Perishable Tools from Fort Rock Cave, Oregon

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The dry caves of central Oregon provide exceptional preservation of Paleoindian-aged perishable artifacts. Excavations at Fort Rock Cave, Oregon by Luther Cressman, Stephen Bedwell, and, most recently, Thomas Connolly and colleagues have produced a sizeable number of perishable and rare artifacts, as well as large faunal and lithic assemblages. Notably, this site has produced the oldest dated shoes in the world, at 10,500 to 9,350 cal B.P. While the sagebrush sandals, cordage, and other woven materials from the site have been well reported, the plant and bone tools have not. This presentation details the perishable tools from the Fort Rock Cave excavations, including material identification, metric, and use-wear analyses. A detailed study of the perishable tools provides valuable insight into the diversity of activities of early Great Basin peoples, as well as recognition of the variety of raw materials utilized for tool making, most of which do not generally preserve.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25809