CT Imaging and Radiocarbon Dating of a Gourd Container with Vertically Strung Olivella Shells: a Pueblo I Cache from Old Man Cave, Utah

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

We report the findings from a study of a gourd container recovered from Old Man Cave of southeastern Utah. Strung, spire-lopped Olivella beads are visible on interior of the gourd, but sediment in and around the shells obscured the full nature of its contents. Computed tomography (CT) imagining allowed us to identify durable objects within the gourd in a non-destructive manner and enabled an accurate count of shells. The beads exhibit an unusual method of side-by-side stringing that we attempted to replicate through experimentation. Worn surfaces indicate that the beads had been strung and used this way for a lengthy interval. A sample of the gourd submitted for radiocarbon dating revealed that the cache dates to the Pueblo I period, sometime between 665 and 780 cal. AD. This container might have been placed in the site as an offering to the ancestors who used this shelter during prior centuries.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38643.0