Utah Archaeology 2003

The Desha Caves-Radiocarbon dating and coprolite analysis

R e p o r t s THE DESHA CAVES: RADIOCARBON DATING AND COPROLITE ANALYSIS Phil R. Geib and Michael R. Robins, Navajo Nation Archaeology Department, Northern Arizona University, Box 6013, Flagstaff, AZ 86011 In the summer of 1930, Irwin Hayden excavated two caves along the east side of Desha Canyon, then known as Cornfield Canyon, on the northern edge of the Rainbow Plateau in southeast Utah (Figure 1). His excavation of Desha Caves 1 and 2 was part of the Van Bergen Expedition of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. The expedition also excavated at the large Tsegi Phase (late Pueblo III) site of Segazlin Mesa (see Lindsay et al. 1968). Rumor has it that Byron Cummings, who had dug on Segazlin Mesa previously, was displeased to find outsiders working on 'his' site and sent the expedition packing. Excavation of the two caves ensued; evidently they were unclaimed or of little interest to Cummings. Both sites produced artifaets similar to those described by Guernsey and Kidder (1921; Kidder and Guernsey 1919) from Basketmaker II caves near Kayenta, Arizona. Alian Schilz (1979) incorporated Irwin Hayden's (1930) unpublished manuscript on the two caves into a Master's thesis, in which he presented an analysis of the recovered remains. Because Schilz did not radiocarbon date any artifaets or other remains for his study, the age of Basketmaker oceupaney of both sites remained unknown, but was assumed to fall within the first half millennium of the Christian era. With the revelation that Basketmaker II remains from the type sites of White Dog Cave and Kinboko Caves 1 and 2 are as oíd as 600 cal B.C. (Smiley et al. 1986; Smiley 1994:Table 1), there was reason to suspect similar antiquity for the Desha Caves. The age of the Basketmaker remains at both sites has relevance for our broader understanding of the Archaic-Formative transition on the Colorado Plateau and in this specific case for the transition on the Rainbow Plateau as it relates to a moderate-size excavation project along the Navajo Mountain road, NI6 (Geib et al. 2003). The N16 excavations included 17 open sites with Basketmaker II components (see Geib and Spurr 2000, 2002 for preliminary summaries). We were interested in learning the temporal relationship between the rockshelter-using Basketmaker II and the open sites we had excavated along the road right-of-way. THE SITES The Desha Caves are located on the northern portion ofthe Rainbow Plateau at an elevation of about 1414 m surrounded by a blackbrush and grass plant community (Figure 2). This portion of the plateau consists of a northward-sloping dissected tableland of the Kayenta Formation dotted with knobs, fins, and larger cliff-forming remnant masses of Navajo UTAH ARCHAEOLOGY 16(1)2003 pp. 81-94 81 82 UTAH ARCHAEOLOGY 2003 1000 ft Kiksm^rs Figure 1. Map of the Rainbow Plateau and environs in southeast Utah and northeast Arizona showing the location ofthe Desha Caves and other Basketmaker II cave sites mentioned in the text. Sandstone. As is typical ofthe región, the caves occur within this sandstone, in this particular case as perched alcoves some 30 m abo ve the contact with the Kayenta Formation. The climb into Cave 1 is moderately treacherous, but assisted by hand and toe holds that appear modern (i.e., cut by Hayden or local Navajo), but that likely follow a prehistoric route. Cave 2 has walk-in access. The Navajo Sandstone cliff containing the caves faces west across the ledgy Desha Canyon, which cuts into the underlying Kayenta Formation and drains northward into the San Juan River (now Lake Powell). Three major branches of this canyon merge just west of the caves, less than 2 km away, and here there is a small farming oasis supported by springs. Navajo farmers still maintain irrigated fields in this área and did so at the time of Hayden's excavation, henee his ñame of Cornfield Canyon. Numerous and diverse prehistoric water control features in Desha Canyon reveal that Anasazi farmers used this oasis far more DESHA CAVES 83 Figure 2. View ofthe Desha Caves from the blackbrush covered fíat immediately west ofthe sites (view to east). The caves occur within a remnant of Navajo Sandstone that rests upon a tableland ofthe Kayenta Formation (foreground). Photo by Alexander J. Lindsay, courtesy ofthe Museum of Northern Arizona. extensively (more acreage in production) than modern farmers (Lindsay et al. 1968:136-137). This is the likely área where Basketmakers raised the produce stored at the Desha Caves; the rest ofthe local landscape in this área is ill-suited to farming and well below the dry-farming belt. Immediately across Desha Canyon from the Desha Caves is Dust Devil Cave, a site best known for its early Archaic remains (Ambler 1996; Lindsay et al. 1968), but also containing many Basketmaker II cists. Hayden's excavation of Desha Caves 1 and 2 revealed 33 slab-lined storage cists with a combined storage capacity of about 12 cu m (Figure 3). This estimate is based on calculations from feature dimensions given in Tables 1 and 2 of Schilz (1979:19, 23). The estimate exeludes two cists in Cave 1 for which no measurements were provided. Schilz (1979) reports 21 cists in Cave 1 and 12 in Cave 2. Eight of these had no mortar or other caulking between the upright slabs, but the rest had some material sealing the spaces. Juniper bark or other vegetation was packed between slabs of 18 cists; fiber-tempered mortar sealed the spaces of 3 cists; mortar without fiber was used for another 3 cists; 1 had slab fragments as chinking. The two cists in Cave 2 constructed of fiber-tempered mortar are still well preserved (Figure 4), even though the excavators effectively pedestalled both by removing all surrounding matrix. Both are quite large (ca. 1.9 and 1.1 cu m) and had roofs of poles covered with mortar. The one cist like this in Cave 1 is only partially intact and Hayden listed it as partially destroyed, so its current condition is perhaps somewhat 84 UTAH ARCHAEOLOGY 2003 Desha Cave 2 * meters Navajo 1 tj Figure 3. Plan maps ofthe Desha Caves as drawn by Irwin Hayden (1930; redrawn from Schilz 1979) with the excavated cists numbered and the dated cists shown in bold. Their 13C ages are shown on Table 1 and in Figure 6. DESHA CAVES 85 • " ¡ " Figure 4. View of the large cists in Desha Cave 2 that are sealed with fiber-tempered mortar. A young Dick Ambler during the Glen Canyon project is cutting discarded roof support timbers for tree-ring dating. The cists look little different today. Photo by Alexander J. Lindsay, courtesy ofthe Museum of Northern Arizona. as originally found. The cists lacking mortar have varyingly disappeared into a chaotic jumble of sandstone slabs, though it is possible to identify several of them. As was common in those days, the excavators used a broadside technique on both sites, with virtually no attention paid to natural strata. Consequently, the artifaets described by Schilz (1979) are not a puré Basketmaker assemblage, but a varying admixture of Puebloan remains (perhaps earlier and later materials as well). Only items that are characteristically Basketmaker II, such as the four-warp wickerwork sandals, twined bags, and hafted side/corner-notched dart points, are reasonably assumed to be part of the Basketmaker II components of each cave. The recovered diagnostic remains are no different than the bulk of materials reported by Guernsey and Kidder (1921; Kidder and Guernsey 1919, 1922), thus culturally the sites fit Matson's (1991, 1999) western Basketmaker II pattern. There also appears to be an adaptive fit because ofthe numerous storage cists and corncobs at the caves. As reported below, the largest and most formally constructed ofthe cists at both sites, those well-sealed with bark-tempered mortar, date to the Basketmaker II interval, and thus it is highly probable that the smaller and simpler cists are also Basketmaker II. The random selection of two corncobs from Cave 1 for radiocarbon dating likewise produced assays within the Basketmaker II interval, and thus much ofthe corn from the site is also likely part of this component. 86 UTAH ARCHAEOLOGY2003 RADIOCARBON SAMPLES AND RESULTS The sénior author surface-collected radiocarbon samples from both sites during the winter of 1997 while searching the general región for packrat middens as part of a paleoenvironmental study for the N16 project (Koehler 2002). The collection was approved by the Navajo Nation Historie Preservation Department (letter dated 23 January 1997). One emphasis was the three cists constructed with fiber-tempered mortar: Cist 1 of Cave 1, and Cists 11 and 12 of Cave 2. Extraction and dating of vegetation (juniper bark) from the clay would provide estimates ofthe time of construction, with the realization that the features may well have had an extended interval of use after being built. The mortar samples were collected from the features without significant impact, although in the case of Cist 1, Cave 1 the feature was already in poor condition. The mortar samples were heavily tempered with bark, thus a modest weight of mortar produced a sizable amount of bark for dating: 23.8 g of bark from Cist 1, Cave 1, 57.2 g of bark from Cist 11, Cave 2 and 87.2 g of bark from Cist 12, Cave 2. The samples were cleaned of clay simply by pounding them with a hammer and then dry screening; the dating laboratory washed the bark and performed standard pretreatment. Hayden found bast (probably mostly juniper bark) or grass caulking in many of the cists, and this too would have provided good estimates of the age of construction. None of this organic caulking was visible warp warp, right side warp, left side heel tie y knot at heel end of warp, right side- Figure 5. Solé surface ofthe four-warp wickerwork sandal from the corncob pile in Desha Cave 1 and radiocarbon dated. This heel fragment has full width and one inact warp selvage (knotted); an sZ2 cord of yucca fibers looped around the right outer warp served as a heel tie. The weft consists of partially crushed yucca leaves with some of the parenchyma removed (leaves were perhaps also split). The warp consists of similarly treated yucca leaves that were loosely z-twisted into two yarns, then loosely S-twisted to form each warp. DESHA CAVES 87 Table 1. Radiocarbon Determinations for Desha Caves 1 and 2. Cave No. 1 i I 1 1 1 2 2 Note Feature No. none none none Cist 1 none none Cist 12 Cist 11 Material Dated corncob yucca sandal corncob juniper bark human feces human feces juniper bark juniper bark Sample No. Beta-102492 Beta-175652 Beta-102493 Beta-102494 Beta-175650 Beta-175651 Beta-102496 Beta-102495 : calibrations based on OxCal Versión 3.5 Conventional l4C Age 1840 + 50 1800 ±40 1730160 1670 + 80 1660 + 60 1640 + 60 1880 + 60 1590 + 70 (Bronk Ramsey d13C (96o) -9.3 -21.9 -9.3 -20.9 -23.7 -23.5 -22.8 -22.5 1994,1995) Calibrated 1 s Range 60-240 AD 130-320 AD 240-390 AD 250-530 AD 260-530 AD 260-540 AD 70-220 AD 390-560 AD Calibrated 2 s Range 60-340 AD 120-350 AD 130-430 AD 130-570 AD 240-540 AD 250-560 AD 0-320 AD 260-630 AD in the cist remnants as they exist today (at least without some excavation) and it is doubtful that such samples were collected back in 1930. Additional dating samples carne from the back of Cave 1 where there is a large pile of maize cobs along with human feces (coprolites) and a few other remains. Within this pile we found a small white slip of paper with "Cave 1" hand-scrawled in ink, which we believe was intended to desígnate the general provenience of these excavated but uncollected remains. Corncobs and feces evidently had little scientific valué in 1930, at least for this expedition. From this pile we culled nine cobs, then randomly selected two ofthe nine for dating purposes. After measuring and describing the cobs, large portions of each were submitted for assay (16.1 g and 24.9 g) with the butt ends saved for future analysis or other studies. Also collected from the pile were eight human coprolites and a small portion (heel end) of a four-warp wickerwork sandal of yucca fibers (Figure 5). Portions ofthe two largest coprolites were submitted for assay along with a minute portion of the sandal. The samples were submitted to Beta Analytic for pretreatment and dating, with all but the sandal sample analyzed by conventional counting; the sandal was dated by AMS. The results are presented in Table 1 along with calibrated age ranges at one and two sigma using the OxCal Program Versión 3.5 (Bronk Ramsey 1994,1995). All dates have been corrected for isotopic fractionation based on measured delta l3C valúes. The assays range in age from 1880 B.P. for Cist 12 of Cave 2 to 1590 B.P. for Cist 11 ofthe same cave; these two adjacent and similarly constructed cists bracket the rest of the dates, all from Cave 1. One of the Cave 1 corncobs and the sandal are statistically the same age as Cist 12. It might be reasonable to group a few of these individual assays if it could be shown that they belong to the same depositional event such as corncobs from the same harvest or from a relatively brief occupation. However, we lack such contextual information, and because both Basketmaker II and Puebloan temporal diagnostics were recovered, there is every reason to suspect that the shelters had lengthy occupations. Consequently, each date should be treated as an individual estimate ofthe potential time span of when the sites were used. The calibrated two-sigma date span for all eight assays is A.D. 0 to 630 (Figure UTAH ARCHAEOLOGY 2003 Cave 2, Cist 12, juniper bark Beta-102496 1880±60BP D Cave 1, corncob Beta-102492 1840±50BP Cave 1, yucca sandal Beta-175652 1800+40 BP Cave 1, corncob Beta-102493 1730±60BP Cave 1, Cist 1, juniper bark Beta-102494 1670±80BP DD Cave 1, human feces Beta-175650 1660±60BP Cave 1, human feces Beta-175651 1640±60BP Cave 2, Cist 11, juniper bark Beta-102495 1590±70 BP D BC/AD 500 AD Calendar Years Figure 6. Plot ofthe calibrated radiocarbon dates from the Desha Caves based on the OxCal Program, Versión 3.5. 6); if the two caves are treated individually then the calibrated two-sigma date span for Cave 1 is A.D. 60 to 570 and A.D. 0 to 630 for Cave 2. These assays fall within the latter portion of the local Basketmaker chronology for the Rainbow Plateau, which extends from roughly 400 cal B.C. to cal A.D. 600, a chronology based on 90 radiocarbon dates, with more than half of these on maize (Geib and Spurr 2000, 2002). FECAL SAMPLES AND RESULTS The eight coprolites recovered from the excavation discard pile in Cave 1 all met the requirements for determining human origin (shape, color and smell on rehydration, constituents). Each fecal specimen was weighed, photographed, and described prior to dissection, then processed following the method outlined in Fry (1985). The remaining portions of each coprolite (> 5 gm) were archived for future pollen analysis and other research. After soaking and dissection in a weak solution of trisodium phosphate, the samples were air dried in chiffon bags and then sorted through 5 mm, 1 mm, and .5 mm geologic screens. Each fraction was examined under a 10-40 x binocular microscope with identifications based on comparative collections and identification manuals (e.g., Martin and Barkley 2000; Hickman 1993). Initial inspection revealed that all of the samples were dominated by a single taxon. Time constraints did not allow for the constituents of each specimen to be counted or weighed, instead we used an approximate ranking of taxa within each sample, followed by ranking of all taxa within the assemblage. This approach retains the importance of specific taxa within the remains of actual "meáis" that would otherwise be diluted in a ubiquity rank. For example, two of the feces are almost entirely composed of bugseed (Corispermum hyssopifolium) seeds. Because bugseed DESHA CAVES 89 only occurs in two samples, this taxon would score low in ubiquity, obscuring its dietary significance. The results ofthe fecal analysis are given in Table 2. Taxa fall into three general ubiquity classes: high (68 percent), médium (38-25 percent), and low (13 percent). Ricegrass is the single taxon of high ubiquity and it has the highest ranking, which clearly indicates that the seed of this grass was an important dietary item. Ricegrass grows prolifically in sandy soils, and during years of good winter and spring precipitation produces an abundant harvest of seeds in early summer (about late June around the Desha Caves). This grass will occasionally produce a second crop in fall if summer rains are good. Prior to the arrival of cattle in the American Southwest, ricegrass formed almost puré stands, with "old-timers" telling of rangelands that resembled fields of grain (USDAFS 1988:148). Ricegrass seeds were evidently always important to farmers on the Colorado Plateau because they provided a predictable harvest during a critical lean period when last year's crops were depleted but the current planting had yet to produce (Bohrer 1975:199). The médium ubiquity class includes dicotyledonous plant fibers, unidentified plant material, bulb tissue, and seeds of goosefoot, bugseed, squash, sunflower, and groundcherry. Dicotyledonous fiber may have originated from the consumption of goosefoot and amaranth leaves. The bulb tissue is possibly onion or segó lily, both of which are common in sandy áreas around the Desha Caves. The unidentified plant material might derive from the consumption of squash, because the two feces consisting largely of this material (samples 2 and 8) also contained squash seeds. Table 2. Rank Order of Taxa from Eight Coprolites from Desha Cave 1. Taxon Common Ñame 3 42 5 6 73 Score Ubiquity Stipa hymenoides Fibers (dicot) Unid Plant Material Chenopodium sp. Corispermum sp. Cucúrbita pepo bulb epidermis Helianthus sp. Physalis sp.1 Amaranthus sp. Descurania sp. Cleome sp. Insect Small bone frags. ricegrass goosefoot bugseed quash/pumpkin sunflower ground cherry amaranth tansy mustard beeweed 5 5 5 5 3 1 2 5 2 2 2 5 2 3 3 ] 3 1 Seeds and fruit. 2Portion dated, 1660±60 B.P. (Beta 175650). 3 Portion dated, 1640±60 B.P. (Beta 175651). 2 5 22 6 12 6 10 4 6 2 5 1 1 1 1 2 63% 38% 38% 38% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 13% 13% 13% 13% 13% 90 UTAH ARCHAEOLOGY 2003 While bugseed (Corspermum hyssopifolium) is present in just two feces, it constitutes the dominant seed remains in both and appears to have been consumed raw. This tumbleweed-like annual grows in sandy áreas and dunes, producing large quantities of seeds, which become available in the fall (September). We have observed C. hyssopifolium growing in disturbed sandy áreas along canyon bottoms in places such as Chevron Creek and Canyon de Chelly (both in northern Arizona). In neither case could this species be said to be abundant, however it has probably been heavily reduced by the introduction of livestock and non-native invasive plants. The fact that C. hyssopifolium occurs in coprolites recovered from Archaic and Formative strata at Cowboy Cave (Hogan 1980:Table 1) indicates that this species was far more abundant in prehistoric times. This species, like amaranth and goosefoot, also may have been cultivated (Hunter 1997), or encouraged to grow in and around fields and gardens. C. hyssopifolium was also observed in Basketmaker II coprolites from Boomerang Shelter (Robins 2000) and in all sediment samples from that site (Robins and Smiley 1998), constituting the second most commonly encountered species in coprolites and sediment samples. Stem pieces with attached leaves were also common in the sediment samples, indicating that plants were harvested nearby. The mature seeds of squash (Cucúrbita pepo) are present in two feces. C. pepo is regarded as the oldest domesticated squash to arrive in North America, and was the only species of squash grown by the Basketmakers (see Cutler and Whitaker 1961). Other species did not appear until Pueblo II times (ca. A.D. 1000). Both of the feces contain crushed raw seeds and sample 2 also contains a nearly complete charred squash seed. If the unidentified plant material that occurs in great abundance in both feces with the squash seed is actually digested squash flesh, then consumption of entire fruits is indicated, something that may have happened during the fall harvest season for pumpkins. It is also possible that green fruits were eaten well before harvest time. If the unidentified plant material is not from squash flesh, then the seeds may have been leftover after planting and therefore consumable. None of the eight feces contained cora remains. The absence of maize is a probable reflection of seasonality and site type. It suggests that the feces were deposited during the growing season when wild plant foods were plentiful, yet stored corn supplies were low. Amaranth, mustard, and beeweed seeds occurred in single feces and in very low amounts. The charred tansy mustard (Descurania sp.) seeds present in one sample may represent the remains of an earlier meal, although any heavily ground seeds would have been more fully digested and thus escape detection at this level of analysis. DISCUSSION The radiocarbon assays reported here indicate that both of the Desha Caves were used during the first half millennium of the Christian era, during the late Basketmaker II period. Does this mean that the sites were not used earlier? Given that the Basketmaker II artifaets from the Desha Caves are virtually identical to those reported by Guernsey and Kidder (1921, Kidder and Guernsey 1919), some might expect initial Basketmaker II use ofthe sites to be as early as the age for Basketmaker II remains from sites such as Kinboko Caves 1 and 2, at around 600 cal B.C. (Smiley 1994:Table 1). Assuming a temporal progression in the nature of storage facility construction, it could be argued that we skewed our sample towards the most recent end ofthe Basketmaker II occupation by dating just the large, most formally constructed cists. Simpler cists, those built with just slabs or slabs chinked with bark, might be earlier, but this remains to be seen. Dating of corncobs, human feces and the sandal fragment from Cave 1 was one means to check for earlier remains, but these too date relatively late in the Basketmaker II sequence. If earlier remains are rarer than those of late Basketmaker II, many more items DESHA CAVES 91 would need to be dated to reveal the earlier specimens. Nonetheless, the dates reported here are compatible with all other assays on Basketmaker II remains from caves on the Rainbow Plateau, which are later than cal A.D. 100: Dust Devil Cave (Geib 1996:Table 11), Sand Dune Cave (Geib 2003:Table 1) and Atlatl Rock Cave (Geib et al. 1999:Table 1). On the Rainbow Plateau, there is no evident temporal priority of shelter use over open settlements. Excavations within the NI6 right of way demónstrate that open Basketmaker II habitations (pithouse settlements) and other site types in the same área date back to at least 300 cal B.C. (Geib and Spurr 2000, 2002). This contrasts with Smiley's (1998:99- 100) suggestion that early Basketmakers preferred shelters and that open-air settlements were not established until after the time of Christ. On the Rainbow Plateau, shelter use is only one part of the Basketmaker II settlement organization, wherein open pithouse habitations figured prominently from the beginning of Basketmaker presence on the plateau at around 300 cal B.C. As with other Basketmaker II groups, the Desha Caves inhabitants relied on wild food plants, especially ricegrass and bugseed, but also amaranth and goosefoot, sunflower, ground cherry, tansy mustard, including the seeds, leaves, and stems of many of these plants. Data also indicate consumption of insects and small mammals and/or reptiles. In spite of the bias introduced through sample size, as well as the inherent "vagaries" of coprolite analysis (see Hogan 1980:201), two trends are worth noting (although we cautiously add that further research and larger samples are needed). Seasonality of plant availability indicates that the caves were occupied during the early part of the growing season, suggesting that the caves functioned as agricultural fieldcamps. Ricegrass in particular is an indicator of early summer presence, since this resource has a brief harvest window that would have been over by the middle of July in normal years. The absence of maize in the Desha Cave feces is uncommon among Basketmaker II coprolite samples where maize is present in significant quantities (Aasen 1984; Androy 2003; Robins 2000). However, these other samples come from sites that were likely used for winter habitation, which does not appear to have been the case for the Desha Caves. If, as many researchers suspect, the goal of Basketmaker maize farming was to provide food essential for winter survival, then maize may be absent from the Desha Cave feces because the sites were not used as winter residences. This study aróse as a modest attempt to provide a chronology for Basketmaker II use of two caves excavated over 70 years ago. Among other issues, this allowed us to establish the temporal relationship between open Basketmaker II habitations on the Rainbow Plateau and these shelters. The dates also provide the beginnings of a temporal framework for the abundant remains recovered from the sites and housed at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. Such collections increase in research valué every year as looters destroy what few shelters remain untouched. Modern excavations of sites with excellent organic preservation are scarce and when permitted the efforts are quite limited in scope or even restricted to looter holes and backdirt piles. The collections made during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries cannot be duplicated and are irreplaceable for many types of research questions. The scientific valué ofthe museum collections is also enhanced by the realization that the Basketmaker II stage spans more than a millennium. Given the large time span, there must be temporal changes in various classes of material culture, subsistence, and other aspects of past lifeways that have yet to be identified, something that will require many direct dates on existing collections as well as restudy ofthe sites from which the collections carne. Acknowledgments. We thank Mike Berry and an anonymous reviewer for comments that improved this paper, the Navajo Nation Archaeological Department for permission to collect samples for analysis, the Museum of Northern Arizona for use of photos in their 92 UTAH ARCHAEOLOGY 2003 Museum of Northern Arizona for use of photos in their archives, and Tony Marinella for his assistance with accessing and scanning the photos. REFERENCES CITED Aasen, D. 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