Dolores Cave
Full Article
Located in Dolores River Canyon in Montrose County, Dolores Cave was occupied by several different peoples from at least 600 BCE to 1400 CE. Subject to extensive looting in the early twentieth century, the site was professionally excavated in 1946 by Clarence T. Hurst and in 1994 by Mark Stiger. Important items recovered from the cave include a split-twig figurine from 600 BCE, much later and farther east than such figurines are typically found, and a corn cob from 1490 CE, providing evidence of agricultural activity in the area after the Pueblo III period (1150–1300 CE) of the Ancestral Puebloan tradition but before European contact.
Hurst Excavation
In August 1946, Hurst led a team from the Museum of Archaeology at Western State College in Gunnison (now the Clarence T. Hurst Museum at Western State Colorado University) on a two-week field expedition to excavate Dolores Cave. He chose to work at the site because it had already been looted extensively, and he hoped to salvage what he could before pothunters disturbed all the cave’s cultural deposits. Some of the material removed by looters, including two yucca-leaf sandals and the only split-twig figurine found in Colorado, was later recovered and has ended up in collections at Colorado National Monument and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
Several areas remained untouched when Hurst started his work in the large cave, which measured seventy-five feet long and thirty-five feet deep. He found clear evidence of continual use of the site for many centuries and discovered cultural deposits up to five feet deep in some places, including projectile points, woven objects, bone fragments, food refuse, and a fireplace.
The cave also contained a yucca-wrapped bundle containing horned owl feathers, a fetish stone, a wooden knife, and deer-leg skins. Hurst had discovered the same collection of objects in Tabeguache Cave as well, although there the objects were found in separate bundles throughout the cave. He believed that a prehistoric warrior may have buried the objects as a prayer for the death of an enemy.
Recent Research
In 1994 Western State anthropologist Mark Stiger reexamined Dolores Cave and found plenty of remaining cultural material. Radiocarbon dating showed that the cave was occupied by hunter-gatherers and late prehistoric farmers from at least 600 BCE to 1400 CE. One dated item of particular significance was a corn cob from 1490 CE, indicating that people in the region, possibly Utes, continued to grow corn between the migration of Ancestral Puebloans away from the area before 1300 CE and the arrival of Europeans several centuries later.
10th Grade
Located in Dolores River Canyon near Uravan in Montrose County, Dolores Cave was occupied by several different peoples from at least 600 BCE to 1400 CE. The cave was subject to extensive looting in the early twentieth century. The site was professionally excavated in 1946 by Clarence T. Hurst and in 1994 by Mark Stiger. Important items recovered from the cave include a split-twig figurine from 600 BCE (much later and farther east than such figurines are typically found) as well as a corn cob from 1490 CE that provides evidence of local agriculture after the Pueblo III period (1150–1300 CE) and before European contact.
Hurst Excavation
In August 1946, Hurst led a team from the Museum of Archaeology at Western State College in Gunnison (now the Clarence T. Hurst Museum at Western State Colorado University) on a two-week field expedition to excavate Dolores Cave. He chose to work at the site because it had already been looted extensively. He hoped to salvage what he could before pothunters disturbed all the cave’s cultural deposits. Some of the material removed by looters included two yucca-leaf sandals and the only split-twig figurine found in Colorado. These were later recovered and ended up in collections at Colorado National Monument and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
Several areas remained untouched when Hurst started his work in the large cave. The cave measured seventy-five feet long and thirty-five feet deep. He found clear evidence of continual use of the site for many centuries and discovered cultural deposits up to five feet deep in some places, including projectile points, woven objects, bone fragments, food refuse, and a fireplace.
The cave also contained a yucca-wrapped bundle containing horned owl feathers, a fetish stone, a wooden knife, and deer-leg skins. Hurst had discovered the same collection of objects in Tabeguache Cave as well. There, the objects were found in separate bundles throughout the cave. He believed that a prehistoric warrior may have buried the objects as a prayer for the death of an enemy.
Recent Research
In 1994 Western State anthropologist Mark Stiger reexamined Dolores Cave and found plenty of remaining cultural material. Radiocarbon dating showed that the cave was occupied by hunter-gatherers and late prehistoric farmers from at least 600 BCE to 1400 CE. One dated item of particular significance was a corn cob from 1490 CE. This was evidence that people in the region, possibly Utes, continued to grow corn between the time Ancestral Puebloans migrated away from the area (before 1300 CE) and the arrival of Europeans several centuries later.
8th Grade
Located in Dolores River Canyon near Uravan in Montrose County, Dolores Cave was occupied by several different peoples from at least 600 BCE to 1400 CE. The cave was subject to extensive looting in the early twentieth century. The site was professionally excavated in 1946 by Clarence T. Hurst and in 1994 by Mark Stiger. Important items recovered from the cave include a split-twig figurine from 600 BCE and a corn cob from 1490 CE that provided evidence of agricultural activity in the area well before European contact.
Hurst Excavation
In August 1946, Hurst led a team from the Museum of Archaeology at Western State College in Gunnison to Dolores Cave. The museum is now the Clarence T. Hurst Museum at Western State Colorado University. The team conducted a two-week excavation at the cave. Hurst chose to work at the site because it had already been looted extensively. He hoped to salvage what he could before pothunters disturbed all the cave’s cultural deposits. Some of the material removed by looters included two yucca-leaf sandals and the only split-twig figurine found in Colorado. These were later recovered. They ended up in collections at Colorado National Monument and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. The split-twig figurine was particularly important, as it was the easternmost of its kind discovered and was produced at a much later date than other split-twig figurines.
Several areas remained untouched when Hurst started his work in the large cave. The cave measured seventy-five feet long and thirty-five feet deep. He found clear evidence of continual use of the site for many centuries. Hurst discovered cultural deposits up to five feet deep in some places, including projectile points, woven objects, bone fragments, food refuse, and a fireplace.
The cave also contained a yucca-wrapped bundle containing horned owl feathers, a fetish stone, a wooden knife, and deer-leg skins. Hurst had discovered the same collection of objects in Tabeguache Cave as well. There, the objects were found in separate bundles throughout the cave. He believed that a prehistoric warrior may have buried the objects as a prayer for the death of an enemy.
Recent Research
In 1994 Western State anthropologist Mark Stiger reexamined Dolores Cave and found plenty of remaining cultural material. Radiocarbon dating showed that the cave was occupied by hunter-gatherers and late prehistoric farmers from at least 600 BCE to 1400 CE. One dated item of particular significance was a corn cob from 1490 CE. This was evidence that people in the region, possibly Utes, continued to grow corn between the time Ancestral Puebloans migrated away from the area (before 1300 CE) and the arrival of Europeans several centuries later.
4th Grade
Dolores Cave is located in Dolores River Canyon near Uravan in Montrose County. Dolores Cave was occupied by several different peoples from at least 600 BCE to 1400 CE. The cave was looted in the early twentieth century. The site was professionally excavated in 1946 by Clarence T. Hurst and in 1994 by Mark Stiger. Important items were recovered from the cave. One of these items was a split-twig figurine from 600 BCE. A corn cob from 1490 CE was also found. This shows that people farmed in the area after 1150-1300 CE. That period of time is called the Pueblo III period of the Ancestral Puebloan tradition. This was before Europeans made any contact with Native Americans.
Hurst Excavation
In August 1946, Hurst led a team from Western State College in Gunnison to Dolores Cave. The team made a two-week field expedition to excavate Dolores Cave. Hurst chose the site because there had already been looting there. He hoped to save what he could before pothunters took all the cave’s cultural items. Looters had removed items from the cave. They took two yucca-leaf sandals and the only split-twig figurine found in Colorado. These were later found. The items ended up at Colorado National Monument and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
Hurst began working in the large cave. There were a lot of areas in the cave that had not been touched yet. The cave measured seventy-five feet long and thirty-five feet deep. He found evidence that the site had been used for many centuries. Hurst discovered cultural items up to five feet deep in some places. Items such as projectile points, woven objects, bone fragments, food refuse, and a fireplace were found.
The cave also contained a yucca-wrapped bundle. It contained horned owl feathers, a fetish stone, a wooden knife, and deer-leg skins. Hurst had discovered the same collection of objects in Tabeguache Cave as well. He believed that a prehistoric warrior may have buried the objects.
Recent Research
In 1994 Western State anthropologist Mark Stiger reexamined Dolores Cave. He found that plenty of cultural material was still in the cave. Radiocarbon dating showed that the cave was occupied by hunter-gatherers and late prehistoric farmers. They occupied the cave from at least 600 BCE to 1400 CE. One dated item was a corn cob from 1490 CE. This was evidence that people in the region, possibly Utes, continued to grow corn. This was after the Ancestral Puebloans left the area and centuries before Europeans arrived.