupations for the entire Archaic stage. Its oldest date of approximately 10,000 years before the present was surprisingly early when first published and brought about a reassessment of early Archaic cultures in eastern North America.

Closer to Ohio, the excavation of the Meadowcroft Rockshelter in western Pennsylvania, conducted by James Adovasio, demonstrated the potential of sheltered environments for ...