Photo By Aimee Malone | Shown is a biface cache of stone tools found during a 2014 archaeological dig at Fort...... read more read more
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Archaeologists with Colorado State University’s Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands encountered a rare type of feature in 2014 while investigating a prehistoric site on Fort McCoy.
A tightly clustered pile of 22 stone tools was found roughly 18 inches below the ground surface. Their appearance and arrangement made them of significant interest to because they were collected together in what is commonly referred to as a cache.
Caching is basically storing things in bulk and has been documented throughout history. Modern examples of this type of behavior include “doomsday preppers” who stockpile food, water, and other supplies in anticipation of a cataclysmic event, but also mundane examples such as purchasing supplies at a wholesale retailer to save money.
Most prehistoric caching behavior has been attributed to either utility, in which a person or group can return to retrieve the cached items at a later time, or ceremony, in which finely crafted items are intentionally placed or left behind, frequently as grave goods.
Leaving things behind, especially heavy items such as stone tools, was a useful practice for prehistoric people who would travel long distances every year to places where seasonal resources would be abundant.
These people returned to the same general areas every year, in a sort of loop archaeologists refer to as an “annual round.” In some cases, these annual rounds spanned hundreds of miles.
The cache found in 2014 was made up of more than five pounds of early stage tools called bifaces, which can be further modified to become projectile points (spear points), knives, animal hide-scraping tools, drills, or other tools.
This tactic could save hours of work, as a small group of hunters could travel to a regular hunting spot without having to carry in or search for raw cobbles of stone, as well as reducing the need to carry numerous sharpened stone tools that could accidentally injure a hunter on the journey.
The bifaces in the Fort McCoy cache were likely not manufactured where they were found but at a different location.
They most likely originated from somewhere within or near the north half of the installation, where a type of stone suitable for producing tools known as silicified sandstone was readily available.
According to radiocarbon dating of the excavation unit in which the cache was found, as well as evidence collected from elsewhere at the site, the cache was left in place approximately 1,800 years ago.
All archaeological work conducted at Fort McCoy was coordinated with the Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch.
Visitors and employees are reminded they should not collect artifacts on Fort McCoy or other government lands and leave the digging to the professionals. Any individual who excavates, removes, damages, or otherwise alters or defaces any historic or prehistoric site, artifact, or object of antiquity on Fort McCoy is in violation of federal law.
The discovery of any archaeological artifact should be reported to the Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch at 608-388-8214.
(Article prepared by the Colorado State University Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands.)
| Date Taken: | 10.23.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 10.23.2018 16:46 |
| Story ID: | 297444 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 298 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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