The Paleoindian and Early Archaic Southeast

16. Stratified Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Deposits at Dust Cave, Northwestern Alabama

16 Stratified Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Deposits at Dust Cave, Northwestern Alabama Boyce N. Driskell Dust Cave (1LU496) is one of many caves draining the undulating, karstic uplands to the north of the Tennessee River near present-day Florence, Alabama. The cave came to the attention of professional archaeologists in 1988 as a result of an unpublished report from Dr. Richard Cobb, a local educator and long-time speleologist who had systematicallyexplored and mapped many caves in the area (Cobb 1987; Cobb et al. 1994). Even though Cobb observed only a few lithic artifacts and unprovenienced bone in the rear of the cave, in consultation with my collaborator, Michael B. Collins, we slated the cave for preliminary testing as one of 10 cave sites within the Pickwick Reservoir that exhibited potential for deeply buried archaeological deposits (Collins 1994). Operating under contract with the Tennessee Valley Authority, the author and other archaeological personnel from the University of Alabama Museum of Natural History began systematic testing of these cave sites in the summer of 1988, with continued work during the summer of 1989. Initial test excavations at Dust Cave occurred during the summer of 1989, with excavation of five shallow probes 50 x 50 centimeters, test units A-E. At that time, the testing team encountered a small low entrance with a steeply sloping exterior talus and a small entrance chamber with floor-to-ceiling height of 50 centimeters or less (figure 16.1). A very narrow low slideway led to a second small chamber and restricted passages to yet another small chamber. Passages farther into the cave were too small for human egress. Initially, cave deposits appeared devoid of cultural remains; at arm's length, and literally in the last several trowelings in the small working area of test unit D, near the cave's entrance, the testing team encountered darker midden and a few flakes. Test unit A was then enlarged and deepened to reveal the presence of Middle Archaic deposits below more recent, culturally sterile overburden. Returning to Dust Cave during the summers of 1990 through 1994, university staff, students, and volunteers of the museum's summer archaeological field school worked to reveal the depth and character of the 316 The Paleoindian and Early Archaic Southeast° meters h ------TUH rUG! Dripline fiiI Non-artifact Bearing Deposits (illj Seven-Mile Island Phase Component (6000-5200 B.P.) [ill EvaIMorrow Mountain Component (7000-6000 B.P.) lliilld Kirk Stemmed Component (8500-7000 B.P.) [J Early Side-Notched Component (10,000-9000 B.P.) II] Late Paleoindian Component (10,500-10,000 B.P.) o meters 5 Figure 16.1 Plan view of Dust Cave showing location of excavation units, and composite cross section of archaeological components, 1989-94 (from GoldmanFinn and Driskell 1994:3 and Driskell 1994:18; courtesy Alabama Archaeological Society). Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Deposits at Dust Cave 317 deposits in and near the cave. Test unit A was enlarged to a square 2 x 2 meters, and excavated to bedrock; test units B, C, and E were enlarged and excavated to bedrock; and test unit F was initiated and excavated as a square, 2 x 2 meters. Test units G and H were placed in cave front deposits. No cultural material was encountered in test unit G, but nearer the cave entrance, test unit H produced an artifact array and stratigraphic sequence similar to test units within the entrance chamber. Microstratigraphy seen in the probes within the cave was not preserved in test unit H, however. The so-called entrance trench, 2 x 12 meters extending from cave front deposits into the entrance chamber, was begun in 1992 and completed in 1994. This trench intersected and subsumed test unit F and most of test unit D. Since 1992, excavation and investigation of deposits in the entrance trench have monopolized the time of fieldworkers. During this period, field methods were refined and adapted to the specific characteristics of the archaeological deposits. Excavation by arbitrary level, employed in early test excavations, was replaced by attempts to define and excavate by natural or stratigraphic units with arbitrary subdivisions to maintain discrete small provenience units (usually 1 x 1 meter x 5 centimeters ). Also, initial small volume sampling was increased to include flotation/fine screening of about 10 percent of the excavated matrix by volume (Goldman-Finn and Driskell 1994). During these six seasons at Dust Cave...