The Prehistory of the Burnt Bluff Area 9781949098136, 9781951519360

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ANTHROPOLOGICA L PAPERS MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN NO. 34

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA

Assembled by JAMES E. FITTING

Contributions by JAMES E. FITTING CHARLES E. CLELAND G. RICHARD PESKE DONALD E. JANZEN EARL J. PRAHL W. R. FARRAND DOUGLAS W. LUGTHART VOLNEY H. JONES

ANN ARBOR THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, 1968

© 1968 by the Regents of the University of Michigan The Museum of Anthropology All rights reserved ISBN (print): 978-1-949098-13-6 ISBN (ebook): 978-1-951519-36-0 Browse all of our books at sites.lsa.umich.edu/archaeology-books. Order our books from the University of Michigan Press at www.press.umich.edu. For permissions, questions, or manuscript queries, contact Museum publications by email at [email protected] or visit the Museum website at lsa.umich.edu/ummaa.

PREFACE CLIFFS and caves hold a strange fascination for small boys and archaeologists. They are dangerous and hold the promise of adventure. Treasure may be found within them; but it is here that the two groups part. While the archaeologist would not turn down Captain Kidd's treasure, the simple cultural elements of past peoples which he seeks are nowhere near as exciting to small boys; or are they? Our attention was drawn to the Brunt Bluff area by tales of the paintings and the caves. Field work was carried out there by the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology during the summers of 1963 and 1965. Our efforts of 1963 were supported by a National Science Foundation Research Grant "A Correlation of Prehistoric Cultural Complexes and Post Pleistocene Ecologies in the Upper Great Lakes" (GS-86), and a National Science Foundation Undergraduate Research Participant Grant (GE-1311) both under the direction of Dr. James B. Griffin. The work in 1965 was supported by a National Science Foundation Grant "Archaeological Investigations in the Carolinian- Canadian Edge Area in Michigan" (GS-666) under my direction, and a National Science Foundation Undergraduate Research Participant Grant (GE-6226) under Griffin's direction with myself as project supervisor. In addition, a number of individuals volunteered their own time and effort to this project, and while they are too numerous to name, I offer them our thanks. The task of assembling this volume was not easy, and during the course of its preparation many long standing friendships were sometimes strained. I want to thank the various authors for tolerating my vocal pleas for more rapid submission of their manuscripts. I hope they feel that the results of their efforts are as worthwhile as I do. A special word of thanks is in order for Mr. George Stuber of the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology for his efforts in preparing illustrations and generally expediting preparation of this volume. Mrs. Joanne Bailis of the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology undertook the thankless task of editing the final manuscript for publication. We all wish to thank Dr. James B. Griffin, Director of the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology for the interest which he has taken in this project over the years, for his iii

iv comments on earlier versions of these papers, and for permitting the publication of this volume as an Anthropological Paper of the Museum of Anthropology. James E. Fitting

CONTENTS Introduction James E. Fitting

1

The Geology of Burnt Bluff Earl J. Prahl and W. R. Farrand

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4

The Spider Cave Site Charles E. Cleland and G. Richard Peske .

20

Excavations and Survey at Burnt Bluff in 1965 Donald E. Janzen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

61

Four Textile Products from the Burnt Bluff Site (B-95), Michigan Volney H. Jones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

95

The Burnt Bluff Rock Paintings Donglas W. Lugthart . . . . . .

98

Northern Lake Michigan Lithic Industries James E. Fitting . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

116

Summary James E. Fitting

134

References

137

v

MICHIGAN

UPPER

PENINSULA\

SAND BAY

BEAR CREEK ** RIVERVIEW CEMETARY HAMLIN LAKE

WISCONSIN

MICHIGAN

LAKE

MICHIGAN

*SPRING CREEK

vi

INTRODUCTION HE southern Garden Peninsula, particularly Burnt Bluff with T its caves, cliffs and rock paintings, has long fascinated those Americans who have stood in awe at the works of both nature and the peoples who preceded them. Carved dates and initials on the walls of some of the caves indicate that latter-day visitors have been in this area for over a century. Today, drawn by the unparalleled scenery and the impressive restoration of 19th century Fayette in the state park on Snail Shell Harbor just to the north of Burnt Bluff, more people than ever before are visiting the Garden Peninsula. The caves and paintings, owned by Mr. Henry Lang, have been developed and made accessible to the public, and provide a major attraction for the region. Dr. A. G. Ruthven, former president of the University of Michigan, visited the site in 1925. He made a drawing of one of the paintings which was reproduced in the same year by Dr. W. B. Hinsdale in his book Primitive Man in Michigan (1925: Plate XXXIX). Hinsdale also devoted one paragraph to the site on page 90 of that volume. However, Hinsdale made no mention of the site in the Archaeological Atlas of Michigan which he published six years later. Dr. Emerson F. Greenman wrote about the area in 1957 and described " . . . a painting about two feet high on a face of rock at the edge of a Great Lake beside a work of wave-cut architecture with white columns and dark doors that give the scene the appearance of a temple" (Greenman, 1957). In 1959 (Anonymous, 1959) a report was published that the rock painting might have been destroyed by quarrying operations. This report was false; a letter from Alexis A. Praus (1959) reported that the rock painting had not been destroyed and that the owner was making it accessible to the public. The interest in the area which lead to the compilation of the present volume developed during the summer of 1963. G. Richard Peske was placed in charge of a survey of the southern portion of the Michigan Upper Peninsula by J. B. Griffin. Peske had been involved in the excavation of the Juntunen site (McPherron, 1967) in the straits area, and was to examine sites previously visited and reported to the Museum of Anthropology by George I. Quimby, and to relate them to the Juntunen site cultural complexes. Work at Burnt Bluff was undertaken by Peske and Charles E. Cleland in August, 1963, assisted at various times by Daniel

1

2

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA

Higgins, Berry Kent and David M. Griffin. As Cleland and Peske mention, only preliminary tests were undertaken in caves B- 8 through B-10, the Spider Cave complex. Subsequent field parties were not allowed to dig in this area, alt~ough Mr. Lang made his own collections available to us for study. Until 1965 only the one cave complex had been subjected to excavation. The number and nature of the caves and shelters, the extent of the cultural occupation and even the geological history of the area were unknown to us. A second expedition was fielded by the University of Michigan under my direction in that year. I was assisted by Earl J. Prahl and a field crew consisting of Richard Davis, Alan Hugley, Donald Janzen, Douglas Lugthart, Edward Rutsch and John Speth. Mr. and Mrs. Wallace McClay, Donald Hays and George Miller spent shorter periods of time working with us. Since part of our activities involved Prahl's geological studies, we needed divers to complete the underwater portion of his profiles, and Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Fifield and George Fifield, of Milwaukee, and Loren Woods and Georgie Anne Geyer of Chicago assisted us in this capacity. The following papers are the result of the field work in 1963 and 1965. It has been difficult to gather them all together since most of the authors are now associated with institutions other than the University of Michigan. There have been problems of interpretation which cannot be resolved. The interpretation of the spider-sun symbol-medicine lodge figure in front of the B-9 through B-11 Cave complex is an example. It is locally called the Spider Man but Lugthart offers convincing evidence for an alternative explanation. There are other items of interpretation where the authors are not in agreement, and in these instances each must make his own case. The first paper is by Earl J. Prahl and W. R. Farrand on the geology of Burnt Bluff and the Garden Peninsula. It is essential to an understanding of the sections on the archaeology that follow. Cleland and Peske describe the material from their own excavations in 1963 and part of the material from Lang's excavations in other nearby caves. Janzen reports on the 1965 survey and excavations at Burnt Bluff, and Jones describes an interesting textile recovered from Cave B-95. Douglas Lugthart has provided a discussion of the rock paintings in the area along with tracings and descriptions of these paintings. This was done as an Undergraduate Research Participation project. The final paper deals with five small surface sites on the southern Garden Peninsula and their relation to five other sites around the Lake Michigan basin.

INTRODUCTION

3

The reader should be aware that the archaeology of Burnt Bluff is not particularly spectacular nor earthshaking. The sites were small and specialized. The value of this volume lies in the types of specialization found there which add a new dimension to our understanding of the prehistory of the upper Great Lakes. James E. Fitting

THE GEOLOGY OF BURNT BLUFF Earl J. Prahl and W. R. Farrand

INTRODUCTION

EX POSED along the western shore of the

Garden Peninsula, at an area known as Burnt Bluff, are about two hundred feet of Niagaran limestone and dolomite deposits (Fig. 1). These deposits were formed during the Silurian period, beginning 440 million years ago when immense seas swept inland, flooding the flatter land to the west of Appalachia including the region of the present Great Lakes. Middle Silurian deposits are today manifest throughout the Great Lakes region. The Niagaran cuesta runs westward from the Niagara Falls region across Ontario and northern Michigan into the Door Peninsula of Wisconsin (Hough, 1958, Fig. 8). It essentially encircles the Michigan structural basin and its strata dip toward the center of this basin, thus in an eastward direction at Burnt Bluff. Geologists and archaeologists who have worked in such areas as Manitoulin Island, Seul Choix, or Burnt Bluff are familiar with the limestones and dolomites of the Niagara cuesta. Outstanding as these deposits are along the shores of the northern Great Lakes, they are of interest to archaeologists because of the fact that they constituted part of the physical environment of aboriginal man who went to the lakes for both sustenance and travel. Archaeologists have also long been aware of the aboriginal rock paintings existing on some of the lower bluffs and in caves of the area. During the early 1960's Henry Lang, owner of the property where these paintings exist, began to find projectile points, bone harpoon points, and other primitive tools in Spider Cave, which is located on one of the lower terraces. These finds were subsequently brought to the attention of the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology, and the testing of Spider Cave was conducted in 1963. It became evident that besides the many small rock shelters created by wave-cutting of former glacial lakes, two terraces possessed larger caves that would have been suitable for aboriginal occupation. 4

THE GEOLOGY OF BURNT BLUFF UPPER

PENINSULA

of

5

MICHIGAN

~ Manitoulin Dolomite

CJ Cabot Head ~ aJ

Shale

Moss Lake Formation

N. I . . Lime Island Dolomite I%%J

Burnt Bluff Group

JITiiij]]

Manistique Group

~ Engadine Dolomite

FIG. L

Bedrock formations of the Garden Peninsula.

One of these terraces, near the top of the wooden steps which Lang had built down the 140-foot cliff, was correlated generally with glacial Lake Algonquin; a lower one, some twenty to twentyfive feet above the lake and upon which Spider Cave stands, was correlated with the Nipissing Great Lakes (Fig. 2). Personal examination of the Burnt Bluff area in 1963 showed that a complicated history of late- and post-glacial lakes was recorded in the vicinity of Lang's steps, as was shown by W. H. Hobbs fiftyfive years ago. Hobbs (1911) measured several profiles along the shore of Green Bay, one of these just to the north of the present area of investigation.

6

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA LOCATION OF PROFILES Burnt Bluff

~

-

lj'

Algonquin Beach-·-·-·-·-· Nipissing Beach --------

LAKE MICHIGAN

FIG. 2.

Location of profiles at Burnt Bluff.

Much reconstruction and revision of the complicated glacial lake sequence has been done since 1911, yet in 1958 Hough states: None of the post-Algonquin stages, from the "upper group" through the Payette, has been recognized in the Michigan Basin, but it seems certain that they must have occurred there (Hough, 1958, p. 233).

THE GEOLOGY OF BURNT BLUFF

7

The work reported here was done during the 1965 field season, and aimed at: 1) Measuring the shore profiles at several points along the Burnt Bluff area 2) Correlating the terraces and benches at Burnt Bluff with those already delineated in the Huron Basin 3) Placing these terraces within the known chronology of Great Lakes history. This last, of course, would indicate the possible dates for occupation of the caves and shelters on these terraces by aboriginals. FIELD METHODS To set up controls along a large segment of the beach in the vicinity of Lang's steps, a series of lines perpendicular to the east border of Section 24, T.38 N., R. 20 W., were run west to the beach. The east boundary of Section 24 was identified from the half-section marker at the entrance of Lang's property, which was the sole marker we were able to locate. It was decided to run our traverses west from this east boundary to intersect with the beach every one-eighth mile (660 feet) which would give us a total of nine profiles (Fig. 3).1 An additional traverse was made up Lang's steps because of greater accessibility to the whole series of terraces and benches. Where possible these traverses were made with transit. One transit traverse was run westward along the east-west half-section line to the first impassable cliff (Fig. 3, Station 5). From this line we were able to check the accuracy and spread of our profiles as they neared the shoreline. Nearer the shoreline, where work with transit became impractical, Brunton and Sylvan compasses along with hand levels were used to complete the traverses. Sightings were made from the highest impassable terraces down to the present water level. Measurements of the terraces, which in some cases were separated by eighty-five to ninety feet of vertical drop, were subsequently made from these points on the beach by shooting angles with a Brunton compass back up and eastward along our profiles, where actual measurement by "dropping the tape" was impossible. lThe eastern portions of these traverses are not seen in Figure 3. The shoreline in Figure 3 is seen as a straight line and distances are projected eastward from this arbitrary northsouth axis. Actual contour of the shoreline as measured from the east boundary of Section 24 is seen in Figure 4.

8

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA

Closures of our traverses thus, in the two steps involved, resulted in some error which in most cases we feel to be within the range of two feet. Dense brush, treefalls, and large boulders provided the usual difficulties in our attempts at accuracy. However, traverse of the north-south half-section line to its intersection with the east-west half-section line, made in order to check the position of our east-west profiles, gave us the cumulative error of under five feet in a distance of some 2,640 feet. With the aid of trained skin divers, two underwater profiles were taken (Fig. 3, Stations 4 and 6). These run from erosional features carved by Lake Michigan as low as the thermocline, fifty feet below the water surface where wave action and turbulence has ceased to take place. DISCUSSION OF PROFILES (Fig. 3). We do not have the same number of terraces and benches on all profiles. North of Lang's steps one large wave-cut notch (690 to 695ft.) is present below the highest Algonquin level (720 to 725ft.). This notch is associated with a bench sloping steeply to a bluff overlooking the lake, at which point there is a vertical drop and a smaller bench (600 to 605 ft.) runs southward past Lang's steps to Station 3. This bench is the one that has been formerly associated with the Nipissing level. The strong 690-to 695-foot notch of our northern profiles coincides with Hobbs' placement of the lowest Algonquin beach at 690 feet (Hobbs, 1911, Plate II), a level which would mark, in more recent terminology, the termination of the upper group. 2 One field interpretation of the steep bench below this notch (Stations 5 to 8) was that it represented portions of the beach formation associated with this notch, similar to the modern shore (Stations 4 and 6). A second interpretation was that this slope is not covered with beach rubble; rather, it is talus created by cliff erosion subsequent to the retreat of the lake from this level. Beneath this talus, according to the second interpretation, there should exist intermediate beaches. This second interpretation was borne out by subsequent profiling at Lang's steps and stations to the south. Whereas three distinct beaches are present in the five northern stations (tentatively identified as the highest Algonquin, the lowest of the upper group, and Nipissing), additional notches appear 2 This terrace is lower (680 ft.) at Station 9 due to quarrying operations. Extension of this terrace north beyond Station 9 is perhaps represented by Hobbs' 708-foot terrace.

THE GEOLOGY OF BURNT BLUFF

9

PROFILES

Burnt Bluff

DELTA CO T 38 N R 20W

SECTION 24 717 706

Hobbs (1911) ' 720 ~~vater'p/( ne

580ft.

-

8

7

726

724

725

724

6

5 4

5! Long's Steps

!

716

3

------------------~6~2 656 J----~~-------_£.622

L·----591 2!

~-l--~-G09

Ii

se9

FIG. 3.

Burnt Bluff profiles.

10

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA

in stations to the south. Between the highest Algonquin and the lower of the upper group, an intermediate notch, representing an additional member of the upper group, appears at Stations 5 and 6 as well as at Lang's steps (710 to 715 ft.). Another member of the upper group appears at Station 3, at 710 feet. These levels may be correlated to Hobbs' 708- and 717-foot notches. A small waterworn ledge is seen at Stations 3, 4 and 5, representing a drop in lake level below the upper group (645 to 650 ft.). At Station 2 and at Lang's steps the talus slopes to the 620- and 622-foot levels respectively, possibly representing an additional stand of the lake at this point. The highest Algonquin beach at Station 4 turns to the east and is not found along the present shore beyond this point (Fig. 4). This shoreline was found to encircle the Burnt Bluff area (Fig. 2), which was an island in the Algonquin Lake. The full Algonquin beach (forebeach, backbeach and littoral sectors) was located on the east side of this island in the traverse carried two miles east of Section 24 along profile 9. We have, then, tentatively represented in our profiles: the highest Algonquin, two members of the upper group, one and possibly two members of the lower post-Algonquin series, as well as the supposed Nipissing level cut on the steep bluff bordering the modern beach. CORRELATION WITH THE HURON BASIN Below the Algonquin shoreline, which in this area marks the highest limit of postglacial lake activity, a number of beaches have been identified in addition to the Nipissing (Goldthwait, 1910; Leverett and Taylor, 1915; Stanley, 1936, 1937; Hough, 1958). As an increasing number of locations were investigated along the Lake Huron shore and in the vicinity of Georgian Bay, a greater definition of these series of beaches was made possible. An upper group, identified at Mackinac Island, occurs within the first fifty feet below the highest Algonquin beach (Leverett and Taylor, 1915; Stanley, 1934). At ninety feet below the Algonquin level a strong beach ridge on Mackinac Island was named the Battlefield beach; another shoreline about 300 feet below the Algonquin (or 700 feet above sea level) in the vicinity of Sault Ste. Marie was called the Fort Brady beach (Leverett and Taylor, 1915). Stanley (1936, 1937) in his investigation of shorelines of the Penetanguishene Peninsula and Cape Rich at the southern end of Georgian Bay, defined four beaches of a lower series named from

THE GEOLOGY OF BURNT BLUFF NORTH BOUNAR Y

SECTION 24

GLACIAL LAKE TERRACES Burnt Bluff LAKE 1000

0

ft

MICHIGAN

ABOVE SEA LEVEL

·. ·.

..

720- 25 ··-----···-··-·-·--710-15--690-95 ----·-·64 5 -52'-·-·-·-·-·· 620-25 ..................... . 600-05 .... .

·, SOUTH BOUNDARY

SECTION 24 FIG. 4.

Glacial terraces at Burnt Bluff.

11

12

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA

top to bottom the Wyebridge, Penetang, Cedar Point and Payette. Stanley's investigations led to the realization that the four beaches of this lower series represented essentially parallel water planes converging only slightly with the Algonquin water plane. Leverett and Taylor's data concerning the tilt rate of the Battlefield and Fort Brady beaches, which were possible correlatives of the lower Algonquin series, seemed to differ with Stanley's findings, suggesting that these beaches did converge rapidly with the Algonquin. Stanley and later Hough suggested suspending the terms Battlefield and Fort Brady. Hough (1958) added two beaches to the post-Algonquin series, calling them the Sheguiandah and the Korah, the Korah being the former Fort Brady. Hough further emphasized, as had Stanley, that the Battlefield beach on Mackinac Island was the same beach as the Wyebridge. Since Hobbs (1911) named two of the beaches at our locality at Burnt Bluff the Battlefield and the Fort Brady, it has been necessary to outline briefly the background of this possible confusion of names. The present writers also concur in the suspension of the names Battlefield and Fort Brady. Although a series of beaches below the Algonquin had been recognized at Burnt Bluff as early as 1911 by Hobbs, and verified by field work carried on during the summer of 1965, it became necessary in completion of the work presented here to somehow correlate our beaches with those in the Huron Basin. Field attempts at this correlation resulted in conflicting results, depending upon whether we started counting from the highest Algonquin down to the lowest or visa-versa. At the time, we were unaware how many of the lower Algonquin beaches were under water at Burnt Bluff. Table 1 illustrates what we consider the best possible method of correlating these beaches with the Huron Basin, using Stanley's data from Georgian Bay, and taking into consideration the tilt rates of the various lower beaches in relation to the highest Algonquin. Our field data corroborated Hobbs' placement of the highest Algonquin beach in the vicinity of 724 feet. Hobbs (1911) placed the lowest of the Algonquin series (lowest of the upper group) in the vicinity of 690 feet at Burnt Bluff. This also coincides with our field data relating to a strong beach seen in our profiles at 690 to 695 feet. The Wyebridge, the highest of the post-Algonquin group should be in the vicinity of 640 feet. We have in our profiles a strong waterworn ledge at three stations between 645 and 650 feet. The continuity of this beach was proved in the field by following it afoot through these three stations. Hobbs (1911, Plate III) implies the existence of such a

127 152 188

748

724

686

Penetang . . . . . .

Cedar Point ...

Payette . . . . . . . --

--

-

0.80

0.85

0.89

0.93

--

-'--

150

129

113

84

...

Vertical Distance Below Algonquin

4t

574

595

611

640

724

Altitude (Predicted)

Garden Peninsula

*Differential is calculated on the basis of the ratio of the slope of the Algonquin water plane to the slope of the water plane· in question, i.e., Wyebridge, etc., based on data of Stanley (1936, 1937). See also Farrand (1962, Table 3). t Column 2 multiplied by column 3 gives column 4.

90

785

Wyebridge . . . . .

1.00

...

875

3 Uplift Differential*

2 Vertical Distance Below Algonquin

Algonquin . . . . .

1 Altitude

Southern Georgian Bay

(In Feet)

ALTITUDE OF ALGONQUIN AND POST-ALGONQUIN BEACHES

TABLE 1

c,.:)

~

"'j

forj

q

td t"'

J-3

~

q

tJj

"'j

0

~

0

t"'

&3 0

t?::l

J-3 ::r::

14

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA

beach at Burnt Bluff by its position in other localities to the north and south. This beach he calls the Fort Brady. This is certainly not the Fort Brady that Hough has replaced with the Korah. We here accept this beach as the best possibility for the Wyebridge. The closest "candidate" for our predicted 611-foot height for the Penetang, is the bench cut into the steep cliff fronting the lake at the 600- to 605-foot level. This, incidentally, would coincide with the maximum Nipissing level which is estimated to be at the 610-foot level at Burnt Bluff (Hough, 1958). It is to be noted further that the size and depth of caves on this level would appear too large to be accounted for by either the Nipissing or Penetang erosion alone. Such large caves do not occur at other levels at Burnt Bluff. This strengthens the idea of a dual occupation of this level. In a like manner, the Cedar Point and Algoma levels would, by our estimations, occupy approximately the same altitude (595 ft.) at Burnt Bluff. Much erosion has buried evidence of this level below the modern beach rubble at the base of the cliff fronting the lake. In places, however, small caves are exposed at the bottom of this cliff. Removal of this rubble in the course of excavation has shown the existence of wave erosion at this level, but much less than that of the Nipissing- Penetang level. This could be due to the greater erosional force and longer duration of the rising Nipissing waters. This Cedar Point-Algoma beach, although not represented in Figure 4, can be seen in our profiles (Fig. 3) between 585 and 595 feet along the whole length of Burnt Bluff. The Payette, the Sheguiandah and the Korah beaches are underwater at Burnt Bluff, and none of these beaches are evident in our underwater profiles. This could be due to the fact that the Great Lakes have stood at their present level longer than water stood at any of the prehistoric levels. This longer period of erosion and deposition has successfully covered the beaches below water. CHRONOLOGY The recession and advances of the Late Wisconsin ice sheet across the Great Lakes area was accompanied by a series of glacial lakes occupying basins scoured by earlier ice sheets. The levels of these lakes were at times governed by the blocking and freeing of the outlets by the ice itself; in some periods the erosion of sills over which the lake water sought outlet was the critical

THE GEOLOGY OF BURNT BLUFF

15

factor. This complicated history has been reviewed by Hough (1958) and others (e.g., Wayne and Zumberge, 1965) and will not be treated in detail here. The retreat of the Port Huron ice from the Straits of Mackinac allowed the lakes in the Michigan and Huron Basins to join in common level during the postulated Early Algonquin stage. Headvance of the ice during the Valders Stage is marked by the overriding of the Two Creeks forest, dated at 9,800 B.C. (Broecker and Farrand, 1963). At that time the limestone outcrop at Burnt Bluff was already overridden by the ice sheet. The Valders ice reached its maximum position near Milwaukee, probably about 9,500 B.C. Retreat of the Valders ice renewed the connection between the Huron and Michigan Basins. The Algonquin waters were at their 605-foot level sometime around 9000 B.C. Burnt Bluff at that time was a barren island (Fig. 2), approximately two miles across and twelve miles out in the Algonquin lake from the nearest shore to the north. No caves or shelters had as yet been formed, and it can be postulated that this small isle was inhospitable to even the hardiest men of the Paleo-Indian period. With the retreat of the Valders ice two processes were taking place: outlets were uncovered to the northeast allowing the dammed-up waters of the lakes to drain to lower levels; then, with the weight of the ice removed, the land rebounded. Farrand (1962), plotting the tilt rates of the post-Algonquin beaches against time, has demonstrated that this rebound was very great at the time of deglaciation but that it decelerated rapidly towards the present day. Stanley (1937) felt the upper group of post-Algonquin beaches was due more to this rebound than to the lowering of the lake level. Hough (1958, p. 229), on the other hand, suggested that the upper group beaches were formed while the lake was discharging through the Kirkfield outlet, which was uncovered by retreat of the Valders ice front. In any case, the descent of the waters through a series of levels to the extremely low Chippewa-Stanley stage began some time after 9,000 B.C. At 7,500 B.C. (or even earlier) the water had reached this low position (Hough, 1963). Thus the beaches of the upper group as well as the six lower post-Algonquin beaches must be accommodated within some 1,500 years. As has been demonstrated in this report, three of the beaches of the lower series are under water at Burnt BlufL Cedar Point, the last of the post-Algonquin series to appear above water at Burnt Bluff, occurred at approximately 8,000 B.C. (Hough, 1963). A thousand years of beach formation during the period of the falling Algonquin waters is thus represented at Burnt Bluff.

16

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA

Following the Chippewa-Stanley low stage, the lake level rose gradually to the Nipissing Great Lakes stage, which was reached about 4000 years ago (2050 B.C.). Thus a second period of beach formation, starting with the Nipissing maximum and ending with the modern shore features, also left its mark at Burnt Bluff. This postglacial lake sequence for Burnt Bluff is summarized below. TABLE 2 PREHISTORIC BEACH LEVELS AT BURNT BLUFF (In Feet) Beach

Height

Time Period*

Algonquin (highest). Upper group.

720-725 714-716 710 690-695 645-650 611 (est.) 595 (est.)

9000 B.C

Wyebridge Penetang Cedar Point Payette. Sheguiandah. Korah. Chippewa-Stanley.

Under Water

7500 B.C. 600-605 590-595

Nipissing Algoma

2200 B.C. 1200 B.C.

*After Hough (1963).

BURNT BLUFF AND HUMAN HABITATION The caves of the upper levels at Burnt Bluff would have been formed and cleared for possible occupation some time soon after 9000 B.C. From the time of the Algonquin lake to the formation of the lowest of the upper group, Burnt Bluff would have remained a lone island miles out from the shore. During Wyebridge times (640- to 645-foot beach) a series of other outcrops would have been exposed to the north towards the mainland and to the south towards the Door Peninsula in Wisconsin. Burnt Bluff, then, at around 8000 B.C., would have been one of a series of small islands stretching southward from the Upper Peninsula; a series that would have included Summer Island, which today stands two

THE GEOLOGY OF BURNT BLUFF

17

miles offshore at the extreme southern end of the Garden Peninsula. During Penetang times the connection to the mainland in the north was made, although probably interrupted by a series of low lying swamps and marshes. The Wyebridge islands would have offered merely the possibilities of fishing stations to men living on the mainland. By Penetang times, though, the opening of swamps and lowlands in the north to varied marine life, water fowl and small mammals, would have offered optimum conditions to those who were fishing along the Burnt Bluff coast and possibly inhabiting the upper caves. The Cedar Point stage would have brought greater connection with the land, and the formation of some of the caves on what is now considered the Nipissing level could have occurred at this point. The upper cave at this time, though, would have been isolated from the beach, making its occupation impractical. The lowering of the water in the Michigan Basin through the Payette, Sheguiandah and Korah stages to the Chippewa stage, occurring between 7000 and 6500 B.C. would have left Burnt Bluff increasingly isolated from the lake; a large mesa as it were, bordered on all sides by steep ascent. Dry by summer, winter drifts driven by the westerlies would have piled at the base of the cliffs, and the habitation areas along the bluffs would be untouched by the mitigating influence of the great lake that once lay close by. By 7500 B.C., with the uplift of the North Bay outlet, the waters began to rise. The waters were rolling against the cliff again at 2200 B.C. The forceful, rising Nipissing waters finished and sometimes obliterated what was begun in Cedar Point times. Shelters such as Spider Cave were carved further back into the Silurian rock. Although the rising waters broke the connection between the mainland and Burnt Bluff only slightly, habitation of such caves as Spider Cave would have been impossible due to the fact that the Nipissing waters at this time were actively Put practically, wet feet eroding the notches on this level. would have been the only result of human invasion of these Nipissing caves at this time, a phenomenon not known to induce permanent habitation. The sharp cliff above the Nipissing notch is the result of Nipissing waters undermining the cliff that was probably left more sloping by the waters of lowering Lake Algonquin. Erosion of the sill at Port Huron brought the Great Lakes to a still lower level called the Algoma, recognized below the Nipissing at several intermittent locations along the Lake Huron coast (Hough, 1958). The Algoma waters must have abandoned

18

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA

the 595-foot shoreline prior to 1200 B.C. (Farrand, 1962). During Algoma times there was no extensive forebeach affording access to the caves. The waters were actively eroding a small cliff or nip ten feet below the base of the caves on the Nipissing level. The notch eroded by the Algoma waters is today buried beneath its own rubble eroded away from below the Nipissing caves. This material was consequently rolled and waterworn within the precincts of the modern storm beach, but occasionally the top of the Algoma notch can be seen at the base of the vertical cliff which fronts the modern beach. Access to Spider Cave where aboriginal rock painting and other cultural material exist would have been impractical during the heights of the Algoma waters. If these paintings are associated with those painted on the cliff fronting the modern beach, we may say they are fairly recent, for (put practically again) wet feet do not allow for the activity of the aboriginal artist any more than they allow for his place of habitation. It is probable that this occupation of Burnt Bluff occurred after the waters of the Great Lakes occupied their modern level. The small nip eroded at the modern water plane at Burnt Bluff is strikingly similar to the one found seventy feet above, at the Wyebridge level. This similarity of the erosional features of the modern beach to one of the ephemeral beaches of the falling Algonquin waters points to a short time period for the modern level, while the Algoma notches point to a longer pause of the lakes at this level (Fig. 5). The inference for archaeologists from the geological history of Burnt Bluff that has been outlined above should be the following: 1) It is improbable that the caves of the upper Algonquin series will yield cultural material. This is stated with some hindsight, since at the very time that this realization of the isolation of the Algonquin island at Burnt Bluff was formulated, excavation of caves at this level were corroborating this. 2) The oldest cultural material to be found at Burnt Bluff will be scant, the result of an occasional small group or individual voyage to the Algonquin island during Wyebridge times, about 8000 B.C. This of course must be correlated with the early occupation of Michigan and the Door Peninsula in Wisconsin. 3) The first possible Archaic material at Burnt Bluff is after Pentetang times, 7500 to 7000 B.C. Material of this age should be sought along beaches from the 620 to 610 contour,

19

THE GEOLOGY OF BURNT BLUFF

to the east of Section 24 of the Garden Peninsula. This material will be uncovered by wind action moving dunes created during later Nipissing times. It could be slightly water rolled" 4) No occupation of the Burnt Bluff area can be expected during the period between 7000 and 6500 B.C. 5) Aboriginal occupation of the Burnt Bluff area, as manifested by cave paintings and material found in Spider Cave, must date after the lowering of the Great Lakes water level from the Algoma level.

!

857 807

PROFILES OF ALGONQUIN WATER PLANE

807

w

§

w

757

f-

~

............ .....-::...:;; 707

757

607

Cape Rich~ --- - - - - - '--Garden Peninsula

-----C=~0~~~~~~~~~-7~0~8~0~9L0~10~0~1~10--1~20~1~30

757

§:

>-707 ;;j_

;::

757 607

MILES NORTH OF ZERO ISOBASE (607'1

FIG. 5. lsobases on the Algonquin waterplane in the Great Lakes region showing correlation of the Algonquin Beach from Cape Rich to the Garden Peninsula.

THE SPIDER CAVE SITE Charles E. Cleland and G. Richard Peske

INTRODUCTION

A LONG the

western shore of the Garden Peninsula which extends south from Michigan's Upper Peninsula, separating Lake Michigan from Big Bay de Noc, is a percipitious limestone bluff rising more than 150 feet above the bay. The successive highwater levels of the glacial Great Lakes pounded and eroded these bluffs so that over the millenia as the lake level fell to its present basin, the waters created a series of narrow terraces and shallow caves. The bedrock of the Garden Peninsula and the bluff into which these features were cut are composed of Niagaran dolomite, a Silurian deposit called the Burnt Bluff formation. This rather soft limestone occurs in tabular deposits bedded parallel to the surface of the lake. Spider Cave is a deep wave-cut niche, measuring approximately ninety feet long and thirty feet deep, near the base of Burnt Bluff in Section 24 of Fairbanks Township, Delta County, Michigan. According to hand level measurements, the base of Spider Cave is 607 feet above sea level, while the top of the shelter is fifteen feet higher. Since surface debris on the floor of the shelter indicates substantial erosion of the top of the niche in more recent times, the higher elevation cannot be considered as accurate as the base measurement. Hough (1963: 256) indicates that the base elevation of Lake Nipissing features at the latitude of the Garden Peninsula is slightly higher than 605 feet, the mean level of Lake Nipissing. This higher elevation is a result of isostatic rebound north of the hinge line which runs through Washington Island at the mouth of Green Bay, just south of the Garden Peninsula. Undoubtedly, Spider Cave was formed by the waters of Lake Nipissing approximately 4000 years ago. Today the mouth of the cave stands about 20 feet above the waters of Big Bay de Noc. Spider Cave has been known, in archaeological context, for many years. Particularly because of an interesting red ocher painting on one of its walls. Recently Mr. Henry Lang, the present land owner, constructed a staircase down the face of the bluff 20

THE SPIDER CAVE SITE

21

and up to the entrance of Spider Cave from the beach. These stairs give tourists access to the Burnt Bluff painting and also provided the authors with a way of reaching Spider Cave, a feat which would otherwise have been both difficult and dangerous. During the summer of 1963 we visited Spider Cave for the purpose of exploratory excavation. If these tests proved encouraging, plans called for more extensive archaeological work at a later time. Unfortunately the favorable results obtained in 1963 could not be followed up in subsequent seasons since Mr. Lang was unfavorably disposed toward full-scale excavation in the Cave. We are, however, grateful to Mr. Lang for permission to make the original test excavation, and for the opportunity to study his large collection of projectile points from Spider Cave. The Spider Cave excavation was supported through a National Science Foundation Grant administered by James B. Griffin of the Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan. During the month of August, Cleland and Peske dug five small test pits in the northern portion of Spider Cave. The first three are adjoining two-foot wide trenches dug from the deepest wall and extending west 25 feet toward the mouth of the shelter. Test pit 4 is a 2- by 2-foot square near the back wall in the center of the shelter, and test pit 5 is a 5- by 5-foot square located at the mouth of the shelter to the west of the trench. All excavations were dug to the original floor of the cave which was formed by waterworn slabs of dolomite. The 2 to 2.5 feet of fill above this floor is composed almost exclusively of large pieces of. dolomite that have become dislodged from the roof. Except for a small amount of fine wind- blown silt and a scattering of duff from junipers near the mouth of the shelter, Spider Cave is nearly devoid of soil. The archaeological materials recovered were collected on and among the limestone debris which covers the floor. Excavation was extremely difficult because it required the removal of these large irregular slabs. Frequently the move~ ment of the slabs would cause artifacts to fall between rocks to lower levels, and for this reason the meager stratigraphic information collected during excavation is meaningless. Except for a small area close to the back wall of the shelter, kept moist by seep water, the fill is exceptionally dry, providing excellent conditions for the preservation of organic materials. Perhaps it is important to note that these conditions are present right up to the front edge of the cave. Test excavation during three days in August, 1963 produced 21 complete, or nearly complete, projectile points; 1 base fragment; 2 tip fragments; 2 flint knives; several unworked flint

22

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA

nodules; 27 small flint flakes, most of which are broken fragments of projectile points, and 2 bone projectiles. Eleven additional points and a ground- stone artifact were surface collected by Peske and Berry Kent during a visit to Spider Cave in June of 1963. These specimens are permanently housed at the Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan. In addition to these artifacts, 67 complete and nearly complete projectile points, 3 bone projectiles and a shell gorget from the Lang collection are described in this report. Most of the artifacts from Spider Cave exhibit a thick patina resulting from exposure to calcium carbonate solutions in the cave. Despite the excellent conditions for preservation in Spider Cave, no evidence of hearths, charcoal or human food remains were encountered. The only bones recovered were bones of bats, small birds and small fish. Undoubtedly, these represent naturally accumulated remains from bat and sea gull activity in the shelter. DESCRIPTION OF ARTIFACTS Projectile Points The projectile points from Spider Cave were assigned to a number of types according to attributes of form. Each type description is an attempt to describe not only the "ideal point" of each type but also to note variation within the type. While the figures do not illustrate every specimen included in some of the types, those represented were chosen to present both the typical and atypical points of each type. The subcategory "variety" is used where we believe that certain recognizable groupings are distinguishable within a type. We do not regard the category "variety" to be sacred. When varieties are used, it is with the idea of providing a useful method of summarizing the varieties within the type, yet there is certainly a fair degree of formal overlapping between varieties. For this reason, and because they are frequently represented by only a few specimens, the variety designation should be given less weight than the type.

Type 1, Burnt Bluff Expanded-stemmed (Figure 6) Type 1 is represented by seven specimens. The blade form is ovate to slightly excurvate with a biconvex cross section. These points are generally quite thick with the maximum point of thickness near the base of the blade. The shoulders are

THE SPIDER CAVE SITE

!,'~JJJ I '1'''1' I ~ 1'''1'' 'I'' II II ~jllllllljllllll ~I'' '1'''1 J ''I'' ~I 81 I 91 I 110 71 61 51 lilllilllllllillllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 41 31 21 !METRIC~ flllllllllllllillllllllllllllllillllllilillll FIG. 6.

Burnt Bluff expanded-stemmed points.

pronounced while the base is slightly convex. Points of this type show little or no marginal retouch, although the bases are thinned by secondary chipping. All seven specimens exhibit shattering at the tip of the blade as a result of impact. These points are referable to the corner- removed, expanded- stemmed points which Mason (1966, Plate IX, Fig. 1 and 2) recovered from the Mero

23

24

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA

site and attributes to the North Bay complex. The metric and nonmetric attributes of Burnt Bluff expanded- stemmed points are presented in Table 1. TABLE 1 TYPE 1-BURNT BLUFF EXPANDED-STEM MED POINTS (Metric Attributes) Specimen Length Width Thickness Shoulder Haft Base Base Number Width Width Width Length 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

....

. ... ....

.... . ...

32.30 24.60 23.70 29.00 33.10 33.30 29.50

11.00 10.30 08.70 10.40 12.00 13.10 08.20

Mean

....

29.36

Range

43.10

33.30 24.60

•

•

0

0

.... .... .... ....

....

43.10

. . ..

•

0

••

Blade Length

. ...

18.70 16.10 11.80 18.00 21.10 23.30 18.30

27.40 19.70 16.60 21.60 22.70 24.70 21.20

21.50 13.40 13.20 16.30 18.20 15.20 12.00

.... 29.90 .... . ... . .... . ...

10.53

28.18

18.18

21.98

15.68

....

8.20 13.10

21.80 32.90

11.80 23.30

16.60 27.40

12.00 21.50

32.30 23.60 21.80

. ...

30.30 32.90

•

•

0

•

29.90

(Nonmetric Attributes) Specimen Base ModifiTip Plano-.!Marginal Haft Modifi- Flint SymmetNumber cation Shattering convex Retouch cation Type rical 1. 2. 3. 4.

5. 6. 7.

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Yes No Yes No No Yes No

No No No No No No No

Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No

1 1 1 3 1 1 1

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Type 2, Adena Points (Figure 7)

Adena stemmed points are represented by ten specimens. The blade form varies from slightly excurvate to triangular and is biconvex or planoconvex in cross section. The stem is contracting with a convex base. Shoulders are moderately well developed. Most specimens of this type exhibit relatively fine marginal retouch and although the bases are usually thinned by bifacial retouch, they occasionally exhibit the remnant of a striking

THE SPIDER CAVE SITE

25

J,WdJ,t''l'''l_'' ~1'''1 r ''1'''1'' ~1''11'''1'''1''11'''1'''1'''1'' il 1~ 91 dII Ill 51 61 II II7111111111 II81 II 1111111111 41 31 1111111111111111111111111 21 II 11111111! 'MfTtK~ II 1111111111111111111 FIG. 7.

Adena points.

platform. Six of the ten specimens have shattered tips as the result of impact. Adena points are like those described by Bell (1958:4) and Ritchie (1961:12) who place them in Early and Middle Woodland contexts. Wright (1967: Plate XV, Fig. 1) illustrates a point of this type from the Middle Woodland Donaldson site in eastern Ontario. Table 2 presents the attributes of the Adena Points at Spider Cave.

26

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA TABLE 2 TYPE 2--ADENA POINTS (Metric Attributes)

Specimen Number

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Length Width Thickness Shoulder Haft Base Base Width Width Width Length

51.90 65.50 43.50

26.40 34.70 31.40 22.50 29.40 24.50 26.60 28.80 29.10 22.00

11.20 07.80 10.20 10.60 10.50 09.20 08.70 10.40 08.90 10.00

25.30 30.50 30.60 22.20 27.00 24.30 26.60 27.90 28.60 21.10

17.30 23.80 21.10 20.00 28.90 15.10 16.30 18.80 16.90 16.00

09.00 18.10 13.80 10.00 13.60 10.40 16.50 11.50 19.60

. ...

12.50 18.70 20.60 18.90 18.30 11.00 13.80 11.90 20.50 11.50

40.00 45.00 32.50

Mean

52.80

27.54

9.75

26.41

19.42 13.61

15.77

36.50

Range

43.50 65.50

22.00 34.70

7.80 11.20

21.10 30.60

15.10 9.00 28.90 19.60

11.00 20.60

24.80 45.00

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

55.00 54.30 55.70 43.70

Blade Length

.... . .. . ...

42.50 35.60 35.10 24.80

. ... ....

....

(Nonmetric Attributes) Specimen Base ModiTip Plano- Marginal Haft Modi- Flint SymmetNumber Type rica! fication Shattering convex Retouch fication 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes

No Yes No No No Yes No No No No

No No No No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes

No Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes

3 1 3 1 2 3 3 1 1

..

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Type 3, Bay de Noc side-notched (Figure 8)

Bay de Noc side-notched points are represented by seven specimens (Table 3). Blades are almost always parallel-ovate. The maximum point of thickness is located near the proximal end of the blade. Shoulders are prominent, stems are long and expanding and the bases are convex. In most cases the bases are thinned by bifacial chipping, although remnants of a basal striking

THE SPIDER CAVE SITE

27

rJIIj!lljllllll!l llljlll,llljllljllljllljllljl l!l llljllljllljlll [ rNCHfS

.

!MfTRIC~ 21 11111111111111111

71 II illllllllllllllllllilllll 81 91 110 111111111 1111111111111111111111111111111111111

1

FIG. 8.

2

31

41

51

3

4\

61

Bay de Noc side-notched points.

platform on one or the other corner of the base is sometimes evident. Points of this type are characterized by small round side notches. Marginal retouch is minimal and is accomplished by widely- spaced percussion blows which detach short deep flakes terminating in hinge fractures. All seven specimens exhibit some

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA

28

degree of tip shattering as a result of impact. One side-notched endscraper from the Middle Woodland Heron Bay site on the north shore of Lake Superior, has a haft element which is nearly identical to those of Bay de Noc side-notched points (Wright, 1967, Plate IV, Fig. 13). TABLE 3 TYPE 3-BAY DE NOC SIDE NOTCHED (Metric Attributes) Specimen Length Width Thickness Shoulder Haft Base Width Width Width Number

....

45.10

16.50 17.50 17.90 14.30

09.20 10.80 10.00 09.80 12.50 09.60 12.10

16.70

10.57

35.77

11.80 14.30 17.00 17.90

9.20 12.50

26.70 45.10

38.80

26.30 24.60 26.00 26.00 25.30 21.90 19.00

09.40 08.00 08.20 08.80 09.20 08.80 10.00

22.80 24.80 23.50 25.20 20.50 18.20

15.10 13.20 13.80 14.90 11.80 15.00 17.00

Mean

46.20

24.16

8.91

22.50

14.4

Range

38.80 54.30

19.00 26.30

8.00 10.00

18.20 25.20

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

.... . .. . . .... .... .... ...

54.30 •

•

0

•

45.50

. ... . ... .....

0

G

0

0

Blade Base Length Length

17.60 16.40

....

. ... 35.50 . ... . ... .... 26.70

(Nonmetric Attributes) Plano- Marginal Haft Modi- Flint SymmetTip Specimen Base Modirical Type Shattering convex Retouch fication Number fication 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

.... .... ..... .... .... ....

....

No Yes No Yes Yes No No

Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes

Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No

No No No No No No No

Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No

3 2 3 1 3 3 2

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Type 4, Garden stemmed

Variety 1 (Figure 9) Variety 1 is represented by six specimens. The blade varies from triangular to ovate and is biconvex in cross section. Shoulders are generally weakly developed and often asymmetrica l.

29

THE SPIDER CAVE SITE

'MmiC~

21

31

41

51

61

71

81

91

110

111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

FIG. 9.

Garden stemmed points, variety 1.

The stem is thick and contracting with a bitriangular or planotriangular cross section. The bases are straight and show an unmodified striking platform. Marginal retouch is minimal or absent. Four of the six specimens exhibit tip shattering. Some of these points are reminiscent of Snook Kill Points (Ritchie, 1961: Plate 2 7), although points of the Garden stemmed variety 1 type are smaller and more crudely fashioned (Table 4).

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA

30

TABLE 4 TYPE 4- GARDEN STEMMED POINTS, VARIETY 1 (Metric Attributes) Specimen Length Width Thickness Shoulder Haft Base Width Width Width Number

.... .... .... .... .... ....

Base Blade Length Length

45.00 47.80 49.80 35.40 44.20 39.70

28.50 29.20 29.70 26.70 36.50

. ...

11.50 12.80 09.60 09.80 08.20 10.90

24.50 26.30 26.60 26.70 35.00

14.00 15.00 13.40 12.40 17.20

. ...

12.60 09.60 10.80 10.00 09.90 10.00

07.70 14.20 13.70 08.70 11.50 13.70

37.30 33.60 36.10 26.70 32.70 26.00

Mean

43.65

30.12

10.47

27.82

14.40

10.48

11.58

15.40

Range

35.40 49.80

26.70 36.50

8.20 12.80

24.50 35.00

9.60 12.40 17.20 12.60

7. 70 14.20

26.00 37.30

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

. .. .

(Nonmetric Attributes) Plano- Marginal Haft Modi- Flint SymmetTip Specimen Base ModiType rical Number fication Shattering convex Retouch fication 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

.... .... ....

.... ....

....

No No No No No No

Yes No Yes Yes No Yes

Yes No Yes No Yes No

No No No No No No

Yes No No No Yes No

3 1 2 3 3 3

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Variety 2 (Figure 10) The sample contains five specimens which have been assigned to this variety. These differ from the points of variety 1 principally in the tendency for the blade profile to be long, quite narrow and slightly excurvate. The shoulders are not well developed and are often asymmetrical. The stem is thick, rather long and is usually contracting. Bases are straight to slightly excurvate and always show remnants of a striking platform. Of the six specimens of Garden stemmed variety 2 points, five have shattered or broken tips. Table 5 details the attributes of this variety.

THE SPIDER CAVE SITE

r-• .. '

[~''1'''1! I

. ..

u'''1'''1' kl'' I 'I ''I'' ~111'1'''1'''1''11 lljll

1 [J

I

IM(TiliCH 21 31 41 51 61 71 sl 91 ~wI jjifljli IIJiliJJjjjjjliJiitlllliflllllllllllllllllJJIIlJtllJlllllJilJJJIIIIIIIJJllliltJII FIG. 10.

Garden stemmed points, variety 2.

31

32

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA TABLE 5 TYPE 4- GARDEN STEMMED POINTS, VARIETY 2 (Metric Attributes)

Specimen Length Width Thickness Shoulder Haft Base Number Width Width Width 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

.... . ... .... 52.30 ..... . . . . .... 47.30 . . . . 46.80

Base Length

Blade Length

32.30 25.70 27.20 26.60 24.00

11.00 08.50 07.40 09.50 11.80

32.30 23.70 23.20 25.10 19.70

18.70 27.40 15.70 12.90 16.10 10.50 14.40 15.70 12.00 09.60

21.50 14.20 17.30 14.60 14.70

32.70 32.10

0

••

0

38.10

. ...

Mean

48.80

27.16

9.64

24.80

15.38

15.22

16.46

20.58

Range

46.80 52.30

24.00 32.30

7.40 11.80

19.70 32.30

12.00 18.70

9 .. 60 27.40

14.20 21.50

32.10 38.10

(Nonmetric Attributes) Specimen Base ModiPlano- Marginal Haft Modi- Flint SymmetTip Number fication Shattering convex Retouch fication Type rical 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

.... .... ..... ....

....

Yes No No No Yes

Yes No Yes Yes Yes

Yes No Yes No Yes

No No No No No

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

1 1 2 2 2

Yes No Yes Yes Yes

Variety 3 (Figure 11) The twelve projectiles of this variety may be distinguished from the other varieties of Garden stemmed points by their "Christmas tree" outline. The blades are triangular and usually biconvex in section. Shoulders are strong and form a right angle with the parallel-sided stem. Occasionally the sides of the stem may be slightly contracting or expanding to the straight base. The base bears the remnant of a striking platform. Points of this variety are usually well executed and exhibit finer secondary retouch than most other projectile point types from Spider Cave. Eleven of the twelve specimens of this variety have shattered tips (Table 6). This variety of the Garden stemmed point type seems to resemble Ritchie's (1961: Plate 2 and 3) Bare Island type and points Wright (1967: Plate XIII, Fig. 1 and 2) reports from the Point Peninsula Foci Ault Park and Kant sites in

THE SPIDER CAVE SITE

lWe!~ [[1111111 u11111111111111 ~111111111111111 ~11111111111111111

lliilitli~lll''''m'"'''"''''"''"i'''"''''i''''llu m' ' ' ' "'II 1111 m,,,, 11, m11111111m FIG. 11.

Garden stemmed points, variety 3.

33

34

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA

Ontario. McPherron (1967: Plate XXXIIT, M) also illustrates a point of this variety from the Juntunen site at the Straits of Mackinac. TABLE 6 TYPE 4- GARDEN STEMMED POINTS, VARIETY 3 (Metric Attributes) Specimen Length Width Thickness Shoulder Haft Base Base Number Width Width Width Length 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

11. 12.

... ... ... ... ...

... ... ... ... ... ...

50.20

....

46.50

.53.50 ...

24.80 27.50 26.10 26.00 28.20

57.40 . ... . . . . 26.60 .... . . .. 53.50 30.60 . ... 26.50 34.00 28.20 . . . .... 21.00

Mean

49.18

26.55

11.30 09.00 09.20 10.40 10.10 10.40 10.50 09.10 12.20 09.20 09.20 11.00 10.13

24.80 27.50 26.10 26.00 27.60

30.50 25.00 26.60 21.00

16.90 17.20 16.50 13.30 16.80 16.40 13.80 13.10 17.20 16.10 16.90 19.90 17.50 16.20 17.20 18.30 15.20 16.80 17.80 13.10 14.70 16.90 13.60 16.60

18.40 13.90 15.50 10.60 12.20 13.80 15.90 12.20 17.80 11.60 11.50 13.60

26.17

16.18

13.92

. ... 26.60 . ...

16.16

Blade Length 31.80

. ...

31.00

. ... 41.30 43.60

. ... . ... 35,70 . ... 22.50 . .. 34.32

(Nonmetric Attributes) Specimen Base ModiTip Plano- Marginal Haft Modi- Flint SymmetNumber Shattering convex Retouch Type rical fication fication 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

...

...

... ... ... ... ... ...

... ... ... ...

No No No Yes No No No No No No No No

Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

No No No Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes No No

No No No No No No No No No No No No

Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes

1 2 1 1 1 2 3 3 3 1 1 1

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

THE SPIDER CAVE SITE

35

Type 5, Lang Comer-notched

Variety 1 (Figure 12) The blades of these corner-notched points are usually triangular but occasionally excurvate. The cross section may be either planoconvex or biconvex. The shoulders are sharp, usually forming a right or slightly acute angle with the lateral margins of the blade. Notches are usually wide producing a short, expanding stem. The bases are straight but often irregular as a

l~''l'''l'' \1 '''1'''1'''1 11 ~1 111 1 111 1'' 1 1 11 M111 1[ ''1'''1''11

ieftuulni~lnnlm11,mlluil,nihnllniihi111nulln~lu,,l,,,~lt,nlumuuliillW FIG. 12.

Lang Corner-notched points, variety 1.

36

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA

result of basal bifacial trimming. Specimens of this variety usually exhibit the remnant of a basal striking platform. Crude marginal percussion-retouch is usually present. Eight of the fifteen specimens have tips either broken or shattered by impact (Table 7). These projectiles resemble some of those recovered by Mason (1966: Plate IX, Fig. 1) from the North Bay component of the Mero site in Door County, Wisconsin. TABLE 7 TYPE 5-LANG CORNER-NOTCHED POINTS, VARIETY 1 (Metric Attributes) Specimen Number

...

Length Width Thickness Shoulder Haft Base Base Blade Width Width Width Length Length

46.40 43.50 60.70

21.30 26.60 25.30 32.40 28.70 30.00 28.80 23.70 30.10 27.40 25.90 30.00 31.20 25.10 33.30

09.30 10.00 08.90 08.90 11.70 10.50 09.40 08.70 11.30 09.50 09.60 09.10 09.50 08.60 07.40

23.10 25.40 23.70 31.30 28.70 29.60 26.90 21.80 30.10 26.40 25.90 26.70 30.90 25.10 30.30

09.10 12.40 14.20 16.70 11.60 13.90 14.80 19.40 15.30 18.30 16.60 13.60 17.50 20.30 11.80 16.60 13.20 14.10 15.20 16.40 13.10 16.40 15.10 18.90 16.90 21.50 13.00 17.40 15.50 20.90

08.60 11.60 11.00 11.30 12.00 10.80 09.30 13.20 10.20 13.30 12.50 12.00 11.20 15.50 10.50

35.20 28.00 50.20

Mean

47.17

27.99

9.49

27.06

14.19

17.12

11.53

35.69

Range

37.70 60.70

21.30 33.30

7.40 11.70

21.80 31.30

9.10 17.50

12.40 21.50

8.60 15.50

28.00 50.20

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

... ... ... ... ...

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

37.70

. ...

. ...

56.00 43.50 49.90

. ...

43.10 43.70

.... .... . ...

29.10

. ... . ...

44.70 31.50 39.10

....

29.90 33.50

. ... . ...

. ...

(Nonmetric Attributes) Specimen Base ModiTip Plano- Marginal Haft Modi- Flint SymmetNumber Type rical fication Shattering convex Retouch fication 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

....

.... ..... .... ....

.....

....

No No Yes No Yes No No

Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes

No Yes No Yes No Yes Yes

No No No No No No No

Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes

1 1 1 1 3 3 3

Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes

THE SPIDER CAVE SITE

37

TABLE 7 (Cont'd.) Plano- Marginal Haft Modi- Flint SymmetTip Specimen Base ModiType rical Number fication Shattering convex Retouch fication

8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

... ...

... ... ... ... ...

.. .

No Yes No No No No Yes No

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No

Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes No

No No No No No No Yes Yes

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

1 3 2 1

2 1 3 2

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Variety 2 (Figure 13) This variety is the largest and most variable of the projectile point series from Spider Cave. Eighteen specimens have been assigned to variety 2 of Lang corner-notched points (Table 8). Generally the blades are ovate but occasionally excurvate, the cross section of the blade is either planoconvex or biconvex. The stems are short and expanding as a result of wide, shallow corner-notching. In accord with the overall workmanship exhibited in these points the corner notches are poorly executed, usually by crushing, and are, as often as not, asymmetrical. Bases are generally straight, but are irregular due to attempts at basal thinning. Most point bases exhibit some remnant of a striking platform. The primary flaking is exceedingly crude and marginal retouch is rare. Thirteen of the eighteen specimens have shattered or broken tips. In terms of workmanship and form, Lang corner-notched, variety 2 points resemble Garden stemmed, variety 1 projectiles. The former are distinguished only by the presence of side notches.

38

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA

IIJJJJ''I'' qII ~1'''1'''1'''1'' kl 111 1'''1'! 'I'' ~1'''1''! I' !I pI ~1"'1'''1'''1' I ~pI '1'''1! ''I~ lmmo~,,,,I,,Ji!,,,,l,,li!,,,,l,,,il''''l'''il,,,,l,,m,,,,l,,,!!,,,,l,,m,,,,l,,m,,,,I''''~''''''''I''''I'I'Hf,l,,,,,m,,,l,lill1,,,1111:1t,.

lll!JJ ''1'111 I I u11111111111111 ~1111111111111'' ~111111111'''1'' il'''l'''l'''l'' ~1'''1'''1'''1'' ~I IMfTRICH 21 31 hllliiilliiilllil 41 51 h'''''''''''"" 61 71 ilillllliilllliliiiliillll 81 91 I~ ill ill'IIlliillliillllllllllllllllfllllllllll '12 I '13 I 114 I '15 n11 liilliiiliilliililiiilllli FIG. 13.

Lang Corner-notched points, variety 2.

39

THE SPIDER CAVE SITE TABLE 8 TYPE 5-LANG CORNER-NOTCHED POINTS, VARIETY 2 (Metric Attributes)

Base Blade Base Specimen Length Width Thickness Shoulder Haft Width Width Length Length Width Number

.... .... .... . . .. .... .... .... .... ... .

08.70 13.70 13.10 13.30 14.30 13,40 13.00 11.90 13.20

08.20 13.10 12.40 11.70 12.90 13.80 13.60 08.00 17.30

35.40

30.20 25.30 24.20 24,50 24.40 33.20

12.10 11.70 14,00 12.70 13.00 13,50 12.70 12.20 17.90

10.02

25.96

13.31 12.73

12.33

36,60

8.60 11.10

20.40 33.20

11.70 8.70 17.90 14.30

8.00 17,30

35.40 37,80

.. .. 50.20 . ... . ... .... .... . .. . ....

22.60 26.90 31.40 31.80 26.50 24.20 28.00 26.50 35.60

10.20 10.90 11,00 08,60 09,50 08,60 11.10 10.10 10.20

20.40 25.50

Mean

46.95

28.17

Range

43.60 50.20

8.60 11.10

1. 2. 3. 4. 5, 6. 7. 8. 9.

43.60

....

....

37,80

.... .... .... .... .... . . ..

(Nonmetric Attributes) Plano- Marginal Haft Modi- Flint SymmetTip Specimen Base Modirical Number fication Shattering convex Retouch fication Type 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

.....

....

.... .... .... .... .... .... ....

Yes No No No No No No No No

No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes

No No No No No No No No No

Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes

1 2 3 2 1 3 2 1 3

No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Type 6, Spider stemmed (Figure 14) Twelve points have been placed in this type (Table 9). They nearly all exhibit triangular blades with a thick planotriangular or bitriangular cross section. Shoulders are weak and most often form an obtuse angle with the margins of the blade, The characterizing feature of this type is the extremely short, thick stem giving the impression that these were stemmed points which were broken at the haft and later reworked. Bases are irregular

40

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA

and always exhibit a striking platform. All examples exhibit crude techniques of manufacture with little or no secondary retouch. Eight of the twelve specimens have shattered tips. Mason (1966: Plate 14, Fig. 1) illustrates two points from the Mero site in Door County, Wisconsin, which seem to be identical with the Spider stemmed type.

1~''1'"1''\l"'l'l'I'''I''~I"'I'''I'''I"~I'''I'''I"'I"U iiim~M,,,tlnml,,,htm,,"''"iln,,,,,m,,,t!nttl,,,,,,nll,,n,,,m,,'"'''ll'u'''''l~ FIG. 14.

Spider stemmed points.

41

THE SPIDER CAVE SITE TABLE 9 TYPE 6-SPIDER STEMMED POINTS (Metric Attributes)

Specimen Length Width Thickness Shoulder Haft Blade Base Base Number Width Width Width Length Length 1. . . . . 2• . . • . 3. . . . • 4..... 5. . • • . 6. . . . . 7....• 8. . . . . 9..••. 10 . . . . . 11. . • . . 12 . . . . .

.... . . .. ....

....

.... ....

23.60 31.00 25.90 26.80 32.10 30.00 25.60 26.20 34.00 32.20 24.60 25.50

11.00 15.20 10.90 07.90 12.60 09.70 09.40 12.00 14.20 08.00 09.70 10.60

29.70 27.20 24.20 24.20 27.20 28.40 22.10 22.50

. ...

18.70 15.60 11.70

.. . .

.... .... . ...

05.20 04.00 01.70 04.90 06.10 05.70 03.20 06.40 06.50 04.70 04.60 04.40

Mean

45.71

28.13

10.93

25.55

16.56

12.75

4.78

43.30

Range

37.00 81.10

23.60 34.00

7.90 15.20

22.10 29.70

11.70 22.40

11.30 14.20

1.70 6.50

36.00 74.60

0

•••

40.00 44.10 37.00 47.10 47.20 45.60

.... 81.10

43.80

23.10 28.80 23.60

....

22.40 15.60 15.80 17.00

. . . . .... 16.90 .... 14.80 17.10

•

0

••

11.30 14.20

36.00 42.40

.....

41.00 41.50 42.40

.... .... 39.20 .... 74.60

(Nonmetric Attributes) Specimen Base ModiTip Plano- Marginal Haft Modi- Flint SymmetNumber fication rical Shattering convex Retouch fication Type 1. .••• 2. . . • . 3. . . . . 4..... 5• • . . . 6...•• 7...•• 8. • . . . 9. . . . . 10 • • . . . 11. . . . • 12 . . . . .

No No No No No No No No No No No No

Yes No No Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes

Yes No No No No Yes Yes No No No Yes No

No No No No No No No No No No No No

No No Yes No No No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes

3 1 3 3 1 3 1 1 3 1 3 1

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

42

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA Raddatz Side-notched

Figure 15 A and B illustrates two points with large, deep side notches and slightly concave bases. Specimen A is much more crudely made than B, the latter point exhibits fine marginal retouch. These points seem to belong to a widely distributed Archaic point type which has variously been called, to name a few, Otter Creek Points, in New York (Ritchie, 1961); Modoc Notched, in Illinois (Fowler, 1959); Big Sandy, in Tennessee (Lewis and Lewis, 1961) and Raddatz side-notched in Wisconsin (Wittry, 1959).

D

c

8

A

E

F

c

IUJJJ''I'lllll ~~~~~~~~~ 1 ~~~ 1 ~~ ~ 1 r,, 1 ,rr 1 rrr 1 rr ~ 1 rrr 1 ,rr 1 r,r l''l

iiifm~N''''""~''"'""fl,iiihuiluuhuiluulilli!IIilhuilmiliililtnl!u!ll,mltuHr F IG . 15 .

Other projectile point types f rom Spider Cave .

THE SPIDER CAVE SITE

43

Snyders Points (Figure 15 C) This well made point is referable to the Snyders cornernotched point of the Middle Woodland period (Bell, 1958). This specimen is well made with wide, deep corner notches. Primary flaking scars are large and expanding but very shallow, while secondary retouch is very fine. The tip of this point is shattered as a result of impact.

Miscellane ous Point Types Figure 15 D shows a skillfully executed point with an excurvate to triangular blade and a parallel-si ded stem. The base is bivectoral and bears the remnants of a striking platform. While this point resembles the Garden stemmed variety 3 type in some respects, it is distinguish ed by its more excurvate blade shape and the fine flint-worki ng techniques employed in its manufacture. The small corner-not ched point illustrated in Figure 15 E does not resemble other point types from Spider Cave. This point is a thin biconvex blade with a triangular outline. The stem is short and expanding while the base is convex. Lateral edges of the point exhibit delicate secondary retouch. A large side-notch ed point is shown in Figure 15 F. The blade is long and triangular, ·'3ide notches are deep and fairly narrow. The base is sharply convex. Chipping techniques employed in its manufactur e have resulted in wide, expanding primary chipping scars, and fine marginal retouch. This specimen is manufactur ed from a translucen t olive-color ed chalcedony . A bifacial ovoid blade is illustrated in Figure 15 G. This large well-made artifact is manufactu red from a piece of nodular chert, probably of the Bayport variety from Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Figure 16 A and B illustrates two groups of chert artifacts from Spider Cave which may be either projectile points or knives. The largest specimens shown in Figure 16 A are slightly asymmetrical with one straight and one recurved blade margin. All have long contracting stems with rounded bases. Figure 16 B illustrates a second variety. These again exhibit the asymmetrical blade form, long stem and rounded base, but the blades are very short. In fact these two specimens have hafting elements that are as long or slightly longer than the blade.

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA

44

B

A

li!J~III'''I' I il'' I II ''1'''111 ~~

!lljll!jllllllljlllp!!jllllllll [tHCHES

METRICM

.

2

1

21

31

41 I 5 1

11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 l

c 1

1'I

I'''P''' ''ll'' 11'''1 1''1''ll

'nlhi!Jiliiiliiilliinlrrrlliiirlriillfiiihnlifl FIG. 16.

Knives and knifelike points from Spider Cave.

Knives The only class of chipped-flint artifacts from Spider Cave, aside from projectile points, are several asymmetrical lancolate artifacts with both stemmed and notched hafting elements. Although these artifacts are being described as knives, this functional judgement does not have an empirical basis. Neither

THE SPIDER CAVE SITE

45

asymmetry of the blades nor heavier marginal retouch on one side of the blade necessarily indicate the use of the artifact as a knife. It is in fact quite possible that some of the artifacts here described as knives may have been used as projectile points. This possibility is especially likely at Spider Cave, where care in flint working and an eye for geometric symmetry in point design were apparently not among the outstanding achievements of the flint artisans. TABLE 10 KNIVES (Metric Attributes) Specimen Length Width Thickness Shoulder Haft Base Base Blade Number Width Width Width Length Length 1. 2.

.... ....

71.20

. ...

22.50 24.50

09.10 10.90

22.40 23,40

16.00 14.90

13.10 19.10

56.00 17.50

Mean

....

23.50

10.00

22.90

15.45

17.10

36.75

....

Range

.... ....

22.50 24.50

9.10 10.90

22.40 23.40

14.90 13.10 16.00 19.10

17.50 56,00

....

15.20

....

(Nonmetric Attributes) Specimen Base ModiTip Plano- Marginal Haft Modi- Flint SymmetNumber fication Shattering convex Retouch fication Type rical 1.

2.

.... ....

Yes No

No Yes

Yes No

Yes No

No No

2 2

No No

Two chipped-stone artifacts are classified as knives, these are illustrated in Figure 11 C while their dimensions are enumerated in Table 10. One knife has a straight stem, the other broad side notches; both are characterized by one straight blade margin and a recurved cutting edge. Both specimens are made on Type 2 chert. Chert Types The lithic artifacts from Spider Cave are manufactured on three basic types of chert. As a matter of tabular convenience, these are designated as Types 1, 2 and 3. Forty-three specimens

46

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA

were made on Type 1 chert, twenty-three on Type 2 chert and thirty-five specimens on Type 3 chert. These may be briefly described as follows: Type 1: Chert of this type varies in color, from a chocolate brown to olive to dark gray with a sandy yellow cortex. In texture it is quite grainy which gives it a slatelike quality. This chert does not have good fracture qualities and as a result, points made on this material almost always exhibit numerous hinge fractures. The source is not known but it is probably a local chert from the Niagaran dolomite. Type 2: Type 2 chert is a finer grained material than Type 1 and is also more consistent in color. The weathered exterior of this chert is either light gray or tan while the interior is light bluish-gray. This chert is smooth, shiny and of rather good quality. Its distinguishing characteristic is the presence of numerous small white inclusions or "clouds" which appear in both the exterior gray and interior blue portions of the nodules. Its source is not known, but it is probably a local variety. Type 3: This chert type is generally very light in color and is usually quite grainy. In this respect it resembles quartzite. The type is characterized by quartz crystal inclusions which appear as both isolated crystals and in small crescent-shaped bands. In general this chert has poor fracture qualities. The source of Type 3 chert is unknown, but it probably occurs locally in glacial till and perhaps as a part of the Niagaran dolomite formation. Ground Stone One fragmentary ground- stone artifact was recovered from test pit 5 (Figure 17 A). This cylindrical object is manufactured from a black basaltic material. It is 65 mm long, 31 mm wide and 23 mm thick with an ovoid cross section. Because it is broken, its original appearance and function can not be reconstructed. It is apparent however, from light wear patterns on two faces and on several of the broken edges, that this object served as a whet stone for a period of time after it was broken. Antler Projectiles Two types of antler projectiles were recovered from Spider Cave, two socketed projectile points, and four toggle head harpoons with line holes. These artifacts are illustrated in Figures 17 and 18. The two antler projectile points are shown in Figure

THE SPIDER CAVE SITE

47

A

B

D

c

E '''''''1'''1'' ~1'''1'''1'''1'' ~I

F

rnlrrrillrrrltrrllirrrlorflfrrrlrrrllittrlrnl~' FIG. 17. Ground-stone, shell artifacts and socketed antler projectiles from Spider Cave.

17 B and C. Specimen B has a broken tip but was originally at least 71 mm long. The base of the point is straight and has an ovoid cross section measuring 18.5 mm by 15.0 mm. A small socket has been fashioned at the base of the point by removing the cancellous core of the tine from which the point was manufactured. The exterior surface of this point is smoothed and has a high polish. Another antler projectile is in all formal attributes similar to the one just described. It is 102.5 mm in length and measures

48

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA

18.0 mm by 16.0 mm at the base. The tip of this projectile had been broken by impact but the detached fragment was recovered in excavation. Two additional features are noted on this point; a thin reddish material adhering to the inside of the 33 mm deep socket, and three small notches cut on the lateral convex margin on the point near the base (Figure 17 C). Probably both the reddish material and the notches were employed in hafting. Four interesting socketed harpoons have been recovered from Spider Cave. These are illustrated in Figure 18. All of the three complete specimens described here are part of the Lang collection. Figure 18 A illustrates a harpoon which is 80 mm long, although the point has been broken. This specimen has a trianguloid cross section which is 20.5 mm wide and 18.5 mm high. The base is cut at a slightly oblique angle while the surface of the harpoon has been trimmed and smoothed. The line hole is located 37.0 mm above the base and opens into the basal socket. On one side the line hole is square, measuring 7.0 mm by 7.5 mm, while the opposite hole is tapered and round with an outside diameter of 2. 75 mm. The second harpoon is 90 mm in length and has a round cross section which is 22.0 mm at the base. The proximal end or base has been cut obliquely and trimmed laterally to form a 13.5 mm tang. Red ocher has been rubbed into the cut and polished exterior so that apparently the harpoon originally featured a glistening red surface. A rectangular line hole measuring 6.5 mm by 10 mm is located 36.5 mm above the base of the harpoon and is oriented so that the smallest side of the rectangle is parallel to the long axis of the artifact. A smaller (5.5 mm by 4.0 mm) rectangular line hole occurs on the opposite side of the harpoon. This hole is oriented so that the largest side is parallel to the harpoon's long axis (see Figure 18 B). Figure 18 C shows a third conical socketed harpoon which is 69.0 mm long although it has a shattered tip. Like the specimen just described, it has a round cross section which is 18.5 mm at the base. The base has been trimmed to form a tang which is 9.0 mm long. The surface of the harpoon has been scraped and then polished. Here again the harpoon is furnished with a rectangular (6.0 mm by 7.0 mm) line hole located 38.5 mm above the base. On the opposite side of the harpoon is a circular hole 4.0 mm in diameter. The line hole passage of this harpoon, like the others, interconnects with the basal socket. This arrangement is shown in the artist's cross section of Figure 18. Finally, excavations in test pit 5 produced a basal fragment of a socketed harpoon. This was apparently a small specimen of

THE SPIDER CAVE SITE

49

c

A

8

FIG. 18.

Socketed toggle head harpoons from Spider Cave.

50

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA

approximately 14.0 mm in diameter. It exhibits a flat base with a 23.0 mm deep socket. The socket connects with the line hole which was, on the one discernible face, round and at least 17 mm in diameter (Figure 17 D). In a recent paper Mason (1965) has reviewed the temporal and geographic position of socketed toggle head harpoons. Mason illustrates eight specimens from the North Bay horizon of the Port des Mort site in Door County, Wisconsin. This Middle Woodland occupation which is located a few miles across the straits from Spider Cave, has been dated at AD 160 ± 100 (I- 888). While these harpoons are in principle similar to those at Spider Cave, they exhibit some differences in form. On the whole they are much smaller, have round line holes and frequently do not exhibit the connection between the socket and the hole drilled for line passage. Like the Spider Cave specimens they exhibit a double line hole, some of which interconnect with the socket, and a basal tang. Another antler toggle head harpoon from Door County was collected from the Heins Creek site (Wells, 1964). This is a multicomponent Middle and Late Woodland site (Mason, 1966), and unfortunately the toggle head harpoon was recovered from unknown context. Hruska (1967, Fig. 71) describes two types of copper toggle head harpoons excavated from the Riverside Cemetery site at Menominee, Michigan. One type of copper harpoon seems to be very similar to those being described here from Spider Cave, as well as the Door County specimens. This similarity in harpoon type is problematical because the Riverside Cemetery site has been traditionally considered a Late ArchaicOld Copper site. Mason has, on the other hand firmly established the toggle head harpoons of Door County within the North Bay complex of Middle Woodland. Moreover, Griffin (1965) contends that at least part of the occupation at the Riverside Cemetery site was not Old Copper since the block of obsidian collected by A. C. Spaulding is from Yellowstone and should belong to the Hopewellian Middle Woodland use of this exotic material. The presence of the toggle head harpoons at the Riverside Cemetery site strengthens Griffin's argument that at least some of the Riverside Cemetery material is Middle Woodland and also suggests a late Middle Woodland position for Spider Cave. The only toggle head harpoons reported in the literature which are identical to those from Spider Cave are from the Heron Bay site, located along the Pic River on the north shore of Lake Superior (Wright, 1967, Plate VI, Figs. 30-31). Although Wright rejects four radiocarbon dates for this Laurel site (AD 610 ± 170, GSC-208; AD 410 ± 160, GSC-445; AD 700 ± 60,

THE SPIDER CAVE SITE

51

S-171; and AD 790 ± 130, GSC-449) a fifth earlier date (AD 140 ± 150, GSC-686) would presumably be more acceptable. This date also agrees well with Mason's date of AD 160 for the North Bay component of the Port de Mort site. It thus would seem that socketed antler toggle head harpoons occur in the context of Middle Woodland sites of both the North Bay and Laurel traditions and that they date from about the 2nd century AD. Shell Artifacts The Lang collection contains three artifacts from Spider Cave which are made of marine shell. These are illustrated in Figure 17. Two specimens are highly polished beads perforated with a hole which is 3.5 mm in diameter. One bead has a triangular cross section and is 7.2 mm high, 8.8 mm wide and 5.9 mm thick. The other has an ovoid cross section and is 8.5 mm long, 10.4 mm wide and 5.5 mm high (Figure 17 E). The third shell artifact is a large ovoid gorget cut from a piece of conch shell (Figure 17 F). This artifact is 4 7. 9 mm high, 60.0 mm wide and is 2.0 mm thick. Near the center of the gorget is a hole which is 4.5 mm in diameter. Five sets of three notches have been cut into the edge of the disc. Visualizing the gorget as the face of a clock the sets have been placed at 12, 2, 4, 7 and 10 o'clock. The concave face of the gorget was originally highly polished. ANALYSIS OF THE METRIC ATTRIBUTES OF CHIPPED ARTIFACTS Tables 1 through 10 summarized the metric attributes of the chipped artifacts of each type and each variant of these types. Aside from measurements of total length and blade length (measurements which are unreliable because a large percentage of the points in the sample were broken at the tip) it is interesting to note that there is little variation from the mean for each individual specimen. Thus the mean widths of all point types vary only from about 24 mm to 30 mm, the mean shoulder widths from 22 mm to 28 mm, mean haft widths from 13 mm to 19 mm, etc. With a few obvious exceptions such as the greater mean base width of Type 1 points, we find a dimensional consistency in point size. The consistency may be occasioned by practical features in flint technology, such as stress limits of the chert or cultural patterns associated with particular methods of hafting, or the function of the point. Probably a combination of both

52

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA

structural and cultural considerations finally determine point dimensions. Some of the structural parameters of point construction have been identified by Mr. Albert Dekin who used a computer program to derive Product Moment Correlation Coefficients for the interrelationships of the metric variables of the artifacts under discussion. By plotting the frequency distribution of the eight metric variables and their ratios, Dekin found that most of the standard metric variables in the point sample had normal distributions. With the exception of base length measurement (the length of the haft element) which exhibited a maximum skewness of +4.03763; the remaining measurements did not exhibit skewness values of over +1.16942. (It should be noted here that a normal curve has a skewness value of 0 and a kurtosis value of 3.0.) Similarly the base length curve was very leptokurtic with a kurtosis value of +25.03716. The next highest kurtosis after the blade length which is again thought to be unreliable, was haft width with a value of +5.86542. These extreme values in the peakedness and skewness to the right of the base length curve indicate that the length of the haft element was highly patterned. This patterning was probably closely related to the method of hafting being employed. In practical terms, the haft element had to be of a certain minimal length to be effectively attached to a shaft. The moderate leptokurtic value for the haft width seems to reflect the minimal structural stress that could be maintained in the manufacture and/ or impact to which the points would be subjected. Again in practical terms, while the width of the haft element could be as wide as the hafting technique and function of the point permitted, the stress it could stand placed a restriction on the minimal width dimension. The metric attributes of the point sample were also subjected to Pearson's simple correlation test through which variable x explains· the variance in variable y. A high r value of +0. 9 was obtained for the relationship of shoulder width and total width. This may be explained by the fact that in most cases the greatest width of Spider Cave projectiles occurs at the shoulder. These two measurements therefore vary together. All of the measurements which combine greatest width with other width measurements have ratios with r values between +0.4 and +0.5. This indicates that width dimensions were only generally patterned. Similarly the total length measurement exhibits r values of between +0.4 and +0.6 in ratios with other length measurements. Thus, when the total length is increased, there is a tendency for an increase in the length of both the blade and

THE SPIDER CAVE SITE

53

base elements. However, an r value of -0.46 for the blade length/ base length ratio indicates a tendency for the total length to be patterned so that an increase in the length of either the blade or base element will result in a reduction in the length of the other. All of these observations must be stated as tendencies since none of the r values are conclusive and none would allow meaningful application of regression analysis. The ratios resulting in other r values are very low, indicating the independent nature of these attributes. Mr. Dekin has also developed a program (NONMET) to derive 2 by 2 tables for the interrelationship of nonparametric variables, and to compute values for phi- and chi-square. Table 11 and 12 are the chi- square values and probabilities, and the ordered matrix of phi obtained from the total Spider Cave proTABLE 11 TABLE OF CHI-SQUARE* AND PROBABILITIES FOR THE NONMETRIC ATTRIBUTES OF SPIDER CAVE PROJECTILES (Chi -Square) A

B

A ..•.

...

0,25536

B ..•.

.6 .4 than

15 20 50 30

3 10 20 length

The shelter heights varied from four to forty feet and were not considered in the defining criteria. In general, the term "cave" was applied if the depth was greater than the length. To evaluate the possible potential of each of these shelters and caves for excavation, such factors as size and amount of rockfill were considered. Categories from one to three were delineated and defined as: 1) - Ignore 2) - Possible 3) - Good All the survey information is presented in Table 2. TABLE 2 SUMMARY OF SURVEY INFORMATION AT BURNT BLUFF Designation A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7

Location S52 S89 S132-144 S187-204 S265 S282 S620

Description Small Small Small Small Small Small Small

shelter shelter shelter shelter shelter shelter shelter

Excavation Potential 1 1 1 1 2 2 1

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THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA TABLE 2 (Cont'd.)

Designation

Location

Description

AS A9 A10 All A12 A13 A14 A15 A16 A17 A18 A19 A20 A21 A22 A23 A24 A25 A26 A27 A28 A29 A30 A31 A32 A33 A34 A35 A36 A37 A38 A39 A40 A41 A42 A43 A44 A45 A46 A47 A48

S700-750 S900-920 S1000 S1025 Sl170 S1270 S1300 S1360-1392 S1410 S1420 S1435 S1490s S1525 S1579 S1590 S1730 S1833 S1846 S1855-1870 S1893 S1912 S1938 S1965 S1983 S2015 S2057 S2080 S2093 S2105 S2200 S2527 S3017 N23 N161 N177 N438 N550 N560 N600 N726 N740

Medium shelter Small shelter Cave remnant Deep shelter Deep shelter Small shelter Small shelter Large shelter Small shelter Small shelter Small shelter Small shelter Small shelter Medium shelter Medium shelter Small shelter Small shelter Medium shelter Shallow small shelter Medium shelter Medium shelter Small cave Large shelter Small shelter Small shelter Small cave Small cave Large shelter Small cave Large shelter Small shelter Small shelter Small shelter Medium shelter Medium shelter Small shelter Small shelter Medium shelter Small shelter Small shelter Small shelter

B1 B2 B3 B4 B5

so S25 S34 S64 S88

Small cave Small shelter Small shelter Small shelter Medium shelter

Excavation Potential 3 1 1

3 2 1

1 3 3 3 3 1

1 2 2 1

1 1 1

1 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 1

1 1 3 1

1 1 1

1 2 1

3 2 1

1 1 1

2

EXCAVATIONS AND SURVEY AT BURNT BLUFF IN 1965

65

TABLE 2 (Cont'd.) Designation

Location

B6 B7 B8 B9 B10 B11 B12 B13 B14 B15 B16 B17 B18 B19 B20 B21 B22 B23 B24 B25 B26

s--

B27 B28 B29 B30 B31 B32 B33 B34 B35 B36 B37 B38 B39 B40 B41 B42 B43 B44 B45 B46 B47 B48 B49 B50

S836 S837 S942 S967 S995 S1041 S1115 S1147 S1163 S1191 S1224 S1278 S1325 S1363 S1392 S1435 S1456 S1484 S1549 S1760 S1805 S1820 S1846 S1869

S110 S163 S200 S224 S236 S279 S330 S350 S377 S396 S440 S490 S518 S535 S575 S590 S620 S632 S667 S694

Description Large shelter Medium shelter Small cave Small cave Small cave Large cave Large cave Large cave Large cave Large cave Large shelter Small shelter Small shelter Large shelter Large shelter Large shelter Large shelter Large shelter Medium shelter Small shelter Large shelter (shelter now collapsed) Small shelter Small shelter Medium shelter Medium shelter Medium shelter Medium shelter Medium shelter Medium shelter Medium shelter Small shelter Small shelter Large shelter Large shelter Large shelter Large shelter Large shelter Large shelter Large shelter Medium shelter Large shelter Medium shelter Medium shelter Small shelter Small shelter

Excavation Potential 1 2 3 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 2

1 1 1 1 2 1 2 2 2 1

66

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA TABLE 2 (Cont'd.)

Designation B51 B52 B53 B54 B55 B56 B57 B58 B59 B60 B61 B62 B63 B64 B65 B66 B67 B68 B69 B70 B71 B72 B73 B74 B75 B76 B77 B78 B79 B80 B81 B82 B83 B84 B85 B86 B87 B88 B89 B90 B91 B92 B93 B94 B95 B96 B97

Location S1920 S1978 S).997 S2121 S2135 S2158 S2172 S2200 S2224 S2278 S2298 S2338 S2377 S2423 S2445 S2460 S2472 S2505 S2527 S2534 S2550 S2590 S2642 82675 S2689 N59 NllO N130 N149 N160 N190 N235 N268 N323 N557 N598 N631 N700 N748 N910 N940 N972 N1050 Nl150 N1195 N1261

Description Medium shelter Medium shelter Small shelter Large shelter Medium shelter Small shelter Small shelter Small shelter Medium shelter Large shelter Small shelter Medium shelter Medium shelter Medium shelter Small shelter Medium shelter Small shelter Medium shelter Medium shelter Small shelter Small shelter Small shelter Small shelter Medium shelter Small shelter Small Shelter Small shelter Medium shelter Medium shelter Medium shelter Small shelter Small shelter Small shelter Small shelter Medium shelter Medium shelter Large shelter Small shelter Medium shelter Small shelter Small cave Large shelter Small shelter Small cave Small cave Small cave Small cave

Excavation Potential 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 3 3 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 3 1 2 2 2 1 3 3 1 1

EXCAVATIONS AND SURVEY AT BURNT BLUFF IN 1965

67

TABLE 2 (Cont'd.) Designation B98 B99 D1 CD2 CD3 CD4 CD5 CD6 CD7 CDS CD9 CD10 CDll CD12 CD13 CD14 CD15 CD16 CD17 CD18

Location N1315 N1410 N300 N350 N400 N500 N700 N900 N950 N1000 N1050 N1050 N1050 NllOO N1150 N1200 N1250 N1350 N1450 N200

Description Small cave Medium shelter Small shelter Large shelter Small shelter Small shelter Small shelter Medium shelter Small shelter Small cave Small cave Small cave Medium cave Small cave Small shelter Small cave Small shelter Small cave Small shelter Small cave

Excavation Potential 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 3 1 1

EXCAVATIONS IN CAVE B-95 Cave B-95 was located on the Nipissing beach, 1150 feet north of the datum. The distance between the modern beach and the Nipissing beach was fairly close at this point, only a foot access existed between them. The cave, like the others, was formed by water action during one of the high-water periods of the lake. While the stability of these shelters was poor, as indicated by the piles of roof fall, B-95 was supported by a large pillar, which had no doubt saved it from collapsing. Figure 21 shows the cave as viewed from the north. The pillar served to produce two entrances, one opening west facing the lake, and another facing south along the terrace. The west entrance was 9.5 feet wide and approximately 7 feet in height; while the south entrance was 3 feet wide and 6.5 feet high. At the north entrance the beach pinched to about 2 feet and a shear rock cliff extended about 65 feet above the shelter to the CD terrace. Today B-95 is concealed by trees and smaller vegetation; however, several yards to the north there is an unobstructed view of the lake.

68

THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA

FIG. 21.

B-95 as viewed from the north.

EXCAVATIONS AND SURVEY AT BURNT BLUFF IN 1965

69

The Burnt Bluff area is noted for its rock paintings, and approximately 300 feet north of B-95 there are several paintings. The reader is referred to Lugthart in this volume for a discussion of the rock paintings at Burnt Bluff. A thorough search was made of the cliffs in the immediate vicinity of B-95 without locating any additional paintings. B-95 was selected for excavation for several reasons. The foot access facilitated moving the equipment, and the small amount of rock fill made the shelter desirable. The principle excavators were Alan Hugley of Wayne State University, and myself. Periodically others participated in the excavation, among whom were James and Jimmy Getz of Chicago, and Don Hays of Detroit, as well as the members of the field crew from the University of Michigan. The floor of the shelter was covered with a dense matting of decaying vegetation mixed with small angular rocks which had fallen from the ceiling. A concentration of porcupine dung and hundreds of quills indicated that shelter had recently served as a den. An arbitrary datum point was selected and this served as a zero mark for all measurements. The datum was a small projecting rock on the north side of the pillar and was 0.8 feet above the floor. In Figure 22 a contour map of the shelter floor is shown. It should be noted that each of the contour intervals has been measured with respect to the distance below the datum point; therefore, increasing contour intervals indicate a decreasing floor level. A four-foot square was decided upon as the arbitrary excavation unit and the cave was laid out in four-foot grids with string. Each grid was labeled with a pair of cardinal directions with respect to the datum point. Thus the first grid north of the datum was called N1 and its eastwest orientation called EO or WO depending if it were east or west of the datum. Figure 23 shows the excavation units and their corresponding designations. Units N1E1 and S1E1 were the first to be excavated. These were excavated as a unit in six-inch intervals and called test pit A. The purpose of the test pit was to examine the nature of the cave fill and to determine what excavation techniques should be used. The following items were revealed in the first six inches of excavation: 1) The appearance of human bone and artifacts indicated that the upper level of the shelter contained cultural material. 2) The fill was composed of humus and angular rock. This required excavation by hand since a spade or trowel could not penetrate the floor due to the concentration of rock.

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THE PREHISTORY OF THE BURNT BLUFF AREA

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